I went to check on the zucchini, having somewhat forgotten about it, and discovered a very large tromboncino specimen. I also was reminded I had planted some green beans. And that’s great, because I love fresh green beans.
More hiking in the Gorge: Horsetail Falls
At the beginning.
The eponymous falls.
Thanks to this interpretative sign, I now know the different types of waterfalls. From left to right: Horsetail Waterfalls, Plunge Waterfalls, Segmented Waterfalls.
Would you like a photo of some lichen?
Matt stands under the 80 foot Ponytail Falls. Of note, this picture took much waving of hands (I was quite far away) and several photos taken because the water kept blurring.
Like in this example.
Better.
Looking through the falls. 
Pretty green hanging ferns.
Poor Glenn. If he was still alive we would more-or-less be the same age. The article from the Oregonian said he and his friend were hiking when this happened.
Downed tree or shaggy wizard?
More falls.
Tall bridge! With interesting anti-flag sticker I didn’t notice when I took the picture.
Blurry picture, but very cool tree growing out of a nurse log. I love how long the roots are.
Guess what this group of falls is called? Just guess!
Did you guess Triple Falls? You are right!
Some cairns.
Timer photo shot.
This is the mouth of the Oneonta Gorge. People were hiking back into it. 
Tunnel! This was once part of the Columbia River Gorge Highway. Imagine driving your Model T through this tunnel! The interpretative sign told me that this was a difficult tunnel to make due to how the rock disintegrated easily. If memory serves, they solved this problem by reinforcing everything with concrete and that made it all good. Guess what explains this better than me? The internet! You can read about construction by going here. Scroll down to Design and Desription to find a better explanation.
Lots of rock. Which I now have been reminded is basalt rock. Also known as “dice” rock. Me and geology. We don’t get along so well.
This was yet another good Gorge hike.
Saturday morning walk to MLK
We had Friday off from work because we had a work retreat on Saturday. It was at the Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg and there was carpooling involved. I needed to get to a meeting spot on MLK and decided that this morning was a good time for a longer walk. Here’s what I saw along the way.
Once upon a time, this lot had a blue house on it. I took a picture of that house (but didn’t tag it properly and now I can’t find it. I also have a view from the alley of the initial stages. Now it has eight townhouses. From an infill perspective, I very much like this development. Why? Each unit has a parking space. Also I think they look like small places. Better to have one house torn down and replaced with eight small homes than one huge one. I haven’t been successful in finding a listing, possibly because these have already all sold, and attempts to spy through windows failed because people live there. But I would like to see the inside of one of these units.
I think the sudden designation of a street is a little bit of overkill, though.
I’ve admired this house for some years now. Full basement, okay sized yard, nice mid-century design. 
Once upon a time North Portland had a convent. (Maybe more than one, what do I know?) And then the convent closed and eventually the land surrounding it was plotted into owner-occupied and rental housing. But you can still see the original building. And people still live in it.
What do you suppose happened to the statuary that was in this alcove?
Brand new alleyway! New to me, at least.
Interesting design here.
This elm tree is not long for this world.
Another alleyway, this one with contrails. And power lines.
Good bones on this house. It needs some love, though.
Dead car wash.
Dead building. But such excellent mid-century design. I think it could still come back.
When I moved to Boston, one of the markers that I lived in a big city was the presence of the Boys & Girls clubs everywhere. I knew about them from commercials featuring famous people who once hung out at them. Like this one. Which is from 2011, and thus not very old. But watch it and see if you don’t get all teary. Also I feel like Denzel Washington has done voicework for Boys & Girls clubs for many many years. Ha! The internet confirms my belief. You can even watch his first ad from 1993. Prepare to get all teary. Or, as we called it back then (due to Saturday Night Live): verkelmpt.
And Portland has it’s own Boys and Girls club. But just one location. We’re not that big of a city.
Work being done to spiff up the Orange Door
Some of the wood between the siding pieces has rotted with the extreme sun exposure on the south side. So we’re getting new wood pieces and a paint job!
For unknown reasons Upstairs Kitty’s owner decided to shave her for the summer. Her fur is slowly growing back. Upstairs Kitty declined to pose for the picture. She’s contrarian like that. Which I would be too, if someone shaved off all my fur, leaving a stupid tuft at the end of my tail.
Postcards from Minneapolis
From Sara, in honor of our one-year anniversary of visiting this store together. I’m pretty sure she chose this one because while we were in the store I stated, “Surely they don’t still make candy cigarettes!” Sara thought they did. And boy, was she right.
She also bought this postcard as an example of how horrible Jim’s Apple Farm’s postcards are. Time for an upgrade! Although they don’t have a website either. So maybe that should be first. Clearly they don’t need either one. That place was packed.
This card Sara purchased while in Oregon, to send to me while we were both in Oregon. However, it traveled back to with her, which meant more mail for me!
Learning to machine monogram for baby blankets-to-be
I made a baby blanket last summer and I hand-monogrammed it using satin stitch and guess what? I’m not doing that again. It takes too long, plus I’m guessing most of the monogram has frayed away by this point. But I love a good monogram. So it’s time to learn to machine monogram. Because I’ve got two baby blankets to make.
I decided to practice on a sheet. I found the style of letter I wanted, printed it very big, cut it out and then used tracing paper to transfer the outline to the sheet. You can also see in this picture I was listening to a podcast via my Bluetooth speaker, I was planning a hike (blue book) and there was something going on with those light bulbs.
I bought some backing, which is sitting on the table in the above picture, right next to the phone, and it worked like a charm. I also googled to find the proper kind of thread to use for machine monogramming. It’s a different kind than for all-purpose sewing. As you can see, there are some shaky places, but overall it turned out okay. You can also see the short line of stitches I made along the edge when I wasn’t quite sure what stitch width and length I should use.
Confident (enough) in my skills, I monogrammed the two pieces of material. Again, not the best job, but livable.
“But wait!” I hear you wondering. “What if the people you are making the blankets for see this post? Won’t the surprise be ruined?” This is the plus of having a blog with very few readers. Neither recipient of a blanket reads this blog, thus the secret is safe with us.
Buoyed by that success I continued on with sewing the blanket for baby J and made it through all the steps but the tacking of the binding, which will be done while watching movies. 
I’m pretty excited about how good this project looks. (And thanks to friend Julie who wandered the fabric store for a very long time until we found exactly the right front/back combo.)
Layers of a house
Things were happening with this house! Aside from a massive tree being cut down (I think it was off to the left) There are some siding things going on.
Look at the layers! You can see the original boards, the original wood siding and the aluminum siding that was added. I’m quite curious as to what the plan is.
Goodbye to a landmark along the way to Fred Meyer
There is one of those great U-shaped apartment complexes on my way to Fred Meyer. This particular one has three separate structures around a grassy green space. I’ve long admired it. (And, if truth be told, fantasized about buying the whole thing, renovating one of the structures into a single family house, renting out the other structures and having an amazing garden in the green space. You know, with all my spare money. And time.)
At any rate, the entire time I’ve lived in the Kenton neighborhood, the same couple has rented this apartment. I walked by today and they were gone! The apartment is empty.
I never met this couple, but I enjoyed seeing the poster they hung on the wall of some country star. I always thought it was Toby Keith, but I can’t be sure. And they had one of those old-timey photos you get taken at the fair. It was framed. I liked the way they shifted their furniture around every December, to accommodate their Christmas Tree. I maybe liked this couple so much because they always had their blinds open so I could observe these things as I walked back and forth running my errands. 
I hope their move was a good one, and they are happy in their new place.
The reopening of the Harlow Hotel (maybe)
This building has been looking like something was going to happen to it for several years now. But recently, this hopeful sign sprouted on its side.
I’ve long loved this building, it reminds me of a Gus Van Sant film. (From the early, gritty-Portland era) You can read about the genesis of the Harlow Hotel here.
It’s got really good bones and those store front retail spaces could be great.
Fingers crossed for the Harlow Hotel!
Possessiveness and Bike Staples
Apparently the Hawthorne Wellness Center can’t share their bike parking. I find this weird and kind of offensive. As you can see, there isn’t a ton of demand, especially considering there are six bike staples in the next parking lot over.