UPDATE and I miss being out and about, looking for fall foliage to photograph. The next best thing, searching my Flickr account for photos taken in October. 2007.

UPDATE: Saturday's been much like Friday, and I'm thankful for no increase in the fatigue. Leland, my younger son, came over today and did two loads of laundry, figured out what I'd touched on my camera to cause a couple of distracting actions and tried patiently to get stuck in my chemo-addled-mind what to do if/when either one happens again.



Downtown, the elk stands tall on SW Main between two lovely, square block city parks. I really like this statue, The Thompson Elk Fountain. Notice that line of TriMet buses in the background? Since this is October, 2007, the downtown Transit Mall is rerouted to SW Third--the street you see--and SW 4th which is behind me to the west, so that the actual mall on SW 5th and SW 6th could be totally redone which took a couple of years. The building with the teal-colored glass is the Justice Center, home to various courts and one of the Multnomah County jails. I've seen vintage photos of horses hitched into delivery wagons drinking from this fountain, and I've witnessed Portland Police Bureau horses taking a drink from it.



The teal-colored lower floors of the Portland Building look neat against the golden leaves of the gingko trees. Here's a bit about the fountain, from the city's Web site, fountain page: David P. Thompson drove sheep to Portland over the Oregon Trail. From 1879-82 he served as Portland's Mayor. In 1900, Thompson's gift of this bronze elk sculpture was intended to commemorate elk that once grazed nearby. Roland Hinton Perry sculpted the elk.



Here's a 4 bus making its way by the elk without difficulty. Lots of days after work, I'm on that bus, lately only if I miss the Portland Streetcar outside my work building.



Other vehicles successfully pass the fountain, too.

Clues that he's in a hurry.

Clue #1--he's jay-walking, on busy downtown SW 6th Avenue, the northbound leg of the Transit Mall. These blocks are only 200 feet long, y'all. I cannot imagine why would he take such a chance. But, there he goes, angling across all designated lanes--those for private-owner vehicles, TriMet MAX Light Rail trains, and buses from TriMet and C-TRAN (the Clark County Washington public transportation agency).



Clue #2--he's barely letting his feet stay on the pavement, striding out with purpose, using his arms efficiently despite the heavy-looking duffle bag in his right hand.



Clue #3--he's changing direction just enough now to make me certain that he's going to go west on SW Taylor. That bus, the #199, 99th St. Express, is a C-TRAN bus.



Clue #4--he's appears to confirm what I had guessed, going west on SW Taylor, towards wherever his bicycle waits patiently. Why do I think he continued left instead of crossing the Taylor and going south? Especially with the crossing signal on red? I don't know. He certainly had not paid any attention to other traffic signals in the time it took for him to jay-walk.

I wonder. Is this is a daily routine for this man, to throw caution to the wind after taking the time to don his bike helmet and shoes, secure his pants legs, throw his backpack onto his back, grab his duffle bag with his right hand, and his bicycle gloves with his left? I'm glad that his yellow sweater grabbed my attention so that I could get these four quick photos after work on April 2, 2014, as I waited for my second of the two buses I take on my homebound commute. The time on each photo is 5:17 p.m. I thoroughly enjoy my Nikon D5100, DSLR. Yes, I do.