28 March 2024

Toes of the Mountains

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The course of Oregon State Highway 213, a road which technically begins at PDX and goes to Salem, dances along what I've come to think of as the Cascade Piedmont.

Anyone reading this probably understands that the word piedmont, literally translated, means 'foot of the mountains'. There's a region in the deep South that they call 'piedmont', the fall line where streams in Dixie emerge from the foothills of the Appalachians and spread out across the plains on their way to the Atlantic Ocean.

 The Cascade Piedmont I am terribly fond of is nowhere near as extensive but I think just as remarkable.

 

Highway 213 dances in and out of the toes of the Piedmont quite nimbly. Much of the time, as you close on and go south of Molalla in the direction of Silverton, it's obvious ... to your left, the land is notably hilly, on the right it flattens out and gives great views of wide and deep farmlands stretch to the distance-diminished Coast Range thirty or forty miles west.

And when it comes to a hill, it skirts around its middle.

Despite the fact I've called Portland home for more years in my life than anywhere else, I still feel a strong connection to this ground, this particular soil. It's emotional, but real; I was born along the Cascade Piedmont, and I have a father and a brother who are buried in its ground. 

Much the way a young duck is said to imprint on the first face it sees as a parent, I must have done same with this ground.

Nothing like it anywhere else. I guarantee this.

27 March 2024

The Church at Second and A

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The subtraction of the century-old Eugene Field School building from the landscape of city-center Silverton has opened up sight lines that young me never even comprehended existed.

If you look grid-east and a s'kosh north from the corner of Park and Water Streets, the lack of a rather substantial building opens a line of sight two city blocks long.


The big white historic-looking building, which is the Trinity Lutheran Church, is at the corner of N. 2nd and A Streets. Google Maps says this is at a range of about six-hundred and thirty feet from Yours Truly, the photographer. N. 1st Street crosses the middleground at where that chain link fence is. The red brick building wit the multi-colored windows is the First Christian Church. The green space in the foreground is the lawn on the south end of the new Civic Center block.

When it comes to church in Silverton, if you want it, you got it. More church than you can shake a steeple at.

In looking around the town of my youth, I'm amazed at how wide my perception of the world has become. These places are mere minutes away in a walk, but since I couldn't directly see them when I was young, they may as well have been halfway around the world. Perspective widens with the altitude of age; it opens the world at the same time drawing it closer in.

Escher would approve of that, I think.

The Hitching Post at Water and Park

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This is a thing that exists in Silverton that refuses to explain itself.


Located at the northeast corner of Water and Park streets, on the north edge of downtown, it keeps its own counsel. It saw Eugene Field School come and go; it's watching Silverton's new fancy Civic Center sprout from the former schoolyard. 

It appears to be of the same vintage, if one can read such a thing on a small concrete obelisk with a hitching ring embedded, as the Stark Street Milestones here in Portland, possibly a minimum of a century old.

It's the only one like it in Silverton. 

And it will not explain itself to you. It owes you no justifications or apologies.

It does kind of miss the school building, though, as do I.

26 March 2024

Oregon Back Road in the Cascade Foothills

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The past few pictures were from within Silverton. This was part of the road on the way there.

 

State Hwy 211 is a highway that runs from Estacada to Molalla. As soon as it leaves Estacada it ascends into the Cascade foothills that surround the town and in no time you're more than 1,500 feet ASL, what dwellings and farms there are fall away, and it's a two-lane paved road through thick forest.

There are some gorgeous views to be hand just from the car.  I got a couple more for when I have more time to post.

But this one charms because of the curve of the road, the minimal evidence of other highway engineering, and the power lines illuminated to remind one of spider webs. It's at once near civilization and remote, nowhere and anywhere, and demonstrates why just a trip between two towns in the back roads of the Cascades piedmont is like a tiny vacation.

25 March 2024

Water Looking North From Main

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A look at Water Street, downtown Silverton, looking north from Main.

History still lives in small Oregon towns and, maybe I'm biased, but more so in Silverton than other Valley cities.

All these buildings were aging before anyone of us looking at it were even born. 

I had a pathetic childhood in Silverton that made me want to go elsewhere (eventually I got my wish). Well, time does heal wounds. Who wouldn't love this scene, or at least feel warmed to it? 

At the moment I can remain cozily in the midst of my beloved Portland and see Silverton when I can find the time. Best of both worlds, really.


24 March 2024

Curly's Legacy Cooler

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On the west side of South Water Street there's a charming little coffee dive (and I mean that in the most affectionate way) called the Silverton Coffee Station. 

It occupies what was once a filling station and auto garage, but if you know what to look for, that shouldn't be a surprise. The gas pull-through and the garage are separate buildings on the west side and south side, respectively, of a cement platform which is one way these properties were situate on the right bank of Silver Creek, which runs behind all the buildings on the west side of Water Street downtown.

The current service area is inside of what was once the garage, and this is where I spotted a certain historical gem.

The wordmark on the front, Curly's Dairy, represents a bit of greater Salem history that, in Portland, is approximated by the not-late but still lamented Alpenrose, though Curly's never got as big as that, but as a local staple, it was every bit of present. 

The main office was along Mission Street SE, on the south side, around about 23rd St SE. I just visited the approximate place where it was on Google Street View just now, and there is no trace of the dairy; that whole corner of town has been redeveloped beyond of the recognition of anyone who grew up in that area between 1978 and 1982. 

One suspects Curly's no longer exists or, if it exists at all, as IP owned and marketed by some out of state company nobody's ever heard of an whose name you'd forget in an instate if you did hear of it. But this gem remains, and keeps ice creams cool in a coffee spot where you can also find Allan's Coffee, which also makes it a location of notable worth. 


Silverton's Small God

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This was seen on the property of the Silverton Coffee Company, on South Water at Lewis:

And this, on the doorstep of the Palace Theatre, which I have just rhapsodized about:


Know ye of Bobbie the Wonder Dog? 

In August of 1923, a Silverton family visited Indiana with their Scotch Collie/English Shepherd mix in tow. During that visit, the dog, as the legend has it, was attacked by other dogs and ran off. The family, not able to locate their pooch by the time they had to return, did so, undoubtedly with hearts heavy with the knowledge that they'd never see their dog again.

Except he turned up again in Silverton n February of 1924, showing every sign of having physically endured a trek of at least 2,500 miles just to get back home to Oregon.

I've always said Oregon has this pull on natives. But then, if I found myself in Indiana, the first thing I'd probably do is try to leave, so there's me for you.

Well, in the way that things went viral in the 1920s this did, and not only was Bobbie a local hero but became a national celebrity for a short time, and in doing so cemented his fuzzy visage indelibly into local history.

And, as one can see, not only is he celebrated in one of Silvertons many murals, but also in at least two figurines, one about two blocks away from the other in Downtown, and making himself an excellent candidate for the patron spirit of the area: Silverton's own charming and relatable small god.

Silverton: dog is their co-pilot.

The Palace Theatre, Silverton, At Dusk

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The gem of town shines out as it once did, brilliantly at dusk, at Oak and Water Streets in downtown Silverton, Oregon, the kind of theater that's still the kind of place were you can walk in and imagine kids streaming in to get imagination fuel, for adults to come for entertainment. 

This is the Palace Theatre, Silverton, Oregon, year 2024.

There has been some sort of entertainment venue on this corner for more than 100 years. Before the Palace, it was the Opera House, which was destroyed by fire in 1936. 

The past few years for this old cinematic matron have been, if the news reports I've seen are an indication, a bit rocky. In 2012, fire seriously damaged the lobby. The venue got back on its feet, then the owners, one of them the inimitable Stu Rasmussen, had to give the business up. The succeeding owners were not able to keep the place alive and she closed again, and then the current owners came in and really pulled out the stops to get the place back into the swim.

The Palace re-opened for good this last winter with a run of the Timothee Chalamet Wonka film and has returned to stay.

The facade is a warm and cherished memory and, paint scheme tastefully highlighting its Art Deco design notwithstanding looks quite like it did when I was a lad, including the marquee ... although they do get bonus points from YT for that splendid sign centered in that facade. 

We much approve.

23 March 2024

Falls Mural On Main St, Silverton

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Another Silverton mural, of which I'll have a few in the next several articles, which is found on the north side of East Main Street between the end of the bridge over Silver Creek and the intersection with Water Street:

Silver Falls State Park is the gem of the state parks system, the crown jewel, the largest single state park ... it's to Oregon State Parks what Yellowstone is to the National Park system as far as a star player goes, and if you're in Silverton, it's not just in your back yard, it is your back yard.

If it weren't for photographer June Drake getting the ball rolling back in 1902, it might never have been, but then ... Silverton was always a town for photographers.


21 January 2024

Hiroko Cannon

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Spotted on an Oregon Art Beat viewed a week or so ago, the artist Hiroko Cannon, a resident of Pendleton, who does watercolor works of wildlife that put Audubon to shame, if for no other reason that all this amazing artist needs to do is watch the animals. This apparently comes from a memory enabled by a contemplative state of mind. 

She does this from memory. 

That and a Winsor & Newton pocket box and water control that the rest of us can only dream about.

Evans Valley Road, East of Silverton

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Please enjoy the following relatable, pastoral, colorful-and-brimming-with-life-and-all-the-good-feels, no-agenda, non-political, friendly view of a bit of Marion County countryside just east of Silverton with a stretch of Evans Valley Road running through it.


For those who like to know such things, that t-intersection just ahead is where Ike Mooney Road ties on.

20 January 2024

Details of Silverton's Wolf Building Are Cast In Iron

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At the corner of East Main and North Water in downtown Silverton stands the Wolf Building. It was built in 1891, making it 133 years old at the time I'm writing these words. 

There's a district of Portland that this reminds me of, and it's the Skidmore/Old Town district. Decades before Portland began to grow into a Real Big Town, that area had architecture accented with wrought iron that was of exquisite detail; few examples still remain. The most prominent example is the New Market Theatre building. 

The Wolf Bulding looks this way:

The Wolf Building, 201-205 East Main St, Silverton Oregon.
Photo by Ian Poellet. Source.

The photo was taken by another photographer; I am surprised that I do not have one of the facade ... yet.

Adolf Wolf commissioned the building and set up a hardware and dry-goods concern. During my lifetime, it was the friendly, wooden-floored hardware store of one Carl Hande. Concordant with the general upscaling of Silverton over the years, it is now a stylish bistro. The upper floor currently has office space, if I understand correctly. 

Just as with many things of this nature, the eye is rewarded by closer inspection: at the bottom of those sunny yellow verticals in the facade are these fittings:


... all the way from St Louis, yet. Fancy.

The loving care with the facade continues over the sidewalk, too:


One thing about the local Kiwanis chapter; I think it's always met there.

That can be something out of Silverton Gothic: The Kiwanis Club meets Thursdays at 7:00 AM at the Wmlf Building. It has always met there.  

06 May 2023

Fujii Farms Ramping Up For The Season

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This is a thing I also see on my commute.

At one time, of course, there were farms all along the long streets east of Portland and going through the area we once commonly (thought inaccurately) called East County, interrupted only by Gresham and Troutdale and Fairview, which were just small burgs at that time. 

Eastern Multnomah County ... small-town Oregon. Now, of course, it's a totally different planet. 

There are at least a couple of working farms still surviving. One I've visited to take a bunch of Wy'east pictures, as anyone who's followed this knows, Rossi Farms, on NE 122nd and Shaver, between Fremont and Sandy, adjacent to Parkrose High. This is a corner of a similar working farm: Fujii Farms, a farm mostly specializing in berries.

This is the northwest corner of SE Stark and S Troutdale Road, and this is where Fujii Farms has a seasonal fruit and produce stand operating from approximately June through the summer. They have more than one.

The fields behind that stand are predominantly berries but there are also grapes. There have been school buses and porta-commodes during the summer; echoes of my going out and picking strawberries out around Silverton when I was a kid are ringing most strongly.

For those of you who like this sort of thing, they have the fresh produce and berries coming. 

You, Too, Can Create Portland's New Council Districts

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This last election, the citizens of the City of Portland (or at least a majority thereupon) at long  last deemed it time to move off the old city commission format for the City Council and evolve into district-based representation.

The system that is replacing our old at-large Council is kind of surprising. Portland likes to take chances, and chances were, we were going to find ourselves in a city made of representative districts eventually. A city of more than 650,000 needs a more sophisticated approach than a council suited to a much smaller town can provide. 

If someone had told me we'd be dividing the city into four districts each sending three representatives to the city's legislature, I'd have told you you knew not what of you spake. Well, history has called me the fool. Ranked-choice voting, too! Daring, even for this place.

But, as the throught-terminating cliche goes, it is what it is. And, now, that's what it is. So, let's lean in. And the CoP has those of us in mind: I just found out that the city has a web app that lets you take a crack at it. 

Go to the page the Independent District Commission's put up at https://www.portland.gov/transition/districtcommission/districts. You'll find yourself at the Submit A District Map page and there are a number of options to explore, If you want to jump in and try your hand, go straight to OPTION 3: Draw & submit your own district map and get your apportionment on. The web mapping app "Districtr" is employed, and it's pretty easy to figure out; the most exciting thing about it is that you 'paint' areas with a brush that assumes the shapes of the census tracts as you go, and you can adjust the width of that brush with a slider in the upper right. 

If it seems non-intuitive, don't fret; there are simple tutorial PDFs available via links that can be found.

I gave it a try, and here's what I got:


Each one of those districts holds about 163,000 Portlanders. The bare and direct way about it is just to create districts with approximately-equal population. By providing access to data on ethnic population and other things, it invites you to explore the various communities in Portland and how one might group and/or divide. 

This sort of thing has been done before. Back in 2013, I investigated Washington DC's city government's "Redistricting The District" game, and it was quite informative. Given then-current population figures, one reapportions ward boundaries and explores the same things.

In Portland's implementation of Districtr you can not only play with districting Portland but also save and post your results, link to them, and even submit your ideas to the Independent District Commission.

It's a great deal of fun, and it's the sort of fun you can have again and again.

04 May 2023

Stark Stuck Truck

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I'm quite frankly surprised this doesn't happen more often.

The Stark Street Bridge over the Sandy River is a narrow truss. The modern breed of large consumer pickup feels like they challenge it. 

The day before yesterday, I'm coming down the hill from Troutdale past SE Kerslake Rd toward the bridge, and right as the road bottoms out, right by the Riverview Restaurant and the Yoshida estate, there's this harried guy in the street flagging people down ... which seems portentious ... but when I come abreast, he's going on about how we have to turn around because a truck has blocked the bridge. 

I have to see this, so I inch forward. Yep. It's the truth, and here's what that looks like:


It's a fact. That bridge is closed right now.

I had to backtrack through Troutdale via Troutdale Road and Historic Columbia River Hwy and cross the river there (My destination is in Springdale, where I work now. I've not said much about that due to my erratic posting style of late). 

I didn't have a chance to pict from the other side, but there was MCSO advertising a blue-light special. The truck wasn't so much stuck itself, as, when turning from HCRH eastbound right onto the bridge, the driver turned wide to account for the length of the trailer but maybe underestimated or maybe it was all wishful thinking, and the box fetched up against the end of the truss and the low wall on that corner of the intersection.

I had a pretty good day at work; most days at my new job are quite satisfying. But if I'd have had a bad day, I could think of this poor guy, and feel better about things. 

Midland Library, 3 May 2023 (With Closeups)

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The prep of the site seems to continue at a steady pace though not at breakneck speed. Not only has the interior been gutted but also parts are beginning to disappear from the outside.

Here's the overview:


If I understand the design I've seen, the east, and south sides (you see the east side on the right, here) are going to remain and the building is expanding to the north and the west. Good thing; there are lovely poetry verses on the east side, bracketing that window.

Two details caught my eye.

One can be seen here. Note the two large flat russet-red squares on the right there, as seen through the fence directly below the no-trespassing and danger signs. 


Another pair of them can be seen n the far left. In the middle of the picture is where two of them used to be. Before this evolution each one of those had a concrete tile with a bas relief of some sort of biology ... the curling of a fern frond, a tree leaf. They're gone, obvs. I hope there's room in the new design.

And, here's a detail of the old main entry. The truck is parked approximately where the clock tower porch (of which we still mourn) was. The plywood immediately behind it plugs a hole which used to serve as the book return. 

There were two: a traditional chute, and this straight-up cyberpunk automated return slot which was kind of fun to use, in a 2001-Open-the-pod-pay-doors-HAL sort of way.



26 April 2023

Midland Library, 26 April 2023

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The Midland-of-the-week photo series continues, with no obvious change from last week, though I think the old glass and steel from the main entry is now completely gone.

You can see straight through to the south wall if you look carefully. As stated before, the entire inside has been gutted.


I'm still missing the clock tower, for what it's worth. You just don't get architecture like that any more. 

22 April 2023

Midland Library, 20 Apr 2023

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Herewith the first of a continuing series of snapshots of the evolution of the Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library from what was into what will be.

In December, 2022, the Mighty Midland branch, located at SE 122nd and Morrison in the middle-outer eastern area of Portland ... out in The Numbers, as the kids say ... closed in preparation of a major rebuild. This is part of a systemwide strategy of improving branches to be current to the needs of today. This is scheduled to be in work through Summer 2024. 

This is also happening at the Holgate Branch.

As a point of reference, here's where it all started: The Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library as she was before they got busy (photo sharked from the Multnomah County Library's page as of today here: https://multcolib.org/library-location/midland)


As of today, this is what the scene was:


The process has been underway in earnest on the structure about two and months now. The clock tower is down (and it's not coming back, I'm afraid, which I think is a sadness, but the thing is taking its course). The windows in the side long side of the building that's facing us ... that's the south side of the building ... are out. The inside of the building, which I've only been able to glimpse in quick passing, appears to have been gutted. 

What's not so obvious from this angle is that the parking lot has been about 2/3rds broken up and is being pulled up out of there. Out of frame on the left are trailers as construction shacks. 

My plan is to take a picture from the same spot across the library on 122nd once every few days. I'm hoping to get a long-arc sequence of all the changes. 

16 March 2023

More New Suspish on Stark Street, or, It Comes From Eugene

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When I saw SUSPISH on the back of the PPD Sunshine Division building on SE Stark just east of 122nd, I was delighted. I love the style of this artist and remembered, as I pointed out here, that we've seen them before.

But there's more delightfulness ... they've returned to the original building we first saw them on. 14410 SE Stark is a kind of a warehous-ey building that at one time, more than a decade ago, held a Hotel/Motel Furniture Liquidators. It closed around a decade ago and has stood vacant ever since. Now, the first time we saw Suspish, it was on the east wall of the building, the one that faces the Franz Bread Thrift Store next door. It was painted over in due time.

Now, it's on the buildings facade:


This differs from the other Suspish, in that we have the angler-fish catching its prey but, moreover, it's more or less the same as the first Suspish that appeared in April 2021, which I include here for comparison:


The addition of sparkles in the first image gives it a little more visual delight.

But there's more. That nifty web thing, the hashtag, accidentally showed me that Suspish isn't just a couple of fun graffiti on the outer east side of Portland. 

Suspish is a Eugene thing. perhaps come to visit, to stop by and leave something in a Banksy-esque way. Eugene Weekly spoke with The Artist back on 2022. They're something of a street-art city mascot down that way. 

04 March 2023

How To Have A Logical Address System In An Illogical Street Pattern

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Georgia has an amazingly-adaptable system for figuring out a regular system of addresses in counties that have irregularly grown road systems. It's impressive and works very well.

I'd like to introduce you to a document titled Street Addressing Standards and Guidelines for the State of Georgia, created by the Georgia Spatial Data Infrastructure GIS Coordinating Committee, Framework Transportation Technical Working Group, and released in August 2000. It really is an amazing document, and you can get your own copy of the PDF here:


It's axiomatic by now that a consistent, logical system of addressing promotes various public and private goods, from predictable private wayfinding to ease of location for emergency first-responder services. The organic way many Georgia cities grow kind of defeats this, though; take a look at the city center of Atlanta - various sized grids at various angles, no smooth transitions between them - and one begins to see what the challenges of creating such a system might be.

To this end, the group with the long-winded name came up with a complex-yet-simple system. I'd ask anyone interested to read the document (which also goes into considerable depth with respect to establishing logical street-naming rules which promote setting up solid address databases) but it is kind of dry, so here's the TL; DR abstract. It has 2 main moving parts:

1. Identify two intersecting roads, or two intersecting alignments, that cross the county. They meet at the reference point, which is the originating point, from which all addresses radiate. This divides the county into rough quadrants, which can be designated NW, SW, NE and SE.

2. Determine addresses as a function of distance from that reference point; the rule they suggest is one house number per 20 feet of street length as measured from the centerlines of the street. 

The illustration right demonstrates the idea of finding two intersecting trans-county alignments which meet at the reference point and creating rough-but-roughly equivalent quadrants (the county used by the illustrator is Lowndes County, Georgia and the reference point is in city center Valdosta, for what it's worth ... and a look at the county shows they haven't chosen to implement this system, so it amounts to a demo). 

The real magic of this system comes in tying the house numbers to distance relative from the reference point. This is necessary because if a Georgia town starts off with a rectilinear grid, they typically do not hold; they devolve pretty quickly into a county road network that's based on paths that indigenous people took and that settlers created to get to their properties as they developed the lands. There isn't a regular gridded road pattern, and there isn't going to be one ... a regular amount of block numbers per 'block' is difficult if not next to impossbile.

One drawback is that even hundreds don't fall on street intersections, and that's something to learn and get used to, but any address system can be learned and they've been doing things this way in Atlanta since the 1920s, so it may be a stumbling block in the beginning but that wont' last for too long.

It occurs to me that bits and pieces of this logic can be applied to ordering other towns depending on the form of the street network. There's a thought experiment I plan on exploring quite soon, and I'll write about that here. But not quite yet. 

19 February 2023

The Moment I Realized Where Things Are On Mount Hood

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The distance from the turnoff from US 26 at the east end of Government Camp to the parking lot at Timberline Lodge is about six miles. 

This is another thing I learned that day.

I've obsessed on the appearance of my favorite volcano for years, as I've made a a big public exhibition via blog and FB about such. And I've loved what I've done and am proud of it, but never when right up to it during all this time and figured I had enough of an idea of perspective and size to make it real.

The larkout to Mount Hood restored a lot of respect and knowledge and grasp of perspective and distance and space that I didn't have before and thought I did. And it settles through and percolates down through my psyche and gives me little frissons constantly, and I love it. I feel more connected to the land that is my home now.

This POV, taken through the windshield most of the way up the Timberline Lodge Road, revealed detail I didn't know existed until then:


I didn't know at the time but learned subsequently that the chairlift that is visible (and the combed surface immediately to the right) are the Palmer Chairlift and the top of the Palmer Glacier. Just near the low point of that chairlift is the historic building called Silcox Hut. These were just names I knew before now, despite all my smug pride about knowing where is what in Oregon, I didn't really have a grasp on this before then. 

Now that I do, my world seems quite a bit bigger. 

13 February 2023

Evening Rush Hour, Government Camp, Oregon

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Government Camp is a small unincorporated town at the foot of the road that goes up to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. It is also located immediately aside another major ski resort, Mt Hood Skibowl. And, toward the end of the daylight on that last Saturday, this is what the westbound traffic looked like on US 26.


Two eastbound lanes, just one westbound lane, and the end of an active skiing day on the mountain equal a traffic jam you'd otherwise think you'd have to be on the Banfield at evening rush in town to experience. I'm sure much fun was had ... but by whom, I couldn't say. 

Gresham: Rare Wit

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The proprietor (or manager, or whatever) of a auto shop out at 202nd and SE Burnside has something to say about that:


Well, he's no Blue Sign Guy, but I respect the effort. 

12 February 2023

... on the next Star Trek: Jonsrud Viewpoint

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I know not who Ralph Baird was (Google searches strongly suggest he passed away sometime around 2010) but I figure I would have liked the man.

One of the features of the Jonsrud Viewpoint facility is the brick walk and, as many places do, they give the opportunity of inscribing a brick for (presumably) a donation. And here's what Ralph Baird, of Sandy, Oregon, Sol III (Earth), in the Alpha Quadrant, had to say:


Star Trek fans. We're inevitable. 

Today We Go Place Part 4: On A Clear Day, You Can See At Least 85 Miles

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This is a view looking southward from the parking lot at Timberline Lodge, at approximately 6,000 feet ASL. This is along the general trend of the direction of the Cascade Range at this point.


In terms of accessibility to the general public and relative to the Portland metro, this is the tallest one's likely to get in Oregon (outside of those boundaries you have Crater Lake, which is remote from Portland and Steens Mountain, which is just plain remote ... but there's a road on Steens that gets to about 9,000 feet in elevation, so knock yourself out. Send pictures). 

The lopsided volcano in the distance, then, is Oregon's second tallest summit: Mount Jefferson. The line of sight from Your Humble Photographer to that place is approximately 45 miles of crystal clear air. Of equal interest are those sawtooth crags on the horizon immediately to the left of Jeff; those are the summits of the volcanic group we call the Three Sisters. The dominant cone in that grouping, the one we call South Sister, is about 40 miles beyond that. 

One of Oregon's unparalleled viewpoints, without question. 

Today We Go Place Part 3: Timberline Lodge

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This was our ultimate goal, but we did not know this starting out. It just kind of happened.

Timberline Lodge is not only a popular tourist destination, it's part of history; it was one of the many projects that happened during the post-Great Depression rebuilding of America. It was constructed betwen 1936 and 1938 at the 6000-foot level of Mount Hood ... the timber line. It stands large in the awareness of a large percent of the population of Oregon regardless of how much history you do know. 

We didn't stay ... it was a drive-by visit. But since we were out for pictures, it was far from a failure. Really, quite the opposite.

Because now, amongst other photos in my stock, I have a number that resemble this:


It's amazing how close it seems. The summit is about three lineal miles from this spot, but it's still about a mile straight up. So many things, though, seem so close you can just reach out and grab them. From here you can see Silcox Hut, the Palmer chair lift, and the groomed slope around it. As used to looking at Wy'east as I am, I never new how far up the mountain those chairlifts were.

Gorgeous and accessible. The best volcano in the world, and yes, I'll fight you on this one. 

Today We Go Place, Part 2: Wy'east from Hwy 26

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On our way out to Jonsrud there were multiple opportunities to find Oregon's Greatest Mountain in pulchritudinous array. West of Sandy, on the portion of Hwy 26 that exists between Gresham and Sandy, Wy'east is very prominent through gaps in the trees.


From miles away, and at this point we're between thirty-five and forty, the mountain dominates.

You get unexpectedly awe-inspiring glimpses when you're east of Sandy, though. They happen unexpectedly.


Wy'east has what topographers call a high degree of prominence ... in plainer terms, the peak really stands out. It's a well-defined mountain surrounded by lower mountains and there's a great deal of difference between the altitude at the visual base and its summit. Ever notice that when you're travelling toward mountains, individual mountains you may have been visually tracking become lost in the general mountain-ness when you get close?

This doesn't happen with Wy'east. This view is east of a place called Zigzag, and by then one is not terribly far from the mountain anymore. Yet it still has an intimidating presence.



Today We Go Place: Jonsrud Viewpoint

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There are certain places that any Oregon photographer, be they amateur or professional, must have in their portfolio, I think. Place like South Falls in Silver Falls State Park, or the wreck of the Peter Iredale, or the State Capitol Building, or Willamette Falls ... the list goes on.

One of those places I think is Jonsrud Viewpoint. Found just north of Hwy 26 along SE Bluff Road on the edge of Sandy, this is a lookout that stands about 500 feet over the Sandy River bottom directly below. This affords an unobstructed view up the Sandy River drainage at Mount Hood, whose summit is about 30 lineal miles distant.

We went on safari and I took several shots today. Here's one ...


This was an adventure in picture-taking on more than one level. Despite the fair weather, the light just wasn't working with me, so I explored a bushel or more of camera settings to compensate. The issue was when I tried to include a great deal of the valley floor at my feet, the light compensation would completely wash out the mountain. 

So I don't completely comprehend ISO and shutter speed, but I found out when I set ISO to around 100 and made the shutter speed quick, I got images I could work with.

They started to look this way. 


Not Ray Atkeson level, no, but I'm working on it.

Another bit of fiddling with the settings, color saturation, and temperature got me this:


Which got a lot of nifty color in, and depth, with the Heritage Trail sign adding a bit more interest, compositionally speaking.

This is another of the best ... Sometimes you just have to let the peak be the star.


My change in employment has limited my opportunities to get pictures of Wy'east. So you know we have to go out of our way to make 'em grand. 

Mission accomplished? Yes ... and no. We accidentally kicked it up to the next level. For that, read into the next entry or two.

11 February 2023

Dreamland East of 257th On Stark

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In the intervening time since the last times I regularly posted, I've changed places of employ. I used to work near the Portland International Airport; now I work in an area called Springdale, which is about three miles east of the south end of Troutdale via Stark Street and Historic Columbia River Highway.

It's a longer commute, but I love it; I use all of Stark Street east of SE 122nd, out to its veriest end. This pleases me as I know I follow not only a rather historic road for this area but also the Willamette Base Line. I've become much more familiar with areas of Gresham I formerly rarely visited. 

There's some nice stuff there. I've missed out.

The road climbs from about 205th and Stark to 223rd, a rise I call Twelvemile Hill (after the historic name of Twelvemile Corner which is 223rd and Stark). It then levels a bit, descends gently from Hogan to 257th, then just east of 257th, drops more precipitously. This allows for some lovely views, if the morning clouds and mist are just right. Like this, here:


Stark Street is a very broad-shouldered, muscular boulevard all the way out to 257th. After that, it drops down to a 2-lane local road and descends this hill along the north side of Mt Hood Community College. Just beyond his, the first traffic signal is Troutdale Road, and beyond that, in the distance, is the signal at SE Evans Avenue in Troutdale, which is the veriest and lastest signal on all of Stark. 

Today, hanging over the gulch that the Sandy River flows down, was that bank of cloud. Most dreamy. 

The Return of SUSPISH! to Stark Street

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We have, out here in 122nd Land, the occasional recurring cartoon character in the form of graffiti.

Today, one came back. He's SUSPISH, and he's on the back of a building on the south side of Stark just east of 122nd that's exposed to the big north parking lot that still surrounds the former Fabric Depot:


I don't know who his friend is, but it looks like he's been in a scrape or two.

SUSPISH has formerly surfaced along Stark at 146th by the Franz Bakery Thrift store, either in a former anglerfish or perhaps it's a cousin, in April of 2021. We also sustained a very small invasion by friendly aliens back in April (coincidentally) of 2016). 

I do wonder if they are all done by the same local Banksy? 

18 December 2022

The Very Last Day Of A Very Good Library (Well, This Version Of It, Anway)

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This is, as Jerry Clower once said, a momentum occiasion.

I've got a couple of photos to share with you all, as I usually do. They come with a story, as they usually do. It's better sweet.

This is the interior of the Mighty Mighty Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library as I took mere minutes ago. This is the last time I'll ever see it, at least this way.


The Multnomah County Library is going on a buildng initiative. This will include making the Gresham branch the east side flagship and updating neighborhood branches into something resembling true community centers.

First two up are Holgate and Midland. This means that Midland will be closed for the next year and a half while the revisions are being made and, so, I'm pretty torn about this. Firstly, I've seen the diagrams and artist's conceptions of what Midland will look like as of the middle of 2024, and it's going to be a library user's paradise, straight up. Big wide areas for sitting and meeting, a big patio extension so you can enjoy the library outside when the weather is fine, big meeting areas. Really lovely. But we have grown so very accustomed to Midland-the-way-it-is, the comfort and familiarity, that we are feeling like a cornerstone of our lives is being taken away.

I mean, this building itself is scarcely 25 years old. Hardly even broken in, as buildings go. And it has the most lovely them, that of "Talking Leaves" ... there are leaves in the ceiling, as one can see. That was part of the design. The delightful and huge painting anchoring the east end, near the main entry is a landmark of life. 


The work itself is called Talking Leaves. I don't know the name of the artist but I'll have it before I leave the building. 

There's poetry on the outside of the building and I imagine it'll go. I do hope the painting is in the next edition of this building.

We want to honor the memory of Midland-that-was. We have had more than 15 happy years coming and going from here, and I'm sure we'll have a number happy years after the new version opens, but the interregnum will be a bit of an ordeal. We'll probably be visting Rockwood, or Gresham if Rockwood's too busy. Rockwood is definitely where we're going to be picking up our holds. It's on the way to things, in this new life.

Abysinnia, Midland-that-was. 

I'll miss the clock tower. 

12 December 2022

The Most Absurd Book Currently Existing

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Well, on a certain level, it is a logic puzzle and can be approached as such, but Wordle is such a thing of the 'Web that it just seems ... well, a paper book of Wordle problems is just missing the point of it all.


Looks like Silicon Valley just re-invented the puzzle book. 

A Riot of Color

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One side of the watercolors aisle at I've Been Framed on SE Foster. It is a place that just makes me feel good.



Where Do You Get The Perfect Thingy?

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Why, at I've Been Framed Art Supply Center, which is perfect in every damned way, of course. This is what it looks like:


What it is is a 3-D Printed watercolor pan insert for your retired Altoids tin. Retired Altoids tins very readily lend themselves to pocked art boxes and urban sketchery, and this makes it all dead-simple.

If you had something that you thought was a perfect thingy, well, I'm sorry, you're wrong, forget arguing with me, choose some other hill to die on, this is the perfect thingy and it's from IBF, so your argument is invalid. 

Hamilton in SE Portland

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Portland gets pretty silly about its sign-toppers, and sometimes artistic and thoughtful, but I've never seen a unique one, and not like this one only on a certain intersection of SE 62nd Avenue:


Mi esposa spotted that as we drove past and was, for a short time, annoyed by it because the type was so small in passing (valid). Figured it was just a matter of time before we found another but no joy there; had to circle back.

Ev'ryone give it up for America's Favorite Fighting Frenchman: LAFAYETTE.

Now, even I, with your standard sub-standard American history schooling, am aware of Lafayette. What I didn't know is that it's a line from the song "Guns and Ships" from the musical Hamilton ... I'm not much for musicals, you see, not that we can usually afford a ticket. 

Keeping your eye out for references, though, is free. And you do never know what you'll find in Portland sometimes.