UPDATE and if I were to need floor coverings, I'd include this business in my search

UPDATE: Well, I can tell you one thing for certain-sure. Even with chemo-induced fatigue, you need to get up and walk as often as you are able to make yourself because you won't do your so-called stamina any good otherwise. I found out for sure on my way to work and on my way home. Since the chemo last Thursday, I've taken a lot of naps, slept all night every night, but not walked much. I made it today, there and back, but I could tell right away that I should've been making myself walk in the hallway of my building, if not outside because some days it was in the 80s out there. Now, I'm smarter than ever, y'all, because I'm learning from my own experience. Thanks again for every single prayer, for you love, and for your concern!



Today on the way home, the first leg of the commute, I rode the Portland Streetcar north on SE Grand until I arrived at East Burnside where I got off and transferred to a 19 bus. While riding along on the streetcar, I took a few photos out the fabulously large windows. I decided, when I looked at this photo of Paulson's Floor Coverings that, if I were to ever own a house again--which will only happen if I win a big ol' lottery, y'all, and it won't be a house, it will be a building with a parking garage in the basement--that I'd have no qualms shopping here. Look how neat the building and parking lot look. Wouldn't you find that inviting? There used to be a Paulson's on NE Sandy so I'm familiar with their multi-colored sign which was on top of that store. I consider it to be mid-century in design--they've been in business since 1921, so it might be something introduced in the 1950s. What do you think? When the store on Sandy closed, I wondered where it would end up, if anywhere. Lo and behold, on my home bound commute, if I am able to catch the streetcar in a timely fashion.



By the way, here's the sign on the store on Sandy, painted over unimaginatively by the tenant at the time I took the photo, March 22, 2014. I haven't been by there lately, but whenever I do get close enough to take a photo, I hope it's been revived somehow, at least with some bright colors, for goodness sakes!

City Daily Photo Monthly Theme Day is Upside Down

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The sign I ran into and repositioned, making it upside down. I can't remember, but maybe it had been knocked around, loosened up, by various other folks, maybe some on bicycles--lots of bicycles cross the Willamette River on the Hawthorne Bridge when they go straight at this intersection. Or maybe folks had turned right from SE Madison onto SE Grand too close to the curb and jarred the edge of the sign, weakening the connectors holding it in place. All I remember is that as I trotted across the street and hopped up onto the sidewalk so that I could board the bus, I misjudged my position in relation to the sign and whammed into it with my right upper arm, dislodging it. Little did I know that I had created the perfect image for the City Daily Photo Theme Day!

Seen outside near the building with the mural, yesterday's post

After I noticed that mural and took those photos, I decided to sit down on the bench nearby so that I could look at the photos to see if I had some good ones. That's when I notice the words on the bench. I tried to hold my phone up high, parallel with the bench and take a photo without wiggling around and ruining the focus.

I think it turned out pretty good. I cropped and changed it to HDR at Befunky so that you could see what had been penciled in beneath the painted on message.

Satisfying curiosity

See the red sign with the white U? This is the first one that I can remember noticing. I took this photo on April 3, 2009, while waiting for the 15 bus home from Fred Meyer on West Burnside and NW 20th Place.

Here's what I've read about the sign (in a July 15, 2010, article in The Oregonian) which I have since noticed posted on other buildings here and there:

The signs, placed on at least 21 Portland buildings since the (fire) bureau introduced its Unsafe Building Alerts Program in December 2009, tell firefighters that if a fire were to break out in the building, it would be unsafe to battle from inside. Firefighters will still enter to rescue people, though. 

"We need a way (to know) from the outside of the building that the building is structurally unsafe," Oswalt said. "The big U is the way we do it." He said the signs are similar to those that warn of hazardous materials, such as the ones on schools that have chemistry labs.

Oswalt said there's no reason for the public to stop visiting the businesses; if the Fire Bureau deemed them unsafe, they would be forced to close. A building gets one of the signs if a fire inspector and city engineer determine together that not every part of it meets fire codes. Reasons vary, Oswalt said, from structural problems to too few exits. Finders Keepers, for example, is in a 70-year-old building that has been renovated several times and has some rooms without exits. If the owner updates the building to meet the codes, the sign can be removed.

And here's what I read in that same article about this particular sign on the building that houses The Kingston:

At another building, at 2021 S.W. Morrison St., Don Mutal, a representative for the building's owner, said plans are under way to renovate the top two floors into six townhouses, which should bring the 1911 building into compliance.

"For us, it's just a temporary thing," Mutal said of the red sign outside one of the doors. "It wasn't worth arguing about. It's really a good thing for the fire department." 

Customers of the building's ground-floor Kingston Bar & Grill, a neighborhood favorite, have asked employee Gary Jondahl about the sign. "Ninety-nine percent of them don't know what it means," said Jondahl, whose wife manages the bar. Jondahl said customers shouldn't worry about it, though, and those gathered there on a recent day didn't seem to.

Frequent patron Glenn Haneberg said he's drawn in part by the building's early 20th-century charm. "I like this bar; I like that it's old," he said. He's never noticed the sign, he said, and doubts others have, either. "I'm on the ground floor. I'm next to an exit," he said. But, he added, the sign "might affect me if I were looking for a place to rent above."

Michael Wells said he isn't surprised the older buildings are being marked. "Some buildings might not get the attention they deserve," he said. "Now that I know what it means, I'll notice it more."

Sophie Lareva, waiting at a bus stop across the street, has noticed the sign and thought it was some kind of advertisement. After learning its meaning, Lareva said she would keep an eye out for other ones. "It probably would make me a little nervous" to enter a marked building, she said, "because it's more vulnerable to fire."



FYI. Here's the building with this particular U on it in a photo that I took in September, 2007. That's West Burnside on the left side of the building, SW Morrison on the right side of it. I've not been in the neighborhood lately, but the next time I'm over there, I want to look for the U sign and for whether or not the top floors have finally been renovated.

By the way, one of my bucket list things to do, when I win the lottery, is to own a triangle-shaped building, a piece of life's pie.

Let's side-step to Portland for a bit, taking a look at one of my favorite signs. We'll go back on the England Scotland Heritage Tour 2014 soon--promise!

Saturday, November 15, while out and about on a cold, blue-sky day, I finally had the sense to take this photo, one I've wanted to take for a very long time. As often as I've attended Saturday morning lectures at the Architectural Heritage Center, whose building backs up to this bicycle store, you'd think I would have remembered it before now. Nope. Never walked around to this side of the store to take a photo of these eleven cyclists and their bicycles which fascinate me. In fact, they make me wish that I had created them.



Here's a photo I took on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. I count eight cyclists up there on the roof at that time. I thought there were more up there these days. Nice to have proof!



And here's one I took on Saturday, November 18, 2010--eight cyclist then, too. I like the newer look with the eleven cyclists.

Signs, out and about in NE Portland, No. 3

One more sign seen from the TriMet bus, the windshield this time. I believe it's also vintage. Too bad the bus driver's aisle-view mirror sort of destroys the shape of the top section.

Signs, out and about in NE Portland, No. 2

Northeast Portland interests me for many reasons, not the least of which are the sorts of signs I find now and then. This one seen from the TriMet bus window, used to say Paulsons on the ovals--I think it's vintage and have to wonder if it originated with the Paulson's Floor Covering store that used to be in the building, since the number of ovals matches the number of letters in the word. There must've been an apostrophe on that next to the last oval, looking left to ride as we ride along westward on NE Sandy Blvd.
 

Seen on my walk to work, well, I didn't walk the whole two miles, just one mile.

Too bad this old painted-on-the-brick-wall sign has been tagged. I took this photo on June 30, 2011. There was a for lease sign on the building which was an auto repair shop called Spike's. As our weather improves each day, I'm beginning to walk more on the way to work. Tuesday morning I walked a mile, on a different route than the day that I took this photo.



I took these photos on September 13, 2011, when I walked to work. Are changes coming to Spike's?



Taggers struck without regard to the costs of their creativity.



I took this photo on November 9, 2011. I need to go by that way again and check out the changes. I'll bet there will be several to see. I hope it is a t

Seen in the neighborhood, rotating sign #4

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At some point since I moved to Portland in June, 2006, I've seen both parts of this sign rotate, the Chevrolet "bowtie" and the word Wentworth. Seems like on the day that I took these photos neither one of them rotated.



See, the other side of the word sign is Chevytown. Cool.



I took these photos through the windows of the Portland Streetcar, although I have walked on this street, SE Grand Avenue, now and then.

Seen in the neighborhood, rotating sign #2

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Gotta love this sign, even if there is no Dairy Ease Lactose Free Milk represented which is the type of milk I am thankful exists. This rotating sign is also within walking distance of where I live. And I can testify that I don't smell milk when I walk by, a good thing in my mind.

What results when an upper arm collides with a No Parking/Bus Goes Here sign?

I know that on Tuesday, October 16, as I trotted across the street to catch the homeward bound bus, I made a mistake.

I took this photo on Thursday as I waited to catch the bus at that same intersection.

Yes, I am the woman who solidly collided with the edge of the then upright sign. It happened as I attempted to hop up onto the curb so that I could walk a few feet to the bus. My left upper arm hit the edge of the sign so hard that I bounced right back onto the street, staying on my feet just fine. I adjusted my direction a little to the right, and then hopped onto the curb and walked to the waiting bus.

All of this had happened in full view of the bus driver, who asked as I stepped through the door, "Are you OK?" to which I replied, "Yes." Then I turned toward him so that he could see my upper arm straight on and asked, "Is there a hole in my sleeve?" "No," he replied. "Then I know that I'm OK. Thanks!" I said.

Just before we pulled away from the curb, I looked out the windshield and noticed that the top of the sign tilted to the right about 10 degrees, but I couldn't imagine that my running into it had caused that to happen; I vividly remembered feeling the length of the sign's edge when I hit it with my upper arm. However, after seeing what you see in the photo on Thursday, just two days after I had run into the sign, it appears that my hitting it so hard must have loosened the connection. I'll never know for sure.

Needless to say, I still have a bruise, but all of the soreness is gone. And, thankfully, on Wednesday, the company nurse managed quite professionally to give me my flu shot well away from the impact site.

Can you guess the two-word name of this business?

Two clues. One, the shape of the sign itself. Two, the red-colored design inside the circle. First word, seven letters; second word, six letters. Have fun! For those in Portland, the business is on the north side of NE Sandy Blvd., just east of the intersection with NE 28th. I took the photo as I waited for the 12 bus.

So far as I know, this sign works.

And here's why.

Can I interest you in a cut or a shave?

Bart's Barbershop, 518 SE Morrison, ground floor of the Weatherly Building.

I boosted the color about 40% at Picnick. Made it all more vibrant.

Ambiguity

What do you think this sign really means?

Optimism

Mama Update #5, and an easily understood sign, or is it?

Mama's cadre of doctors want her to recuperate over the weekend while they evaluate her problem(s) and the possible solution(s). She's a bit less dizzy, pretty weak, slowly getting back her appetite, and ready to do whatever they tell her to do so that she can eventually get back the life that she had. We're all proud of her and her attitude. She's getting really good care at Providence Hospital on NE Glisan.



"Stop Here Until Door Closes." Straightforward wording for a rather large sign. For some reason, though, I'm getting another message from it. I'm not sure but I'll just bet there's a garage at the other end of that ramp, a garage in a high-priced condo building. I do know for sure that the building is in the Portland's Pearl District which is a high-priced part of the city, from all aspects. Anyway, I think the sign's there to make whoever has the "key" to the door stop at that point to prevent any other vehicles' piggy-backing into the private garage. For some reason the sign also says to me "If you don't have the key, you can't get in." This raises two questions in my mind. One, do you have to "get in" to feel successful? And second, why in the world am I having such a deep sort of thought? It must be the exhaustion. Or is it that I'm 60 now and may be more prone to deep thoughts?