[liff] Sightlines Of Salem, Oregon

3470.

Yesterday we were in Salem for a momentous life event. More on that anon.

One of the interesting things about Salem is that the layout of the town gives these wonderful sight lines to the Capitol building which is the city's focal point. The really interesting thing is that the geography makes it look like at least a couple of major streets in town terminate at the Capitol while the geography actually deflects them before they get there.

This is the view from Center Street westbound in the neighborhood between 17th St NE and the Oregon State Hospital area:

And the next two are from a POV near the top of the hill on 12th St SE, just north of Madrona Avenue.

That's 12th St receding into the distance. It's a great, pretty view, really. Salem should really sell this sort of thing. It's the kind of thing that goes on posters. Or should.

This is from slightly farther down the hill, and would have been better if I could have held the camera steadier. The angle on the street is much more enticing. 

Salem is just as photogenic as Portland is, but it's a lit shier. You have to go looking for it. 

[liff] Views Of The City Of Lviv, Ukraine

3369.

Here's a curve ball for y'all.

My beloved makes interesting friends online; she has an intellect that makes people open up to her. Recently she made the acquaintance of of a fellow in Poland who has recently made a sortie into the city of Lviv.

Wikipedia has this to say about the seventh-largest city in Ukraine:

Lviv is the largest city in western Ukraine and the seventh largest city in the country overall, is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. Named in honor of the Leo, the eldest son of Rus' King Daniel of Galicia. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia (also called Kingdom of Rus') from 1272 to 1349, when was conquered by King Casimir III the Great who then became known as the King of Poland and Rus'. From 1434, it was the regional capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland and was known as Lwów. In 1772, after the First partition of Poland, the city became the capital of the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and was renamed to Lemberg. In 1918 in a short time was the capital of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Between the wars, the city was known again as Lwów and was the centre of the Lwów Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic. After the Second World War, it became part of the Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR) and in 1991 of independent Ukraine. Administratively, Lviv serves as the administrative center of Lviv Oblast and has the status of city of oblast significance. Its population is 728,350 (2016 est.)

So, it's an important city of regional stature, kind of like a San Diego or a Twin Cities or Memphis. And it's seen a lot of history, and crossed more than one border more than once.

Since my chances of travelling that far are nil, we eagerly adore pictures sent by overseas friends. The following are sent by our correspondent Tomek Kurcz, and are posted with his permission. I find them most delightful. And since I don't have anything more to add, I'll let them do most of the talking:

How they do coffee in Lviv. Tomek would feel quite at home here in Portland, I think,
though I've never seen a coffee around here as delectable as a parfait.
(copyright Tomek Kurcz, used with permission)

Slack time at the kitteh cafe.
(copyright Tomek Kurcz, used with permission)

Strollers on a cobbled Lviv street.
For what it's worth, the demonym of a Lviv resident is Leopolitan; the
Latin name of Lviv was Leopolis. It's the city of the lion.
(copyright Tomek Kurcz; used with permission)

Just a beautiful old building in Lviv.
(copyright Tomek Kurcz; used with permission)

This one has a surprise. Look directly out from the POV at the red tile roof in the middle
distance; then just above and to the left of that on the roof of the building just beyond,
notice that there is a car chassis on that roof. And there are people dining there.
I believe that's suppose to be a rooftop cafe. Classy.
(copyright Tomek Kurcz; used with permission)

Lviv streetcorner; note directional sign in center.
(copyright Tomek Kurcz; used with permission)

Another Lvivian roadsign. (copyright Tomek Kurcz; used with permission)

That's it from Lviv, Ukraine. Thanks to Tomek for sharing these delightful photos. Until such time as we can actually travel to Europe, they'll do.

[liff] The Scrub Jays Of McMinnville

3118.

There is a bit of property down in McMinnville that we are obliged to maintain, for reasons which are not germane to the following discussion. Suffice to say that we have to do a couple of very hard jobs down that way at least once a year. Money is expended, Gatorade is consumed. It's typically hot work, though this iteration, while it happened on the official first day of summer, happened during weather that was fine yet temperate – occasional clouds, some overcast holding off the heat of the day 'til the mid-afternoon. Best for landscaping a tough job.

Over the past several years, we've had bird visitation. Typically after the long grass gets cut down and before the creatures who exist on the dirt surface had a chance to get underground, the jays came.

California Scrub Jays, they call them. Here's a handsome fellow scouting the just-cut grass for nommage:

We've noticed that they happen each time. It's not a visit unless we see some jays, really. They're like friends, in a way. This time, we had a few moments to look and observe … and we saw some family behavior there that was quite delightful.

A couple of jays were visible at most times in the sweetgum maple that exists at the front of the property. At first we thought it was simply a mom and dad bird protecting the nest.

But it became evident when we saw the fluffy down on some bird butts that what we probably had was at least two adolescent fledgelings taking some first flights. There was at least one adult that seemed to be keeping tabs on the kids, who perched on the wires and yelled at us to get out of their yard.

I always wondered about birds and wires. They take to them so naturally. I always thought that birds like this had a cosmology, and just as some of us monkeys think that since the Universe made us possible that the Universe evolved for us, I figured birds knew that us humans existed so that wires would develop for their perching.

But we figure we have occupants on the place that take care of it for us, at least, in that birdy way. 

[#liff] Meanwhile, In The Triffid Patch, a/k/a Our Back Yard

3116.

Got plants? We do. Our back yard is a little cultured and a little wild; thanks to an off-hand remark The Wife™made last night, I now call it the Triffid Patch.

It's appropriate.

We're … ah, casual gardeners. We have a few vegetable plants in containers, the yard is kinda overrun with dandelions, and in the decade-plus we've lived here, we've had roses.

In as much as the container plants go, I'm working my way up. First two tomato plants and a green bell pepper. Then two tomato plants and 2 peppers - the green bell and a jalapeño. This year, three tomatoes, a green pepper, and a Yummy mix sweet pepper plant.

The jalapeños didn't fare so well. And one of the pepper plants got savaged in the night by … something. We know not what, nor are we sure we wish to. Chupacabra? Zanti misifits? Republicans? I don't know. We'll let the night maintain its secrets. We shall not, as they say, go there.

The roses were a bequest from the previous owners, who apparently cultivated them for show. We were nowhere near that hep on it, and had intended to have them taken out and rehomed at people so inclined to keep them. We still may. But for now, we've watched them go through some interesting evolution. It would seem that grafts have been placed onto other rosebush stocks; they would exhibit some different blossoms, but that seems to be breeding out as time goes on.

The blossoms that have survived have been quirky and beautiful, in a wild way. Deep rich color, as in the above … or attenuated, delicate shadings, as this one below.

A couple of bushes along the north fence, however, have this deep, deep, deep, red color. The eye looks upon this ultra saturated thing, and thinks velvet. That must feel like velvet if touched. 

As it is, the eye cannot look at it without the vibrant red pushing some of the eye's own receptors into near-overload. I can almost sense it as a palpable physical sensation myself.

It's a bit like frozen flame.

[photo] Have You Seen This Bee? BECAUSE SHE'S AWESOME!!!

3109.

Earlier today we were at Tony's Garden Supply. This is a wonderful nursery near SE 104th and Holgate Boulevard and is the kind of hometown garden center I remember growing up … locally owned, very very friendly and very very knowledgeable.

We got a Yummy Mix pepper plant, a petunia (the really pretty kind with the dark, dark blue, almost indigo stripes), a big pot to do some transplanting in, and got some advice on how to save The Wife™'s Italian flat-leaved parsley plants. Free protips; you can't do better!

But it's a riot of color, and plants wontonly dripping with pollen, and where there's pollen … we kind of hope these days, from what we've heard, it's kind of grim for them … there's bees. And I hated bees as a kid, because stingy-stingy-owie-owie, but I'm an adult and I have maybe a better understanding of bee boundaries. And I saw honey bees and bumble bees, and since I read maybe a little too much news I fret over the fact that there aren't so many bees now. But they were chillaxin', lazily-but-efficiently picking up pollen from the flowering plants at the front gate.

I'd been wanting to pict a bee for an awful long time. They are fascinating creatures. So I pointed and shot and hoped, and reviewed the photos, and look at this, will you!

Not only did I get a fabulously clear picture of afore-intimated apian, I so lucked that I caught the wings, momentarily, at rest. And, I'm a leg man … and check out them shanks, yo, just brimming with pollen.

I am proud of this picture. And that is one awesome bee.

[liff] Moon Over Outer East Portland

2992.

A recent cold morning, arriving home at dawn after work on the flip side (my day begins when your day ends, yo. You're welcome, Portland!) and a crystal clear sky tempted me to take a picture of the moon.

It's a nice camera, and I'm taking much better pictures, now (thanks, Jason, You Know Who You Are™) but I think I'm pushing its envelope here.

Still, beautiful color, what?

And close-up:

Check out the earthlight on the dark limb. Very romantic, I think.

[net_liff] The Girl Whose Feet Never Touch The Ground

2788Natsumi Hayashi is a young Japanese woman, who puts her super power on display for all the world to see.

Now, as far as polls go, attractive young women are right up there; Japanese moreso. The reason I make that tortured statement is to perhaps overmake the point that, while Natsumi Hayashi is very easy on the eyes generally, what will really make you fall in love with her is her delightfully skewed view, which she can make real and share with you:

She's pioneered what she calls levitation self-portraits, and there are quite a few. They make her seem in her environment, but not part of it. Something entirely un-Earthly and surreal and very wonderful to look at. They amuse the eye and lift the spirit.

She has many of these, whose secret is actually hard work; she sets her camera for auto-fire or has a friend squeeze the trigger, and really just jumps up and down. Out of the up-to-300-and-more photos taken on such a session, chances are, there'll be a few good ones.

It's reality, curated, really.

Her blog is Yowayowa Camera Woman Diary: http://yowayowacamera.com/. Come for the adorable young Japanese lady; stay for the sense of absurd wonder.

A Rainbow on the Floor

2151.Just a chance photo, it is what it is:

It amazes me that Isaac Newton looked at something like that and said "ah ha! Color! Separate wavelengths!"

View it bigly at posterous here.

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