Today is our last day in Portland for awhile – we’re moving south in the morning – and I was hopeful that I could bet one more challenge entry in before we leave town.  I set off in the cold to Kelly Point, confident that I’d find the fencepost I’d imagined would be there.  As … Continue reading "Deeply Etched Fencepost"

Portland definitely is struggling through some negatives lately, but if you admire trees it’s still a fine place to hang out.  For some reason the great, majestic elm in Overlook Park has become my favorite tree in town.  Why this specific tree?  No obvious reason I suppose, other than the fact that it stands so … Continue reading "Completely Defoliated Elm"

I have to give the creative Mr. Garceau a lot of credit and respect.  Month after month he’s coming up with new ideas that keep us motivated and moving.  Doesn’t Ever Fail!  Really Strange Though.  Absolutely Bonkers Character, I think sometimes. He has one Great Honkin’ Imagination, that’s for sure. So I don’t know if this … Continue reading "Ball-Chasing Dogs"

I can see that this is going to be an addictive challenge.  I’m finding myself biking along with a series of letters running through my head trying to think up a plausible combination I might actually see. ABC is easy enough though, as I quickly discovered on my Metric Birthday Ride.  We’ll see how hard … Continue reading "Assertive Black Chicken"

I know, I know.  I’m a fair weather cyclist, and quite happily so.  At 75 (or nearly anyway), I feel entitled to pick my days.  We’ve already got one Storm Chaser on the website after all, and who needs another? So, pretty uninteresting weather to report here, but it makes up for it by being … Continue reading "Sauvie Sunday, again"

For us there have been many wonderful benefits from selling our home and going vagabond almost four years ago.  One negative though is that there are some excellent rides near home that we used to enjoy often and in all seasons but now may experience only once or twice a year. Sauvie Island is like … Continue reading "Foggy Sauvie Sunday"

After a few days of dense jet-lag induced fog, I’m happy to report that more interesting weather has finally returned.  There’ll plenty of more interesting weather ahead in the coming days back here in Portland, but we got a break from the rain today wide enough for a cruise out Marine Drive.

I’m not sure why this challenge has been harder for me.  I leave home on a ride empty-headed with the best intentions, but return empty-handed.  All of the photos seem to have something in them – flowers, trees, birds, the usual riffraff that keep hogging the stage – but finally a suitable image showed up. … Continue reading "An empty wharf"

After taking two days off the saddle to keep pressure off her injured elbow, Rocky was ready to roll.  We drove out to Sauvie Island to join the masses, surprised to find that we didn’t have the whole island to ourselves.  I’ve never seen so many hikers and bikers out there, as everyone is looking … Continue reading "Rocky returns"

Rachael’s fortunately doing fine after her brush with disaster.  She slept poorly last night because she couldn’t lie comfortably, but today she doesn’t have any signs of injury other than the scrapes she walked off with yesterday.  She took the day off her bike while her abrasions heal up and went for a 12 mile … Continue reading "Date night"

Wednesday was mostly an errand day for me, as we started preparing to break camp and move on to The Dalles, our next temporary home.  This is such a strange and unnerving time, and the first time I’ve had any misgivings about not having our own home.  It might be nice to be sheltering in … Continue reading "A near miss for the missus"

I thought I was done with February, but these brilliant cycling days just keep coming in Portland.  If I could share some of them with you, I would.  Yesterday on our ride to Gresham we crossed a new but already nicely rusting steel bridge; saw six bunnies; and to top things off, saw another shady … Continue reading "Saving the best rust for last"

Well, with February fast drawing to a close I’d about given up on finding a silly snowman for Greg.  We got lucky though on our ride to Chinook Landing yesterday.  Doubly lucky too – this one looks right up Greg’s alley, with a goofy grin that makes him look like his alter ego G-2.  Perfect! … Continue reading "Snowman!"

Finally, a rusty object that I can get my bicycle up next to.  I found this prize on my latest PHTQ outing, embarrassingly truncated after only finding two new heritage trees. This is my third rust submission for the month, so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  Still keeping my eyes peeled for those elusive shadowy sheep and snowman … Continue reading "A rusty bucket"

Last day of August!  I’ve just got time for one last challenge post before closing the book. This one has lots  of trees, but I featured the skeleton of a dying Sycamore maple out of respect.  The post as a whole though might interest both tree and quest fans, because it’s the first stage of … Continue reading "August Challenge: the Portland Heritage Tree Quest"

There are still a few days left in the month, but I think this will be the last tree for me in the August challenge.  I’ve been reminded that it’s time to come up with a new theme, and I’m a pretty poor multitasker.  One thing at a time, that’s my motto. Today’s tree, a … Continue reading "August challenge: American Elm"

Actually, I think it’s probably a lodgepole pine.  With its many arms though, it reminds me of Kali, the Hindu goddess with ten arms.  It doesn’t look like it would be much use for making lodgepoles either, does it?  We saw this lovely specimen yesterday on our ride to Chinook Landing, a spot on the … Continue reading "August challenge: the Kali pine"

We’re staying this week in Irvington, one of Portland’s inner east side neighborhoods.  It feels a bit like living in an Arboretum, with a great diversity of mature trees – there must be fifty different species here, often grouped in short rows along parking strips, each block featuring a different tree than the one before. … Continue reading "August challenge: the trees of Irvington"

I have to say how pleased I am at the responses so far in this month’s challenge.  Here we are only on day 2, and we’ve already got four submissions and several colors represented.  Keep up the good work, team!  And let’s see some red in here to go with the blue and white we’ve … Continue reading "Monochromatic triple play"

We leave for Sicily the day after tomorrow, and of course invite you to join us for our three month loop through southern Italy.  Sharing a ride with us would be great, or surprising us with a cold beer at a summit somewhere along the way would be nearly as good.  Barring that, it would … Continue reading "A few last flora and fauna before we leave"

Well,it’s not quite spring yet, but we are leaving February in the rear view mirror.  Just time for one last look at the month’s weather, which on the whole has been pretty wonderful here in Portland.  The last day of the month was brilliant, and perfect for a ride to Rocky Butte to check out … Continue reading "February challenge: Rolling into Spring"

We’re so lucky up here in Portland.  If we’d been around the whole time and if I were more ambitious, I’ll bet I could have posted a challenge response for every day of the month.  I really feel for the Navigator, led at and their ilk, looking at a blazing blue sky and praying for … Continue reading "Cloud challenge, take 3"

A photo with clouds, in Portland in January?  Yes, I think we can manage that quite nicely.  Now that I’m posting this though, I wonder if once again I’ll be short of the mark.  Does it count if you can’t see the clouds for the fog? Read on if you’d like to see more Portland Grey, … Continue reading "A foggy day in Portland Town"

I’ve nearly waited too long for the June challenge; and now that I’m ready to post, I see that Keith has beaten me to it with his submission of a much more impressive instance of the species.  Well, there’s nothing in the challenge excluding multiple submissions for the same tree, so I’ll plow ahead as … Continue reading "A sub-lime submission"