My first visit to the Rose Garden Arena, and the Trail Blazers win!

All of a sudden I had the chance to go to the Rose Garden Arena Wednesday night to see the Portland Trail Blazers play their opening pre-season National Basketball Association game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Yippee!

Since I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to take photos inside the arena, I took this one outside about an hour before the game began. You can see a small portion of the crowd that streamed into the arena. While every seat wasn't occupied, it was still a huge crowd, all excited as the Blazers won the game 111-102.

The gigantic red basketball jersey on the wall represents Portland's #1 draft pick, the top draft pick for the entire NBA, Greg Oden. Oden will not be able to play a single game this season; he's recovering from microfracture surgery on his right knee. He was at the game, sitting on the bench. Well, really the bench is a row of nicely padded metal folding chairs.

I ended up taking some photos during the game, surprise, surprise, surprise! If any of them are any good, you'll get to see them soon!

ABC Wednesday – L is for Legs

Mannequin legs, that is, these particular ones that I met June 28, 2007.

Here's how it happened.

I'm pushing back the metal-folding-inner-elevator door, looking down to make sure that the floor of the elevator and the foyer floor are level with each other, a necessity with our dear Otis, circa 1924.

I notice the feet with the red-painted toenails out of the corner of my eye.

"Excuse me," I say as I step into the elevator. "Whoop! What do we have hear!" I exclaim as my eyes travel up the legs, and the elevator goes up to the fourth floor.

By the time it stops, I know I need my camera which I had not taken to the outdoor art show/street fair I'd been at that Thursday night, trying to sell various items I'd crafted. I get my cell phone out and call Mama.

"Could you bring me my camera, please?" I ask. "I'm in the hall at the elevator."

"Are those legs still there?" she responds. "I knew you'd want to take a picture if they were still there when you got home."

"Yes, they are, and you're right. I've got to take a picture of this!" I excitedly reply.

In minutes, Mama comes around the corner, carrying my D50 by the strap. I ask her what she thought when she saw the legs.

"I was about to turn and run," she replies, "because I thought a naked woman was on the elevator!"

Life's a hoot, isn't it, even when someone pulls your leg.

Sunflowers, stalwart and true, make me smile.

When I walked down NW Everett and across NW 17th Avenue on Monday morning, I grinned when I saw these sunflowers, still standing as straight and tall as they were the day I took this photo in August. In the last few weeks we've had some hard rain and/or gusty winds, and these sun-lovers persevere. Their slender stalks grow in a small corner yard, raised about two feet up from sidewalk level. A low wall supports the yard and frames the outer edge of the flower bed.

Flexcar is not a car that bends in the middle.

Just last week I took these photos, one of the sign that designates the parking space for a Flexcar and one of the Flexcar itself, in the area known as Old Town Chinatown. Then on Saturday I found the Fall/Winter 2007-08 NW Portland Business Guide in our mailbox and read that Flexcar has over 200 vehicles in Portland, with around 60 in the Northwest. That explains why I've noticed more and more evidence of the car-sharing company in our neighborhood in the Northwest Hills.

Since I first became aware of Flexcar last summer, I've thought that someday in the far off future when our '96 Buick Lesabre kicks the bucket, it's Flexcar for Mama and me. I don't think I've sold her on it, yet. Do you have any experience with car-sharing? Preferably positive, of course.

Fall Colors, on NW Everett Street in the Northwest Hills

This evening the television weatherman said that Portland's weather is more like November than October, as much as ten degrees cooler than it ought to be. When I was a kid growing up, October meant cooler weather and the leaves changed color, so I think it's just right.

On our street you can see reds beginning to overtake greens in one of the trees in front of the Manhattan. I first saw the change in the tree when I looked out the bathroom window. Then I noticed the yellow and black car with the For Sale sign in the window, and continuing on up the sidewalk, I saw the red car and the other yellow car. Ah. A perfect fall foliage photo, with street-level accessories. I leaned out one of Mama's bedroom window to get the shot I wanted.

P.S. I took the close-up of the leaves resting on the sidewalk in the rain Thursday evening after shopping for groceries at our nearby Fred Meyer. I couldn't resist that vivid red.

Public Art at the MAX Stop

Here's a neat bronze goose that I walk across the street from, sometimes, on my other walking-to-work-route. It stands at the King's Hill and SW Salmon Station. The artist is Rip Caswell. I think it's neat that the yellow-colored photo on the MAX car resembles a wheat field--it might even be one, I cannot tell--so it looks like the goose is somewhere beside a city! Truth be told, quite a few geese hang out by the Willamette in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Wonder if one modeled for Caswell?

Without a doubt, the most unique small business sign I've yet seen. How about what you've seen in your city?

Mad Dog Garage, on NW Everett, between 15th and 14th, as the street descends out of the Northwest Hills and into the Pearl District.



Y'all curious? I am. Next time I walk by I will take a slower look. With these photos as evidence, this doesn't seem like any garage door I have ever seen, even if the tiny dog's head is mounted on a gear-shaped disc.

So, it's raining in Portland. I still love the place.

In the Northwest Hills, all sorts of beautiful trees line the streets. This time of year, the leaves start to fall. When it rains hard enough to cause water to run in the streets, those leaves clump together and float to low places along the curbs and sidewalks. Drains become blocked. (Later on I'll show/explain how the City of Portland and Neighbors West Northwest deal with those leaves.) Look how the water rises into the air in a straight line. Is this an illustration for some sort of law of physics?

I think the drain must be clogged here, at the corner of NW 21st and Glisan, Tuesday about 5:30 p.m. I knew y'all would love to see the cars driving through the puddle that stretched from one corner half way out into the street. Slinging water, making ripples, the cars drove by every time the light changed. Safely out of range, I stood close to the Nob Hill Old Pharmacy Cafe, beneath a teensy little overhang, out of the rain, and snapped couple of shots. Look



It didn't rain all day long on Tuesday or Wednesday, just off and on, sometimes light, sometimes heavy. Wednesday evening while "Jeopardy" was on the TV, Mama and I heard hail hitting the windows on the east side of our apartment. I grabbed my CoolPix L12 and got this shot, though the screen and the closed window. You're looking at the streetlight on the corner; that's the Rose Plaza Apartments in the background. We heard it hailing for maybe two minutes, and the rain stopped in 10 minutes or so.

ABC Wednesday: K is for Kitchen

Here you see one of my favorite photos, ever. And I want to thank my brother Howard for inadvertently reminding me that I had taken it on March 12, 2006. Yes, CDPBers, it's not recent but it still shows the kitchen in one of Portland's favorite eateries--Three Doors Down Cafe, just north of Hawthorne on SE 37th.

Left to right, we've got Dave, owner/chef; Lamont, sous chef/my older son; Leland, line cook/my younger son--the one who now cooks at the Helvetia Tavern and attends Mt. Hood Community College.

The reason I remember the date so well is that Mama and I had just flown into Portland earlier that day, to visit the guys and their girlfriends one last time before our planned move to Portland in June.

It was a very special night for Three Doors Down Cafe, their first Sunday to be open for business--up until then it had been open Tuesdays-Saturdays. And it was the birth-night of Three Doors Down meatballs and bucatinni, recently named Portland's best meatballs by Portland Monthly magazine.

It was a very special night for me because I captured the intensity of three guys who know their way around the kitchen.

Circumstantial Series

Last Thursday night when I took this photo while standing in front of our building, I had no plans for a series. Circumstances dictated that I stay indoors after I returned from the dentist Saturday afternoon, and you now see below the only two photos I've taken in three days. That's some sort of sad-sounding milestone, let me tell you.

The first photo (above) is the Manhattan Apartments, across from our front door. Below, in the second photo, you see the Rose Plaza Apartments, which are diagonally opposite our building. The third photo is of the Elizabeth Apartments which we see from either the kitchen or living room windows. I don't think they're too bad, do you? The little CoolPix L12 saves my sanity once again!





I never, ever dreamed I'd be living on a four-apartment intersection, with fantastic sidewalks and nearby mass transist. At the risk of boring you with my repetitiveness, I love Portland!

So, my gums are healing from having two teeth pulled; the infection in my jaw is so much better that my face is returning to its regular shape. Therefore, I'll be out and about, headed for work on Tuesday, my camera in a Zip-loc bag because real rain is forecast. Perhaps I'll get a great shot of it falling, just for y'all.

October Theme: Cemeteries and Tombstones--Meet James B. and Elizabeth Stephens of Lone Fir Cemetery

According to the Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery: "James B. Stephens came to Oregon in 1844 and operated the historic Stark Street ferry on the Willamette River in Portland. James and Elizabeth Stephens were married more than 57 years when she died in 1887. The grieving widower is said to have had the couple's photograph taken a few years before her death. Until his death two years later, James was able to visit here and imagine again holding the hand of his dear wife."







Please go to my other blog, Mama and Me from PDX, for the story of how I found the Stephens' wonderful tombstone and lots more photos of interesting sights I happily came upon at Lone Fir, including a tombstone-eating tree as well as other tombstones, both old and new, and a really big cedar tree. Plus, there's some additional information about the cemetery below, after the list of monthly theme links.

Click on the links below to see other CDPB theme posts. Please remember the differences in time zones can impact when the theme post will appear.

St. Louis (MO), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Hyde, UK - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Toulouse, France - Arradon, France - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Joplin (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Seattle (WA), USA - Baziège, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Anderson (SC), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Nashville (TN), USA - Tenerife, Spain - Manila, Philippines - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jacksonville (FL), USA - River Falls (WI), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Lubbock (TX), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Moscow, Russia - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Minneapolis (MN), USA - New Orleans (LA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - London, England - Paderborn, Germany - The Hague, Netherlands - Selma (AL), USA - Sunderland, UK - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Stavanger, Norway - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Forks (WA), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Wellington, New Zealand - Montpellier, France - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Evry, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - New York City (NY), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cypress (TX), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Zurich, Switzerland - Budapest, Hungary - Paris, France - Saigon, Vietnam - Grenoble, France - Zurich, Switzerland - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Toronto (ON), Canada - Sequim (WA), USA - Chicago (IL), USA

I found this great information about James B. Stephens and his original connection to what is now Lone Fir Cemetery at www.metro-region.org, including this explanation of what Metro is: Metro protects open space and parks, plans for land use and transportation, and manages garbage disposal and recycling for 1.3 million residents ... Metro is the directly elected regional government that serves more than 1.3 million residents in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, and the 25 cities in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area.

Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery

Located between Southeast 20th and 26th avenues and Morrison and Stark streets in Portland - Founded in 1855, 30.5 acres

In 1854, J.B. Stephens sold his farm, located a few miles east of the small town of Portland, to Colburn Barrell. On the property was the grave of Stephens' father, Emmor, who died in 1846. Barrell agreed to maintain the grave site.

Colburn Barrell was a partner in a passenger steamship line between Portland and Oregon City. On April 8, 1854, the boiler of their steamship Gazelle exploded while moored near Oregon City. The accident killed several people, including Barrell's business partner, Crawford Dobbins, and a passenger. Barrell buried the victims near Stephens and set aside 10 acres as a cemetery. He named the cemetery Mt. Crawford in honor of his friend, Crawford Dobbins.

By 1866, 20 more acres were added to the original cemetery. Burial plots sold for $10. Colburn thought the cemetery should be owned by the city of Portland and offered it to the city for $4,000. The City Council turned down the offer, citing the location was too far from town. There were no bridges crossing the Willamette River, and the mule-powered Stark Street ferry was slow. Coupled with muddy roads, a funeral procession would be a weary trip at best. The cemetery was eventually sold to Portland investors in 1866 and the name changed to Lone Fir Cemetery for the solitary tree standing on the site.

Today, Lone Fir Cemetery is a wooded, landscaped arboretum in the heart of Portland. More than 25,000 people are buried here, from the familiar (Curry, Dekum, Hawthorne, Lane, Lovejoy, Macleay) to the unknown. Decay, neglect and poor record keeping in the early years have led to an estimated 10,000 unknown graves. A visit to Lone Fir Cemetery will reveal the region's rich history.

"All nations are represented, all grades of society, all states of wealth and standing. Rich lie here and poor, employer and employee, those with virtue and those without. Death has a way of banishing snobbishness, of cultivating comradeship."
—D.A. Lund, Lone Fir: Silent City of the Dead

She didn't go anywhere but to pieces!

Remember the H is for Head and Hair mannequin? When I didn't see her any longer as I rode by on the No. 18 bus, I figured she'd left for another display window somewhere; that's what I told y'all in the post.

One day last week as we rode by the store windows, I caught a glimpse of several other mannequins--the kind from the waist up--sitting on the floor in what looked like dressing rooms without their doors. Naturally, I got off the bus to investigate and found a surprise.

There she was, our H girl, in pieces in a dressing room, all by herself.

To the left of her face, you can see her hands with their bright red nails--I guess her arms are tucked out of sight at the ends of her hands--and beside the back of her head, you can see her bare feet at the bottom of her long, blue-jean clad legs. All. To. Pieces. Drat.

P.S. I'm posting mighty early, changing the post time and date a whole lot, because I had an emergency trip to the dentist today--not my usual perky self, but on the mend. I'll be back better than ever which is my hope for the golden-haired mannequin.

For you, a part of what I see walking to work

Friday morning as I walked part way to work, this view particularly appealed to me. It's about 7:05 AM, PDT, and we're looking east down West Burnside on the left and southeast down SW Morrison on the right. Some mornings when I walk down Everett to Third, I'm walking at the same downward slope you see on Burnside. If I decide to walk on Morrison instead, then go due south to take Salmon down to Third, I walk slightly uphill before it levels off and then slopes down towards the Willamette River. Either way I walk, I make good time, take a few photos, and catch the bus that takes me over the river to work. I love to walk in Portland, and I'm curious to see how I can work it out to walk as much as possible during the wet winter.

The pale peach-colored building in the intersection is one of two triangular-shaped buildings that I've noticed in the sharp-angled intersections on the south side of Burnside. At its closest end, it houses a pizza place; at the opposite end, there's a bar and grill. I believe the upper floors are apartments. The tall, many-windowed building behind it is the Civic, a brand-new condo building. In between it is the rust-colored shorter building, the Morrison. They represent an interesting concept, new to Portland, as reported recently in the Portland Tribune. You can read about it at http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=118945870998628300.

Here's a bit from Wikitravel about how Burnside and the Willamette River work to delineate parts of the city: Portland is divided into five sections. Burnside Street is the north/south split. The Willamette (pronounced will-LAM-et) splits Southeast and Southwest, but the river takes a turn north of Burnside. Since Mother Nature doesn't care much about straight lines, the city decided to split what would be the Northwest quadrant into Northwest (West of the river) and North (East of the River), then divide North and Northeast at Williams Avenue. All Portland addresses contain their designating sector inserted between house number and street name (i.e. 3719 SE Hawthorne Blvd.) This will make it easier to figure out where things are. If you hear Portlanders talking about Southwest or Northeast, they're probably talking about the section of the town rather than Arizona or Massachusetts.

Goodwill Stores and Halloween Costumes--They go together like trick or treating, ghosts and goblins, haunted houses and screams.

Last week I stepped off the No. 15 bus and saw these silver boots in the window of the Goodwill store on Burnside. Oh, to have younger legs and feet! I'd have flown through the automatic-opening-door in a flash, to buy them if they fit. I will have to settle for enjoying them in my photo because in a few days they were gone from the window. I'm hoping serendipity strikes and I come across the new owner who will agree to being photographed for the blog. Yep, this City Daily Photo Blog thing is great fun for me.

A mural, sort of hidden on a side street

Sometimes at lunch, I go outside for a walk. That's how I found this neat mural at Smitty's Vending, Inc., on the corner of SE 7th Avenue and Main. Those who drive west on Main or walk south on 7th have the best chance to notice the mural. Oh, I guess those who drive east on Main might notice it, if they look sharply to the right after they've safely crossed 7th. I think even if you don't read English very well, you'd know what sort of business goes on in this flat-roofed building. Do any of the businesses near your work or home have murals on their walls?

ABC Wednesday: J is for Joy

Picture this: Mama and me, in the Buick, driving west on SW Morrison. As I turn right onto SW 12th, I’m saying, “I’ve got to find something for Alphabet Wednesday for J.” Mama quips, “J is for joy” as the car straightens out and I notice a crowd of people on the left, at the steps of a church. Parked at the far corner is a turquoise-colored convertible, an Olds Delta 88, adorned with bunches of white balloons, blowing in the breeze. I say, “I’ll get a photo of the car—that could represent joy, the joy of the bride and groom!”

So I go around the block again, when lo and behold, as we straighten out on 12th, a man stops at the top of the church steps and introduces the bride and groom to everyone. They come down the steps and get into the convertible! In seconds, they pull out into the street, to our left. At a traffic signal, I lean out, camera in hand, and say, “Smile!” You see the result.

But.

I can't, in all conscience, use the photo for J without their permission. Last Friday, I call the church and explain all about my blog, ABC Wednesday, and J is for Joy. I ask the wedding lady if she could ask the couple for me, “Would it be OK to use the photo I took of them for my blog?” She says she will e-mail them for me. Later that evening, my phone rings. The new bride agrees to my from-out-of-left-field request.

To the happy couple I say, "Thank you for letting me share your joy with the City Daily Photo Blog."

Who is this man? He’s on the wall of an old building with Meier & Frank above the door. See him there to the right?

This building, which looks to have been a Meier & Frank warehouse used during their years of operation in Portland—they sold out to Macy’s last year--takes up the block between 15th and 14th Avenues; I walk by on Everett--I don't know the name of the northernmost street for certain. One of these mornings, I'll have to leave the apartment early enough to explore.

How, I ask you, could I have walked by without taking a photo of this character? He appears to have been painted or printed on paper, cut out and plastered to the plywood covering the window. He's ended up colorful, exotic, romantic--a mystery.



Is he some character from an opera? A novel? A play? A figment of someone’s creative mind? Who knows? Give me your knowledge, or at least your best guess. Please and thank you.

Around town with Mama

I don’t want y’all thinking that I’m the only member of my Mississippi-to-Oregon-transplanted family out and about in Portland. My 81-year-old Mama gets her licks in.

Periodically I plan to post photos of her enjoying Portland. Sometimes she’ll have her sidekick with her, Duncan the darling dachshund—he’s a miniature, almost 14 years old.

Here she is, earlier this summer, downtown at the corner of SW Broadway and Washington, talking with two men who work at the Marriott. Like a lot of us Southerners, she’s talking with her hands as well as her mouth!

Yonder Stands a Mountain

Mt. Hood, over 60 miles from Portland, popped into view one morning last week as my No. 4 bus crossed the Williamette. Once I got off the bus at my stop, I made my way into a nearby parking garage, walking up a few flights until I could see the mountain pretty well with my CoolPix L12. When I get my Nikon D50 back, I'm going to buy a tripod for my zoom lens and get us a really good photo of this fascinating sight.

I never ever dreamed I would live where I could see mountains every day, or that I would only be a few hours from the Pacific Ocean. I love Portland!

The Marquee Says It All

I bought my first books at Powell's in June, 2004, when Mama and I first came to visit my sons, Lamont and Leland. I rode the No. 20 bus after walking over to Burnside from the Benson Hotel, my rolling suitcase in hand. Those books about Eudora Welty and Willie Morris flew home to Mississippi with me on Southwest Airlines. In June, 2006, they rode 2,500 miles back to Portland, in the back of the UHaul truck Leland drove. Right now they're on my 85x32-inch, three-shelf, unfinished pine bookcase in our top floor apartment in Portland's Alphabet District, eleven blocks from where I found them in 2004. About the bookcase, Mama just asked me, "Is that your library?" Brilliant lady.

At www.powells.com, you can find out all sorts of info about Powell's, including the store in the photograph, the City of Books. It takes up the entire city block, bordered by NW 10th and 11th Avenues to the east and west, W. Burnside and NW Couch Streets on the south and north. You're looking at the corner of 10th and Burnside here in the photo I took after work yesterday.

I can't resist giving you a few tidbits of information:

Powell's City of Books is a book lover's paradise, the largest used and new bookstore in the world. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon and occupying an entire city block, the City stocks more than a million new and used books. Nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles. ... Every day at our buyers' counter in the Orange Room, we purchase thousands of used books from the public. Powell's purchases special collections, libraries, and bookstore inventories as well.

A few facts about the City of Books:

68,000 square feet packed with books
we buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day
approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day
another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee
our parking garage provides space for 40 cars (ok, so there are bigger parking garages)
we stock 122 major subject areas and more than 3,500 subsections
you'll find more than 1,000,000 volumes on our shelves
approximately 80,000 book lovers browse the City's shelves every day, in Portland and via the Internet. So is our mother ship the world's largest bookstore? Heck, it may be bigger than your whole town.