Reading at Grand Central

That would be Grand Central Bakery in Northwest Portland. Nestled at the edge of the industrial section near trendy NW23rd is Portland's home base for Grand Central Bakery. It's a mecca early in the morning even on the weekends or perhaps especially on the weekends.

It's always good to see people reading and people reading the newspaper is even better from some points of view...

Rainy Day Store Walk

Today's adventure included wig shopping with one of my friends. While she was trying on wigs in the back of the store, the iPhone was busy in the front taking this image. It wasn't until I got to the back that I discovered the no camera sign. Oh well...

 

 Then we were off to Macy's for a pair of pink jeans for her sister.

 

Marilyn wanted equal time! After so much shopping I came home and went back to work on my paper.

 

Joseph and Corey are part of the Daimler team

bringing this fleet of Car2Go's to the streets of Portland. The fleet arrived 14 March and could be seen at the Daimler headquarters parking lot on Swan Island. They'll be scattered around Portland for easy access. To celebrate the arrival Daimler is hosting a launch party at Pioneer Square the weekend of March 31 and April 1.
 

From the Portland Bureau of Transportation website here is their list of car sharing options...

•Getaround, a peer to peer car sharing company, launched its service in Portland this winter. 
•Car2Go, pay-by-the-minute one-way car share arm of Daimler, will begin service in Portland this spring. 
•Google-backed Relay Rides - a peer to peer car share service active in Boston area, recently announced backing from General Motors and the intent to the enter the Portland market. 
•Zipcar, the most established car share company of the bunch, recently bought a stake in peer to peer car sharing company. ...
•UHaul's car share company, uhaulcarshare has three cars at the Lewis and Clark campus.

Jarritos

One of the options at most Mexican food establishments whether they be brick and mortar or food carts is bottle soft drinks from Mexico. Jarritos is the main contendor followed my some others not usually seen on menus here north of the border. Coca-Cola might seem like the odd bottle out in this line-up. It's not though ... bottled coke comes from Mexico with a top that requires an opener. How old school is that?

A Happy Spirit

Tom is one of the happiest persons I know ... whatever his history, he's found a groove in life. Fishing along the Willamette almost daily is always paired with reading. Today's choice was Hunger Games that he snagged at the library quite by accident. Here he is toasting the rest of us. Back at you, Tom!!!!

Urban Saga ~ Waiting for the Bus

Date: March 26, 2012

Time: around noon

Place: NW 23rd and Thurman

           Tri-Met Bus Stop

Park trusty pink steed against the street trash can. No Smoking allowed in the Tri-Met bus shelter so the best alternative is on the other side of the enclosure in the shadows.

Come around to get can of Red Bull.

Engage woman passerby in conversation...

She pays no heed...

Yet another rejection, doesn't she realize I dyed my hair for her... the bus should be here soon.


Sure enough The No. 15 bus stops, load steed on front and return to pick up "luggage".

Oops, no smoking or drinking on the bus...

Good to go and away went another street character.

Cherries, Chihuahua and Crows

Swan Island here in Portland is a manufacturing and shipping center. It however has one park, McCarthy, and an area north of the Daimler Center with a strip of "beach" and paved walkway. This set of cherries was at the top of a small knoll at the start of our walk.

 

Our small chihuahua found this lean to and wants to return to the beach this summer. Let's hope it's still there.

 

When we arrived there were nearly 200 crows conferencing in the trees and on the nearby roofs.
 

Out for a Movie

Voice from the Couch and I ventured out to see "Night of the Hunter" at Cinema 21 today. It's part of the Film Noir series put on this week and stars Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters in a mystery suspense. Lillian Gish begins and ends the movie in some rather surreal scenes. A few of us early birds had to find ways to pass the time...

Sunny in Portland

Yes, everyone, occasionally there is a large yellow globe in the sky here in Portland. Some of us remember its name as sun. Today was one of those days. Sunny and with temperatures rising to the high seventies, spring has decided to make an appearance. Even the vitrines of Portland, the store windows, are filled with late spring, early summer displays. This mannequin is wearing quite the hat...

Large Bed Partner

The camera went for a walk through the Seattle Art Museum today.

The first thing that I thought of when I saw this sculpture was gratitude that my cat Hobbes who sleeps on top of me is much smaller ~ you know the typical orange tabby cat...

Sculpture by Katharina Fritsch ~ Man and Mouse

The camera is on a field trip to Washington. Lots of images still in the camera... They'll stay there at until the camera returns to Portland. This image came off the iPhone and was taken at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

Flying from One Reality to Another

One of the treats walking down the street is seeing what people have put in their windows. Today I couldn't help imagining that the woman in this window is flying towards so tropical paradise. She certainly looks intent on leaving this rainy weather here in Portland.

Dinner Views

What to do while waiting for dinner at a restaurant. Order drinks, toast and look up at the reflective light bulb...

Taken at Andina restaurant in the Pearl District here in Portland, Oregon we were just toasting when I noticed our reflection in the light bulb above us.

Here's my drink, a Sacsayhuaman. Made with habanero-infused vodka, passion fruit puree and cilantro along with a sugar rim, it's known as a Sexy Woman,


And last but not least, dessert ... a cookie set off by a pansy. Both of these were eaten...

Recent Purchases and the End of Winter

All images have tales to tell. This one involves recent purchases... That snappy "Keep Calm and Carry On" iPhone case is a temporary replacement for the leather Sena case that will soon be returned under warranty. The black stitching is holding the snap portion together after the glue failed. Voice from the Couch insisted that he needed not only some protection for his trusty iPhone 4 (calendar, email, text messages, photos, Scrabble, and oh yes, phone) but that he should also have a motivational message too!

The video case next to the two cases is of John Frames Three Fragments of a Lost Tale. If you're here in Portland you really do owe it to yourself to see this man's creations. They're currently on exhibit at the Portland Art Museum in the galleries above the Mark Rothko exhibition. Here's a link  to a small portion of his website. And here's the link to the Portland Art Museum's exhibition.

Moving to images outside, here's what the Portland sky looked like today and below that is another with the silhouette of one of Portland's many trees.

Open Window and Red Shoes

SW Alder is an interesting street to walk when you're in downtown Portland. Any number of little shops including Lille, a store that seems to specialize in lingerie, shoes and socks. These striped ones might not look quite right with those shoes, perhaps on someone else. On the other hand, the lingerie looks superb.

Windows of all types fascinate me... The open window here attracted my attention. Look carefully and you'll find part of a face and an ear.
   

Not quite the usual St. Patrick's Day fare but then I'm not Irish. We did have colcannon for dinner though.

One Day of Spring

Out for my run this morning and the sun filled Portland with stunning Spring light. Wallace Park looked particularly striking...




and last but not least were the many cherry trees on NW 23rd. This image in particular seemed as if it were an umbrella of pink over my head. I'll take an umbrella of flowers over the usual rain protection variety any day.

Emerging

Emerging is the title of an exhibition of photography acquisitions at the Portland Art Museum. Since 2009 the museum has acquired over 500 photos of which 54 are exhibited. With all of the rain Portland has experienced in the last week or so, it seemed most appropriate to use the brochure with Suk Kuhn Oh's photo against a background of raindrops. At some point Portlanders will emerge from the drips and puddles!


Last week, there was a brief respite from the rain and a friend and I ventured out to Lewis and Clark College. The campus is filled with sculptures including one with spiraling steel...

If you should get to close to Code of Phylogeny (by Obie B Simonis) you too could get caught in a vortex and perhaps come out in one of Portland's puddles!

3.14 Pi Day

Ever since I found this print at a Washington Square street fair in New York City, I bring it out if it's not already hanging on a wall on March 14. After all we all should pay homage to this amazing number.



Perhaps next year we should all gather for a 3.14 celebration. The party could extend on and on and on.

Music in My Soul

Today was a day filled with music. After leaving the accountant with the delegated task of completing our 2011 tax filing, Voice from the Couch and I went to the Portland Art Museum. Although we had planned to sit and watch both of the John Frame videos, we also were treated to a noon performance of the Parker Quartet in the Arlene Schnitzer Sculpture Court.

Later, off we went to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, affectionately known as the Schnitz, to listen to Renee Fleming sing with the Oregon Symphony. Sebastian Lang-Lessing was the guest conductor. You'll notice there are a number of references to Arlene Schnitzer. The Schnitzer family is a major supporter of the arts here in Portland.

Toasted Marshmallows ~ Scent of Victory

Tonight was a football night. Portland Timbers played their home opener against the Philadelphia Union for a 3-1 victory. The boys played the entire 90 minutes in the rain as if it were a beautiful summer afternoon. The Timbers Army and the rest of the 20,000 fans left with huge smiles on their faces.



Oh yes, one of the Army who was in the midst of that green smoke swears it smelled like toasted marshmallows! Three times!

Skeleton in the Window

This window caught my eye again today. Combined with having brought my long telephoto lens, I was able to capture a close-up of the window to study what the artist has at the ready. Brushes, a wooden hand and the skeleton. The last time it wasn't wearing pearls, but was today. That and all of the beads on the side and the poinsettia painted on the window makes this quite a festive display. One day I'll have to venture up to the second floor of this warehouse/office building and see whose studio this is.

Thoroughly Modern Moments

The Portland Art Museum is partnering with a number of other organizations during the months of the Mark Rothko Exhibition. Tonight Third Angle Ensemble performed pieces under the umbrella of Rothko Chapel. In addition to music by John Cage, Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff, voice recordings of a conversation between John Cage and Morton Feldman were presented along with slides of photos of both of them as well as Christian Wolff. The music was sublime. Modern and sublime.

Seating prior to the audience arrival...


and after the performance the raindrops on the sunroof of the Mini Cooper became quite abstract.

The Little Things in Life

Today I escaped from the immediate tasks at hand ~ preparation of tax documents for the accountant and selection of photos for my submission to a local art show. It's always amazing to me what I will find on a run. During the hour that I was out on the streets of Portland I saw many people dressed as if it were summer ~ at around 52 degrees it wasn't. That said there were people eating a late lunch or early dinner at 4:30 in the sun, people walking in tank tops and flip flops and men playing guitars on stoops. The cherry trees are in bloom as are the crocus...



And photographers abound ... even as images in apartment windows...

Keep Calm and Carry On

Watch for the daily camera offering later. In the meantime, enjoy this video...

Faces

A friend and I enjoyed a late lunch today. The walk afterwards in the sun was really quite delicious too. Dazzle on NW 23rd has some interesting clothes and accessories. This mannequin certainly looks as if she has found the right home... she has one of the most interesting hair styles that I've seen in a while.



Plowing through my photo archive while searching for reflection photos for an art show, I came across this image of me with parts of San Francisco reflected in the window. Some interesting symbolism here...

Tech Support Day

This bird seemed to fly from the postal service straight to this rose bush to remind all of us that Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend.



That's how the day started. After spending more time with my neighbor and another call to India (the tech there was flummoxed with her labyrinth of backup files), I celebrated my fixing her QuickBooks issue by ordering myself a new iPad. Voice from the Couch endorses this purchase since he will get my iPad 2 that has 3G access. His iPad is limited to WiFi.