Thursday, October 31, 2013

Nature's beauty, No. 5 AND Happy Birthday, Leland!

--> DSC_1163_PM

OK. No blossoms here. But, just take a close look at this cloth-like spread of spiderweb. I cannot even imagine how tiny the spider or spiders must be who spun this exquisite patch between these small leaves. I'm making a decision that there were at least two spiders at work because I want to imagine one going this way, one going that way, over and over, until they were done. How in the world did they not run into each other as they worked?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Nature's beauty, No. 4

--> DSC_1137_PM

What a vivid pink! I couldn't get over the fact that these flowers were growing in the ground, not sitting cut in vases at the local grocery store, their color due to some sort of dye wicking its way up their stems and out into the blossoms. Now, I don't know for sure if that is what happens to make those mums/daisies into a wide array of vivid colors. I'm just guessing. Still and all, this vivid pink is growing in the ground! I'm also in awe of the strength exhibited by these single threads of spiderweb, to be able to maintain themselves while loaded with so many dew drops. Absolutely amazing.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Nature's beauty, No. 3

--> DSC_1151_PM

I particularly like how this photo turned out and happily cropped it so that you could see the wind blowing the spiderweb. Believe me, I felt extremely lucky when I uploaded this photo and realized that, thankfully, the wind didn't make the flower blow at the same time, or I'd have nothing but blurry dew drops all along the spiderweb.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Nature's beauty, No. 2

--> DSC_1112_PM

Wide shot, to give you some perspective. This is a side street near my apartment building. The fact that my neighborhood streets are level really makes me a happy walker.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Nature's beauty, No. 1

DSC_1121_PM Fog and dew and blossoms and spiderwebs

Saturday, October 26, 2013

These photos set the scene for my next series. Plus, look at the last photo--it's a bonus to hopefully lure you into returning to see those posts.

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

My hands got stiff and cold, but I didn't care, lured outside by the fog and dew with my camera around my neck. I found myself slap dab in the middle of a quarter-block-sized-fun-photo-taking atmosphere, right in my neighborhood.
  DSC_1078

Looking northeast. Look closely in the fog, beyond the Stop sign and the no parking sign and the fencing. You can barely see a parked car--that's my usual suspect Zipcar, when it's not reserved by someone else and off on an adventure.

DSC_1079

Looking southeast.
  DSC_1080

Looking west.
  DSC_1081

Looking east.
  DSC_1083

Looking south.
  DSC_1087

The sight that started it all for me, last Sunday morning, when I took photos from 8:45 a.m. until 10:20 a.m. Two hundred and five photos in all. I promise I won't share all of them here--don't want to lose y'all!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Sentinel Tree, Sublimity, Oregon, No. 5

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.
  DSC_0290_PM_Orton

Here's the altered image that inspired the comment from my Flickr friend which, in turn, inspired these five posts this week and my name for the tree. He commented, "Looks like it is the guard for these rolling fields."

Say good-bye to the Sentinel Tree, but if you missed any of the other alterations, please take a look at the posts from Monday through Thursday this week. Today's alteration, the Orton app from PicMonkey.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Sentinel Tree, Sublimity, Oregon, No. 4

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.
  DSC_0290_BeFunky_Underpainting_242.jpg

Today's treatment of this photo is called Underpainting. I found that alteration app at BeFunky. It certainly changed the look of the Sentinel Tree and the fields around it.

In case you haven't been here this week, here's the back story: A Flickr friend who lives in Portland commented on an altered version this photo that I will post later this week. I took the name for today's post from his comment, "Looks like it is the guard for these rolling fields."

Tomorrow I'll share the photo that inspired my friend's comment. Thanks, Terry!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Sentinel Tree, Sublimity, Oregon, No. 3

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.
  DSC_0290_PM_HDR

In case you haven't been here this week, here's the back story: A Flickr friend who lives in Portland commented on an altered version this photo that I will post later this week. I took the name for today's post from his comment, "Looks like it is the guard for these rolling fields."

Today's photo of the Sentinel Tree was altered with HDR at PicMonkey.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Sentinel Tree, Sublimity, Oregon, No. 2

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0290_PM_Cinerama

The photo from yesterday, altered at PicMonkey with the Cinerama application. I knew that the app would cut some off the bottom and the top of the photo. I like that. I'm not sure why the color was changed when I used the app. But I do like the starkness brought about by that change.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Sentinel Tree, Sublimity, Oregon, No. 1

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0290_PM_1

A Flickr friend who lives in Portland commented on an altered version of this photo. Not this one. All I did here was resize it at PicMonkey. I took the name for today's post from his comment, "Looks like it is the guard for these rolling fields."

Come back this week to see four other treatments of this tree. I hope you enjoy seeing them. Thanks!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

A sunny Sunday this September

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0294_PM_2

Serenity seen near Sublimity, Oregon.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

In honor of our blissfully surprising row of October sunny days, I give you an equally surprising one from a February

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0184_feb_7_2009_3_46_pm_PM

Maybe I'd been downtown to browse/shop at Powell's Books which is only a few blocks east of this street, NW 13th Avenue. February 7, 2009, a Saturday. I took this photo at 3:46 p.m. and am amazed to see a shadow, to see a dry street and a dry sidewalk. Here's a bit about Portland's weather averages in February. The median cloud cover is 96% overcast and does not vary much during the month. The average probability that some form of precipitation will be measured on any given day in February is 66% and does not vary much during the month. Most common forms of precipitation are light rain and moderate rain. Easy to understand my surprise at finding a sunny February day.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Local Access Only. Daddy, bicycle. Daughters, bucket.

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0323_PM

September 2, 2010, there was some sort of street fair on NW Raleigh Street which had been closed as a thoroughfare--Local Access Only. Daddy's taking his daughters there in a bucket situated on a bicycle, a very smart way to avoid trying to find somewhere to park in that part of town, period, street fair closure or no street fair closure. As near as I can tell, that black cable dragging the ground beneath the bicycle and the bucket goes from the center of the back wheel up to the right side of the handlebars and then the brake lever. I guess that's what you call the part that you squeeze shut when you want to put on the brakes. I noticed these three Portlanders while I waited at the southbound 15 bus stop on NW 23rd Avenue, in my bag a bunch of fresh vegetables from the nearby Thursday evening Northwest Portland satellite of the Portland Farmers Market. I'd let Mama know that I was going to stay on the 15 and go shop there after work. (Please don't be confused, this photo was taken four months before she died. She was tickled about the prospect of fresh, home-cooked veggies.) Interesting that the farmers market in that area has now moved to the very street that Mama and I lived on, four blocks east of our apartment building.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Steel Bridge, MAX coming and going on a blue sky day.

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0397_PM

September 20, 2011, a Tuesday. 1:50 p.m. I rode the MAX Yellow Line to the clinic at Kaiser Interstate to get my eyes checked. There was a giant floater in the right one, sort of like a black fern, but it didn't get in the way of my seeing this opportunity to take a photo of the MAX Green Line heading towards us on the Steel Bridge as we crossed the Willamette River heading northeast. There's a gentle curve in the tracks here that allows this exciting view from one train to the other. By the way, the floater eventually disappeared, thank goodness. And, once again, I have found a bit of blue sky day to share with you.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Director Park, downtown Portland, blue sky and clouds


Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0029_PM

October 8, 2011, a Saturday. Walking around Director Park, I looked up at the glass canopy and decided to take this photograph. I liked how the blue sky and clouds looked beyond the various buildings north of the park. Especially pleasing to me is the Big Pink peeking at me over towards the right edge of the photo. I'm standing at a diagonal from it, near the corner of SW Yamhill Street and SW 9th Avenue.  Click here for  Director Park Commonly Asked Questions. Gosh, I like that phrase a whole lot more than FAQ.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Another one of those blue sky days in Portland!

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0049

June 16, 2012, a Saturday. I must have been on an errand to the main post office nearby. Who could resist taking a photo of these bikes and balloons on such a sunny day? They pulled me in as they stood there on the sidewalk, catty-cornered from one of my favorite vintage Portland buildings, the United States Customs House which opened for business in 1901. Back when we lived in Northwest Portland, I used to walk by the building on the way from the apartment to a bus stop on NW 3rd--it was a fine sight to see during that early morning exercise. Click here for some interior photos and news of the building's future.

Monday, October 14, 2013

The short-lived snag

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

I know I promised this on Sunday, but I didn't feel very well all day--felt a chill, didn't even make it to my Northwest Film Center's Reel Music Festival documentary, THIS AIN’T NO MOUSE MUSIC!

DSC_0909_PM

I walked to the corner of SE Grand Avenue and East Burnside. When I stopped at the bus shelter, I immediately noticed that the Burnside Bridge was up. The snag. I'm on the east side of the Willamette, waiting for an eastbound bus which is coming from the other side of the Willamette River. I took this photo at 3:02 p.m. By 3:07, the bridge was closed and traffic appeared in the eastbound lanes. Naturally, I don't know the entire length of time that the bridge was open, just the span of time from when I saw it completely open until it was completely shut--I'd say five minutes is a short snag when something that huge is involved! Soon the bus came and I rode home. In another example a serendipitous positioning of structures in a photo, look at the line up here--the Big Pink, the Burnside Bridge's Italian Renaissance tower where sometimes there is an operator inside, and the open bridge structure. I'm a huge fan of serendipity!

I'll never forget the first time that I drove west on Burnside back when we lived in Northwest Portland. I was headed across the river, can't remember why now, but as I got closer to the bridge, my mind filled with confusion as I realized cars were stopped in front of me. Then I saw a big shape on the horizon and thought, "They're moving a house across the bridge. Nope! That's the bridge! It's up!" My first time ever to approach an open bridge in Portland. What a treat!

Here's information from the Multnomah County Web site about the Burnside Bridge:

One of four Willamette River crossings built in Portland during the "Roaring Twenties," the Burnside Bridge stands in age right behind the County's Hawthorne and Broadway bridges.

This 1926 structure is located on one of the longest and busiest streets in the Portland area. The five-lane Burnside is a direct connection between downtown Portland, Beaverton to the west and Gresham to the east. Last year, about 40,000 vehicles a day used it. So did more than 1,000 pedestrians and bicyclists each day.

In addition to its important daily work load, Burnside plays a key role during emergencies. Burnside Street and bridge are designated as an official emergency transportation route. The bridge, as part of this "lifeline corridor," is the one non-freeway river crossing which emergency vehicles and suppliers are asked to use.

Burnside's artistic side

The three-span Burnside is a historically significant structure. It is the only Willamette River bridge in Portland designed with the help of an architect, a result of the early 20th century City Beautiful Movement that called for adding architectural ornamentation to engineering designs. The bridge's distinctive Italian Renaissance towers reflect the trend. Burnside is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and protected by preservation laws. Originally designed by the firm of Hedrick and Kremers, Burnside was completed by Gustav Lindenthal (1850-1935). Burnside's opening mechanism, or bascule, was designed by Joseph Strauss (1870-1938), whose Golden Gate suspension bridge would open 11 years after Burnside.

The Burnside Bridge main river structure consists of two 268-foot side span steel deck truss side spans and a 252-foot double-leaf Strauss trunnion bascule draw span. The bridge originally had six lanes of traffic, but in 1995 the City of Portland requested that bike lanes be added to the bridge, so one lane of traffic was converted into two bike lanes. There are sidewalks on both sides of the bridge. The overall width of the structure is 86 feet. Vertical clearance of the closed bascule span is adequate for the majority of river traffic, with openings necessary only about 40 times per month.

Only minor modifications have been made to the bridge since its construction. Electric street car rails were removed in the late 1940’s, lighting and traffic control devices were updated in the late 1950’s, automobile traffic gates were installed in 1971 and the bascule pier fenders were replaced in 1983. Several deck resurfacing projects and expansion joint repairs have also taken place.

The east approach to the bridge is approximately 849 feet long and has two distinct types of construction. The first eight spans consist of steel plate girder spans ranging from 75 feet to 106 feet in length. The steel girders and steel interior floor beams are completely encased in concrete. A concrete deck spans the floorbeams. The next seven spans are composed of concrete stringers spanning continuously over concrete columns and floorbeams. Six of these spans are 22 feet long and one is 40 feet long.

The west approach is approximately 604 feet long and consists of 19 reinforced concrete spans ranging in length from 22 feet to 62 feet. The first 13 spans average 22 feet and consist of reinforced concrete stringers acting continuously over concrete columns and floorbeams. The next three spans average 40 feet in length and are of similar construction. The last four spans are 62 feet long and consist of four main simple span concrete girders that carry interior concrete floor beams and stringers. A concrete deck is cast with the girders, stringers and floorbeams.

And a bit about a bascule bridge:

Bascule bridges have sections that rotate upward and away from the centerline of the river, providing clear passage for river traffic. Side-by-side on the Willamette River in downtown Portland, the Morrison and Burnside Bridges are two examples of bascule bridges. These two bascule type bridges have a very clean, uncluttered look to them because the counterweights and operating machinery are located out of sight in the piers supporting the bridge. The Morrison Bridge is a Chicago-type bascule bridge, and the Burnside Bridge is a Strauss-type bascule bridge.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Fall foliage and the Big Pink--can't get much better on a blue sky Saturday

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0906_PM

Last Saturday after my volunteer work at the Architectural Heritage Center was done, I walked north on SE Grand from SE Alder to East Burnside. My intention, to catch the next 12 or 19 bus home, struck a short-lived snag, but on the way I got to take this fall foliage, Big Pink, colorful Central Eastside Industrial District photo. Crossing SE Ash, I noticed that if I stood in just the right spot, I could make it seem that the Big Pink came up out of the corner of that vintage building painted a pale butter yellow. (I read something recently about plans to tear down the pale butter yellow building and put up some sort of taller building. I am not happy about that. I hope it doesn't happen.) Anyway, I check the traffic signals and the traffic, then stood in the street and took myself this photo. Success! By the way, the Big Pink is on the west side of the Willamette River, and I'm over on the east side taking this photo, almost a mile away! Come back Sunday for a photo or two of the short-lived snag.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Sky-writing jets, #3

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.
DSC_0854_PM_me_reflection After I had rode the MAX Yellow Line light rail train to the Kaiser Interstate clinic and got my flu shot, I walked outside, crossed the street carefully to the Overlook Park MAX station to wait for a ride back into downtown. I needed to catch the 15 bus on SW Salmon and SW 5th so that I could make it over the Willamette to the Architectural Heritage Center for some volunteer work. When I got off the train, I saw myself in these windows, so I took this photo. DSC_0856_PM I turned and started to walk north towards SW Salmon. When I looked up while I waited for the traffic signal to change, I couldn't believe that I saw more jet trails. Already I'd seen some from the sidewalk before I left home, from the MAX on the way to the clinic, and now from the sidewalk in downtown. All on a Saturday, too.

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Sky-writing jets, #2

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0811_851am_BeFunky.jpg

Once I got on the MAX Yellow Line, I sat in the sunny light rail car enjoying the view. In this photo the train is on the Steel Bridge just about to cross over the Willamette River. The two sets of tracks you see are for the MAX Red Line and the MAX Blue Line. The MAX Green Line approaches the bridge on the same tracks as the MAX Yellow Line. All four cross the river on the Steel Bridge, then branch out to serve various places in the greater metropolitan area on both the east and west sides of the river. It wasn't until I uploaded the photos to iPhone that I noticed a bit of jet trail in the photo. For more serendipity, there's the Big Pink on the skyline.
  DSC_0814_852am_BeFunky_HDR.jpg

I like the blue sky reflected in the Willamette River. And look at all the jet trails!

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Sky-writing jets, #1

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

DSC_0761_PM

Sky-writing jets on Saturday, first noticed as I waited for the 12 or 19 bus to downtown. I needed to transfer to the MAX Yellow Line for a ride to the Kaiser Interstate clinic for my flu shot. I took this photo at 8:16 a.m. looking southeast over the buildings just to the east of the Blue Diamond PDX.
  DSC_0763_PM

I took this photo at 8:19 a.m. as the sun continued to move in the fantabulous blue sky.

Monday, October 07, 2013

Saturday afternoon matinee, recently seen with my younger son Leland, at one of my two nearby vintage movie theaters--the Laurelhurst over at NE 28th and NE Burnside

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.

IMG_1154_HDR_BeFunky_null_1.jpg

First time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark was when it came out in 1981, with my husband LeRoy. I cannot remember if we took the boys to see it with us, but I'm guessing that we did because by the time the movie-related toys came out in late 1982, we had some at our house. That's all that I can remember about it.

I found online that it might have been a playset called "Well of the Souls" (I seem to remember the ark and its carrying poles) or one called "The Map Room." Wish I could remember. Shoot, for all I know, we might have bought one of each, one for each son. Now that I've looked at some accompanying photos, I believe I can rule out "The Map Room." I don't remember any of those pieces. We must have bought some of the 4" action figures, too.

Anyway, I've always loved the movie, my sons have always loved it, so when I found out that it was at the Laurelhurst, I mentioned it to them. Leland could go, so we ate lunch first at nearby Franks-A-Lot on East Burnside and then walked over to the 1:15 p.m. matinee--for some reason that time is not showing on the marquee where you only see what looks like that start of a numeral nine. That movie's a classic, real treat, even after all these years and having watched it no telling how many times on TV!

Sunday, October 06, 2013

Successful lines, going in all directions.


Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.


DSC_0849_PM

On the way back from getting my flu shot at the Kaiser Interstate clinic Saturday morning, I noticed this young man's dreads as I sat down, how swell their curves and vertical lines worked beside the vertical and slanted lines in the MAX Yellow Line car section where the car articulates to go around curves and swerves. Since he had in his earbuds, I mouthed to him, "I like your hair!" He pulled one out and said, "Thank you. They're a mess right now." Then I asked if I could take his photo for my blog. He agreed, so I did, then I moved over next to him to ask him what his name was--Byron. I spelled it to make sure that I had it correct, and he said, "Yes, like the poet." I replied, "Yes, like Byron Scott of basketball fame." He grinned and said that he and his dad, Californians, are big-time Los Angeles Laker fans, that his dad's answering machine message mentions the world-champion-Los-Angeles-Lakers. What a fine moment, all because of successful lines, going in all directions.

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Laurelhurst Theater lobby accoutrement, the expected and the unexpected

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.
  DSC_0216_PM_laurelhurst_lobby

Accoutrement is defined by Merriam Webster Online as equipment that is used in a particular place or for a particular activity. On the right near the door, complete with colorfully lit front panels, the Laurelhurst concession counter represents to-be-expected equipment in a movie theater lobby. The booths on the left, while not originally something folks expected to find at their neighborhood theater, have become expected in many vintage movie houses which have adapted themselves into the realm of survivor, offering patrons the whole evening-out experience with more substantial food and drink prior to the first-run or vintage movie of their choice. Pizza, wraps, salads, micro beers, PBR, wine, popcorn, candy, cookies, soda, iced and/or hot tea, coffee, OJ, lemonade, bottled water, non-alcoholic beer.
  DSC_0215_PM_straighten_cropped_only

At the self-service area at the opposite end of the concession counter, you complete your coffee, tea, water and/or pizza prep before taking a seat in a lobby booth or at a narrow table inside the theater before your movie begins. Self-service might not seem like it goes with the fancy-sounding word accoutrement, but, with the proper equipment in place, I think it is certainly expected here and there when out and about in Portland. What about where you live?
  DSC_0213_PM_straighten_cropped

Once you've finished devouring and/or drinking and before you leave the theater, the Laurelhurst offers you the choice of how to dispose of your detritus--here in the lobby and at the back of each theater. Portlanders expect this accoutrement throughout the city, in venues where table bussing is done by the patron. I have never seen anyone get bent out of shape about sorting their own--I've come to appreciate the opportunity. I especially appreciate the signs above each bin which make the whole process très facile.