Pictures of Spring

Interesting cloud bank to the west, and strangely colored clouds.   I've been meaning to get a picture of this street for years. The ornamental cherry trees are stunning. When the petals fall the street looks like it's covered in pink snow.   UPDATE: I have just found out when the petals blow off the …

Robins in the Snow

When I lived back east, robins were seen as a sign of spring. Out here they show up in the winter. I love their puffy red breasts in the snow. One more... bookends

Snow Day!

Portland is having a rare late season snowstorm, which began yesterday. My office manager gave me a lift to the park-n-ride where I leave my car during the day since the buses were running so slowly and conditions were rapidly deteriorating. The wind and blowing snow were rocking my managers SUV. She commented at one …

Festival of Carols

The annual tradition of the Festival of Carols begins tomorrow on Portland's classical station, KQAC. They play the most beautiful Christmas music composed through the ages, so many pieces and arrangements that you've likely never heard. It's four days of non-stop glorious music so if, like me, you've had all  you can stand of "Rockin' …

A Little Sunshine

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." -  Nathaniel Hawthorne Only posting today because I've been home sick. Finally felt well enough to wander outside and get a few photos of these gorgeous leaves when the …

Watch the Birdy

Quite by accident, I found a movie on cable about fanatical bird watchers, called "The Big Year."  The movie came out in 2011 but I think it probably escaped most peoples' notice. It was listed as a comedy, but from what I saw of it, it wasn't all that funny. It was interesting, however, if you …

Amazing Spring

Why are we always so amazed when bulbs start to grow, and trees start to bud in the spring? Do we always doubt that spring is really coming? Do we think spring has something better to do than arrive? And yet every year I find myself marveling like a child when I notice the trees …

She’s HEEEEeeeeerrrrrree

I stopped in at Powells on the way home tonight to get my copy which I pre-ordered way back when. I can hardly wait to dig in to this one because OMFGILOVEGLENDUNCANSOMUCH. For those who missed the first installment in this man's soon-to-be trilogy, you can read my take on it here and the beginning …

Death by New Job

...and this is about how I feel at the end of the first week:   Gracie wants to know why I'm not getting her dinner. The bus driver is a psycho, zooming through city streets and 25MPH zones at speeds well over the limit (I can't see his speedometer, but I can guess by the …

Finding Portland

I just saw this at Smithsonian Magazine's Web site, and had to share. My beloved Portland captured on film in a zippy 3.54 minutes! "Finding Portland: Where Young People Go To Retire" opens inside a deserted Pioneer Place mall, and shifts around the city showing the bridges, the highway interchanges, Waterfront Park with the cherry …