One side of the coin--winter in Portland. Come back tomorrow for more of this side of the coin. Soon, we'll flip it.

Before work began last Friday, November 14, I walked out onto the rooftop garden and took these photos just to document the only winter-type weather I saw in the period of time in which it had been predicted that possibly four to six inches of snow could have ended up in Portland, starting around 9 a.m. on November 13. Thankfully, no snow in the metro area--I saw one snowflake from my cubicle window large enough to be seen from across the street. There was some iciness on the streets and sidewalk for my commutes, but I wore my Yak-Trax on my shoes and made it just fine.



I took this photo and a few more, then rode the elevator to my floor and got settled in for work.

Can't stop sharing these photos of my snowy neighborhood, even on Valentine's Day!

It's just that this particular bus shelter means so very much to my life. And to see it blurred by the falling snow sort of tickles me. Not that I want it to snow like this again any time soon. I took this photo on Saturday, February 8 at 10:37 a.m. The colorful building in the background houses the Oregon Children's Theatre. An abandoned car, in the drive-through, going against the actual direction for service, at the Community Consolidated Credit Union. Club 21, also within walking distance of my building, but across NE Sandy Blvd., so I have never been there. I see no reason to cross a busy street on foot to have a good time. Here's my favorite neighborhood spot to walk to for a good time--The Blue Diamond PDX--which is on the same side of NE Sandy as my building. I took this photo on Thursday, February 6 at 5:24 p.m. Lots more snow fell during the night and on Friday and Saturday. Finally, here's the Blue Diamond on Monday morning at 9:14 a.m. Look at all of that snow beside the sidewalk. I took this photo standing to the east of my bus shelter while I waited for the first bus of the morning commute. I had waited to go to work so that the ice on my sidewalks--which had fallen from late Saturday afternoon, through the night, and into Sunday--had a chance to melt a bit. We were above 32 degrees and had a light rain falling. By the way, I have no idea when NE Sandy was plowed because I didn't go outside at all on Sunday, and the last time I saw it on Saturday at 3:02 p.m., it looked like this. It's obvious that no plowing had happened--the street is practically the same level as the sidewalk, only tamped down some by the vehicles that managed to get from Point A to Point B, wherever that may have been. You can't see it in the photo, but take my word for it. The freezing rain and/or sleet had started to fall, so I walked on home.

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

My morning commute bus stop. Hallelujah, it is not like this every winter day.

On Saturday I bundled up, put on my rubber boots with the YakTrax attached and went out for an around-the-block-slowly walk. I took several photos and made 19 videos, ranging in length from 1:26 to 20 seconds. I believe this is the best photo to show you the way it was snowing right then. Taken February 8 at 10:41 a.m.
 

Almost the same shot, taken Thursday, February 6 at 5:24 p.m. I had finally made it home after a couple of hours, well almost home. I had about 600 feet to go. Whew. On top of the shelter, notice the difference in the amount of snow.

For some reason, this photo will not stick to the Blogger page. Sorry. I've tried various sizes, over and over. 

Finally, inside the bus shelter on Friday morning, February 7 at 6:36 a.m. Notice the difference in the amount of snow here on the sidewalk, about 12 hours after the second photo in this post. Usually I stand up at the bus shelter, especially in the morning. However, last Friday I had no idea how long it would be before a bus came, so I wanted to sit. I did not expect snow to have completely covered both sections of the bench. What to do? I remembered that Thursday the Portland Tribune street box was always filled, so I looked inside. Although snow had blown into the box, I grabbed three dry newspapers from the middle of the stack and spread them carefully on the bench. I sat down, quite pleased with myself. Then I stood up to take this photo which I posted to Facebook. In a few minutes the bus came, I got own, happy to get a seat because it was packed. A couple of blocks away, I realized I just may have been a dummy because I did not pick up and shake the snow off those Portland Tribunes and bring them with me. What if I needed them at the next shelter where I transfer to the second of the two buses that make up my commute? Luckily, when I arrived at that next shelter, it had been shoveled and all that was left on the bench was a bit of ice, so I tucked my raincoat beneath me and sat right down. I looked to my left and saw the bus! Yea! The snowy morning commute neared its end.

Snowy still life. Straight out of the camera.

I looked through the window of one of the side doors on my building and knew that I had to go back to the apartment and get my camera. Very pleased with the result.

Love Spalding.

First, I'm standing there with my iPhone, making a video and talking about how the tracks I'd made a few hours earlier had disappeared in the latest snowfall. Then, my phone rang--my brother and sister-in-law in central Mississippi wondering how I was making it in the snowy conditions, laughing when I said that I was out walking in the snow for fun. Finally, I notice this lady skiing along the sidewalk across the street. By the time I asked my brother to hold on, found the camera on the phone and held it up to take a photo, she had turned left on NE 20th Avenue. My brother and I continued our conversation, said good-bye, and I continued my walk around the block. When I got around the corner, I found a spot out of the wind and beneath a small overhang at the front door of the Sandy Blvd. Clinic, cropped and uploaded the image to Facebook. I figured that would it for the serendipitous sighting of a skier on the snowy sidewalk. Oh, before I forget, more serendipity in the matching colors of the car, the band on the Musicians Union building and the compatibility of the color of the skier's jacket and the rest of the wall color on the building. I love it when unexpected color combinations reach out and grab me.
 

Later that evening, cabin fever appeared again--it had been coming and going since I got home from work on Friday. Anyway, I decided to walk downstairs and look out the window in the side door of my building. My reward, one more serendipitous sighting of ski accoutrement. Left to right: ski poles, ski pants, skis. The icing on the cake, so to speak, the LOVE hanging on the apartment door, put there no doubt for Valentine's Day. I'm guessing that the word describes very well how the two skiers felt about their outing, skiing the neighborhood and beyond. The green door to the left served as their portal to the winter wonderland that Portland had become, beginning on Thursday around noon and continuing until around 4 p.m. on Saturday when the only thing falling from the sky was either freezing rain or sleet or both.

Looks like a snow cone bar, just waiting for the colorful flavors to be applied

Cabin fever set in. However, with the thick coating of ice on top of the inches and inches of snow, I decided to stay inside. So, I walked around in my building, looking out common area windows. Or standing in the doorways. I'm glad I did because I would have missed the opportunity to take these photos.
 

A collage of three photos that I took of these icy snow shapes on a row of electric meters outside my building. I didn't plan to make a collage, but once I had uploaded the three images you see below and realized that I just might be able to work, much like I did in yesterday's post, I went for it. Not perfect but certainly satisfying.
 

Top photo.
 

Middle photo.



Bottom photo.
 

Bonus view, wide shot, from the first floor.
 

Bonus view, wide shot, from the second floor. The snow must really be deep between the two buildings. I don't have any idea how to walk to that spot, plus that snow might be deeper than my boots!

Dapper dresser confronts snowy Saturday to get a lemon.

We're in our third straight day of snow! Plus, now it's sleet and/or freezing rain which will continue until sometime tomorrow. I went out for two walks today, one around 10-11 a.m., the other about four hours later on. Just lots of snow on the first walk; no snow on second walk, just a bit of sleet and freezing rain.
 

On my first walk, I noticed this man, dapper dresser that he is. Who wouldn't notice, snow or no snow? He graciously agreed when I asked if I could take his photo and put it on my blog.

 

He told me that in his paper bag he had vintage literature--I think he mentioned dictionaries, philosophy and one other topic which escapes me now. When I asked where he got them, he said that he works on the other side of NE Sandy at Old Portland Hardware and Architectural. Then he went on to say that he was walking home, a few blocks south of my building, to get a lemon. He and his boss were going to make some cider. I love Portland!

We interrupt Disneyland for Portland's winter weather--a few photos I took on the way home by mass transit

At the first of the week, the weather man predicted bitter cold, windy days and the rather certain possibility of a snowy Saturday. I predicted to myself snow earlier, if we got enough moisture in the air. Then, Wednesday night the weather man predicted one to two inches in Portland, starting between 10 a.m. and noon, greater accumulation in the surrounding upper elevations. That's what happened on Thursday. Now we're predicted to get snow through the night, maybe less than we had during the day; more snow on Friday, maybe as much as we got on Thursday, starting around 4 p.m. Snow to ice on Saturday, ice to rain on Sunday, then showers and rain through next Thursday.

 

Conditions on the way home. Thank goodness I had left the office at 3:45 p.m. I didn't check the conditions then, though. I took this screen shot at 4:54 p.m. while riding the second of the two buses I take to and from work.

 

Layered for success on the homebound commute! I had my camera in the green and black bag, but I knew I wouldn't get to take many photos--too windy, too cold, too wet.
 

Snow-filled bowls of a Benson Bubbler on SW 6th.
 

I wonder what happened when he came upon some deeper snow? I saw him while waiting for the bus downtown. I heard a young woman who got on the bus later on remark, "I thought I was a tough bike rider. I wanted to do it. Whew." She'd just put her bike on the rack in front of the bus.
 

It was a long wait downtown for the second bus. By the time it came, I had lots more snow on me, here and there. The wind blew it everywhere.
 

Finally, the bus! So packed that the driver couldn't let anyone on at subsequent stops unless someone got off first. I took this shaky photo looking towards the back of the bus--thanks to the young man who gave me his seat!
   

I took this one looking toward the front of the bus. The narrow rectangle of light on the left is part of the front door out of the bus. The driver was fantastic--personable, calm and skilled--I've ridden with him before. I gave him a hug when I got off at my stop, very happy to be so close to home!



My neighborhood bar, The Blue Diamond PDX, closed for the day earlier as the snow kept coming down--I read the announcement on Facebook. Right about when I took this photo, it looked like it had stopped snowing. Nope, just a momentary thing. I just walked to the front door of the building so I could take a look outside where the street lights are--it's still snowing six hours after I left work, about 10 hours after it started on Thursday morning. Once I got inside my apartment, just a few minutes after I took this photo, I peeled off all the layers, put them on hangers on the shower curtain rod to dry with the fan blowing. Then I cooked myself some breakfast for supper, enjoyed every bite, washed the dishes, and settled down to work on the blog. Tomorrow I'll do it all over again.

Oh, so good. Mama memories.

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Back story: Mama and I lived from October, 2006, until January, 2011, on the 4th floor, actually the top floor, of the Presidential Court apartment building on the corner of NW 22nd Avenue and NW Everett. We loved our apartment and many good days there, with each other and with family and friends, and our dearly departed miniature dachshund Duncan. From our kitchen window, we could see this much of a nearby multi-story, multi-family building. We always wondered what it would be like to see any of the views available from the top floor of that building, but most of all, we wondered what it would like to stand in that space we called the window room that you see in this photo. Mama died in our apartment on January 7, 2011, and getting the chance to go inside that building, much less to stand in that little room, never entered my mind again. Until I got an e-mail from the Architectural Heritage Center announcing a tour of the building, originally apartments, now condos. I immediately went online and signed up for the fundraiser. As I rode the bus in the rain last Sunday, most of what was on my mind was the renewed hope to able to stand in the window room, to look toward our kitchen window and see it from an entirely different perspective. To remember the good times with my Mama. I took this photo of the window room from our kitchen window on May 3, 2009.
 

So imagine my joy when I realized as I was directed to the last of seven condos on the tour and figured out that, based on where I was at that time in the building and putting it together with its views, my last stop would be the condo with the window room. I walked through the rest of the huge, single-story condo before stepping up onto the window room's raised floor. All I really cared about was finding out if I could see any of our windows, if the trees that had grown enough to block a view of the windows. Here's a cropped closeup of those windows. Our kitchen window is the only one still visible, the first one you can see on the right in the olive green painted wall--we lived in the corner of the building on the southwest side of the intersection. The tree hides the two living room windows on that eastward-facing wall.
 

Here's photo that I took of Mama waving at me from that kitchen window, on December 21, 2008. That was a Sunday. I must have been out walking the dog or coming back from walking to the Fred Meyer--I cannot remember. But I remember calling her on the cell phone and asking her to go open the kitchen window and wave at me so that I could take a photo. It took me quite a bit of looking through my photos until I managed to find this one--I didn't have it tagged as Mama, doofus me. Notice the snow? We Portlanders were in the midst of days and days and days of lots and lots and lots of snow. Fascinating to the two of us Mississippians-turned-Portlanders!
 

And here's the wide shot that I took of our building when I stood in the window room. Mission accomplished!

About the AHC Event - Centennial Celebration Tour!
Historic 705 NW Davis Apartments Sunday, September 29, 2013 Timed entries between 1:00 and 4:30 pm Members and Friends Admission: $ 25.00

A benefit for the Architectural Heritage Center, generously presented by the residents of the 705 Davis Condominiums Celebrate the centennial of one of Portland's "grande dame" apartment buildings designed by Whitehouse and Fouilhoux at a special benefit for the Architectural Heritage Center. 

Timed-entry tours begin in the courtyard with an overview by Edward Teague, head of the Architecture and Allied Arts Library at the University of Oregon. Visitors will learn about the noted building's history, architect, and architecture, and then be toured through seven one- or two-story units, and an original servant's room, along with an opportunity to learn about ongoing preservation, see historic photographs, and enjoy light refreshments.

Batchelder tiles, Honduran mahogany, and elegant moldings grace the interior, once inhabited by Julia Hoffman, a founder of what is now the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and the chief investor in the building. Other early residents included Max Hirsch, a founder of White Stag, Isabelle Gauld, Oregon chair for Bundles for Britain, Eric Ladd, "before his time" local preservationist, and Fanny and Edgar Lazarus - the latter the architect for Vista House.

Mother's Day Mini-Vacation, No. 20 - On the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway

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Our waiter at the best-place-to-eat-weekend-breakfast-in-Bend-Oregon, Brother Jon's Public House, had told us that he'd heard the announcement--Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, open already--usually not before Memorial Day! The guys added this to our plan for Saturday, May 11, 2013.
 

Left to right, South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, and Broken Top. Outta sight swell and glorious!
 

Mt. Bachelor.
 

Snow piled up on the driver's side of the car! Amazing!
 

Around every curve for a while, snow! I haven't seen snow this deep since I rode the cog railway up to the top of Pike's Peak years ago. Of course, this is pile here by snow plows and that at the top of the mountain was plain ol' deep, probably deeper than this, but nevertheless, this snow impressed me. And I still had the window down on the car and could feel the chill in the air. Magnificent!
 

Saw these bicyclists. Could not believe how many folks we passed riding bicycles!
 

Look! Here's one now!
 

We stopped to take a look at a lake. As I paused for traffic so that I could cross the byway back to the car, here comes the same guy!
 

There's Leland in the driver's seat of Engine, our Zipcar Ford Escape. We pulled out from here and stopped at another lake. Lamont walked, carefully watching out for vehicles and bicycles.
 

Isn't this lake a beauty? I wish I knew the name of it. Alas, I saw no sign.
 

Close up of the snow and trees on the far side of the lake.

Northwest Hills, March 6, 2012

Deja vu? Sort of. Here's the same view as yesterday’s post. No snow. The Portland Oregon sign's not lit. Still, that bluish tint near the tops of the hills caught my eye, so I had to get my camera out and take a few shots. I am so blessed to have that camera with me in either my backpack or my purse. Blessed. Taking photos adds a large part to however sane I am at any given time.

Northwest Hills, March 1, 2012

I change from one bus to another at the intersection of SE MLK and SE Couch. I'm standing in Northeast Portland when I wait for that second bus. Often I look west across the Willamette River, towards the Big Pink and the venerable Portland Oregon neon sign. The Big Pink is south of West Burnside, so it is in Southwest Portland. The Portland Oregon sign is north of West Burnside, so it is in Northwest Portland.

This particular morning snow had fallen at the higher elevations. The wintry view enticed me to quickly get my camera out of my backpack and take a few photos. Would that I had had more time. Alas, the bus arrived. My responsibility--to get to work on time.

Snow, before bedtime Tuesday night.

I went to the building's front door and side door to take a few photos. There's the possibility that the snow won't be this pretty in the morning because it could turn to rain around 3 a.m., maybe later. Let me tell you what. It's cold out there!


A collage I made at Picnik.


Here's one of the photos which is in the collage. I like how the headlights and the snow work together.

I'm off to bed now!

5:45 AM Wednesday Update - Rain began during the night at my elevation. It's still raining. At higher elevations, snow continues to fall. Trees have fallen onto power lines all around the metropolitan area, TV news is reporting. I should leave for work in a little over an hour. Wonder what I'll see? Lots of standing water is my guess.

There's steps, and then there's steps.

The front steps on a nearby house on NW Everett, during the snow marathon in 2008-2009. I took this photo on December 23, 2008, mainly because it looked like someone had made a snow angel in the snow packed onto the steps. Ever since we'd moved into our apartment in October, 2006, I had figured the house was vacant. This photo certainly supports that premise. All nearby steps had been cleared, repeatedly, as we had days and days of snowfall.


Maybe things are looking up for the house. I took this photo on May 8, 2010, a few days after I walked by on my way to the bus and noticed a man working on the steps. The right side front door was open. I got a glimpse of the stairs to the second floor. Now I'm totally curious as to what is going on with the house. Extremely hopeful, too.

Mama News and the Last of the Snow Pix from 12/29/2009

She's getting a blood transfusion tomorrow morning. Let's pray that it makes a difference, a positive one.

The row of trees beside the Taco Bell, at NW 21st and Burnside, as seen from the bus.


Someone came to the Subway on this bike? Maybe before the snow started falling in mid-afternoon. I took this photo looking out of the bus.


My bus continues on its way, going west another block and half before turning north on NW 23rd Avenue.


Here's how the row of trees looks in autumn.

Mama Update and more of the snow

I finally got it straight, between Leland, Mama and my brain, that the heart doctor wanted her to go see her primary doctor at some point in the next eight weeks so that he could refer her to a vascular surgeon--this is in reference to the subclavian steal syndrome that she suffers from on her right arm primarily. It hurts terribly with the least bit of exertion--just think how your own muscles pain you when you've exerted them into oxygen deprivation, that's what she's got a giant head start on, that sort of pain. So today I called her primary doctor and got the appointment changed from March 1 (Mama and I had totally misunderstood what the doctor had meant, thank goodness for Leland's young mind and memory) to this Friday. Leland's going to take her. While it's not likely that much can be done for her about this, we at least don't want to not try. (What a pitiful sentence. It shows you just how tired I am right now.)

Then I called her lung doctor to try to find out the results of the chest CT scan that she had done on Monday. A nurse practitioner called back in the afternoon--the lung doctor is out until Monday. She said that the only person who had looked at it so far was the radiologist. For that person it showed fluid in her lungs, emphysema in the upper lobes. The fluid is consistent with congestive heart failure, so she talked with one of the other doctors who said to get the heart doctor's heart failure nurse to call me and see if the heart doctor wants to set up an appointment for lab work and then there could be the possibility of altering her meds. Why didn't the heart doctor's people do lab work last Thursday when she was there for her office visit/check up? Duh.

I asked the nurse practitioner about the continuous oxygen and the manner in which Mama should be breathing in and out. I've been suspicious that lately she's not taking deep enough breaths--on Saturday I asked her to take deep breaths with her mouth closed. "Why?" I said I thought it would help. "Do you see people doing that? Breathing through their noses with their mouths shut?" Yes, I said, I believe I do. She started then to take a few deep breaths now and then. For real, the nurse practitioner explained that Mama ought to be taking deep breaths with her mouth closed, then slowly letting it out through pursed lips. It seems this method allows more oxygen to make it into her lungs. The problem is that she cannot remember to do this very often. So I've got my aunt down in Mississippi reminding her--they talk on the cell phone every day. Tomorrow I'm going to talk with my brother and get him in on it. I'll remind her when I talk with her every day, too. Plus I'm going to get Lamont and Leland to do it, too.

She and Duncan are in bed now, Wednesday night, as I sit her typing, breathing through my nose with my mouth shut. She's reading; he's sleeping.

Now for the snow.

These men have been shopping at Fred Meyer on Burnside. I can tell by the paper shopping bags with handles that you see in the hands of two of them. They're walking east, about the cross in front of our bus. Those cars are on Burnside. And you see the McDonald's--our goal, the bus stop alongside it, just out of the photo to the left.


See that 20 bus, To Portland? Our skilled, determined driver did and calmly said, "Maybe that 20 will help us." It did, eventually, once our driver sent strong vibes to that driver who then sort of blocked both west-bound lanes for a few moments so that we could take advantage of an opening in the east-bound traffic flow.


Hooray! We're finally on Burnside, head west up the hill. It would take about half an hour more before I could get off at the top of our street, four blocks away from McDonald's.


Next time, the last of the snow.

Snow fell quickly, creating havoc with the traffic, and a report on Mama

First I shall digress for a few moments, to say thank you to those who visit and comment, as well as those who visit and do not comment. I really appreciate it. My time to blog has diminished as my duties at home have grown. Any more Mama cannot do any of the things she used to do the most of, home things like the dry Swiffer, the wet Swiffer, the carpet sweeper, the laundry, the cooking, the washing of dishes, the dusting. For years she happily did these things most of the time, saving me from having to do them as I worked 40 hours a week, did the grocery shopping, most of the cooking, and some of the other housework. She knew she was contributing and it made her feel good about herself, needed. Now, even with the continuous oxygen, she is out of breath after walking 20-30 feet in the apartment. She's upset, feeling down and somewhat worthless, and scared now and then. I'm trying hard not feel scared all of the time. Please continue to pray for her to regain some stamina. The heart doctor, after last Thursday's visit, didn't change any of her medicines and made an appointment for March 30. Today she had a CT scan of her chest, ordered by the lung doctor. She goes back to her on Jan. 28. I am going to call that woman later this week and try to find out what, if anything, she's learned from it. I can't wait until Jan. 28. Mama needs some help before then, if there is anything that can be done.

Now to the snow.

It must have been around 2:30 p.m. when I noticed it had started to snow. To tell you the truth, I thought, "Yuck!" when I looked out the window at work and saw the grass and the streets turning white. I thought, "Well, maybe it'll quit soon, turn to the predicted rain." Nope. By the time I got on the bus to head home, I believe at least 2-3 inches had fallen on the sidewalks and streets where I walked and waited. The only thing to wonder about really was what sort of traffic jam awaited the homeward bound bus ride. I think it must have taken about an hour to get from the corner of SE Grand and Morrison, over the Morrison Bridge, west on SW Washington, then south onto SW 11th and west onto SW Morrison, to the stop very near PGE Park. It took another 45 minutes to go the next two blocks!

This photo gives a hint or two as to why we went so slowly. Bumper to bumper traffic, headlights facing us as we turned right towards West Burnside. That Burnside with the right-facing SUV on it. That clear space behind the SUV would be the last open space on Burnside that we, including the skilled, determined TriMet bus driver and about 10 of us who stuck out the bus ride, saw for at least 30 minutes.

The 15 bus heading south was on its actual route. The 20 bus, the driver said, had probably been informed by TriMet to turn around here, to not continue west up the ever-steepening Burnside. Well, the 20 is stuck. The hill is steeper here than it seems. I took this photo out the side windows, behind the driver.

Our goal, this stop which is out on Burnside, was oh so close, yet so far, right beside McDonalds. I had plenty of time to take this photo, to not worry about the motion of the bus causing any blur because we were sitting still.


Here's why we sat still. I took this photo out the windshield of the bus. The cars going left to right and right to left are on Burnside, in the middle of the intersection, inching along just in case they could make some progress. Good grief! All they did was jam up the intersection which caused us and the other cars who had to turn left to jam up the intersection behind us--it was a time-consuming mess!

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!

The Mystery Photo

First let me say that I had sincere intentions of posting this photo on Monday so that you would quickly know that the photo is a close-up of what we call a camper shell down home in Mississippi and what we call a canopy up here in Oregon, our new beloved home.

Those intentions succumbed to my tired ol' butt 'cause I couldn't stay awake! Either I stayed up to late watching "Hallmark Hall of Fame" or Mama's scrumptious supper of chicken and dumplings put me to sleep sitting straight up in my chair with my computer Honk on the little table I use when I'm blogging, just like I am now. I woke up and announced that I had to take Duncan out early and hit the hay.

So, here's the photo that shows both the entire truck and its canopy as well as the other truck and its wheel well, wheel and tire.

By the way, it snowed again on Tuesday! I don't know how deep it got, though, because it started about 7:30 a.m. just as I got off the bus and walked into my building and had turned to rain by 11:30 a.m., which melted every bit of it where I live, work and commute. Now, that's some fine snow in my book!

It snowed again, just a little bit that thankfully didn't stay around very long.

Saturday night and Sunday morning, snowflakes fell. Conditions were not right for much of an accumulation. It was doggone cold on Sunday, so I didn't venture out except to walk Duncan. I took photos from the windows and one from the sidewalk.

What do you think this is? I bet you see them pretty often.


In this photo, you're looking northward at the tip top of the tree just outside our kitchen window.


I like how the snow enhanced the design elements of the truck's side and the tire.


A car drove down the street just as I took this one from the bathroom window, right at 10:02 p.m., Jan. 24.


I took this one at 11:17 a.m., Jan. 25. You can see melted snow on the Christmas ornament. Oh, by the way, on Saturday morning someone had put a poor, dried up Christmas tree out on the sidewalk; I noticed tinsel still on its branches, nothing else. Then on Sunday morning while walking Duncan, I spied this shiny red ball on the tiny branch, above where the tree had been placed.


Love my zoom lens because I can get pretty good shots without getting out in the cold!