Seen in downtown Portland, backlit cyclists

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


December 5, 2012, the night I walked to Pioneer Courthouse Square between homeward-bound buses in order to get a good photo of Portland's Christmas tree, I saw these two waiting in the traffic while I waited to cross the street. There's a good chance they are headed east to cross the Hawthorne Bridge. 

I cannot remember which intersection this is, so I've looked at the photos before and after it, in the download on my iMac. I've looked at the trees and the light fixture on the wall in the photo. I've made my best guess and have Google-Mapped SW Broadway and street-viewed SW Broadway and SW Salmon. There it is! Yep, they're headed east on SW Salmon which could eventually put them on the Hawthorne Bridge, or to some north/south thoroughfare that would take them to other bridges open to bicycles in Portland. Pretty cool. 

If I were younger, I often wonder, would I ride a bike here? I honestly do not know. I did ride a bike to the grocery store and to acting classes back in 1971-72 in Kansas City, Missouri--my neighborhood was in between the oldest area of KCMO and the downtown area, on bus lines and with wide streets. So, I rode the bus to work and the bicycle on errands, after I had sold my car. Younger, more limber, less fearful of consequences because, like most youth, I knew nothing could ever happen to me because it would only happen to someone else. 

Serendipity, of the cosmic sort

A few minutes ago I'm looking on my iMac at Tiny House Blog - Living Simply in Small Spaces. I decide to like it on Facebook. Then I see my ID photo from Facebook appear on the top left as part of ten thumbnails of others who have liked the Tiny House Blog on Facebook. I scan the names, and my mind is blown.

In what I consider to be nothing short cosmic, I read the name beneath the photo at the opposite end of that row--Lannette. You see, my first name is Olga and my middle name is Lynette. Out of 35,664 people who like Tiny House Blog, to have both of my given names on the ends of the top row of thumbnails hollers serendipity of the cosmic sort!

Back to Saturday, August 27, and fun with Howard and Vanessa and Milton and Kay

We drove away from where you saw the Zipcar on the Friday, October 7, post, eventually heading north in downtown to find a parking place closer to the Saturday Market.


Getting around in downtown Portland often requires making the block with a series of left turns. In doing so we stopped at a traffic signal, and I saw the sun on this "diamond" above the doors of the Willamette Building, 534 SW 3rd Avenue, shining in the sun. I grabbed my camera. Click! Nice adornment that calls attention to the diamond dealers in the building.


We parked and walked a few blogs in Old Town towards the Saturday Market where we walked up and down the aisles, browsing. Once we reached the end of the aisles we sat down to listen to the How Long Jug Band. Hooray for live music, folding chairs, canopies, and sunshine.


Just to our left stood a Rogue Nation Rise Up stall. Folks stood in line for a cold drink, wearing their sunglasses in hopes of knocking down the glare. What caught my eye, though, was the woman's purple hair.


To our right, this little dog taking a ride in the bicycle basket caught my eye. Looks like that little girl got a kick out of the dog's ride, too!


Not twenty feet behind the back wheel of that man's bicycle stood this colorful formed beauty, advertising Hamburger Mary’s Bar & Grille. I have never been to this eatery, so I know nothing about their menu. However, I do like this statue a whole lot.


Look who I saw a few feet to Mary's right! My favorite busker, Mr. Statue.

We left soon after I took these photos--I delivered Howard and Vanessa to their hotel. We three drove back to the apartment. Kay wanted to do some laundry since they would be boarding Amtrak for the long ride home on Monday, and we had all-day plans for Sunday. Howard and Vanessa walked over to the Rock Bottom Brewery for supper. We stayed in, did the laundry, ate leftovers, drank sangria, and watched NASCAR while putting all of Milton's video of the trip onto my iMac. Then to bed for a decent night's rest.