More icy snow pix, Dec. 15 and Dec. 16

Walking to the bus stop, Dec. 15, so that I could report by 10 a.m.--looking east on NW Everett. Right before I made it to the corner where that person is standing, the bus that I usually catch stopped and then left again. I couldn't trot like I do sometimes--ha, ha--so I turned right and walked over to Burnside, hoping to get a 15 or a 20. I'd end up in the same place, able to catch my second bus for the rest of the trip.

Looking southwest towards Burnside, the street on the left, and towards SW Morrison, the street on the right.

Looking west, at Burnside, as it ascends the hill I mentioned yesterday, the one that the bus most likely didn't continue to climb, instead turning right at the next corner where you can see the front wheel of a vehicle waiting to turn out onto Burnside. Not this bus, though, the bus in yesterday's post. This bus went on up the steep, curvy hill.

Waiting at the bus stop, for the 15 or the 20. She crossed from the other side of Burnside as I did, almost slipping down in her tiny-heeled boots.

Properly dressed for the extremely cold weather. I know, though, that this man and his dog are homeless because I saw them Sunday night on the news, being interviewed about getting into a warming shelter for the night. He said that he and his dog needed to stay together, and the particular shelter they were in allowed pets with their people. The man had a cot, his dog had a kennel. Thank goodness.

Chains on a pickup, headed east on Burnside.

The most odd vehicle I've seen, driving across the icy Walgreens parking lot. And, lo and behold, I think I saw it again today, about 21 hours later, parked in a lot that the 15 bus goes by. Weird.

Still waiting for the bus, a total of about 25 minutes in a blustery, of and on windy situation. Cold. Don't ask me why the tights, mini dress, mini coat, tiny little boots. I don't have a clue and I couldn't bring myself to ask once we were on the bus. I figured I'd embarrass myself with my incredulity being all over my face and in my voice. I did, however, thoroughly understand the way the other woman dressed for the weather. Smart.

I started to get on this 15 after work today, but when I noticed the other 15 right behind it, I knew it would be practically empty, so I waited for it. In about 15 minutes, I got off at Fred Meyer to shop for last minute staples and the stuff that I need for two pot lucks coming up at work, one on Friday, one on next Monday. I'm planning ahead because the forecast is dire. Right now it's 22 in Portland, wind chill is 14. Tomorrow the weather schedule is snow, freezing rain, rain, then more snow. And more snow coming on Saturday. This is in Portland and lots of Washington and Oregon; it is not regular winter weather here.

I got off the bus with the rolling black bag stuffed with groceries and another tote bag, plus two plastic grocery bags. I had to put it all down on the icy sidewalk and take this photo, though, because the sign taped to the pole had shocked me so when I'd first seen it last night. I didn't get off there last night, but rode one more block so that I would be that much closer to the druggist where I had to pick up Mama's prescriptions.

The sign gives me sad news. The stop that I used 99 percent of the time is closing. I understand TriMet's reasoning, though.

How's this for a shot of the ice that Sunday's snow has become? I'm standing at the corner of NW 22nd and Burnside, with my back to Burnside. This sidewalk leads to my apartment building. I made it just fine, thanks to the trusty Yak Trax!

KGW Newschannel 8 is calling this weird winter weather the Arctic Blast. You know how news organizations like to title events. Now the weather man Matt Zafino is saying that we made it to 32 today at the airport. I went out at lunch time, walked to a nearby Goodwill Super Store and thought it felt much warmer than on Monday--thank goodness. He's explaining what causes freezing rain and where the lows will go tomorrow, influencing our weather. Lots of snow forecast for the ski areas. Here in Portland it's supposed to be 15 at 7 am., 31 at noon, 34 at 5 p.m. and from one to four inches of snow. And snow could come again on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday--my goodness!

Some kind of out of the ordinary!

A TriMet bus drove down the street Sunday morning. Now, on the face of it, that statement smacks of ordinary. But, the street outside our apartment building, both of them in fact--we're on a corner--are not bus routes. However, in certain circumstances, bus routes change, circumstances like the snow that started falling about 7:30 a.m. in our neighborhood and across the city. A few hours later, many surface streets, highways, and interstates had become slippery, dangerous places to be. So, although TriMet had chained up all of its buses, someone must have made the decision to not try to make it over the 900-foot, curvy road that Burnside becomes right after our neighborhood. That's what I'm assuming anyway, although I couldn't see the number on the bus nor did I know if it had originally been headed west up the hill, or east down the hill. I'm so glad that I happened to be at the window, looking to see if the snow continued to fall, so that I could get this out-of-the-ordinary photo.

By the time it had stopped snowing 12 hours later, most of Portland was snowy white, an inch or two here, as much as four inches there. The occasional snowfall happens here, what usually doesn't accompany it is the bone-chilling cold forecast for every day this week, plus next weekend. Nothing above 25 degrees, gusty winds, single digit wind chills.

When I got home from work today, Mama asked, "Have you heard it's supposed to snow six inches on Wednesday?" "Here?" I asked, shocked. I had seen snow predicted for Saturday, possibly. But not on Wednesday. Oh, boy.

We are gonna have us a mess here, with snow on top of ice. I made it fine today, with my Yak Trax on my shoes--they're rubber and metal traction devices, two pairs of pants, two pairs of gloves, a fleece vest inside my wind-resistant raincoat, a scarf and a knit hat. I had to wait about 25 minutes for my first bus, and walked four blocks to the best place to catch my second one which, thankfully, arrived a few minutes after I got there. I did leave the rolling black bag at home, opting instead for an over-the-shoulder bag. I'll make it fine the rest of the week, too, even if it snows that much. My Yak Trax fit my black rubber boots so that if it gets that deep, I'll wear them, not my Keens. And tomorrow I'm taking the rolling black bag so that I can stop by the grocery store after work, especially with that weather forecast pending.

Here are several other photos I took from the window. I opted to stay inside Sunday, knowing full well that I'd have to get out on Monday, to go to work. Looking straight down from the kitchen window, at two covered vehicles, scooters or motorcyles, and the snow-covered vehicles on each side of them. I like how the snow looks all around the vehicles and on the pavement.

I particularly like the tire-track designs in the intersection. I took this photo around 9:20 a.m.

And this one vividly tells that the street is one-way, don't you think, with the wide bands going the same way as the van?

Here's the first icicle that I can remember seeing on one of our windows--this is the same kitchen window that I looked out for the other photos.

These sort of twin icicles are on the same window, about a foot to the left of the larger one.

And here is the larger one, after the night had fallen. See my shadow on the left side of the photo?

How about these two cars? First photo, taken a little after 8 a.m.

Second photo, taken at almost 11:30 a.m.

And this last one, taken right before 7 p.m.

The only "snow" I've seen, so far.

Taken standing in line on the 4th floor of Pioneer Place, waiting to go to a free screening of "Valkyrie," the new Tom Cruise movie.

Looking down toward the 3rd floor where the two "snow" machines stood, spraying something out into the air which floated towards Santa's chair and tree, situated down on the floor below street level. We couldn't see Santa from where we stood, but we'd been down there earlier, on our way to the Food Court, and recognized the portion of the tree that we could see.

By the way, we in this case meant Leland and me. Also, by the way, when they wouldn't let us into the theater with my rolling black bag which held my Nikon D50 and my CoolPix, we left. I mean, I'm not about to leave my cameras inside the ticket booth while I watch a movie! No sirree buddy bobtail.

One more by the way, the weather persons on all three local national affiliates predict that we should have from one to three inches of real snow on the valley floor by some time tomorrow. We'll see. TriMet believes them--the entire fleet of buses is being "chained up" today and tonight, so they will run tomorrow, not necessarily on time, but frequently. "Chained up" or "chaining up" is local nomenclature for the process I've heretofore known as "putting chains on" the vehicle. What's even more astounding is that we are predicted to be below freezing, mostly in the 20s and teens for seven days in a row. Wow!

And another by the way, my aunt and them down in Puckett, Mississippi, got 6 inches of snow on Thursday! It was slush by Friday and a mess by Saturday.

The final by the way, inches and inches and inches of snow arrived on Mt. Hood, enough of it to open two lower trails or whatever you call them. Of course, the road up to the fun is one awful mess--folks are having to pull off at designated spots to "chain up." They can do it themselves, or use the services of a man we saw on the news who had "Private Chain Installer" on the back of his reflective safety vest. (At least I think I remember that correctly. Mama and I played The Beatles Monopoly for about six hours today, so I'm feeling a bit light-headed. And we're not even finished! Leland and Kailey gave me the game for my 61st birthday which was on Friday.)

What's this about?

Half a block away, a house remodel is almost finished. The house was raised, a basement put in, and some additional square footage ended up in the attic/third floor area. It's being marketed as three separate condos, all for a good deal over $300,000, if memory serves. There is no parking.

How would you like to pay that kind of money for somewhere to live? With no parking? And your front door is situated like this?

You carry things down from street level to this 90-degree turn, down a few more steps and through the door. Small things. I can't see regular-sized furniture making it, though. There's even a low wall to the left of the stairs, see it in the next shot?


And I'm not going down the side yard and taking a look to see if there's a better entrance in the back yard. Nope. I respect private property, spatially if not always photographically. I'm satisfied, anyway, thinking this is a C-R-A-Z-Y-looking situation.

Hedonistic ride?

Walking from the bus to the MAX Friday evening, after a hedonistic few hours at 3 Doors Down Cafe, Marsha spied this holiday-themed motorcycle. "Look!" she cried. "Oh, I've got to take a picture of that!" I exclaimed and bent over to unzip the rolling black bag. Laughing congenially, she said, "Imagine that!" We laughed as I snapped this photo.

By the way, hedonism, according to Merriam-Webster Online, means the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life. Yep, that was our entire evening, with a big ol' dose of well-deserved relaxation at the end of the work week.

Mt. Hood, snowless as of Dec. 4, 2008, but...

...snow is predicted later in the week and/or over the weekend. I imagine local winter sports' lovers are waiting anxiously for the white stuff to come on in and make it right on the mountain.

I took these two photos from the work parking garage roof, about 60 miles from the mountain. On the bus ride over the Hawthorne Bridge, I saw that "the mountain was out," so I rode the elevator up one flight and then trekked up to the top of the garage, glad that I had my zoom lens in my rolling black bag. Hence, one with the zoom, one with the regular lens.

How about that cloud formation? I've never seen one like it. Have you?

Vivid flowers stop amateur photographer in her tracks

As seen Sept. 2 at Sammy's Flowers at Trader Joe's on NW Glisan






























I couldn't resist putting most of these flowers here in two sizes, available to me at Flickr. Hope it doesn't drive you too crazy!

Look what I found on SW Yamhill!

Tuesday evening after work I stopped by the Multnomah County Central Library to return two books. I came out the front door on SW 10th and turned north, like I always do so that I can go to the closest bus stop. But, for some reason I decided to turn west once I'd crossed SW Yamhill instead of walking on down to SW Morrison where I usually turn west.

Boy, am I ever glad I made that deviation! Look what I found in the window of a lovely vintage house, right across the street from the library's arched windows--see their reflection in the photo? Santa's standing in the lower right corner. Is that a pom-pom he's holding in his black glove? For the Oregon State Beavers? And is this a home or a store? I couldn't tell, but I did immediately recognize what else I saw in the window.

It's the "Fra-gee-lee... major award" from "A Christmas Story." And the Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle (BB Gun), still in it's box.

Wait! What's the Lone Ranger doing down there at the window sill? Will he dare to look up the skirt of the leg lamp? Only the Shadow knows. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Fog on the Willamette

On the morning of Nov. 21, after I got off the bus and crossed the street, I overheard a couple of people in front of the building talking about something they'd seen. It didn't come through to me just what they were talking about, but I did hear, "KOIN Tower," so I knew it must have been either on the east side of the river or at least in an eastward direction. When I got upstairs and looked out the window, I saw immediately what had caught their eye--the fog sitting on the Willamette River. In my almost two and a half years here in Portland, I've never seen fog like this.

I went to the sixth floor to take some quick photos. You can really tell that the fog is on the east side of I-5 in this shot. I like how the fog follows the curve in the river, shorter at each side of the photo, taller in the middle.

This shot is directly south of the one above; you can see the upper and lower decks of the Marquam Bridge which carries I-5 across the Willamette River.

Look how the bridge disappears into the fog.

That's the KOIN Tower, the one with the point.KOIN is Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate.

This photo is to the north of the first one. The tall building is nicknamed The Big Pink.

H is for Happy Holidays!

I thought this neon H would serve well as an accent for our warmest wishes to all of you during the next month and through the end of the year. It is in the window of a building in the Pearl, but I forgot to take a photo of the actual name of the business. If anyone knows, please tell me. Thank you.

Christmas Tree Lighting, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Nov 28, 2008

The beautiful result of lots and lots of hours of work and the flip of a switch. Now for the story, as I experienced it.

Darkness all around. Only the ambient light from traffic signals and stores across the street lit the area. People everywhere. Walking, pushing strollers, looking for the best spot to witness the spectacle when the Christmas tree's lights came on. Twined throughout the 75-foot tall Douglas Fir, two and a half miles of lights, 15,000 energy-efficient LED bulbs in all. I took this photo the split second the countdown from 10 to 1 ended.

Two seconds later I took this photo, my third shot--the second one had the back of a man's head in it. You can see that the lights also appeared on the Jackson Tower. The streak of light at the top of the tree is on the Fox Tower, and it was on the entire time. I like the way it resembles a comet, frozen in the night sky.

Stimson Lumber donated the tree; Globe Lighting donated the bulbs, ones they say will use 91 percent less energy and last for 10 to 15 years. As soon as I could move, in a crowd estimated at 10,000, I made my way south in order to get another photo, without the Fox Tower in the background.

Then I walked east, across SW 6th Avenue, for more photos. In this one, you can see the lights strung in a tree on the sidewalk and the streetlights, too, plus some of the crowd.

Something I really enjoyed happened while I stood on the sidewalk, deciding whether to walk to the bus or ride the MAX. First, I offered to take a photo of a young couple and their child, riding on her dad's back in a carrier. Next a young couple asked me to get their photo, too. And in a few moments, two young girls asked the same thing. Smiles all around. I'm smiling, too, at this next photo of the lighted tree.

After riding the MAX, then the bus home, hours later I saw the lighting ceremony at 11 p.m. on News Channel 8 KGW, our NBC affiliate, and noticed that all of the lights in the trees around the square came on, too, as did the street lights. The helicopter got a fantastic shot of the darkness, then the lights appearing almost simultaneously. It was a brilliant moment.