June 5th

Friday Follow Up time for this last week.

If you read the June 1st-4th post, you know that the weather has been crappy and I haven’t been getting in as much mileage as I should. Tuesday I intended to have another ten mile day (though I definitely had to wear a different pair of shoes, since the pair I wore on Monday were still soaked).

Tuesday’s Highlights-

It didn’t quite happen. My intentions were good, and I did get in a really nice walk. The weather cooperated and everything. I even snapped some really great pictures!

But Micah and I had a bunch of errands and an appointment with his prosthetic-maker’s office. My first order of business of the day, though, was to wish my sister a happy birthday. She’s 5 1/2 years younger than me, so I’ll always be getting old before her. That was a wonderful thing when I was a kid, but not so much now. 🙂 Happy birthday, Tia!

Anyhow, much of my afternoon was spent running around paying bills. So I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to get in my walking.

Even so, I had fun and got some great pictures. I walked the neighborhood over by Micah’s dialysis. My dad took my daughter to OMSI’s transit of venus viewing party* so they could try to see Venus cross the sun. They said they saw me walking around over on Broadway when they were driving about, but I never saw them, darn it.

You can tell from the lighting in my pics that it was evening. The colors are different and the shadows are longer.

I love how Dante’s shadow dwarfs this little metal sculpture. It was about the size of a beagle, only without the droopy ears.

I tried to get Dante to get closer to the sculpture so I could make it look like his shadow belonged to the dog statue, so it would look like the tiny dog had a GIANT shadow, but I couldn’t make it work, drat it.

At one house, there was a palm tree about eight feet tall. It was made of metal. I loved it. The owners were out doing yardwork, and I got to chat with them. Next door to them was a house that had black stuff on it and I thought maybe there had been a fire. “Skin disease,” one quipped. “No, she’s just an old, grand lady, with age spots,” the other said. I thought that a wonderful way to describe a house.

Tuesday I walked 6.3 miles.

*Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

: Bike racks at a dentist’s office. I thought it was cute!

: An old sidewalk.

: Another old sidewalk. This is the oldest date I’ve found so far. I will be excited if I find one older.

: I will call him Ratchet.

: I love how Dante’s shadow dwarfs this little metal sculpture. It was about the size of a beagle, only without the droopy ears.

: Check out Ratchet’s tongue!

: The people who own this bus must be nuts about dogs! Note the license plate.

: Bright orange house! With the sun reflecting off it, it was hard to look at! Like a mini-sun, it was.

: Neat patterns in this.

: I would never have guessed this house would have had such an artistic retaining wall–it’s a completely different flavor from the rest of the house and foliage.

: I shot this from the sidewalk, so it was upside down to me. Turning it so I could read it made for an interesting picture.

: I like this window.

: This face hangs over the street number of an apartment complex. I thought it different (what apartment complexes hang giant heads?) and interesting.

: Helpful graffiti. That’s a first.

: Artichokes! Yum!

: Strawberries! Yum! I need to remember this place and go back and ask if I can pick some.

: Love the dog on the scooter.

: The teddy bear is on a pretty tough steed, with a pierced nose and everything!

: I don’t understand this. This truck is so close to the ground, it renders it useless. The slightest bump will destroy the bottom edges and/or undercarriage and/or muffler and all that. Not to mention that lowering it like this means you can’t use the truck to haul a thing. Isn’t that what trucks are FOR?

: Whenever I see public places with the name Lloyd, I always think of my dad, since it’s his name.

: I love this one. Too bad some dipwad graffiti’d the bottom of it.

: Why do people do this? I see such art and beauty and care that people put into their neighborhoods, and then some jerk goes and breaks somebody’s window or paints graffiti everywhere.