Portland's Odd

One of the popular phrases on this city is "Keep Portland Weird". Well, it does a good job of that.

Here's a few odd shots from our walk this past weekend.

This is one of a number of manikin's positioned on the building we parked next to. Why are they there? I don't know... it's just Portland.


I think every city has one of these guys. But do they have one that does contact juggling?


This is from my sons favorite booth at Saturday Market. I think it's called Spoonman. Everything in the booth is made from everyday utensils.

Portland Rewind

I love Portland. Seriously, it is a city that never gets boring.

Sunday we decided to take one of our favorite walks. We start out by OMSI and walk North along the Eastside Promanade and cross the river on the Steel Bridge. Then we meander through Saturday Market and then walk the waterfront heading South. We then cross the river back to OMSI on the Hawthorne Bridge. It is a good walk in so many ways.

This time I had my camera with me so I grabbed some photos along the way. I'll share more later but for now I want to share these two. When I looked through all the photos these two just seemed to belong to a different generation. So I did a little tweaking to give them that old feel.

I call this group The Vagabond Players. I know they have their own name but I like mine better.

I love the contrast in size between the boat on the left and the powerhouse of the boat on the right.

Big Trucks and Guns

Today was a fun filled day!

We started by meeting my sister and her kids in Beaverton for Big Truck Day at Conestoga. Besides the constant honking of the horns and the waits in line to sit in a truck for three seconds it was a good morning activity for us. The kids loved the trucks. Alex's favorite were the limousines.

We had to cut out early because we had a previous engagement to take our friend Megan shooting. So we packed up the arsenal, met up with Megan and headed out to the Tillamook Forest for some target practice. There we blew some holes in some cans and bottles we found laying around until Ranger Roger came and told us that it was a misdemeanor to shoot anything but paper targets. We explained that we were only shooting what we found laying around and he didn't care. Since our time was running short anyway due to a work schedule we decided to pack it in. We were good citizens and got a garbage bag from Ranger Roger and packed out someone else's garbage. I love the spot we found so we'll return another day with some paper targets.

Here's some pics of the day,

Alex adding to the horn noise of the day. Who can blame him. How many times have you tried to get a trucker to honk his horn.

Natalie being kind to her brothers by just pretending to pull the horn.

Aidan standing in the hornless fork truck brought by Parr Lumber.

Nathaniel curled up in the wheel of the big Monster Truck.

King Alex chillin' in the back of his Hummer Limo!

Jen found a friend to get a picture with.

Megan cracking off a shot with the Sig Sauer P230.

Yeah, best not mess with us.

Amos Lee

All my life I feel like I've been drawn to good stories and good story tellers. My taste in stories is very eclectic. In books I've loved anything from true life stories of amazing people to what I refer to as mind-candy fiction stories. Music has a different kind of story. It's not always told A to B and isn't always contained in one song. Sometimes you've got to sit and listen to the whole album to get the complete story.

I've always considered myself a rocker. I love hard rock, metal, and anything where the guitars scream louder than the vocalist. But deep down I love music that tells a story. As a kid our family would travel in our van for vacations and on the road AM radio dominated. I remember songs from people like Johnny Cash, Harry Chapin, Roger Whitaker and the like. Their songs always told a story. Stories have meaning thus the songs have meaning. Meaning bring longevity. There are singers and bands who we call "one hit wonders" and their songs have a flash but then fade. Singers and bands who tell stories have a staying power that lasts generations.

Lately I've been reaching out to hear more stories in music and have come across some amazing talent. As I said before the stories are not always told in a clear way during the song but sometimes come through in the album as a whole. Adele does this and does this well. She was in town last night and I would have loved to see her. Tonight I get to see a storyteller of the modern generation. Amos Lee a young man with an old soul. My friend Stephen told me about him one day and since then I've not stopped listening to him. The concert is outdoors and the weather will be amazing.

Here is a beautiful and honest song with a very cool video to go along with it. Listen, watch and enjoy Amos Lee's Flower.

Look Who's 70

I know it's not polite to reveal a woman's age but my mom should be proud to be 70. Look how good she looks. Right?!? I know.

Some clowning around during picture time.

Some loving on the grandkids.

Love you mom!