Your perfect commute?

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Since I saw this good lookin' vintage pickup truck on my March 9, 2013, after-work commute, I have decided that there is someone out there who gets lucky twice a day, Monday through Friday. What I mean is that if you can't luck out and live on a bus line or a MAX line (and be able to afford the daily cost of a ticket) and therefore have the opportunity to use mass transit for your workday commute, I believe this would be the way to go. Feast your eyes on my serendipitous capture of a 1950s Chevrolet step-side on it's way south on NE 20th Avenue. Did you notice it's vivid blue matches the recycling bin on the sidewalk? That the red letters on its hubcaps that spell out Chevrolet match the red hand in the Don't Walk traffic signal? I don't have to ask if you realize just how happy I was to have my camera around my neck as I walked the block and half from my bus stop to my apartment door.

Please tell me the year of this truck. Thanks!

The MAX Yellow Line at SW 6th Avenue and SW Pine

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The MAX Yellow Line pulls in at the station beside the Big Pink, downtown Portland, on SW 6th Avenue and SW Pine. A couple of guys walk towards it as it slows and another one buys his ticket at the kiosk. On Saturday, January 19, I got on board before it pulled out. My plan, to ride to the Rose Garden Arena for the Portland Trail Blazers' basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks. This is the train that I got off and then took the photo of the Rose Garden Arena in the fog, Monday's post. 

On ball game days during the week, I catch a ride to the Rose Garden Arena at the MAX Yellow Line station at Pioneer Courthouse Square, after eating cheap at McDonald's or Subway and walking the four blocks to the station. On game day Saturdays or Sundays or holidays, I catch the MAX Yellow Line here because it's closest to where I get off either the 12 or the 19 which I had caught a block and a half from my apartment. Mass transit works pretty doggone good, if you play it right. 

Rainy autumn in my neighborhood, No. 2

Friday a week ago, the day that my brother arrived in Portland for his visit, we walked from the bus to the apartment; we'd had a full afternoon out and about in Portland, either on mass transit--MAX, bus, and Portland Streetcar--or on foot. As you can tell from the amount of water trapped at this corner, it had been raining hard earlier. In fact, the two of us got soaked walking from the Oregon Rail Heritage Center to the Portland Streetcar stop. Everywhere we went, we managed to avoid puddles in our path.

As we approached and I noticed this man engaged in a regularly occurring autumn activity here in Portland, I grabbed my camera from inside my raincoat and took a few photos. I didn't realize I had the bicycle in the shot until I had downloaded them to the iMac. Yea!



The bicyclist made it through the puddle, while the man with the rake diligently continued his work. We crossed the street out of view to the left where there was good drainage, avoiding our final puddle of the day.

Bike rack - a recent addition to my apartment building's basement

I don't ride a bike, but I am proud to see this for those that do. And I have a vested interest in the fact that this many bike-riders live here.

On the smallest scale, that many bike-riders in the building means all the more possibility of there being a parking space available when I unload purchases from the occasional Zipcar.

On the largest scale, that many bike-riders in the building can be ex·trap·o·lated across Portland as taking a great big bite outta our carbon footprint. (I do my part by riding mass transit and walking and not owning an automobile. And every once in a while, since I live in such a flat neighborhood, I wish for an ol'-lady-sized tricycle.)

I pray for street safety and for observant-of-traffic-law-and-each-other bicyclists, motorists, and pedestrians.