Symphony Night ~ Oregon Symphony Orchestra

Mei-Ann Chen conducted the Oregon Symphony Orchestra tonight in a stirring performance of Camille Saint-Saëns' Third Symphony after Copeland's Second Symphony and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires". A truly remarkable evening of strong performances by these two women as well as the Oregon Symphony. Click here for James McQuillen's review of Saturday night's performance.

Bridges Are Portland

Back in Portland and it seemed fitting that the camera would want to take a photo of our town's bridges. The Fremont Bridge won out over the image of the Steel Bridge today. Simple and yet elegant it serves as a connection between the east and west portions of Portland.

Open Door

The camera walked through Hayes Valley today ... lots of windows and objects d'art to take notice of us. This doorway was the opening to a wonderful morning of walking and looking...

Ready or Not

Eight of the ten gulls in this photo were ready for the line up. One of them seems to be in charge, barking orders. Sometimes organizing is a thankless task...

Separated by Time and Space

Larger than life reproductions of photographs are sometimes quite imposing. Here she's in the same space as this gentleman at SF MOMA but in some senses is quite removed. Years ago I was at MOMA in New York and took a photo of another larger than life print by Lucian Freud. There seemed to be more of a connection in space between the two in that image than between the blond in Rineke Dijkstra's photo below and the fellow on the bench...
 

Rainy Day Activity

Earlier weather forecasts had predicted rain for the San Francisco Bay Area today. Indoor activity seemed to be in order so we journeyed to the Rainforest inside the Academy of Sciences building. Great fun in there, surrounded by birds and butterflies ~ all colors of the rainbow rivaling the fish in the coral reef display. These two were having quite the time on the end of this branch. Eventually they flew away to wherever butterflies go for more romantic displays of affection!

Another View of the Bay Bridge

A great day in San Francisco ... here we're almost at the very tippy top of the city. If not, we're so close it doesn't really matter. We had a great view of San Francisco, the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena Island!

Remains of the Day

This afternoon was perfect for people watching. Having arrived a day early in San Francisco for our dog-sitting stint, we opted for a ride on the F streetcar line ride to the Bay and then for a long walk ending with tea at Samovar Tea Lounge in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The later afternoon light gave special poignancy to this couple who were out for a walk in the park. The simple things in life are sometimes the best.

Charlie Chaplin in Portland

Walking up NW 10th today, I spotted Chaplin looking out at me. All of the ripples from the reflections of the building and tree across the street makes him look even more quizzical than he usually does.

On the Street Where I Live

Finally the sun came out long enough here in Portland to take this photo of street cherry trees. What a wonderful canopy of color to walk under and look at even from a distance!

View from the Dental Chair

Certain days are not only dark and gray with endless rain it seems but are also filled with unexpected unpleasantness. The view from the dental chair is often a blank wall or perhaps some "stock" print from the local book shop. Fortunately my dentist is located in a building with large windows. Situated on the second floor, the view is of street trees that are just leafing out! That almost makes up for the 2.5+ hours and extensive dental work this afternoon...

Sidewalk Garden Party

The table and chairs are waiting for all of us to convene on NW 11th for a garden party in Portland's Pearl District. Come join the fun before one of these colorful elements is sold.

The Tuxedo in Portland

That would be the tuxedo cat in Henri, Paw de Deux ... walking down NW Overton today towards 23rd, I came across this tuxedo cat. It was as if having watched the video of Henri at least ten times, he had morphed himself and landed on the streets of Portland. This Henri was bored with me taking his photo ~ would not budge from his spot on the sidewalk as I crouched lower and lower to get an up close photo of him.
 

Here's the video of Henri that was my inspiration

Art and Music

Today was an all around cultural day beginning with a lecture at the Portland Art Museum. While there I also walked through the galleries of the Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. Changes are afoot on the first floor with some rehanging made necessary by some loans from private collections. Tonight was the last night for the Oregon Symphony's hosting of Sharon Isbin on guitar with Carlos Miguel Prieto conducting a concert that also featured Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition. The light was fading as the sun settled into the mostly cloudy skies. Enough of it remained so that just a tad bit was reflecting from the office building across the street adding windows of light on the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

Persian Red

What happens when you wait until April 15 to use your REI 20% off any one item reward? Well, the store is packed with people just like yourself who have also not their discount rewards. The shoe department was especially crowded. After a number of back and forths, the clerk who was helping me came back with these beauties. Whether they're really red, Persian or not, they are bright and easily seen ~ a major goal in my shoe selection for travel. One shoe to wear walking the streets or on my early morning runs!

Trees, Buildings, Tarts

Behind the Museum Cafe is across from the Portland Art Museum. It's a wonderful oasis from the hubbub of both the city streets and crowed museum galleries. Looking around while I waited for my tea and snack to be prepared this reflection of trees, buildings and streets popped out at me just on the other side of the berry tart.

Tulips with a Different Look

A glorious day here in Portland flours blooming everywhere. The color was so intense that some of us were momentarily blinded by the light and the color of these tulips became monochromatic. Tomorrow is another day and we're hoping for more sun and big puffy clouds!

Downtown

An evening downtown tonight... Julia Dolan spoke to the Portland Art Museum's Photography Council, an event not to be missed. Walking the streets afterwards I came across this window display at Nordstrom ... and just up the windows a bit, this dress specifically made for Eve displaying a rather large and stunningly beautiful snake.

Seen on NW 23rd

Walking home late this afternoon after a long day, I took some delight in taking photos of store windows as well as people on the street ... The advertisement on the Tri-Met bus enclosure was changed a few weeks ago. It makes for an interesting compliment to the fellow with the flowers in his backpack. Perhaps he also has already purchased the requisite St. Germain and champagne to accompany the blooms.

Separated by Glass

This morning I spent some time at the Behind the Museum Cafe which is actually across the street from the Portland Art Museum. That said it is a Japanese themed restaurant that also serves excellent coffee (I've had it once) as well as many types of tea. The food is good, the music is usually classical so why not spend time there while preparing for a museum tour. I was in my own world and so was this most interesting looking man who was sitting outside directly in front of the Eliot Tower. Only glass separated us physically at that moment. We were each in our own worlds...

High Rise Living

One of these days I'll have to ask how many times a year the windows are washed at the Eliot Tower in downtown Portland. It stands between the southbound Portland Streetcar stop on Jefferson and SW 11th and the Portland Art Museum on SW 10th. This morning I spied these three window washers as they "danced" down the wall of windows cleaning as the went.

Easter Bunny on NW 23rd

A sunny Easter here in Portland ... the weather forecast kept changing but none really predicted such a beautiful day! Any number of people were out and about enjoying this fine Spring day and holiday too! Plenty of people were sporting bunny ears but this girl seemed the most alert and happy of them all!

How Close Is that Volcano?

Mt. Hood looms over Portland ... an hour and a half's drive and you're in the vicinity. The classic view of this legendary volcano is from west of the downtown area ~ the Rose Garden or Pittock Mansion viewpoints even Council Crest. Today we ventured out to Kelly Point ... a wetland that has been taken over as an industrial complex except for the very tipppy tipppy point. While we were on a lovely walk along the Columbia and the Columbia Slough on a delightful spring day we also caught sight of Mt. Hood. The long focal length on the dslr brought the volcano seemingly miles closer!!!

Standard Plaza

The Standard Plaza here in Portland provides a great viewing area of the Portland Building and Portlandia. These children have a bird's eye view!

Underwood

For those of us raised prior to computers, manual typewriters were what we learned to type on... then came electric and then came terminals with separate keyboards. This Underwood sits in the vault at Schoolhouse Electric. There are a number of other examples of manual machines but this beauty seemed to have it all! Great design and lettering too! Next time I'll have to check to see if this or any of them are actually still functional.

Store Windows

Take a different route home on your run and there's no telling what you might see in the store windows. That happened to me today and here are two of the results. ... Some might say that this re-use of dolls is classic recycling. It's most definitely classically Portland ~ weird!

Early Morning Light

Certain days you have to get up early to see the sun. At least it seems that way here in Portland. March set the rain record of all times I'm told. Shortly after I took this photo the clouds closed up this bit of sunlight and the rains came. They only lasted though until 4:00 pm. So, it doesn't rain all of the time, just most of it.

Oregon Symphony

The members of the orchestra are beginning to assemble. Careful observers in the audience can immediately see differences in the norm. Silu Fei is sitting in Charles Noble's position as Assistant Principal viola player. We missed Charles. However, Silu was a fine replacement. Another notable change in the lineup after intermission was the addition of Heather Blackburn in the cello section. She filled the usually empty eighth cello seat. It was good to see eight celli!!!

Docent Art Show

Today was the opening of the Docent Art Show at Art Reach Gallery here in Portland. That was where I spent my afternoon. This morning I ran the 10K Race for the Roses!