I’ve had a pile of kitten pictures to review for several weeks now and having been doing it a few at a time. Tonight I finished editing and posted them to the Rynosoft Gallery for your viewing pleasure. I started with well over 500 pictures from our three cameras and was able to weed it down to 92. I probably should have cut more but they are just too damned cute! All four of us took pictures so credit goes to everyone. You can view the Photo Properties to see which camera was used. Most of the great shots are from Tina’s PowerShot S2 which Tina and I both use. Some are from my PowerShot S330 which is less than spectacular and the boys use an old Olympus that I scrounged from work. Most of the pictures of the kittens at the beginning of the album were taken by the boys.
A Cyclist Was Killed Here
Last night I rode on the memorial ride for Tracey Sparling, the young woman who was run over by a cement truck while trying to cross Burnside on her bike. The ride was mostly silent except for the constant tinkling of sad bike bells in the still night. None of my photos came out as well as this one which shows the “ghost bike” adorned with notes, flowers, candles, etc. See my earlier entry for more details about the accident. A number of people took pictures and posted them on Flickr.
Evening Bike Commute
Distance: 19.3 miles
Riding time: 109 minutes
Max speed: 32.6 mph
Average speed: 10.6 mph
Temperature: 75º
Soundtrack: Science Friday
Route:
- Alder to 1st
- 1st to Salmon
- Salmon to Hawthorne Bridge
- Hawthorne Bridge to Springwater Corridor
- Springwater Corridor to Powell Butte
- Various trails over Powell Butte to 162nd
- 162nd to home
What a glorious sunny afternoon to ride my bike the long way home. It was a tremendous effort to climb Powell Butte – one that found me laying down, gasping for breath on the side of the trail at one point – but it was well worth it. On my way down the north side of the Butte, I wondered how hot my brake pads were getting. My rims were plenty hot when I got to the bottom and as I touched the front rim, I heard the distinct sound of air leaking from the front tire. At least it didn’t blow out when I was flying down the hill at 35 mph.
It took me about 15 minutes to pull the tube out and install my spare. I was actually pretty refreshed when I got back on and pedaled towards home. How surprised was I when I came upon this at 162nd and Division:
The picture is pretty blurry (you can click on it to get the full-size version), but it’s a car that had run up a telephone pole and came to rest in a vertical position. Somebody at the scene reckoned he must have been going 100 mph or better. I asked around and they said it had happened about 15 minutes before.
Now picture this: me in the bike lane at that moment had my bike tire not gone flat 15 minutes before. Freaky, huh? More pictures on my Flickr page.
Steel Bridge
Steel Bridge
Originally uploaded by bhestand
I ride over this bridge nearly every day but it doesn’t look this good in real life.
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Originally uploaded by bardiebar
Two tugboats and a barge
Two tugboats and a barge
Originally uploaded by rynosoft
I had to wait a short time this morning for this to pass by the Steel Bridge. They had only opened the bottom part of the bridge, so I could have gone over the top of the bridge, but I chose to take these pictures. Check them out, I think they turned out really great!
Deadly hearse
Before I left for work this morning, I read this story of a couple who killed themselves and their little girl with carbon monoxide poisoning yesterday. As you might imagine, I have a personal interest in carbon monoxide suicide so I rode by on my way to work. I was surprised to find that they had set out their trash and recycling before going through it.
Beach pictures
I created a new gallery of some pictures I took while we were at the beach earlier this month. It was a great afternoon with Uncle Buddy and Cousin Natians and, regrettably, the only one where we got in any beach time. I also uploaded a few to my Flickr page.
Ice Cream in the Sky
One evening last week I looked up in the sky after deboarding the Max and saw this.
Evidently, I was not the only – you could see it all over Portland. To wit:
- A picture from SE Hawthorne
- A picture from wherabouts unknown
- Another from NE Portland
- And another from whereabouts unknown
So what was it all about? Portland Metblogs had the story including a link to the Neighborhood Notes website. A number of personal blogs covering it included gretchin lair, Magpie Ima, The Pearl Insider and Damn Portlanders where you can find pictures of the whole message.
I didn’t see any writing until they were on the last word. I couldn’t really read “moon” or “ice” so I watched them write several letters before I knew what that last word was. “Cool” was the right word for the experience!
Bridge Pedal Pictures
I only snapped a few photos during the Bridge Pedal yesterday. Fortunately, someone on Flickr was smart enough to start a group for everyone to share pictures of the event. Here’s a few favorites:
- Thomas said, “Did you see that“?
- Because of the delays, we missed much of the goofiness.
- Post-crash analysis
- The last bridge was a tough climb.
- Holding up the Fremont Bridge
- Fruit and beverages that we never got.