On the way to Labor Day,bear with me, y'all. I am one hundred percent a Mississippi State University football fan. And the season starts today--those folks have been at work!

Heading for Labor Day. Workers, working, NE 20th and East Burnside.

July, 2012, while I waited to cross East Burnside, I watched these two men who were almost finished repainting the brown background of the Willoughby Hearing Aids neon sign. The center, left side Hearing Aids sign gives you an idea of just how faded the brown had become. I believe that they repainted the white behind the neon letters, too.
 

After I parked the Zipcar hours later, I took this photo of the finished work before I finished my walk home.

Where I like to watch movies, the Hollywood Theatre

I ride the bus to and from my neighborhood movie house. Recently I've seen seven interesting and well-done music documentaries.

Here's the e-mail I got today: Free Member Tickets to the Sept 5th event celebrating our new marquee!

To celebrate the installation of our new marquee, the Hollywood Theatre is presenting a 35mm screening of Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL with live organ accompaniment by Dean Lemire! (Thanks to the Columbia River Theater Organ Society.)

Johnnie (Buster Keaton) loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins he is turned down for service because he's more valuable as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Johnnie must rescue both his loves.

This evening will give you a chance to come out and marvel at the new marquee as well as experience an amazing film that was shot in Oregon and made the same year as the theatre was built, 1926! THE GENERAL is considered by critics to be one of the greatest films ever made - and a live organ soundtrack will make it a cinematic experience not to be missed!

I ordered my ticket and one to the 2 p.m. matinee of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" on September 7. Can't wait!

Parked

The blue bicycle with the pink front wheel and the yellow back wheel caught my eye as I walked by. Then I noticed the child seat on back of that other bike. I didn't walk inside to look for parked cars, but surely there were some somewhere, some time. After all, it's a parking garage.

Back to the Waterfront Blues Festival, July 5, at the FedEx Crossroads Stage

You could hear him before you could see him. The stage, the smallest, most intimate one at the festival, sat beneath some trees off to the south side of the Hawthorne Bridge, enclosed in a chain link fence. Intrigued, I entered through the opening in the fence and found a seat on the front row of the portable metal bleachers. Am I ever proud of myself for doing that!
 

Mesmerized, I stayed and witnessed Lloyd Allen, Sr. gather us all up in the palm of his hand, playing the blues with classy skills honed through the years. Here's what I found on the Waterfront Blues Festival Web site: Lloyd Allen Sr. is a charming, smartly dressed blues practitioner with over six decades of experience with the blues. He began his performance career at age 13 with the Vibratones and later became one-quarter of the blues foursome, the Cannonballs. Allen's guitar and vocal chops have yielded opening slots for the likes of B.B. King, Dinah Washington and more.
 

I took 78 photos. These are my favorites.
 

Easy to see why, right? And how's this for way cool. Mr. Allen played at the Blue Diamond on Friday, August 2! Right near where I live, as some of your realize. I am blessed.

Back to the Waterfront Blues Festival, July 5, at the Oregonian Front Porch Stage

The Ben Rice Band won the Cascade Blues Association's Journey to Memphis finals and will be at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, January, 2014. I thoroughly enjoyed their entire set. Out of the 156 photos I took, this is my favorite.

Back to the Waterfront Blues Festival, July 5, gotta wonder how long he lasted

I imagine about the time he ran out of running room 'cause the crowd grew and grew, he ran out of gas, too. Cute little guy in his Syracuse Athletics shirt.

Back to the Waterfront Blues Festival, July 5, Let's get this party started! And several inadvertent plugs for corporate sponsors

First large-scale sight of the day, right about 10:30 a.m., a welcoming spray from the Portland Water Bureau's fireboat. To me, it doesn't get any better than this--living in a city with a river running through it, populated by all sorts of waterborne vessels, some outfitted with water canons! Well, I have to tell the truth, it does get better, when the water is red, white and blue. Rising above the Willamette River is the north- and south-bound Interstate 5 on the Marquam Bridge. The various shaped roofs you see, and the red chimney, are the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, a great place to visit. The red letters you can see on the wall, beneath the leftmost water cannon spray, spell OMSI. We say Ahm-zee around here.
 

First large-scale sound of the day, the Transcendental Brass Band played their way across the bowl at Tome McCall Waterfront Park on their way to the rest of the festival grounds. Love, love, love those sounds!

BTW, did you see the inadvertent plugs for corporate sponsors? Two are major sponsors, FedEx and Kia, the other is a Safeway Sponsorship Partner, Dave's Killer Bread.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 5

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 


Today's post of another stairway, the last one in this five-day series, is one that I could only take figuratively, as in just take a photograph and long to climb the stairs and turn the curve from where I stood across NE Wistaria. So, I used the satellite view of Google Maps on the iPhone and saw that there is a really big looking house at the top of those stairs which curve sharply to the right into the yard before turning ninety degrees so that one can eventually walk up onto a porch at the back of the house. Too bad I couldn't just make myself walk on up and ask if I could take a look at the view from their yard and or home. But I that would have taken a degree of intrusiveness, nay, rudeness which I don't possess. Literally or figuratively.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 4

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 

Just to the left of the stairway seen in the post on Wednesday, August 21, I noticed this completely different stairway, one that you'd never catch me taking although you can tell it's not locked, nor is it controlled by any vigilant human being. It does head for an unlocked gate in the chain link fence. So, since I am not a goat, literally, I took this stairway figuratively. And I tried to crop the vertical image into two separate images which I could then resized and juxatposed on the screen so that you could get an almost accurate idea of why I found this stairway the most interesting of all that I saw. Who took the time to find these stones? To place them there? What was the weather like when it was done? How long have they been there? At any point in time, have people walked up and down the stairway?

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 3

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
  After I visited with my friend for a while, I walked back the way I had come, until I got to that set of stairs that I had actually walked up. I then continued westward on the less steep street to NE 47th where I turned south and walked to NE Sandy Blvd. where I waited six minutes for the homeward bound 6 bus. On the way to that destination, I passed this stairway, another one controlled by a vigilant human or two which I decided to take, as in photograph. I could not take it, as in walk it, because it too was locked. For me, though, this stairway is more interesting than the boring one in the Tuesday, August 20, post. I think it's the mystery at the top, brought on by the hint of a change in direction.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 2

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 

I figuratively took these stairs, as in I took this photograph but, as you can see there on the left, the gate is padlocked, so no walking up allowed to any passersby. Looks like no owner literally takes any time with this stairway, making this stairway interesting to photograph.
 

The next stairway I walked by, controlled by at least one vigilant human, thereby rendering this particular stairway boring to photograph--I only did it to contrast with the other one.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 1

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 

I literally took these stairs on Saturday morning on my way from the 12 bus at NE 50th and NE Sandy Blvd. to a friend's house on NE 50th between NE Alameda and NE Stanton. On the bus ride there, I kept thinking to myself, I bet I'm going to have to walk up a hill, hopefully not too steep a hill. At home I had looked at the general location on Google Maps on the iMac, and I knew that I had Google Maps on the iPhone, so at least I wasn't worried about getting lost, just out of breath. Well, when I saw a Dead End sign as I walked north on NE 50th, I thought, "Well, shoot, I didn't pay enough attention to that Google Map at home."

I fired up the Google Maps on the iPhone and realized that I could walk one block west, then continue north on NE 49th. When I came to the spot on the street that you see at the bottom of these stairs, I looked to my right at the curved, sloping road, then I looked at the stairs and decided I'd take the stairs. Maybe the road I would reach wouldn't be as steep, maybe it would be parallel in slope, I wouldn't know until I got there. I can report that I made it up these stairs way easier than I figured I would and the road was noticeably less steep. And I made the decision to seek an alternate route that didn't involve walking back down this stairway to get to the return bus home. Happy to be closer to my destination, according to Google Maps and my own sense of direction, I walked along the north side of NE Wistaria and came across other stairways. Come back tomorrow and over the next few days to see them. Thank you.

Seen in the neighborhood

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I hope you'll be able to make out the spiderweb to the left of the tree trunk. I didn't want to walk on someone's private property to get the photo, so I cropped and upped the contrast, trying to make them visible for you. I certainly enjoyed seeing them while I was out on a walk. By the way, the silver streaks were sunlit spiderwebs, too. So lovely, especially since I had no fear of becoming entwined in them from where I stood on the sidewalk.

What could these be? Look all the way to the last of the post and see.

Clue 1A
 

Clue 1B
 

Clue 2A



Clue 2B



Clue 2C
 

Clue 2D
  

Clue 2E
 

Da-da! Here for you to see.



And here, too. Which clue gave it away for you? I'm curious. Thanks!



And most unbelievable of all, this price tag! I couldn't see the one of the green chair from out of the sidewalk where I stood, gawking and photographing. I'm guessing it was a twin, if not identical at least fraternal. Note, the word consignment on the tag. I have no idea if these two ever sold. Nor can I imagine sitting on either. Have you had the opportunity to sit on something like either one of these? I am still curious. Thanks!

Waterfront Blues Festival, July 4, 2013, After-Hours Allstars at the Marriott

The fabulous music just kept on coming, y'all! And I took some photos as allowed by the light and my momentary ability to stand still. It was not easy to do that because these folks had us all movin' this and movin' that. I had a blast! The party was over around midnight, and I ended up waiting for-ev-er for a cab, which made me some kind of tired on July 5, but it was worth it!
 

Patrick Lamb hosted the after-hours party on July 4. I'm hoping that I have the identities right on these other musicians. Maybe someone will comment if I've made error, straighten me out and all that.
 

Eddie Martinez
 

Ben Jones, with the silhouette of a nearby microphone making like some sort of tattoo. I hope Ben's OK with this photo.
 

Tad Robinson
 

Jennifer Batten
 

Patrick with Andy Stokes.



Patrick getting down on that saxophone, with the nearby microphone thankfully not making a tattoo on his face.
 

Jennifer again.
 

Andy again.


I love this photo because to me it shows the appreciation that one musician has for the efforts of another.
 

This is a much better profile photo of Ben. Yea!
 

A candid moment as the end of the song is near. Love the animation!
 

Tim "Too Slim" Langford
 

Karen Lovely moves a whole lot while singing.
 

See what I mean?
 

For a split second, Karen was still enough for me to get a mostly focused photo. Yea!
  Here they are during the last song of the night, two Portland gems, Patrick Lamb and Ben Jones. Most Thursday evenings, Ben hosts Ben Jones and Friends at the Blue Diamond PDX, my neighborhood bar which has live music seven nights a week. Sweet!

Seen in the neighborhood

A vintage gas station, what my parents and grandparents often called a filling station or a service station, houses the closest Goodwill to my studio apartment. It's a good thing that it is a Donation Express only. I have plenty of stuff already. I took this photo at 7:37 p.m. on May 9, 2013, so those items that had been donated during the day must have already been loaded onto that truck prior to being taken to another location for sorting and pricing and such--that's my guess anyway. Lots of times when I've taken notice, that garage has been full of all sorts of stuff.

Waterfront Blues Festival, July 4, 2013, After-Hours Allstars at the Marriott

I left the Blues Benefactor reserved seating and headed for the party at the Marriott before the end of the fireworks. From the moment I bought my four-day pass One of my main goals for the day was to get inside that room and enjoy more blues, up close and personal. I figured it would end up packed and I certainly didn't want to get left out. Ended up not being any problem for me, at all. I sat on the front row to the right of the stage and patiently waited for the fun to begin. So fitting that I got this "blue" photo of the drum set while I waited.