Look where I got to go on St. Patrick's Day! Second Quarter

A bit blurry, but here's what's happening. Six-foot-two-inch Cleveland Cavalier Daniel Gibson puts his hand in the face of six-foot-inch Portland Trail Blazer Patrick "Patty" Mills. Patty's the one who originated the the three goggles nickname. He's also He is one of the first Indigenous Australians to play basketball in the NBA. We love him here in Portland!


Patty's the three goggles!


Time out. Blazer Dancer. Can't remember the song.






Blaze comes into the crowd.


LaMarcus scores! I know because in the next shot caught the net moving just after the ball fell through it!


Rudy steals the ball! Rudy steals the ball!


Rudy gets away from the Cleveland guy!


Rudy's almost there!


Rudy goes up for his shot!


Made basket! Rudy's on the way back to play defense. Yea, Blazers!


Stunt Team.




Everyone landed safely!


Hilarious shot of one of the Blazers TV guys, Mike Rice! Believe it or not, the other guy is Mike Barrett. Mike 'n' Mike!


The dreaded in ...


... and out shot. Drat! Better luck next time, six-foot-eight Nicolas Batum.


Six-foot-seven inch Gerald Wallace flies! He's our newest Blazer!


Gerald and the ball land on the floor at about the same second, it looks like. There we have another example of those blooming shorts.

The score at half time--Blazers 64, Cavaliers 34.

Come back tomorrow for the third quarter.

Look where I got to go on St. Patrick's Day! Tip-off and First Quarter

Go, LaMarcus Aldridge! Go, Blazers!


I always want LaMarcus right here, in the driver's seat.


What happens in a split second totally amazes me. Somehow--I think they're born knowing how--LaMarcus knows exactly when to pivot and shoot. He's just about there in this shot.


LaMarcus shoots! To tell you the truth, I cannot remember if it went in or not. So much happened so quickly, and I am just glad that I got this shot. Who would have ever dreamed that he had jumped up enough to cause his uniform shorts to blossom like that on his way down? Love that serendipity!


I adore Andre Miller; he's a skilled, determined competitor. Here he's certain of his shot--you can just see the ball in the net, there at the bottom rim of the backboard.


Andre's on the way! He'll either shoot or pass--there's very little that the other team can do about him.


Rudy Fernandez ran off the court after the ball. It took him a few seconds to get turned around and headed back the other way. It also took that man in the corner whose head you cannot see--just his blue-jeaned legs and left arm are visible--a few more seconds to get upright again. Seems like the man in the black shirt is about to help him.


Rudy for three!


I know that three-pointer was good! Rudy flashes the three goggles!


End of the first quarter, Blazers 37, Cavaliers 12.

Tomorrow, the second quarter.

Look where I got to go on St. Patrick's Day! Before the game.

The Rose Garden. The Portland Trail Blazers vs the Cleveland Cavaliers. We won, 111-70! Lamont took this photo of me during halftime.

Naturally I took lots and lots of photos of all sorts of action on and off the court. Here are a few that I like the best!


The announcer fully explained the code of conduct as this appeared on the scoreboard. I had no idea the Blazers had this policy, but it certainly makes sense today, considering how some folks lose control.


Pre-game, necessary torture.


The game ball made its way through the stands, from up above my left shoulder down to the floor. The boy with the green T-shirt underneath his Blazers' jersey has the ball and is about to pass it to the next row. The boy on his right is flashing the three goggles! The boy with the jacket and glasses got the ball and passed it off again, as it continued on its way.


This tricked-out boy reminds me of ex-Blazer Steve Blake. The man in the black pants and sleeveless shirt is part of the Trail Blazers Stunt Team, as are the girls in the short skirts and green T-shirts. You'll see more of them as I continue to post photos of the event.


There's a little girl in the middle of the photo, between the two stunt team members--she got to carry to ball to the refs. I am pretty sure that is Marcus Camby there on the floor, the human pretzel.


There goes the little girl. A job well done.


Time for the national anthem. The man from Idaho, I think it was, sang it beautifully!


Blaze runs across the floor, flag flying.


Lights swirled as Blaze stopped at center court, swirling the flag about his head.


Team introductions completed, the Blazer Dancers and Stunt Team took to the floor. All of those young women were safely caught by the young men!

Come back tomorrow for tip-off and the first quarter.

I am so excited about this! Here's to two commenters, Honest Abe Lincoln and Christine H. who ...

... commented at Mama and Me from PDX, worried about the placement of certain items in yesterday’s post. I put the same thing on both blogs, trying to be efficient with my use of time.

Mr. Lincoln said: There is an unprotected bombshell in your photograph as well as the girl in the bike. I am flabbergasted the city has not protected the natural gas main from being run into and broken off, erupting in a giant explosion of never ending flames.

On the left and this side of the 55 gallon drum.

Christine H. said: Abe is right. I didn't notice that, but once I read his comment I had to go back and look. there's a dumpster near it, so presumably big garbage trucks back up there. ANYWAY...that is not what struck me first. What struck me is the initials DTW on the newspaper box. This tagger has his @#$%! initials sprayed all over my neighborhood too and I'm a number of miles away from where this picture was taken. I'd like to get my hands on him.
I hope you don't mind that both of these comments have gone off on tangents.

Concerned about their worries but unable to go back outside either on Saturday (I had an intestinal bug) or today (it's raining and I'm still not quite right), I decided to take a look at the area on Google Maps. The photo you see here is the one I shot as it sat on my iMac.

Rest assured, Mr. Lincoln, the gas main is in a protected spot. Rest assured, Christine H., there is ample room for big garbage trucks to maneuver.

I love it that the two of them looked so closely at my photograph. I love it that they, as Christine H. categorized it, went off on tangents. That's one of my favorite places to go! Thanks, y'all!

Oh, and y'all who take way more photos than I do and have been thoroughly trained to do so, what do you call it when the perspective of the photo shortens what is actually there, so much so that the entire alley seems to have disappeared and the four-lane thoroughfare gives no evidence of its width in yesterday’s post? Is there a name for it? Thanks!

The gray pole and the girl on the bike

Her left hand disappears just beyond the gray pole. She's pushing the button to make the traffic signal change on NE Sandy so that she can ride her bike north across the street. I like the perspective here, the disappearing sidewalk and the rooftops that extend over the sidewalk. The pole supports the traffic signal for vehicles heading south at the intersection.

Looking at this photo, it's difficult to believe that NE Sandy is a four lane thoroughfare. I took it on Sunday, March 6, when I was out for a walk. It started to mist right after I took this one, so I hurried on home.

Windy after work and a gray pole in the distance

On Monday because it was not raining after work, I got off the bus a few blocks early so that I could get in a bit of a walk. The wind blew through these foil strips at the Dave Russell Motor Co., making a rustling sound I could hear over the cars on NE Sandy. I wonder if any of them came from the pre-owned car lot?

Look way down the sidewalk, there in the distance. You can just make out a gray pole. Tomorrow's post involves that pole.

Movie Marquee at the Hollywood Theatre

Monday a week ago, Lamont, my friend from work Sarah, and I went to the Hollywood Theatre on NE Sandy. The movie we saw--The Fighter. I realize that not everyone will have seen this movie, so I will give away nothing. Suffice it to say that at the end, sobbing quietly, I looked over at the two of them and said, "That was a whole lot." In fact, it took me several hours to wind down. Lamont told me it took him that long, too. I will say that by the end of it you understand why Melissa Leo and Christian Bale took home Oscars, as well as why Amy Adams also received a nomination.


I wholeheartedly recommend The Fighter. It is an amazing movie, one that I want to see again in a theater. I need to check the local listings and make a plan.

I have a confession to make. I am taken with those Wahlberg brothers, Mark and Donnie. It started with Donnie on Blue Bloods, the NYPD cop TV show that stars Tom Selleck on CBS. Then I saw the 60 Minutes interview with Mark, about his life and this movie. Next came the American Music Awards when the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys performed together on stage. Both TV shows were on the same night, if I remember right.

OK. So I'm an ol' lady. But I'm also a goner. I'm even thinking about trying to figure out Twitter so that I can follow the two of them. See. A goner. I love the beat of Donnie's music and the way that Mark helped his school with its gym.

Lamont and Leland, I apologize up front if I have embarrassed one or both of you by being a Wahlberg goner.

A Tale of Two (More) Chicken Breasts

You know something that I've discovered? A real big surprise to me? The difference between taste and texture of never-been-frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and purchased-frozen chicken tenders. It's a delightful difference, let me tell you. Of course, those of you who already know this may be chuckling in a mannerly fashion at my naivete. That's OK.

Earlier in March I bought my first ever fresh chicken breasts, two of them, from the meat counter at Freddie's. I figured I could do something nice with them. That day I also bought some carrots, potatoes, onion, zucchini, yellow crook neck squash and chard. You can see what I did with all of that, here in this photo. Much like what I had on the blog on Monday, I baked the chicken breasts first, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper, drizzled with an olive oil, canola oil mixture. I forgot to say that on Monday, about the oil mixture. In a big pot, I cooked the potatoes in chunks, the carrots in disks, after I had sauteed the onion in bits and pieces, in that same olive oil/canola oil mixture. I added a little bit of water, too.

After the chicken was done, I called Lamont and asked him, "Can't I put my chicken breasts in pieces into my pot with the carrots and potatoes and onion, then add the squash and later on the chard?" "You sure can," he replied.

So I got the chicken out of the oven, let it rest a couple of minutes, then cut it into chunks. Once the potatoes and carrots began to get tender, I poured the chicken chunks and liquid into the pot, added a little bit of water, and turned up the heat for a few minutes. Then I poured in the disks of both squash and stirred in the chard which I had cut in the manner of chiffonade, as in finely cut. Well, finely cut as well as I could do it, not teensy but narrow. Anyway, it all cooked for a while on lower heat and smelled great. Right before I turned off the heat, I stirred in some leftover Green Giant Steamer Shoe Peg Corn. Oh, and as I added each new ingredient, I sprinkled some sea salt here and there in the pot.

Needless to say, I had me some more great leftovers. In fact, Lamont came over one night that week and ate a bowl of it, proclaiming it "chicken stew." He liked it! I hope that I can cook this again and have it turn out just as tasty.

On the menu at 3 Doors Down Cafe, SE 37th and Hawthorne

From Friday night and still on the menu in much the same fashion: Duck confit, roasted pork belly, roasted carrot, roasted shallot, cannellini beans, bread crumbs. Sprinkled on the duck and pork, Maldon Sea Salt Flakes. A fine mixture of textures and flavors for your dining enjoyment.

Supper. I love leftovers!

I cooked this on Sunday, intending to have it as supper, off and on this week. First I put the two chicken breasts in the glass bowl--sprinkled with salt and pepper, drizzled with olive oil--and baked them for one hour in the oven, 350 degrees. Then I got them out of the bowl so that I could use the drippings and olive oil mixture elsewhere.


Here's where I used it, in this great big saute pan so that I could first cook my cippolini onion and carrots, then braise my variety of greens and spinach. I think that I have Kale. Is that kale, y'all?

So, you see the fresh vegetables which I reaped at the Portland State University Farmers Market which opened this past Saturday. Yummy. I also bought a jar of Mango Madness, a fine pepper jelly from the Rose City Pepperheads, some Chevreddar goat cheese from Farmucopia in Woodland, WA, some other cheese from Ancient Heritage Dairy, Opal Creek, from Scio, OR. I thought I read on their sign that it was sheep cheese--now that I look at the label I see that it is described as "Artisan made on our farm with raw cow milk, cultures, enzymes and salt." Oh, well, I won't each much of it at one time so maybe the lactose tolerance problem won't kick in. It also says "aged at least 60 days." It ought to make a fine grilled cheese. I also go two smallish chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with fleur de sel (sea salt). Actually, I bought one, succumbed to its tastes and texture, then bought the other one and ate it right then, too! The best morsels I popped in my mouth as I made my way through the market!

Walk #6, interesting spot in the neighborhood

For years I've noticed this house which appears to have been converted into a business. Now I live within walking distance, so I finally got to take a photo of it. And look at the serendipity--that front bumper of the car matches the paint on the house.