024 - Another Angle

Seeing things from a different angle isn't always my forte.  Something of which I endeavor to be more cognizant.  I take many morning photos from the deck outside my office.  I rarely take the 27+/- steps to the other end of the building, turn around and face West.  When I do, the world is transformed.

Happy Friday.
Ciao

003 - Mornings, I can't get enough of them

A fine example of how photography, at least my photography, can't come close to capturing reality.  I'll keep at it though.

002 - Brilliant Morning

I have spent the last couple years working on my mad photography skills.  They are mad for me, not necessarily for someone like Art Wolf, but, I'm ok with that.

I can tell you that the above photo isn't this or isn't that.  I have a long list of the problems with it, trust me.   I can also tell you that I am pretty proud of this photo.  There is very little different from what you see and what came out of my camera.  My long winded point being that this photo has very few edits. I decided to focus on the positive aspects and ignore those nasty little things I see where I could have done better.  The vibrance and the light, those were camera skills, not Photoshop skills.  

On I ramble... Have a wonderful day of whatever you are undertaking.  Assert your personal mad skills and don't compare yours with others.

Be pleased with your own efforts.

It seems to me like a good way to get through each and every day.

Ciao!!

001 - Foggy Mornings ... Oh How I Adore Thee

Fog, what an amazing weather event.  This must be what it feels like to live in the clouds (literally - well, sort of).  I mean, if people actually lived in the clouds.  Which some people probably do, you know, those who live on tall mountains and those who live where there is fog often.

For whatever reason, I log me some fog, unless I'm driving and its dark and /or I'm on the freeway and its heavy fog and traffic and  Wow ..... I have a lot of reasons to really not like the fog.

I still do.   I'm mercurial and I'm ok with it.

Ciao!

001 October Morning

Sunrise this morning, bouncing off the buildings was pretty and pink.

Seriously, how can you not love morning

...when you get to see this. The amazing sunrise reflected in a highrise. So glad I get to live and work where I do. I'm sure I'd find the 'pretty' whereever I was priveledged enough to be. But that doesn't make this sunrise any less awe inspiring. Good morning!

238 - Toxic Beauty

Yes, its that time of year again. I'm officially at work - which is where I can take these pics of Mt. Hood - as the sun is rising. As you well know, I love the Mt. Hood shots. I love the clouds that sweep over the top, I love the shadows and the soft sky. It just calls to me.

Morning - Third of December (well, sort of)

I realized late last week that I hadn't posted my Dec 3 "morning" shot. I hadn't done it because I was out of the office all that week. It completely slipped my mind. I am sure that had I remembered, I would have snuck downtown in the wee hours of the morning and taken the shot just to keep the integrity of the project and to keep you, my reader, updated. Anyway... so last week, I think it must have been Friday, I took the top photo. The bottom photo is from Monday morning. What a difference a weekend makes. I don't know what its like where you are, but we are having the most wonderful snow and the less wonderful ice. It started Friday night just a bit of flurries. Then Saturday afternoon, in a few places around the city a strangely fierce but quick snow shower that lasted maybe minutes then melted away. But Sunday, we woke to snow on the ground and it proceeded to be snowy and beautiful all day. At our house, we had 4ish inches.

The unfortunate part about snow and ice is that many (not all) drivers underestimate the slickness and the sloggyness and have a tendency to try to drive just like it was sunny, clear and 75 degreess outside. It creates messes on the highways. Since there were so many accidents in and around the city, ODOT declared on Sunday afternoon that if you didn't have chains on your vehicle, you were not allowed on the freeways. Several of the freeways were closed due to accidents anyway.

blah blah blah

I love the snow and everything about it. The quiet is brings to an entire city, the whiteness, the way it clears the air, the way cars sound when the drive in it, driving in it, playing in it, watching Harley wonder why the ground is so flippin' cold and wet. Well, it just goes on and on.

I have more pics, but not on me. I'll try to remember to put them up later in the week.

Morning - Third of November

Not the best of photos, but I'm posting anyway. Sometimes, that's just what happens, not great photos. Its just a matter of keep taking them. Don't give up. One in the next 1,000 might be super fantastic.

Happy November all.

My goal when I started this little morning project was to take a photo of the Morrison Bridge from my vantage point at approximately 7:00AM on the third of each month for one year. Well, its been quite dark in the morning here and the photos have become more and more difficult to take without the aid of a tripod, which I'm too lazy and scatter-brained to remember to bring in the morning. The park is so lovely this time of year, so here are some afternoon photos, yellows oranges reds greens greys -

Happy Fall days to you.

Morning - Third of October

COLD

DREARY

WET

DARK

GLOOMY

but its Friday!

Yeah!

Happy weekends one and all.

The weekend - encapsulated - pinto beans

Chocolate cake - I made the "chocolate death" as Mister has dubbed it, cake this weekend. I only had 9 cupcake papers, so I made 9 cupcakes and the rest of the batter went into an 8-inch cake pan. Mister loved it, he's a chocolate fiend. I could take or leave it, mostly I left it. Too chocolatey for me. It was, I must admit, very moist and I can see where someone who likes/loves chocolate would like it, I'm just not that into chocolate. Mister's mom thought it was great too - moist and dense and rich and chocolatey. I would have liked it, I think, had I had some vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Pot o' pinto beans - Dinner last night was a pot of pinto beans I'd cooked for a couple hours during the day. Put pinto beans into a pot and cover w/a couple inches of water. Bring to a boil them simmer for a couple hours. Then, its time to season. Its that simple. I seasoned with salt, pepper, a few shakes of Tabasco, onion powder, 4-5 cloves minced garlic, several slices chopped turkey or ham lunch meat, 4-5 slices pickled jalapeno, bay leaves. Simmer for another good long while then eat. At the table, I had fresh chopped tomatoes and cilantro for toppings. Served it with cornbread and honeybutter a green salad and wine. Shredded cheese and/or sour cream would be divine, but we don't do dairy. Better than I thought it was going to be and the beans seem like something that could very easily be made, left plain then used during the week for dinners - spiced according to the meal of the day - nachos, tacos, any old thing really.

That is all I did this weekend.

This week I must gear up and get back into real estate. Studying documents, getting together w/my partner for planning, setting up an open house, meeting with my principal broker for guidance, it goes on and on from there.

Blah, blah, blah. Too much caffeine, too early in the day.

Mister and I drove to work today together. He's working a job downtown for awhile. We are hoping to save tons of dollars on parking and gasoline by commuting together. Won't that be great! Get up together, drive to work together, drive home together, dinner together, that's a lot of together. Lucky for us, we get along well ~ hopefully that lasts :-). So, on our drive in this morning, the skyline {not pictured below} was the softest, sweetest color of tangerine or peach or something of the sort (maybe cantaloupe). It reminded me a bit of the color of Sunny-D if it had a splash of soda water. I know, that makes no sense, but it was beautiful and made me thirsty all at the same time. Mister says to me as I'm ooing and aahing about the sunrise, "you must never see the sunrise." (?!) I'm the morning girl who is all about the sunrise. I just always think its amazing and watchable and I told him that very thing. So, when I got to the office, very early I might add, here is where the sun was on its travels today. I left the second photo in, even though its blurry, because I love that I was too lazy to walk the 5 feet out the deck door to get the photo, I just sat in my chair and shot through the window. The pics usually turn out just fine and no one is the wiser, but for some reason on the second shot, the camera decided to focus on the window. Busted. And, I really like the shot. Anyway, Good Morning. Happy September.

PS - More often than not, I do get up, walk the 5 feet and get the photo. Just sayin'

Morning - Third of September

Recipe tomorrow!!

I know you just can't wait!

What are YOU cooking these days?

Are you hung up or hooked on anything special?

Tell me about it...

... please...

This is how I roll

Because I know you care, I documented my drive to work this morning. The pictures are blurry, hello, driving and also because even though taking photos as one drives down the road isn't the safest activity, I try to be a bit safe and just hold the camera up and press the shutter release. I don't look through the lens, as a general rule, and so not magazine quality photos. I don't really care. And that's ok with me. For your viewing pleasure, I'll narrate. Oooh, this was fun when I thought of it, let's hope it actually is fun too.

So, a random blur on a street in my neighborhood.

My second turn, onto Tacoma Street. 1/2 mile from my home, across the street from the New Season's where I love to walk and shop.

Further (like 1/2 a block really) down Tacoma Street. In the distance, you can see the Sellwood Bridge and the trees on the bluff behind it. Oh, and the dash and hood of my Jeep.

On the Sellwood bridge looking South. And now, looking North. In the background, you just barely can see Portland skyline. That's where I'm headed. Well, not the skyline, but downtown. And to the West on the bridge. I love the bluff and how the green greets me each morning. Oh and did you know the Sellwood bridge is on the most dangerous broken down and in need of repair bridges? Well, it might be, I don't know if they actually have a list like that, but the City stopped bus transportation over the bridge because its not safe enough for them. Somehow its safe enough for us regular people though. I guess I could drive another way and choose another bridge, but, this really is the most scenic drive to work for me. Oy, off on a tangent there. Maybe I'll drive the other way and show you how boring that drive is. Ok, moving on. Beautiful tree lined Macadam Avenue. And more Macadam Ave. You see, it parallels the river all the way to downtown. So, I'll be on it awhile. Actually, my entire drive to work only takes about 11 minutes, or so. By bike, its about 25 minutes. Hey, I could document that drive to wortk too. Stay tuned, who knows what exciting adventures I'll photo document. Me trying to get a glimpse of the amazing sunrise. The rising sun was fireball orange this morning. Stunning. Sad that its the pollution making it so pretty. We desperately need rain and wind to blow it all out. But, hey, we're nowhere near China's level. Have you read/seen on the news about the frightening levels of pollution in Beijing? Weird word "Beijing". On ramps to the freeways coming up. In the centerish, you can see the newish tram that transports people from the waterfront parking to OHSU up on the hill. I'll be taking City Center. See, told ya. Hey, now I'm way closer to that skyline we saw earlier. Trust me, I am. From the ramp getting onto Front Avenue. Front Ave, parallels the Willamette River. The same river Macadam Ave parallels. I seem to like the word "Parallels" this morning. NICE sunflare. Thats Waterfront Park. A bit blurry this morning. Hard to see, but there's the trolley. At a stop light by the Mercedes place. Did I tell you about the time my boss needed me to pick up his Mercedes from the shop and bring it back to the office. No big deal, his car just costs nearly as much as my first home, but hey, that's how much he trusts me and/or he could care less about it getting damaged. Anyway, the woman at the dealership hand me keys and says, there's the car. I say thanks and very carefully drive the quite expensive automobile the 12 blocks back the office. When I pull into the parking garage, the attendant says to me "Who's car is that?" I say, HELLO!! I'm parking it in J's space, its J's car." "No it isn't" he says. I take a double take on the car, we go back and forth once or twice more and then I get back in the car, a bit less careful this time (ahem - hello, in a Mercedes, you have to test it a bit... anyway). When I get back to the dealership I say, "Did you know you gave me some random person's quite expensive car to joy ride in?" (!!) Can you imagine if that person had shown up for their car and it wasn't on the lot? They would have no idea where it was because they signed me out as having J's car. You'd think they'd be a tad bit more careful with people's Mercedes, but I guess not. Anyway, that will stick in my mind forever. Moving on. The Hawthorne Bridge and more sunflare. I love that bridge, its gorgeous. That's the bridge I ride my bike over when I commute by bike. Ok not too exciting, at a stop light. Only three blocks from the office now. I told you that commute went quickly.Two blocks from the office. That's the Trade Center on the left.This is the TriMet Light Rail line 1/2 block from my office. Also where the line of people were when the iphone first came out. And there would be my building. The squat grey one in the middle, between the red brick and the tall one.

And that's it. How much fun that must have been for you!!! Stay tuned, there may be more. More posts today and later, more driving to work posts. If I remember that I thought it was a great idea that is. Short term memory, and long term memory now that I think of it, not so great. So, exactly why did I have my camera out and ready for the snapping of pictures...

And here's why I had the camera out this morning

The sunrise was amazing. A huge fireball colored sun looming on the horizon. I walked out of the bedroom this morning and this brilliant orange glow shocked me. Of course, I had 35 seconds to take some pictures, no time for the tripod etc. But, hey, maybe its the thought that counts.

So then, right before I walked out the door, I turned and saw this... The sun was casting a weird glowy shadow on the window. It was totally cool, trust me on this. I tried to get the top and the bottom windows so you could sort of see the awesomeness of it. And then because I was taking pictures, Harley needed attention. He got it. So, that's why I had the camera in my hand/pocket/bag this morning and why you get/got to see my drive to work.

Happy Tuesday all!

Ciao Bellas!

Morning - Third of August

AUGUST!

How did that happen!

Morning - Third of July

Happy 4th!