Public art on the MAX and today's Mama update

I took these photos on that cold Saturday in December when I walked and walked, taking photos all along the river between the Broadway and Morrison Bridges. I had such a good time.

Here you have some of the public art on the Interstate MAX Yellow Line that runs from the City Center to the Expo Center, which is "The Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center is a multi-purpose facility that has served for more than 30 years as the region's primary destination for consumer public shows, trade shows and public events. This 60-acre campus includes a complex of five inter-connected buildings comprising 330,000 square feet of multi-use exhibition space, 11 meeting rooms, a full-service kitchen and parking for 2,200 vehicles. The facility hosts nearly 100 events annually, attracting in excess of 500,000 attendees."


From TriMet.org: Artwork at every stop along the MAX Yellow Line draws from the history and culture of the area to create a unique identity for each station. With over 40 local artists contributing artwork and 75 community members participating in forums and committees, the art along MAX Yellow Line is a proud reflection of a historically rich and vital part of Portland.

This particular art is at the Interstate/Rose Quarter Station in front of the home of the Portland Trail Blazers, our professional basketball team.

From TriMet.org: Brian Borrello presents a three-part metaphor for displacement and change.

* Illuminated metal trees generate their own electricity from solar panels.
* A virtual campfire flickers with light at night, surrounded by stainless steel stump seats.
* Light filtering through colored glass on shelter roofs simulates the dappled light of a forest.
* Concrete tree rings in the platform symbolize the forest once abundant on the site.
* Custom guardrails feature branching tree limbs and roots.




That's the home of the Trail Blazers in the background.


Here you're looking towards the Willamette River. All of this, the basketball arena and the streets and mass transit, etc., is practically on the east bank of the river. Sorry I only got photos of the metal trees, but to tell you the truth, they stood out so beautifully against the blue, blue sky that I got distracted from even looking for the other parts of the art at this stop. Maybe a shot or two for another time, eh?


Here's the latest on Mama--sorry that I ramble so much, but my brain's going several directions at once.

She's still having problems with her blood pressure, not only being higher that the doctors want, but also dropping more than they want when it's taken lying down, sitting up, then standing up. The man who did the angiogram and put in the stent last Thursday told the kids today that he wanted to re-evaluate her on this coming Friday, so there won't be any new procedure or surgery right away, if at all.

Also, the doctors have decided to have her evaluated by physical and occupational therapy because they want her sitting up more and walking some, with a walker that has wheels on the front two legs. She's now calling for the nurse, then using the walker to go to the actual bathroom, which is a step in the right direction. If some of this blood pressure problem is due to her having been flat on her back (or nearly so) for over a week now, then the movement they've prescribed just might help her blood pressure get under control better.

Mama is trying to do what is asked of her because she wants to get better, but she is pretty weak. I'm hoping that the increased activity, even in small amounts, will help her regain a bit of strength. All of that ought to help, don't you think?

Lamont, Lindsay and Leland came over today. Leland stayed until he needed to head for school. Lamont and Lindsay stayed until I got here after work. It's now a little after 8 p.m. and I'm about to head home to a lonely little dog.

Thank you for your continued prayers, well wishes and kind thoughts. They mean so very much to all of us.

The 3 Ls who're helping this one L with Gee-Ma, 'cause they love both of us so very much

Mama's doing a tad better, as she puts it. We're so thankful for that, even if her blood pressure remains too high. The doctor said they're still working on controlling it with medicine. Hopefully tomorrow we'll know what is next for her.

I took this photo on Dec. 6 after we'd been to the Bagdad to see "The Bourne Ultimatum." That's Lamont, Lindsay and Leland. Don't they look grand, standing at the Bike Parking Oasis on the corner of SE 38th and Hawthorne?

Those three young people have played a big part in keeping me sane this week, helping out so very much with Mama. Besides taking Mama to the ER, twice (Leland) and coming to the ER to check on Grandma as soon as they got off work last Sunday night (Lamont and Lindsay); visiting repeatedly (all three); asking pertinent questions and remembering the answers(all three); loving both of us immensely (all three), there's also this-- Leland has been driving our car part of the time, Lindsay's car the rest of the time, back and forth to work and school since the middle of November. Now that I need the car to get quickly from home or work to the hospital, Lindsay's letting him use her car as often as he needs it. She's riding one of Leland's bicyles or her own bicycle to work and to the hospital to visit Grandma. Lamont does that, too. Leland rides his other bike to the hospital. They're amazing, flat out amazing.

The Bike Parking Oasis is one of several around the city, offering covered bike parking on a newly widened sidewalk, in a space the size of one and one half automobile parking spaces. Where to people park their bicycles in your city?

Mama Update #6, and a really tall building

Mama finally made it to a semi-private room this evening, over 24 hours after we thought she would be moved. The hospital was so busy that there wasn't a room available until then. She's better with the dizziness but cannot get up off the bed without help, very tired, and regaining her appetite bit by bit. Her biggest problem all night and until around 8:30 p.m. our time was her blood pressure--it's been way too high. Several different meds finally brought it down; I hope that lasts. My biggest hope is that tomorrow the doctors tell us what the next step is.

Speaking of big, how about the US Bancorp Tower, popularly known as the Big Pink! I took this picture of its north side from several blocks north.



Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it, including how it got its nickname:

"The US Bancorp Tower is the second tallest skyscraper in Portland, Oregon. It stands at 536 feet (163 m) with 43 floors (42 floors excluding the missing 13th floor). The building has nearly 1.1 million square feet (69,000 m²) of office space inside, making it the largest office building in Oregon in terms of volume, and the second tallest building in Oregon, with only the Wells Fargo Center exceeding its height.

Construction of the building was undertaken by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) with Pietro Belluschi as a consultant. The tower opened in 1983, serving first as the national headquarters of U.S. Bancorp, then the regional headquarters of that organization after a 1997 merger moved the corporate offices to Minneapolis, Minnesota. U.S. Bancorp has 480,000 square feet leased until 2015.

Perhaps the most unusual features of the building are its shape and color. Pietro Belluschi was most concerned about the play of light and shadows on its surface; meanwhile, the SOM team had to work with a uniquely shaped lot due to the street grid. The meshing of these two concerns led to what has been called Portland's most dynamic building. Because of the street grid, the tower features no right angles in its parallelogram footprint. This, in turn, makes it look either extremely slender or wide depending upon your viewing angle. Belluschi carefully selected the glass and granite for the exterior facing. The windows can absorb or reflect light depending upon how much light is upon them, while the surrounding granite may appear darker or lighter than the window pieces depending upon the time of day. The building can be described as being pink, orange, purple, or even gray all in the same day. The unusual pinkish color earned the building the nickname "Big Pink", after an album by The Band.

Since a $4 million renovation in 2002, the 30th floor of the tower has been occupied by the Portland City Grill, Portland's top-grossing restaurant. It is often cited as the restaurant with the best view in Portland.

The building was purchased by JPMorgan Asset Management in August 2006 for a price of $286 million. It was previously owned by Unico who purchased it in 2000 for a price of $165 million. Currently, 92% of the building is occupied."

The first time we visited Portland, both of my sons worked at the Portland City Grill. We never did get a chance to eat there, but we did get a tour of the whole place one morning before it opened. While the whole place fascinated Mama and me, it was the views that overwhelmed us.

Thank you so much for your visits, comments and good wishes and prayers for us.

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?

Mama Update #4, and recently the Buick needed fixing, too

Dr. Lukacs explained what went on today to me by drawing a diagram of sorts. I'll do my best to explain. Mama's angiogram went well, revealing this and fixing that. First, there is stuff as hard as concrete, as he put it, completely blocking her right subclavian artery. They tried to break it, coming at it from both ends, to no avail. On the left subclavian artery, there are deposits narrowing it, but they were able to insert a stent there which has greatly improved the blood flow. She's in Cardiac Intensive Care, probably for overnight only, to be closely monitored. She's awake, aware and being a good girl, as she put it, because she wants to get fixed. Dr. Luckas said that there is the possibility she will need another procedure to take care of some blockage in her left carotid artery and/or also they will be evaluating her for the possibility of a by-pass of the 100% blocked right subclavian artery. We might find out a time frame tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Now for the Buick and then I'm off to bed.

December 29 I drove to Andy's Auto Supply & Repair at SE 21st and SE Powell. The check engine light had come on and stayed on. The man hooked up some sort of boxy computer/reader thing to the car, said it was probably a glitch and if it came on again, return for further checking.

After that I asked if they'd check the serpentine belt because Jiffy Lube had mentioned that it needed replacing. I prefer to do things like that with locals instead of chains, know what I mean? The only reason I go to Jiffy Lube for the oil change is just that, the jiffy.


Even my untrained eye could see the crack and nicks in just one easily visible section of the belt, so I asked them to fix it. Anyway, Flat Stanley wanted to watch, naturally. The car went up, the man replaced the serpentine belt, the car came down, and the Buick was fixed. Flat Stanley smiled wider than ever! Me, too.


As an extra tidbit, here's the building to the left of Andy's front door. The man at Andy's told me the place used to be called the Two by Six and when the lease ran out, the name got changed to Lots A Luck, so the neon sign got reworked. Turned out right well, didn't it?

Branches (and Mama Update #3)

It was the massive green limbs that first caught my eye. When I downloaded the photo, I felt astounded at the shapes and directions of the naked limbs, down to the narrowest ones. It looks as if the winds have influenced these trees in downtown Portland much more that one would realize from seeing them filled out spring, summer and fall. It's inspirational to see beneath what we take for granted, the greens and golds, to realize that the beauty of it all extends year round. Much like my dear Mama's strong little body and the vessels that supply it with life-maintaining blood. So, for me, this is the perfect photo for Thursday's post.

Here's the text of the e-mail that I've sent on Wednesday evening, to the family and friends who regularly read my other blog:

Hey, Y'all,

I'm going to try to explain what we understand and what the doctors are planning to do. The neurologists and the doctor that performs the angiogram and the cardiovascular surgeon all think that the subclavian steal syndrome is Mama's problem. This has nothing to do with either one of her carotid arteries, the ones that run up each side of your neck, carrying blood to the front of the brain. Instead, it has to do with one of the two subclavian arteries that runs up the back of the neck, carrying blood to the back of the brain. That's the part of the brain that deals with balance; one doctor told us that they're called vertebral arteries once they leave the collarbone area. Instead of the blood going up to the brain, it goes into the arm that has the blockage on its subclavian artery, therefore the "steal" in the name of the problem.

Thursday at some point, the doctors will do an angiogram, using a dye to take images of the arteries as they leave Mama's heart, of both carotid arteries and of both subclavians. The cardiovascular surgeon told us it is Mama's right one that is too narrow. I must have been mixed up about which side since Monday when we first started hearing about this. What they'll do is insert the catheter in from either the left or right, down near where her leg connects to her body. They'll snake it up to where they want it to go and inject dye so that they can make the images. Once they see whatever, they'll know if a stent (a self-expanding tube according to Wikipedia) will do what they want it to do or if the cardiovascular surgeon will have to come in and do a bypass.

They have a procedure scheduled for 8 a.m. and one for 9:30 a.m., then Mama. The problem is that the 9:30 a.m. one could take from 2 to 6 hours, so we don't know what time she'll be taken to the procedure. She cannot have anything by mouth after midnight; he told her to order herself a milkshake at 10 p.m., so she's already done that.

It didn't register with her, or if it did she didn't say anything, but the surgeon said there is a chance that her vertigo is not caused by this subclavian steal syndome. I do hope that is not the case because she would like to wake up from this with plenty of blood going to her brain and not dizziness or nausea.

I'll end with what she said last night and tonight as all of this sunk in: Last night she told me, "There's no telling how good I'll be when they get this done." Tonight she told one of the doctors, "Dr. Yutan (her regular doctor) told me that he figures I've got 10 more good years, and I intend to go after them."

From all of us, thanks to for your continued prayers.

ABC Wednesday: Y is for Yellow (and Mama Update #2)

Mama Update#2: We still haven't gotten to talk with the surgeon, but it appears that we will be able to tomorrow afternoon. Mama's less dizzy and nauseous, thank goodness, but still cannot get up out of the bed alone. We're keeping in touch with my brother and my aunt by cell phone--thank goodness for modern technology. When my husband was ill all those years ago, 1983, keeping enough quarters on hand was a challenge some days. Thanks to everyone for your good wishes for Mama. Oh, by the way, I still cannot get into my Gmail here at the hospital, and I'm relatively exhausted when I get back to the apartment so that all I seem to be able to do is take care of Duncan and fall into bed. Eventually, I'll be looking at your posts, I promise.

Here's my ABC Wednesday post which thankfully I am able to do at the hospital--otherwise I'd go bonkers sitting there for hours.

Yellow t-shirts top the members of the One More Time Around Again Marching Band at the Concert in the Park, June 8, 2007, at PGE Park, a few blocks from our apartment. You can read a bit of history about the band here as well as their plans for that evening's concert. At one point, two band members danced out front to "Take the A Train." You can easily see them in the photo--they're wearing black and are standing a couple of rows back, directly across from the director's right hand. At the point that I snapped this particular photo, the OMTAAMB had been joined on the field by all of the high school marching bands. All told, there were seven bands on the field for the finale. They're just about to burst into a fan-tab-ulous rendition of "Everything's Coming Up Roses."


Earlier when "Take the A Train" started, the couple walked along slowly at opposite ends of the massed band members, pretending they were at the train station. When they saw each other, they ran together joyously.




Then the couple danced right through the Merriam-Webster definition of jitterbug: a jazz variation of the two-step in which couples swing, balance, and twirl in standardized patterns and often with vigorous acrobatics.



















Everyone on the field and in the stands thoroughly enjoyed this musical and dance performance! Hope you did, too.

The concert opened with the Navy Leapfrog Parachuters. I posted about them on my other blog, in case you like to see talented parachuters in action, sort of in action since they're still photos.

For those who missed it, here's Mama Update #1: Mama was admitted to the hospital about midnight Sunday night, after several hours in the ER, a CT scan, and some nausea/vertigo meds. Today she's had an MRI and an ultrasound of one carotid artery--it just so happened that she had the test scheduled for 2 p.m. today, so they went ahead and did it as an in-patient procedure. The neurologists' think what's going on is something called a subclavian steal syndrome which, as I understand it, means that the left side blood vessel's narrower than it should be, for some reason, and then it takes blood from where it's supposed to go from the right side's blood vessel. All of this adds up to not enough blood to her brain which is causing the vertigo and nausea. So, she's looking at surgery--we don't know when yet because we haven't seen the surgeon yet. She's feeling better with the help of anti-nausea drugs right now and is in decent spirits. She's absolutely amazing.

Mama Update, and Flat Stanley Enjoys the Stump Art

Mama was admitted to the hospital about midnight, after several hours in the ER, a CT scan, and some nausea/vertigo meds. Today she's had an MRI and an ultrasound of one carotid artery--it just so happened that she had the test scheduled for 2 p.m. today, so they went ahead and did it as an in-patient procedure. The neurologists' think what's going on is something called a subclavian steal syndrome which, as I understand it, means that the left side blood vessel's narrower than it should be, for some reason, and then it takes blood from where it's supposed to go from the right side's blood vessel. All of this adds up to not enough blood to her brain which is causing the vertigo and nausea. So, she's looking at surgery--we don't know when yet because we haven't seen the surgeon yet. She's feeling better with the help of anti-nausea drugs right now and is in decent spirits. She's absolutely amazing.

On December 29, I happened to remember that Flat Stanley hadn't seen the stump art yet, so I made it a point to drive through Ladd's Addition even though it was raining softly. You can tell by the big grin on his face how excited he was to see all of those little toys rounded up on the stump. I'm glad I was able to hold him up high for this photo.


I don't know all of these toys' identification; neither did Flat Stanley. We do like the photo below with someone I think might be the Hunchback of Notre Dame holding up the baby to that individual with the white wings. In those other photos from September, on yesterday's post, there was a blue bird on the nest instead--I believe it's now on the stump to the left of the winged individual. We talked about the change from a bird to a baby and decided that it must have something to do with Christmas and the baby Jesus.


You can tell how much rain we'd been getting from this photo--just look at that mud all around the stump! By the way, do you think I'm being accurate in calling this a stump? Or is it too tall?

I can't say how long that "Please Don't Park Here" sign has been attached to the tree, although I do remember seeing it at some point earlier in 2007. Both times I saw it there, a vehicle had parked at the curb, either not seeing or choosing to ignore its entreaty.

Flat Stanley thought the ladder as well as the climbing toy make the whole thing even more interesting. I took this close-up of the climbing toy from the sidewalk, wanting to avoid getting squishy gray/black mud in the grooves of my birthday shoes, a swell-fitting pair of black Keens. When I downloaded the photo, I was tickled to see the nail in the tree and the drops of water on the toy. That nail makes me wonder what had been there, now long gone.


Remember the nun in the September '06 photos--she's standing over that fireman with the saw cutting through the tree limb on top of the pirate. How creative is that! Anyway, as you can tell in the photo below, the nun has ended up in the mud beside the tree trunk and some discarded holly branches. I couldn't step close enough to get a better photo than this. I hope the next time I get a chance to stop that the nun has been restored to her former position--I think I can still see the fireman in the last photo.


Don't you agree with me that you can see the fireman's head and shoulders and part of his black coat with its yellow collar? And is that a scuba diver to the left of him, a turquoise blue scuba diver, complete with an air tank and a mask?


Flat Stanley and I have looked back and forth, at the September '06 photos, then at the December '07 ones. We've decided that the dinosaur got truly tired of that basketball player using his mouth as a basket and flicked that guy completely outta sight. Or they could be buried in the mud at the foot of the stump, for all we know. We promise to try to get by there at least one more time before Flat Stanley heads home to Mississippi at some point in February.

I'm at the hospital, using their dial up Internet. Thank goodness they have it! I cannot get my Gmail account to open, but I can do this which is a great big plus for me.

Stump Art, SE Portland

Mama's not feeling very well at all, so we're off to the ER in a bit--Leland is on his way to help again, bless him. Anyway, I wanted you to have this background on this stump art because of some new photos to come.

This is from Sept. 4, 2006, when we still lived in SE Portland. I posted it on Mama and Me from PDX. At that time, I did not know how to use Flickr and get my photos the size that I wanted them to be. Still and all, I hope you enjoy this. Be sure to notice the nun figure and where it is in these photos. I'll be back with an update on Mama when I have news. Thanks for all of your continuing good wishes for her recovery.

One sunny day, riding the #10 Harold bus home from work a few weeks ago, a glimpse of something like I'd never seen before flitted across my mind. I wondered, in fact, if I'd really seen what I thought I saw--toys on a stump on the side of Ladd Avenue, beneath the canopy of tall trees? That was a Thursday.

On Saturday, I rode slowly along Ladd Avenue in the Buick, looking on the west side of the street for what I had decided to call stump art. There it was, near one of the round-abouts that keep people from gunning their motors in this and many of the lovely, old neighborhoods in this city. I parked and got out, camera in hand.

Pictured below is what I saw, but you don't believe it any more than I did, right?

Children's toys arranged artfully, humorously and carefully atop a tree stump, standing between a busy sidewalk and a busy street, in front of a greenish-grayish painted, two-story house. How come no one walks off with the toys, I marvelled?

Here's what I think.

In the part of Portland I've been exposed to, folks let other people be. I suspect it's that way all across the city, the metropolitan area even. They let them be who they want to be, without consequence, without judgment.

That's a blanket statement, I realize, but you come up here, sit out front of a cafe or wait at a bus stop, and see if you don't pretty soon agree.

I believe this extends into letting artistic or creative expressions exist for the enjoyment of all, no matter how large or small, whether it's on a stump or a person's skin or hair or clothing.

It's really quite refreshing and encouraging to me. It's power-giving, too, in the sense that if you're left alone to be and therefore appreciated for whatever you've decided to be, then there's no holding you back.

Another one of my favorite photos

I took this photo back on March 5, 2007. The window glowed like a box of jewels, there on SE Hawthorne Blvd., near 34th. The store is Clogs-N-More Kids.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for your wishes that Mama gets better soon. She is a bit better and has been able to sit up--well, sit in her opened-out recliner--for two hours watching "The Net" on On Demand, after eating some oatmeal and an English muffin; now she's taken her last Dramamine of the day and gone to bed, Duncan curled up at her back. She's still unable to walk or stand without help--very little control over her sense of balance. Most of today, she's been on the couch, dozing. She did manage a long while with her crossword puzzle magazine as she lay there, which is certainly a hopeful sign.

I know it's late for this to be posted, but it snowed on Christmas Day!

Sorry I'm so late in posting my Saturday post, but Mama, Leland and I spent from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, Portland time, at either the Urgent Care or the ER. She's got an inner ear problem, a head cold, and maybe a touch of some stomach flu. You know how it is sometimes, difficult to nail it down, and it can come on rather quickly with little ol' ladies, which is what she'll tell you she's glad to be! She still feels awful but is now at home, asleep in her bed with Duncan bundled up beside her. She's taking meclizine for the lightheadedness and nausea and hopefully will feel better tomorrow. Thank goodness Leland was off work today and could help me, or I would have had to call for paramedics and an ambulance, she was that falling every which way. Lamont must have called four or five times, checking on her; he had to be at work around 1 p.m.

I'm about the hit the hay myself, but I'll be back tomorrow with something for Sunday because I appreciate y'all so very much, and I love this photo blogging so very much.

Anyway, to show you how great Mama normally is, here are some photos of her and the surprise snow--which we thought was so great--and then more snow without people. I took these photos of our trip to Lake Oswego, to Lindsay's Aunt Laura's home, for our Christmas Day with family, friends, food and fun.

Here's Mama! Dec. 25, 2007. On Jan. 23, 2008, she'll turn 82, a fact which continually surprises her. She first posed for me, standing inside the building's entry.


Then she bundled up and posed in the snow before heading for the Buick. Personally, I was thrilled that Leland was driving because I could take photos!


Here you can see the entrance to our building. Besides being good for Mama--not too many steps, two colors on the steps which helps her perception as she makes a decision about where to step, and a sturdy handrail--it's quite nice-looking, too.


Notice the red lampposts? They're in front of Portland's Classical Chinese Garden. How about this wonderful quotation I found on their Web site: "Most cherished in this mundane world is a place without traffic; truly in the midst of a city there can be mountain and forest." Wen Zhengming (1470-1559)


The traffic signal marks the intersection of NW Everett and NW 3rd Avenue. We're about to turn right onto 3rd. Two blocks after the turn, we'll pass the bus stop at NW Couch. I sometimes walk there, all the way down Everett, 1.22 miles (according to MapQuest) from the apartment's front door.


We're on SW 3rd Avenue, just south of Burnside. The snow looks great against that dark awning and the red brick.


I didn't look at the street signs, but I think we're on SW 1st Avenue here. You really can tell how important trees are in Portland from this shot, can't you? This is southwest downtown, in the midst of all sorts of office buildings.


Here's the 17, in southwest Portland, miles from where we can catch it a block from the apartment. TriMet operates every single day of the year.


When we paused at a traffic signal in Lake Oswego (where Aunt Laura lives), I took this photo through the open window.


We almost there now.



It will be a couple of days before I get the rest of the Christmas photos posted--thanks for your patience.

Spike's, and I don't mean Snoopy's cousin's place either

I love the name of this business, especially in relation to what takes place there--automobile upholstery. It's located just off SE Morrison, on SE 6th Avenue. I discovered it last Saturday while making the block to get another bunch of photos--more photographic serendipity.

I couldn't find out much about the business online, other than its name, address, and phone number. I do like the fact that when I typed "spike's auto upholstery" at Google, without a mention of Portland, this very Spike's is the first hit, the first 14 hits in fact. I wonder if that would happen on a computer located elsewhere in the world, or did it happen on mine because Google knows I'm in Portland? As you can tell, I truly don't understand how searching works, I just love to do it.

At one of those hits, I found an absolutely gorgeous rehabilitated 1969 red Volkswagen Beetle convertible, complete with a new convertible top "supplied" by Spike's, quoting what I found across from the last photo on the right. Beetle-lovers, look here and drool at the photos provided by Rewerks VW Air-Cooled Specialists, located right here in southwest Portland.

Now for a question. How do you think this photo works in black and white, please? The washed-out gray sky, complete with light rain, seemed to me to make this a good photo to try in black and white. I value your input.

Roundin' the Curve

Wish I'd had my tripod, but I couldn't pass up this shot, on a cold weekend night in between rain showers. I parked the car on a side street, looked both ways, and crossed quickly.

You're looking at SE Division, curving eastward around to its intersection with SE 11th Avenue, where the traffic signals have gone yellow. I particularly hoped to capture the line of the building's roof, stopping at the corner, of course, but suggesting perfectly a proper perspective on its way to the vanishing point.

ABC Wednesday - X is for X, the shape

Ah, the letter X. What a quandary it posed for me because I just don't know anyone with a xylophone or a pet named Xerxes. Once I started to mull it over, I realized that I see Xs every single day.

These Xs make up the guard rails of the Hawthorne Bridge. I took this photo while I waited on the bridge in the Buick during a bridge lift. Yes, I was finally on the bridge during a lift, even if it was at night and I couldn't see a doggone thing! It was eerie to be sitting still practically over the middle of the Willamette River, let me tell you.


These Xs in the photo below make up the expanding and contracting gate of our apartment's elevator. It's either our best friend or the bane of our existence, depending upon its ability to slide shut smoothly upon a person's having exited the elevator.

Well, to tell the truth, I shouldn't say the gate is a gift except for when it shuts easily by itself, therefore allowing the connection to be made and the elevator to come when called. The bane-of-our-existence part comes in when it will not slide shut by itself (for whatever reason), and the humans who live in the building fail to pull it shut upon exiting the elevator. Then the elevator has absolutely no idea that you have called, and you have to go looking for it which is quite precarious and/or dangerous for Mama. Aggravated is way too tame a word to describe how that makes us feel.

Remember when movies and television shows modeled such a thing as common courtesy, in addition to its being taught at home? Oh, I know it is alive and well, but when something like this happens over and over again (as it did here recently when the elevator doors were being replaced on all four floors), it shakes one's faith in the existence and health of common courtesy.

January, 2008, Theme Day: Best Photo of the Year

For what seemed like an inordinately long time, these rhododendron buds stood guard at our building's front door, reminding me for all the world of a photo of those terracotta soldiers from the tomb of China's first emperor, Shi Huangdi.

I took this photo months before I became aware of the City Daily Photo Blog community. For that reason, I decided to look through the many photos I had taken prior to September 1, 2007, searching for a photo I particularly wanted to share with you. So today I begin what I plan to be my first full calendar year as a CDPBer, with this photo that I took on March 4, 2007.

I'm not sure that I can truly convey how satisfying, exciting and supportive I find the CDPB community to be for me, so I'll just say, "Thank you, from my heart."

You'll have a blast looking at all of these photos of the year, 2007:

Paris, France - London, England - Hyde, UK - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Grenoble, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Riga, Latvia - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - New Orleans (LA), USA - Wichita (KS), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - San Francisco (CA), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Greenville (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Mainz, Germany - Melbourne, Australia - Portland (OR), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Toulouse, France - Naples (FL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Brussels, Belgium - Stayton (OR), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Nashville (TN), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Prescott (AZ), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Nottingham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Evry, France - Trujillo, Peru - Arlington (VA), USA - Denpasar, Indonesia - American Fork (UT), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Coral Gables (FL), USA - Montpellier, France - Joplin (MO), USA - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Boston (MA), USA - Torun, Poland - New York City (NY), USA - Dunedin (FL), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Chateaubriant, France - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Budapest, Hungary - Austin (TX), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Cypress (TX), USA - Bicheno, Australia - Wrocław, Poland - Brookville (OH), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Cheltenham, UK - Wellington, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - London, UK - Haninge, Sweden - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Arradon, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Mumbai, India - Terrell (TX), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - Delta (CO), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Saigon, Vietnam - San Diego (CA), USA - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Belgrade, Serbia - Auckland, New Zealand - Seguin (TX), USA - Inverness (IL), USA - Oslo, Norway - Singapore, Singapore - Las Vegas (NV), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy - Susanville (CA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Memphis (Tennessee), USA