UPDATE and another fine mural we found on Saturday

UPDATE: Today I had more of an appetite which led me to eat a bit more--hooray! Still very little pain or peripheral neuropathy which is usually diminishing by now anyway, based on the previous rounds of chemo. Thank you so much for your continued prayers, love, and concern.



#407SEMLK for this great mural on the side of River City Bicycles which is located directly behind one of my favorite places in Portland, the Architectural Heritage Center--the brick building you can see on the right of the photo. There's a cropped photo at the bottom of the post so that you are able to see more mural details.

About one of the artists, Celeste Byers: Celeste Byers is an avid nature worshiper from San Diego, California. Her work combines inspiration from the natural world, everyday life, inter-dimensional realities and the subconscious mind, and takes form in a variety of mediums including film and animation, paintings, drawings, music, murals and sculptural installations.

About the other artist, Aaron Glasson: In his previous lives, Aaron Glasson has worked as a fish and chip cook in his native New Zealand, an ocean activist in Antarctica, a snowboard instructor in Japan and a university professor in Sri Lanka. He now resides in California, where he works as a freelance creative director and paints his brightly hued artworks.



Looks like some fun being had by a mother and child, floating on a sunny day. The mom's tattoo's are intriguing, as is how her foot that is lowered in the blue water changes to purple from the pink of her skin in the sunshine. I love all of these colors!

UPDATE and someone else I noticed while out and about on Saturday

UPDATE: Still not much energy or appetite but, thankfully, still less pain. I'm making it, y'all. Thanks for your continued prayers, love, and concern.



Once the long freight train started going by, I couldn't stop watching. I love trains! When I noticed this woman stretching, I figured that I could get a good photo, too. Lucked out, now that I've cropped it and added some fill light so that you are better able to see it. I like how it looks like the guy is holding the American flag when, in reality, it is painted on the side of the locomotive. Serendipity!

UPDATE and someone else enjoying yesterday's great weather

UPDATE: I'm sort of surprised that I don't have as much pain in my knees or peripheral neuropathy as I've had after the first three rounds of chemo. I don't know if it's slower hitting me or less than before. Time will tell. I don't feel like doing much, but there's less pain which is OK with me.



Yesterday while taking photos of Forest for the Trees 2015 murals, I noticed this man on in-line skates tootling along with his two dogs on leashes. Intrigued, I had to take a few photos. The three of them moved so quickly that I only managed to get one that showed the man's skates and each dog completely. I cropped it so that you could see it better, plus I added some fill light at BeFunky dot com. You can tell from the man's billowing jacket that they were going along at a good clip.

UPDATE and Leland and I went looking for the Forest for the Trees, 2015

UPDATE: Slept well, woke up not hungry but eventually I ate a late breakfast, a late lunch, and a late supper. Not much at any one meal, but I'm not doing anything wrong here, promise. Eating right, just not too much. The peripheral neuropathy has started but hasn't hit too hard yet, in either hands or lower legs or feet. Thank you for your continued prayers, love, and concern.



Leland and I went out in his car for a couple of hours this afternoon after I had rested some in the recliner. We hunted for Forest for the Trees 2015 murals in inner Southeast Portland. What fun! Here are several photos that I took of the mural I featured yesterday. This is its hash tag, #525SEPine. The building's address is 525 SE Pine. I took these photos from the parking lot beside the other mural in yesterday's post; it's on the building behind the one on Pine and is at 524 SE Ash. I like this photo because I managed to get the glitter of the gold paint, fooling around with the exposure compensation. Yea!



Here's a more realistic photo of the north end of this narrow mural.



I managed to get most of the mural in this photo. You're able to read that is says, Nothing good comes easy. At least, I hope that you are able to see all of the words. Although I'm happy that this mural found a home, I wish that it had been on a wall that made it easier to see the whole thing.



About one of the artists: Originally from Kazakhstan, Ola Volo is a Canadian illustrator with a distinctive style drawn from history, multiculturalism and folklore. Her intricate works bring together animals, people, architecture and nature to articulate diverse stories rich with symbolism and elaborate forms. (She's listed on the Web site as being out of Vancouver, Canada.)

Zach Yarrington is a Detroit-born artist and designer whose large-scale catchphrases can be seen scrawled on walls across the Pacific Northwest. Drawing on influences from both traditional American sign writing culture and his work as a creative director for a graphic arts studio, his bold words engage passersby in uplifting visual conversations. (He's listed on the Web site as being out of Portland.)

UPDATE and a few random photos to share with y'all

UPDATE: Made it OK today despite being somewhat exhausted. I have places where I am able to rest, thank goodness. Not that resting builds up stamina, it just allows me to get from A to B. I am grateful for that, let me tell you. I slept all night, another thing for which I am grateful.



The sky over the West Hills, seen from the rooftop garden at work, yesterday morning while I rested before my work began. Lovely.



Another Forest for the Trees 2015 mural, seen from the Portland Streetcar on the way home last Thursday. The building faces 524 SE Ash, but the mural faces SE Grand Avenue. Here's the hash tag for it, #524SEAsh. The artist is Jade Rivera.



Today after work when I rode by on the streetcar, I saw another mural right beside this one which is listed on the FFTT Web site as being on a building with the address of 525 SE Pine Street--Pine and Ash are a block apart. I hope to get a photo of the entire mural soon, but it may be difficult since there is a shorter building that abuts it that faces SE Grand, making it difficult to see unless you're making an effort to do so. In fact, in this wide shot of #524SEAsh that I took last Thursday, you can see the left-most section of the other mural. If I end up frustrated with my effort, Leland has said that we'll ride around in his car some time soon and take photos of FFTT from 2015 and 2014, maybe even 2013. Sweet! Depending upon where we stand to try to get a photo of this one, though, I may have to have Leland take mine for me--I'm currently just a bit taller than 5'2" while Leland's right at 6'which means he'll have a much better chance at a photo.



By the way, here's the streetcar I rode last Thursday. I enjoy it very much, mainly because the windows are huge, and it doesn't go too fast so you are able to look and look. Plus, one of these days I'll have the stamina to ride it all the way around Portland, from the Central Eastside over to Downtown then the South Waterfront and back! I just might get off here and there and take photos and then get on the next streetcar to continue making the loop. You should come to Portland and ride with me, sometime in 2016!

UPDATE and what I saw from the bus window on the way home from work

UPDATE: All day Tuesday I was a tad less exhausted--hooray! I slept fine last night and look forward to Wednesday going as well as Tuesday. I'd like that a whole lot. Thanks for your continued prayers, love, and concern.



Yesterday afternoon I missed the connection to the streetcar, so I took a 4 bus downtown and connected quickly with a 19 for the rest of the ride home. I got the first seat on the left as you enter the bus, one of my favorite seats because I can easily look out several windows. I noticed this new mural on SW 6th across from the Big Pink and the MAX stop. Excited to get a photo through the bus windshield! I figured it would be enough to look for it online to find out if it's one of 2015's Forest for the Trees murals, painted in August. Lo and behold, it is! Here's it's hashtag and its artists: #221SW6th BY SPENCER KEETON CUNNINGHAM, JAQUE FRAGUA as found on FFTT's Web site.

Also, here's a bit about FFTT from their Web site: Established in 2013, Forest For The Trees is a non-profit project dedicated to the creation of contemporary public art in Portland. The festival brings together local and international artists in a collaborative setting and provides them with the freedom and resources to create artworks in environments that are freely accessible to the local community.



Next, while we waited at the traffic signal at West Burnside and SW 4th, I could see this through the window across the bus from where I sat. I managed to zoom in quickly before the light changed--hooray! This lion is one of two at the China Gate entrance to China Town in Northwest Portland.




One final shot through that window, a quick one, of a section toward the top of the China Gate. Here's a bit about the area that I found online: Portland's Chinatown is the old area of town north of Downtown proper and just west of Old Town/Skidmore, although the lines between Chinatown, Old Town, and Downtown blur in reality and are somewhat arbitrary as the areas are all essentially "downtown" in character and location. The most obvious distinction is Burnside, the great north-south divider of Portland, which clearly separates Chinatown from Downtown proper.