Portland's downtown reflects the rising sun in front of gray skies

This might look like an every-day-sort-of-view. As I uploaded it to Flickr, I saw something else entirely. I looked at the roadway curving out of sight and thought about 2011 stretching out in front of us. I looked at the gray sky and thought about the shining buildings which mean there is sunshine around the corner. So, this photo is a metaphor for what I want 2011 to be for all of us, a journey towards whatever comes, counting each moment on the appearance of the sun.

More of Portland's skyline from my work building, before it started to rain

Dec. 14, 2009


Dec. 9, 2009


Dec. 8, 2009

Two Portland Skyline Photos

I took these photos last Thursday, Dec. 4, right after I got to my building. The sun reflected in that brightest spot sent rays of light clean across the Willamette River into the windows of my building! All the way from the windows, through an opening between two pods of cubicles, through an open door and onto the office wall, a glowing rectangle to the right of the door that opens from our Front Office into the hallway that leads to the elevators. Amazing!

Portland's Skyline, March 5, 2009

I took this with the CoolPix L12. For a week before I sent the D50 off for cleaning and maintenance, I took only the CoolPix with me, so that I could sort of wean myself off my digital SLR. The little one holds its on in some respects, but I will be so extremely, outta sight happy to get my hands on the D50 again!

Snow See-Saw continues

I noticed it was blowing and snowing, making the parts of the ground where Sunday's snow had melted white again. So I grabbed my camera and headed to the roof garden. Only thing, when I got there, it had quit! Still and all, I like these photos.
Looking southwest, towards the South Waterfront. See the aerial tram mid-way support on the right? The arches are the Ross Island Bridge.

A bit to the right of the first photo.

You could see more of the Marquam Bridge at that time.

Let's follow the red-cab 18-wheeler as it heads north on I-5, beside Part the skyline that I've come to adore.



This shot looks right towards our neighborhood, in the hills between the high rises. Do you see the row of little house-looking buildings, on the left side of the open area between the high rises? There are four in the back row and three visible in the front row. Those stand directly up the hill from us, on the side of a steep, steep bank that goes straight up, from our 300 or so to probably 900 or so, quickly. Oh, also, notice the strip of blue sky?

And on to the north, where the Big Pink stands tall.


At lunch, I noticed a gray cloud, coming from the south, right up the Willamette River valley. Later on I heard the weatherman say that it had brought warm air which cause most of what had fallen earlier to quickly melt.
Here's a tight shot.

And a wide shot.

Just to the north of the approaching cloud, I couldn't believe the blue sky. Plus, I like the juxtaposition of the tops of some of the grasses and the arch of the Fremont Bridge, just left of center.

You can see bits of the gray clouds, making their way north.


After work I had to stop at Fred Meyer again, the third time in less than a week! You see, at work we're doing the Secret Santa thing, culminating tomorrow with a pot luck. I already had my cocktail wienies and BBQ sauce, but I needed one more thing, due to one of my Secret Santa gifts I found this morning--a Wilton Holiday Cookie Set, complete with four cookie cutters and six containers of all sorts of red, green and white sprinklely things. So I got off the bus and bought some sugar cookie dough. When I walked to the store from the bus stop, the sidewalk was completely clear, wet but no snow. When I walked back out about 10 minutes later, it was white! I couldn't believe it. I went right back in, sat down on the bench, and put my Yak Trax onto my shoes!

Here's the same last shot from Tuesday and Wednesday, the sidewalk headed down NW 22nd Avenue from Burnside. You can see the new snow that covers the icy slush that remained.


It's been snowing lightly all evening and getting colder. Who knows what tomorrow morning will bring? If need be, Mama and I'll eat BBQ cocktail wienies and Christmas cookies tomorrow!

Early Morning Singing Song

How many times have you walked into where you work and been blinded for a second by light from an entirely unknown source? My first thought Oct. 26, just before 8 a.m., "Is that the sun?" Yep. I took these photos Oct. 26, just before 8 a.m. In the forefront you see the lit silhouettes of pampas grass growing on the rooftop garden. Above the brilliant reflection you see the moon which set behind the buildings moments after I took these photos.



To paraphrase "Good Morning, Starshine" from "Hair" --

Good morning sunshine.
Portland says hello.
You shine above us.
We shine below.

Good morning moonset.
You're saying so long,
Even though you're not gone yet.
Our early morning singing song.

Looking northwest, across the Willamette, at Portland's Downtown

I took this photo yesterday with my new camera, a Nikon CoolPix L12. The reason I have a new camera is that my Nikon D50 quit working on Sept. 11. The camera shop couldn't fix it, so it's gone to the camera hospital. I tried to take photos with my 2004 CoolPix, but I felt like I'd been rode hard and put up wet (tired), like I was running down the road out of alignment (frustrated), like the ground I walked on was spongy at best (worried). You get the picture.



In this close up of a portion of the skyline, you can see the green and red Hawthorne Bridge that crosses the Willamette River. It's to the left of the photo, at the bottom of the tall black-and-white-columned building, sort of hidden in the trees of Tom McCall Park. Those aren't really columns, of course. They just look like it.That's the Wells Fargo building. (The tall building to the right is nicknamed The Big Pink; it's officially the US Bancorp Tower.) The first time I walked across the river, I walked through falling snow that had quickly covered the bridge and the city with a couple inches of beautiful snow--back on Jan. 16. In fact, I've yet to walk across a different bridge.

The concrete line with vehicles on it is the Marquam Bridge which carries I-5 north from Mexico to Canada. I've driven south on this bridge, on the lower level. Not on the top level, northbound--not yet.