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

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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.

Director Park, downtown Portland, blue sky and clouds

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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.

Another one of those blue sky days in Portland!

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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.

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

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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.

Sky-writing jets, #1

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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.
 

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

As far as the eye can see, in both directions

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm's Tulip Fest, on April 22, 2012, a splendidly sunny, warm spring day in Woodburn, Oregon. The high temp at Portland International Airport was 82, a new record for that date.

Big Pink, another modern piece of architecture which totally fascinates me.

I cannot remember the term used to describe what's going on with the building in the left corner, the Embassy Suites which started out as the Multnomah Hotel. I believe the same thing impacts the building (a parking garage maybe) which stands between the hotel and the Big Pink. You see, my simple goal as I stood facing west on SW 3rd Avenue on Saturday, February 18, 2012, was to enjoy the glory of that huge blue sky, a sight almost unseen during a Portland winter. Naturally I noticed the Big Pink. Had to take photos, just had to take photos, hoping to catch the sky and the building at their best.

Once I had downloaded the photos to iPhoto, I noticed a bit of serendipity--at first glance the alignment of some floors of the Big Pink seem to meet the building to its left in the photo, the one which I think is a parking garage. Makes it look like the two buildings are connected, doesn't it? Actually they rise on opposite sides of SW 5th Avenue.

Image altered at Picnik, Basic Effects, Sharpen and Color.

Blue sky really does happen in Portland, in a very big way!

I saw it last Thursday, about 6:20 p.m. as I approached the Hollywood Theater to meet the group about to embark on the Hollywood Neighborhood Walk, thanks to the Architectural Historical Center.

We walked for two hours, seeing lots of houses and buildings in the neighborhood, hearing all about them. I thought it particularly interesting that this movie theater is what gave the neighborhood its name and that the guide said he couldn't think of another Portland neighborhood which got its name that way.

More photos soon.

Blue skies, smilin' at me, nothing but blue skies do I see ...

And I'd best enjoy it while I can because the weather man predicts rain for Thursday and Friday, cloudy at the least for Saturday and Sunday.

I'm crazy about this building and its colorful windows against the brilliant blue sky. It's between SW 3rd and SW 2nd, but I can't remember on which street.

Mama and Leland both feel better--hooray!

One photo taken through my sunglasses, another one without the sunglasses

Through the sunglasses

Not through the sunglasses

I still feel awful, but I didn't want to miss posting today. Thanks for the well-wishes.

I wish, I pray ...

I look at this blue, blue sky and think, "Oh, I wish that was all that was on the horizon in the Gulf of Mexico." Please join Mama and me in our prayers for the safety of everyone potentially in harm's way from Hurricane Gustav. We've been talking on the phone with loved ones in Mississippi about their preparations, and everyone is taking the situation seriously, just like they did Katrina.

This photo shows the front of the Emergency Room wall, on the right, and the top of the drive-through cover at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital on NW 23rd, walking distance from where we live. I don't know why that smokestack is there. I mean I don't know what is in the building it is on. Does anyone know about it, please? Thanks.

In my eyes, Portland's weather

The sun, the shadows, both large and small,

The myriad sharp and soft greens you see,
The ubiquitous blue sky above it all,

So appears Portland's perfect weather, observed by me.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 - Saturday's sky, for you on Sunday

Looking up from the MAX stop, SW 1st and Oak, downtown Portland ... tomorrow I'll explain how I happened to be there, looking straight up at the sky.

Friday, July 25, 2008 - From the Eastbank Esplanade, the Hawthorne Bridge and a portion of downtown Portland's skyline

July 9, when lunch time rolled around, I took my zippered-shut plastic tote and set off walking on the approach to the Hawthorne Bridge, thinking I'd make my way down the curving ramp beneath the Marquam Bridge and find somewhere to sit and eat lunch on the Eastbank Esplanade.

Right beside the Hawthorne Bridge, I found a backless bench on a fenced-in concrete deck that juts out from the shore, right next to a fire station. I spread out my camera, my bottle of sweet iced tea I'd brought from home, my paperback book, my sandwich and Fritos. As much as I enjoyed my food and drink, I enjoyed the glorious blue sky even more. To tell the truth, though, I didn't find enough people-watching to satisfy me, so since then I've been riding a bus across the bridge, walking a couple of blocks to one or the other of the parks on either side of the Thompson Elk, finding a bench in the sun or the shade, and eating my lunch there. Plenty of people, plenty of vehicles--a watcher's (and photographer's) paradise.