UPDATE and the credit union building next to my morning commute bus shelter, current photos and vintage photos--enjoy!

UPDATE: Friday and I made it through all five days of half time work and only needed that one 15 minute nap yesterday. I am so proud of that. Plus, I didn't need a nap after work until today when I got home, but, then, I often needed a nap on Fridays after work, something about the end of the week--it's finally here--I can rest now. I have not overdone it at all, y'all. Thanks for your prayers, love and concern.



Here's a photo of my morning bus shelter, the one TriMet locates as at NE Sandy Blvd. and NE 20th Avenue which is the cross street you don't see in this photo that I took last November. I love the look of this sunny morning! Plus, I wanted you to get a look at the credit union building prior to its recent remodel.



In contrast, here's the building after the remodel. I took this photo on Tuesday. I like how it turned out looking modern and together.There are more windows than I expected--I'll bet the employees are glad of that.



I do miss the plants that used to be in this planter, though. Right now this is flat out boring.



Here's a look across the boring planter and along the front of the building. You get an idea of what I meant when I said more windows. I've even seen people sitting in those yellow chairs--I think they are customer chairs in front of a credit union employee's desk.




Finally, two vintage photos. This one is actually a photo of a photo that I took so that you could see the building that used to occupy the eastern most part of where the credit union building used to stand. Absolutely would love to have seen it, up close and personal!



The other vintage photo allows you to see NE 20th crossing NE Sandy Blvd. where the man is working on the traffic island. The Richfield service station is about where the credit union parking lot is today. Just to the right of the Richfield sign is the giant shoe building. That building with all of the windows still stands today--it's home to KATU TV Channel 2, the local ABC affiliate. I think the current day bus shelter is located right in front of the service station building with the windows. I love this vintage photo--well, both of them, to tell you the truth!

Taking steps, out and about inside my building - I live in a studio which is absolutely perfect for me, space-wise and location-wise.

I'm standing on the level of my front door, around the corner from it--this loop in the hallway is 67 of my steps around. I could take the steps down to the vestibule seen through that closed door or up to the second floor landing. I knew yesterday that it's time to take a walk up those stairs. Right at my fingertips, well, at my feet, the perfect way to get moving more and more on this road to recovery from surgery a week ago yesterday! To put some variety in my work out, complete with the safety of a handrail.



Ever curious, I decided to find online a diagram of wooden staircase parts so that I would know the exact name of what my hand grasped, of where my feet landed. I like a sturdy handrail connected to well-installed balusters. To tell you the truth, my all-time-fantasy hiking trail in the outdoors would come with just such a set up. I believe that my fear of heights would be negated as I held onto such a handrail.



Here's a direct look up the eleven treads in this riser, counting the landing at the top as eleven. Is that the way you count, officially as a carpenter? It's how I count as a walker.



At the top I turned left, looked out through the screen and took this photo. You can see the tile roof on the building's entrance, there to the right. The windows on the lower level on the left are mine! I have a total of eight, four in each room.



The first three you see are part of the four that make up the bonus room's outer wall--my twin bed, a narrow storage unit; a waist-high,long, narrow bookcase; and a chest of drawers are in there, too. This is a photo I took of the bonus room that first day, checking out the apartment. FYI, that silver vehicle across the street is the one whose alarm went off yesterday from approximately 3:30 p.m. until 5:09 p.m. when it ceased. Hallelujah!



There is an extra-wide opening with no door straight across from my bed which opens into my kitchen. I've gotten used to sleeping through the occasional refrigerator gurgle and/or electronic whir. Here you are looking through that opening and out the windows. You can see the building's entrance and the gutter. When we get a lot of rain, it sounds like I'm sleeping behind a waterfall. I love it!



In that photo taken from the upstairs landing, the one window you see at the start of the bow-window area is the first of the four in the living room. There is a bit of wall in between first one and the center two. That bit of wall is repeated between those center two and the fourth one at the opposite end of the bow. These windows grabbed hold of me when I first walked through the apartment's front door, sunshine streaming onto the hardwood floors. This is a photo of the center two windows and the fourth one--I took it on that same day when I first saw what turned out to be my new home.

Blue skies, smilin' at me, nothing but blue skies do I see ...

And I'd best enjoy it while I can because the weather man predicts rain for Thursday and Friday, cloudy at the least for Saturday and Sunday.

I'm crazy about this building and its colorful windows against the brilliant blue sky. It's between SW 3rd and SW 2nd, but I can't remember on which street.

Mama and Leland both feel better--hooray!

Windows in a Wall

What's that hanging in one of the windows in this interesting wall? I can't quite tell. I took this photo from the car--I pulled over to the curb to do it. The Oregon Macaroni Mfg. Co. label got my attention, then the windows and the color that the wall has been painted, in contrast with the neighboring wall and the light blue sky.

Windows, around the corner from the Atlas holding the clock

What's your favorite part of these holiday windows at Tiffany's? Is it the deer? The birds in the cage? The crystal-looking beads draped from the white branches? Or the possibility of what might be in those little blue boxes, all tied up with white ribbons?

For me, it's the ambience created by the snowflakes surrounding each window. They're the spiff in the special sort of results that I like to call "ham and spiff," as in ham it up, spiff it up--make the style such that whatever you're working on leaves a pleasant, perfect taste in the mouth of your intended audience.