A Walk

After blogging about Willamette Valley wines yesterday, I broke down and bought a bottle today at Whole Foods - Jezebel Pinot Noir (2006), produced and bottled by Daedalus Cellars, Dundee, Oregon. Screw-off top; no cork. I'm sipping it now. It's not bad at all, and if I get incomprehensible by the end of this post, you'll know that I really enjoyed the bottle.

Some more interesting (at least to me) facts from the 2005-2006 Oregon Agriculture & Fisheries Statistics: did you know that Oregon is the nation's top producer of blackberries, black raspberries, loganberries, hazelnuts, bentgrass, ryegrass, fescue, orchard grass, Christmas trees, and potted azaleas? In fact, Oregon is the nation's only producer of blackberries, black raspberries, loganberries, and hazelnuts, producing 100% of the total U.S. crop production. And we're Number 2 in red raspberries, boysenberries, peppermint, spearmint, hops, snap beans, onions, and dungeness crabs.

I may start a whole new blog consisting of nothing but pictures of splashing water and random Oregon farm statistics.

But anyhow, that's not what today's post was supposed to be about. When I first arrived in Portland, I bought a copy of Chuck Palahniuk's Fugitives and Refugees, A Walk in Portland, Oregon, hoping to get a dark and grotesquely lonely view of the city's underbelly. Not sure if I accomplished that, but today I took my own walk in Portland, and rather than write a book, today's post was instead supposed to offer some pictures of that walk. So here we go.

First, we have a view of Madison Street at NE 24th Ave. looking west toward downtown, taken around 8:00 am this morning in front of the Dharma Rain Zen Center.

Across town later that afternoon, I came across buskers on NW 23rd Ave.

Here's PGE Park at SW 20th and Morrison. I have no idea whose face that is in front of the ballpark.

A couple examples of Flatiron-style triangular buildings on W Burnside Street:


And, sadly, a Burnside Ave. shopowner's memoriam to Portland punk/rockabilly musician Steve Casmano (The Jackals, Sado-Nation, Oily Bloodmen, The Flapjacks). Never heard him, but RIP, Steve, nonetheless. From what I've seen on line, you were loved and admired by many.

Oh, by the way, the picture at the top of this post is NW 12th Ave. looking north at the Fremont Bridge over the Willamette.