Memorial Day at Schreiner's Iris Gardens - I keep going back to take a look at these beautifully presented flowers. Today, all sorts of purples, lavenders and blues.

I took this photo while seated on a sturdy white bench. It's great to get this perspective without worrying about wobbling due to 66-year-old legs/knees and my general lack of being balanced.



This one is called Blue Hour.



This one is called Countess Cathleen.



These flower beds are in the area farthest from the parking lot, well worth the walk which is either on grass or a hard-packed dirt path. Lots of shade, too.



These are called Astro Blue.



Creamy columbine blossoms among the purples and the blues.



The iris Berry Fulfilling and a whole lot of two-colored columbines.



A rhododendron and lots of hostas on that dirt path. Such a pretty place to walk.

Red, white and blue, re-do!

Seen-on-the-streets of Portland, vintage vehicles, a patriotic trio.

A primary color, blue, more beautiful blues

The bright blue of a Camaro Z28. I don't know the year. I took this photo towards the end of an extremely hot visit to 429 vehicles at the Olympia Street Rod Association Car Show at the Lucky Eagle Casino, Rochester, Washington, August 14, 2010.


The blue of the wall at Rocco's Original Pizza, on the corner of SW 10th and West Burnside, catty-cornered from Powells Books.


The deep blue of a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe Fastback, photographed in a bit of shade, at the car show at the Lucky Eagle.


Another view of the same automobile, in the sun.

A primary color, blue, lots and lots of blues

The various blues of the lap quilt made by Mama's Aunt Eva and adored by our Duncan, the darlin' dachshund.


The powder blues of a summertime hydrangea.


The blue of the fireboat water spray, Rose Festival, 2008, when the fleet came in to dock.


Blue wildflower at the Festival of Flowers, Pioneer Courthouse Square, downtown Portland.

A primary color, blue, a variety of blues

Sky blue, behind Andrew Carson's kinetic sculpture, Galaxy. Seen at Stevenson, Washington, on Thursday, August 19, 2010. I took the day off from work, we got us a Zipcar, and went on a nice little tour of Highway 14 on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge, taking our California buds Pat and Danielle sightseeing. There's some blue glass on the sculpture, too, a deep, deep blue.


Steering wheel, dash and felt dice, 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne, seen at the Olympia Street Rod Association Car Show at the Lucky Eagle Casino, Rochester, Washington, August 14, 2010.


The back end of the 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne--a gorgeous blue. According to 1959 Classic Chevrolet on the World Wide Web, this is not one of the original body colors of that year.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - ABC Wednesday, B is for ball and busker and blue

When Mama and I took the MAX on Saturday, we knew we'd see plenty. We didn't expect to see this busker sort of gently juggling this ball.


While we're on ABC Wednesday, B, here's a close up of the busker, the ball, and his blue-tinted sunglasses.


And here's the entire young man. The first time I saw his performance, I put some money in his can, and he stopped to quickly shake my hand! Right after I took these photos, someone dropped something in, and the busker shook his hand, too.

As the MAX car started up again and we rolled away, I asked Mama, "Wasn't that neat?" She said, "Sure was," and had trouble believing he was not a robot!

UPDATED TO ADD:

Here's the last photo I took, just before the doors slid shut and the MAX train left the intersection on the green traffic signal.


And here's Merriam Webster online's take on busker:

Function:noun
Etymology: busk, probably from Italian buscare to procure, gain, from Spanish buscar to look for
Date: 1857

chiefly British : a person who entertains in a public place for donations

Blue, continued, because I have several more photos to share

Earlier in October, when the D50 was at the camera hospital, I took this photo with that little CoolPix L12. It's the Orientale Motif Shop at 725 NW 23rd Ave., purveyors of jewelry, Oriental goods and foods. I don't have Photoshop, but I did set the camera to allow in more light. How about that electric blue sky?

November Theme: The Color Blue -- Here's Flat Stanley, come to visit Portland, Oregon

Here's a close up photo of Flat Stanley. Christopher, a first grader in Mrs. Adams' Achievers at Steen's Creek Elementary in Florence, Mississippi, sent him to Portland, with a note dated Sept. 14, 2007:

Dear "Miss" Edna, Lynette and Duncan,

In school we read a book about a boy who got flattened by a bulletin board. His name is Stanley, now it is Flat Stanley. He wanted to go on a trip, so his family folded him up and mailed him to California.

I am mailing my Flat Stanley to you. Please take him somewhere and write me back telling me about his adventures. If you have pictures, postcards, or brochures, please send them back with him. I will share his adventures with my classmates and this will help my classmates and I learn more about other places in the world.

Thank you for helping me with this project. I wish I could fold myself up and visit you.

Love, Christopher

P. S. Please try to send Flat Stanley back to my school, Steen's Creek Elementary, by March 1.

Since Flat Stanley arrived in Portland, he has been here, there, and everywhere, sometimes with just me--Lynette. Sometimes "Miss Edna" and Duncan go, too. My plan is for you to get to tour Portland and its surroundings along with Flat Stanley and us, through this blog and my other blog, Mama and Me from PDX.

Before we could start on the tour, I decided that Flat Stanley needed a bit of help to remain upright. And I had the perfect solution, packed away somewhere in the closet. Miracle of miracles, I went to the exact box and found the blue scooter you will see along with Stanley in each photo.

Let's get started, with Stop #1 on our tour.

From across the street this blue statue of a man standing in a big, lighted window caught my eye. I pointed it out to Flat Stanley who said, "Cool." So the two of us crossed the street to the Mark Woolley Gallery at 817 SW 2nd Avenue.

Cool was right! Not only was the statue blue, but it was James Brown! The mosaic ceramic statue, by Anthony Tovell, was at the gallery as part of the then current show: BE BLUE (SKY). The gallery's Web site says "Be Blue (Sky) is a multimedia group show intending to explore and celebrate the color BLUE. Not as in “BLUE” (depressed) but as in “BLUE SKY” (i.e. “He’s so ‘blue sky’: open, vibrant, true, contagiously enthusiastic)." That's cool, too.



Here's a photo of Flat Stanley standing in the window with "James Brown as Blue Buddha"--that's the name the artist gave the statue.



To get everyone off on the good foot, I've introduced Flat Stanley in the same way over at Mama and Me from PDX. After this, though, things might/could/may be different at each blog. I'll let you know so that you won't miss a single bit of thing Flat Stanley sees or learns about while he's in Portland.

By the way, the answer to "What can you find in both photos that you would not expect to find in photos taken six weeks apart?" from yesterday's post is the red car. Only if you've been to Portland (or any other spot on earth where finding a parking space is one of the great joys of your life) will you understand how crazy it is to see what appears to be the same exact car parked in the same exact space at close to the same exact time of day--six weeks apart! Congratulations to eagle-eye Kerri, from Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. And thanks to all who looked and thought and guessed.

There are 121 blogs taking part in today's theme. Check them out at
Boston (MA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Portland (OR), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Arradon, France - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Stockholm, Sweden - Singapore, Singapore - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Toulouse, France - The Hague, Netherlands - Moscow, Russia - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Stayton (OR), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Detroit (MI), USA - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Greenville (SC), USA - Hyde, UK - Radonvilliers, France - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Saarbrücken, Germany - New Orleans (LA), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Forks (WA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Barton (VT), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Joplin (MO), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Setúbal, Portugal - Inverness (IL), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - Toruń, Poland - North Bay (ON), Canada - Le Guilvinec, France - Chateaubriant, France - London, England - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Sydney, Australia - Austin (TX), USA - Mumbai, India - Boston (MA), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Paderborn, Germany - Montréal (QC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Orlando (FL), USA - Grenoble, France - Cheltenham, UK - Forks (WA), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - London, UK - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Belgrade, Serbia - Paris, France - Shanghai, China - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Montpellier, France - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Auckland, New Zealand - Evry, France - New York City (NY), USA - Nottingham, UK - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Oslo, Norway - Minneapolis (MN), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Trujillo, Peru - Trujillo, Peru - Melbourne (VIC), Australia - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Durban, South Africa - Brussels, Belgium - Anderson (SC), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Wellington, New Zealand - Prague, Czech Republic - Saigon, Vietnam - Ystad, Sweden - Miami (FL), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Hong Kong, China - Melbourne, Australia - Baziège, France - Greensboro (NC), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia