Seen on or from mass transit on Saturday, March 9, 2013

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Seen on the 12 TriMet bus: Usually I sit where this little girl sits, or across from her in the parallel row of seats beneath the windows on the passenger side of the bus. This particular morning the mother and daughter had spread out over these three seats, and across from them a couple of loud, out-of-the-ordinary women took up those three seats, so I sat here instead. I'm glad that I did, because I had the chance to snap this photo, not taking enough time to focus properly. To me, her face and hairstyle take me back to the 1950s. When the 12 stopped at the intersection of NE Couch and MLK, I got off and walked a block east, then a block south to wait for the streetcar. My goal, Memorial Coliseum and the Oregon FIRST Robotics competition, my free access to the building itself, as well as a chance to witness high-school-student-produced-Frisbee-flinging robots!
 

Seen from the Portland Streetcar CL Line: For a few minutes I watched this man who had stopped where I waited at the bus/streetcar stop on the corner of SE Grand Avenue and East Burnside, bus transfer grasped tightly in his left hand. All the while I hoped that I would get the chance to snap a photo. Finally, after I boarded the streetcar, I stood up as we slowly pulled away and got this one. I can't figure out what fascinates me the most--the two-tone shoes, the black-and-white striped socks, the Mr.-Green-Jeans cuffed just so below the knee, the matching-toned-plaid jacket with the black fur collar which looked too warm in the sunshine, the multi-pocketed mossy green satchel, the white-collared, long-sleeved dress shirt, or the burgundy and gold tie. To tell you the truth, I've decided that the well-thought-out components of his outfit fascinated me most of all, as they combined to create just the look he was after. Even more fascinating, every single item he wore appeared to be brand-spanking-new. 

I love Portland 'cause you never know what you're going to see next!

Neons are in! Well, OK, it's just bright yellow and there are no matching street level colors, but who cares? No. 7

Here's the map of the intersection. We're focused this time on the southwest corner, labeled on the map as Pod: the Sculpture.
 

Who could resist a bright yellow Portland Streetcar in a series like this? Not I.

On the right you see a young woman with her hoop, entertaining the pedestrians who are crossing West Burnside on SW 10th Avenue, heading north at the corner. It appears no one paid her much mind once they'd passed her on the way to cross the street.

I've noticed that the majority of the pedestrians are wearing denim jeans, so that's a sort of matching. Plus those three boys have on shorts. Two of the three people between the brown poles have on baggy pants. And one bicyclist waiting beside the streetcar has on a yellow bicycle helmet. Tidbits of matching going on here.

At the very right edge of the photo you can see just a bit of the kinetic sculpture, Pod. If you're tall enough, you can reach up and touch part of it which makes it swing slowly back and forth, much like the girl rhythmically rotated her hoop with her hips.
 

Here's a photo that I took on October 16, 2010, which shows almost the entire sculpture--you're just missing the third leg. That black, bulbous shape is what one must reach up and touch or shove to make the more than 70 stainless steel rods sway in unison. I've actually seen the tips of the rods separate somewhat when the shove had some elbow grease behind it!

The building diagonally across from the Pod has been changed, with a different business on its ground floor. You'll get to see a symbol of that new business in a later post in this series.

Perched girl, smoking

Disclaimer: I am not promoting smoking by putting this image on the blog. I didn't realize she was smoking until after I uploaded the photo to my computer and could see what was going on. I hope this image does not offend anyone.

I took the photo mainly because I couldn't believe how she was balanced on the stone wall in front of the wrought iron fence. So I clicked.

Then when I looked closer I saw what was coming out of her mouth. So I straightened, cropped, and altered the image at PicMonkey, with a couple of regular and special effects.
  I uploaded the image at Ipiccy, where I straightened, cropped, and altered it with several special effects.

Music moves.

Early. Meandering? Hardly. Focused. Ready. Drum. Tambourine. Somewhere. Music!

The gray pole and the girl on the bike

Her left hand disappears just beyond the gray pole. She's pushing the button to make the traffic signal change on NE Sandy so that she can ride her bike north across the street. I like the perspective here, the disappearing sidewalk and the rooftops that extend over the sidewalk. The pole supports the traffic signal for vehicles heading south at the intersection.

Looking at this photo, it's difficult to believe that NE Sandy is a four lane thoroughfare. I took it on Sunday, March 6, when I was out for a walk. It started to mist right after I took this one, so I hurried on home.

She circled and circled the fountain ...

... joyously sprayed by the Salmon Springs Fountain.







... joyously spreading smiles.