Category Archives: images
determined.
Sprina amazes me. She never stops. This look I was able to capture is what I think the essence of Sprina. Determination. This year alone, Sprina planned and organized her own wedding, she is currently going through Grad school, she’s working for a local designer in the northwest, she is the current board president of Step It Up, Inc., and she is involved with her family & local community. Every time I talk with her Sprina has a new project up her sleeve. She never stops.
I enjoy witnessing the fire inside of her that drives her to achieve her goals and dreams.
ducks.
I’ve been told that after a few months into the Oregon rain season everyone basically turns into ducks. I have heard from a lot of people that the rain seriously never goes away until May or June. This scares me in a way. But, on the other hand, I’ve lived in wet climates previous to Portland. They haven’t been as wet as Portland, but I’ve experienced the duck-syndrome.
I am commited to seeing the silver lining during this season. Cuz, I’ve got to tell you the Spring and Summer here are friggen fabulous!
fiber
The acorn squash that I made last night turned out pretty good. I do have to say that if you’re looking to make a meal that is *packed* with fiber, then I’d highly recommend acorn squash.
squash
Wish me luck. Cuz I need it. I am baking acorn squash for tonight’s dinner. It’s actually pretty easy to make. I used a hefty knife to cut that mother in half. I gutted the seeds and goop. I scored the bottom of each mouth. I sprinkled brown sugar inside each of the mouths. It called for butter, but I don’t have butter in my fridge. I know. My mom would be so disappointed about this. I decided to squeeze some honey inside each mouth to add to the sweetness of them. I’m not sure how this will taste. I poured water in the bottom of the glass pan and heated the oven to 400degrees.
And there you have it. Acorn Squash. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
city of roses
I stumbled upon this sweet neighborhood rose garden yesterday. The garden had almost every color and variety of roses planted. All were in perfect bloom. It’s no wonder the city of roses is so serious about the flowers. They are truly gorgeous!
sapphire.
The Sapphire Hotel on SE 50th and SE Hawthorne in Portland, was once known to be a hotel frequented by sailors, lovely ladies looking for a good time, and common folk stumbling in to pay those ladies a good visit. Most of them would rent rooms at an hourly rate, over night, or by the week as a gathering place to hang their hats.
Today, the hotel has been converted into what I call a swanky lounge where people still gather for swirly drinks, chatty conversation, and tantalizing food. In this photo, I was trying to capture the paper lights, amber lighting, and the overall ambience of the lounge.
This is what I captured.
noble.
Last weekend was the opening for my sister’s summer public art project in Seattle. She was hired by the City of Seattle’s Arts and Cultural Affairs office to be a resident artist on the Fremont Bridge. The requirement was that she had all summer to create an art piece that would be temporarily displayed on the bridge. During her summer residency, one of the bridge operator towers was converted into her art studio where she integrated a “sound” art piece as the display. It was quite an incredible experience to participate as a volunteer or an Ambassadors of the Fremont Bridge Talks Back project. You see, the art piece that she developed was a sound piece that integrated and orchestrated all of the day-to-day sounds one would hear while crossing the bridge. For the next eight months (until April 2010), anytime the bridge opens for ships to pass through you will be able to hear the sound piece that she created. You can also call a toll free number to listen to this sound and a few heart felt stories from people who called in earlier this summer and spoke about their feelings or memories about the bridge (1-800-761-9941).
During the event on Saturday, Kristen recruited 100 volunteers to come out for 3 hours to participate as ambassadors of the bridge. Each volunteer wore an event t-shirt, an orange handkerchief, and processioned on one of 4 corners of the bridge while holding a sign. The bridge was decorated with colorful flags to incorporate all of the colors that the bridge had once been painted. Each time the bridge would open, horn players would come out of each tower to toot toot toot, the sound piece would play along the bridge, and all the volunteers would procession in a celebratory manner. One volunteer who I enjoyed getting to know during the 3-hour celebration was Mrs. Noble. She was very proud to explain to me that she was a member of the Fremont Neighborhood Council and was participating that day as a representative. She told me that she was disappointed that no other members came out to participate, but that despite her age she was determined to procession for the entire event. I quickly decided for myself that she was going to be one of those types of volunteers that I would have to handle with kid gloves. Throughout the event, I would always be sure to say hello to Mrs. Noble when I passed her and to ask how she was doing. She would simply say, “I’m fine. Doing fine.” as she would almost look away as a gesture to scurry me off.
As the day came to a close, I joined several other volunteers to help remove the flags that were hung along the sides of the bridge. I again stumbled upon Mrs. Noble standing along one side of the bridge with a proud look on her face that read, “I did it!” She stopped me in my tracks and said, “I didn’t know you were Kristen’s sister?!! That’s so wonderful that you and your family came up to help Kristen.” We continued to talk about the fun experience we all had celebrating the history of the bridge. Before I hustled off to remove some of the last strings of flags, I asked Mrs. Noble if I could take her picture. I wasn’t sure if she’d be offended by my request, but she allowed me to go ahead and click click click. As I stood up to review the photo that I captured, I showed it to her and became concerned from hearing her huge GASP! I said, “Oh no! You don’t like it!?” She answered with huge emotion, “I love it! It’s wonderful! Can I get a copy of that?” My day was complete.
One of the best parts of that day, was when my family went to a local McMeniman’s pub all dressed in our tshirts and kerchiefs with huge smiles on our sunkissed faces hungry for burgers, fries, and of course a few pitchers of frosty beers. I was tickled as I walked inside the pub and passed the bar to find Mrs. Noble sitting by herself at the bar enjoying a huge burger and a pint of beer. I thought, “Now that’s my kind of lady!”
Incentive.
Last night Kari and I decided to go for a brisk walk in our neighborhood. You see, the weather is turning here in Portland. We’ve decided to practice a Fall / Winter habit that no matter how cold it gets, no matter how rainy and wet it is outside that we’ll push ourselves out the front door for some fresh air and exercise. I think we did alright last night as we ended up at one of our favorite bars up the street for happy hour. We already feel like “Norrrrm” when we walk inside Vintage, because the bar owner always looks up and gives us a warm greeting and usually says, “What’ll it be tonight, ladies?”
Last night, the bar owner came over to our table to chat it up with us since we last paid him a visit. He immediately thanked me for posting this picture on his fb “Become a Fan” wall and said, “That’s a great picture by the way.” I quickly responded, “Well thank you. That was quite an experience tasting that flight of Scotch.”
awaken.
It’s been a little over a year since I started clicking away on that round, silver button. And, here I am finally starting my very own photo blog. I’ve never had a blog before and I don’t think I can call facebook a blog. However, I do owe it to all my fb pals who have totally encouraged me to keep going via the click click clicks of their ”likes this” button each time I post another photo I’ve taken. Thank you, friends. And, did I tell you that I’ll hopefully be displaying my work at a local cafe in Portland? Pretty cool!
This photo was taken on the first weekend of August. I was sitting above the reservoirs at Mt Tabor watching this most incredible sunset surrounded by two of my favorite people. This photo was later nominated “Photo of the Week” by the Portland Neighborhood online network. http://community.portlandneighborhood.com/profiles/blogs/portland-blog-this-week-in-17 I might not yet be the next Annie Griffiths Belt, but I’m sure having fun!
I am humbled.
