Blue sky really does happen in Portland, in a very big way!

I saw it last Thursday, about 6:20 p.m. as I approached the Hollywood Theater to meet the group about to embark on the Hollywood Neighborhood Walk, thanks to the Architectural Historical Center.

We walked for two hours, seeing lots of houses and buildings in the neighborhood, hearing all about them. I thought it particularly interesting that this movie theater is what gave the neighborhood its name and that the guide said he couldn't think of another Portland neighborhood which got its name that way.

More photos soon.

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.

Waiting for the MAX Yellow Line with my music on the iPhone

Too many minutes in between trains, cool breeze, all bundled up and no place to go, so I listened to train songs. I mean, the other night when I waited for a 12 bus diagonally across the street from the Hollywood Theater, I listened to Hollywood by Los Lonely Boys and Hollywood Swinging by Kool and the Gang. By the time I do this the third time, I will have started a new tradition!


First song, Freedom Train by Lenny Kravitz.


Second song, Hey Porter by Johnny Cash.


Third song, Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash.

By the way, I was listening each time to the iPod like it was a transistor radio--I didn't dig out my ear buds, either it was too cold and rainy or it was too cold and windy to take off my ear muffs.

Surprise Snow, December 29, 2009

The traffic waits at the intersection of SE Grand and SE Morrison. The snow falls as it had been doing since mid-afternoon. Rain had been predicted, but as I understood it from hearing something on the radio, frigid wind blew in from the east, right through the Columbia River Gorge and into Portland and other nearby areas.

Silly me--I had paid attention to the morning weather report. I had my umbrella; I left my YakTrax at home! This time of year I always wear two coats, the outer one a water-repellant coat, the inner one a fleece jacket. Thank goodness it was a wet snow and that few people had walked the sidewalk between my building and this bus stop. I could avoid compacted, slippery looking snow very easily. However, I did not feel safe enough to go to the Hollywood Theater for Charles Phoenix's Retro Holiday Slide Show. I lost the $15 I had paid for the ticket, but I didn't slide down. Ha, ha--that's sort of a pun! A little over two and a half hours after I took this photo, I walked into the apartment thanks to the skillful, determined man driving the #15 bus.

More surprise snow photos tomorrow!