University of Oregon motorcyclist on an early Saturday morn

About 9:15 a.m., I'm at the corner of W. Burnside and NW 21st, waiting for the 15 bus to take me close to Pioneer Courthouse Square, July 25, watching traffic and pedestrians. I heard the motorcycle and turned to my left, looked, thought "Photo opportunity," lifted the camera to my eye from around my neck, and snapped this one. It doesn't do his deep tan justice, nor did I get his mustache, doggone it. While he's no spring chicken, you certainly can't tell it from this photo. And when I looked at the photo at its largest size on Flickr, I think I saw a scar on his knee, like he might have scraped it on some pavement somewhere sometime. And then I noticed a pale turquoise X on his thigh. What? A band-aid maybe? I just don't know.

Anyway, I wasn't out waiting for a bus just to take photos of interesting passers-by. I was headed for Pioneer Courthouse Square to meet up with a some of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts Tour Guides. Our latest perk, a tour of the public art on TriMet's Yellow Line Max, with Valerie Otani, one of the artists who helped plan and create it. Here's a bit from TriMet's Web site:
Art on Interstate MAX Yellow Line

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.

Y'all know I'm going to put photos here soon! Hope you'll come back to look.

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.

Wednesday, July 16, 2007 ... ABC Wednesday, Z is for Zing

Several Saturdays ago as we walked along NW 23rd, my rolling black bag and I, we spied this orderly row of Harleys. Immediately, my rollin' black bag noticed those two travel bags standing proudly attached to the first bikes in line.

Ah, to speed over hill and dale, the wind rustling your whatever-denier-nylon-self. Zing went the strings of my rollin' black bag's heart, contemplating a life on the road, at speeds much greater than my feet or mass transit afford. That's the life for a travelin' bag!

Not. I see no motorcycles in my future, although there is a romantic British racing green Triumph in my past. Alas, my rollin' black bag wasn't even a twinkle in my eye back in 1972! Holding tight to LeRoy, the reason for the zing in my own heart, lent a brilliant sparkle to my eyes.

Yes, I've gone bonkers here, stretching for this Z, but I had fun. Hope you did, too!

If you're of a mind to, please go to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place for loads of other ABC Wednesday blogs! Look at the list of links per Mr. Linky.

July's Last Thursday on NE Alberta

Perfect! Mama and the guys and the gals came; so did Chris Cooley, our long-time Jackson bud who lives here now with his sweet girlfriend Leslie, who had to work, doggone it. No rain! Loads of people! Fun had by all! Each of us sold a little bit here and a little bit there, but it's not about the money--it's about the togetherness, the joy we take in expressing ourselves.

My sunflower hat gave many, many people of all ages a chance to grin as they made their way along the sidewalk--often saying, "I love your hat!" as they went by. For kids in strollers, it caused confusion to come over their faces and eyes.

Not long after we started setting up, an automobile stopped in the intersection as a pedestrian appeared in the street. The motorcyclist behind the car rear-ended it with a loud whomp. I looked over in time to see the rider fly up and off the cycle, to his left, land and then roll on the street. My heart raced, just at the sight of it. I cannot imagine how the young man felt. The woman driving the automobile looked totally put out with the whole thing.


Here's Mama! See our car reflected there behind her right shoulder?

Here you see how I displayed my photo cards, painted wooden items, collages, and purses. It looks way too crowded, now that I think about it. I'll have to work on that before August, right?

More of my stuff, including some of the art cars, rested on a metal TV tray, from the 1950s--Mama said that it was older than any of us there except for her--but she completely forgot about me! See the little stand beside the table? That's where Lamont and Chris had their T-shirts stacked, by size.

On this last table, you see all of Lindsay's great photos and her frames decorated with wine corks. At the back right corner, you see the T SHIRT the guys had had printed to sell. Its obvious wording spoke to loads of people who looked, pointed, grinned, read it out loud.

Leland and Christina walked a few blocks west on Alberta to get fish and chips for Mama and me, at Halibuts. Yummy!

Couldn't resist trying to get a shot of these bar accoutrements in Binks, catty-cornered across the street. The nice young lady at the door put our old-enough-to-drink-alcohol bracelets on Mama and me as we entered the door. All we wanted was the restroom, but rules are rules.

At some point this clown man drove along with his chimp puppet on his right arm, singing away over some sort of loud speaker system. For the life of me, I cannot remember the song!

This little parade represents the spontaneity and creativity of Last Thursday's followers.

Click on this to see the only pink poodle I've ever seen. Shocked at the sight, I couldn't get my camera on and up to take a shot until they were almost out of sight.

Think this shot represents Porsche envy? Take a close look at the guy on the back of the bike. By the way, when they rode back up the street later on, the guy on the back had the mattress on his head. I don't know if they'd switched seats on the bicyle or took turns carrying it on their heads.

All evening this great big ol' car cruised. If you click on it to enlarge the shot, you can jut make out the row of yellow rubber duckies on the dash.

As I stood up to begin packing things, Leland pointed out this guy on stilts. Notice the fire escape just above his head?

Is he mugging for the camera, or is it a reaction to the flash? Only the stilt man knows for sure.