petrea_mitchell: (Default)
On Saturday, I planned to make a voyage far into SE Portland to the one shoe shop that sells shoes that fit me. I decided to hit Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden on the way, since I've been meaning to go for ages and supposedly this time of year is the height of the rhododendron season.

And so it turns out to be. The garden was absolutely gorgeous. Even where some stairs had been blocked off for a long while and weeds were starting to grow on them, the weeds were amazingly picturesque. The garden smelled great, too.

There was plenty of wildlife. There were a pair of nutrias rummaging about near the shore of the lake, completely comfortable with a small crowd of humans standing just a few feet away. There were ducks escorting ducklings. And then there were the geese.

In the back half of the garden, there was a sign warning that this was goose nesting season and the geese felt threatened by people and dogs. It encouraged anyone who saw a goose on a path to just walk away. Luckily, that day, the geese were more interested in honking at the golfers on the other side of the lake.

One other unexpected sign I came across was a plaque on one of the benches. Most of them are dedicated to some departed person or other, but this one said:

JEAN AND RAY AUEL
IN HONOR OF THEIR 50TH WEDDING
ANNIVERSARY ON MARCH 19, 2004



Yes, I believe it was that Jean Auel. She is a Portlander.
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
Okay, technically the CAT bus, run by Columbia Area Transit. But their domain is
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
Downtown Portland has just opened an art installation called Coraline's Curious Cat Trail, inspired by the novella Coraline.

...which, as you know, was written by Neil Gaiman.

...who, as you may or may not know, is currently being accused of sexual assault by more and more women.
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
No, not the stuff in the UK, there's a survey in progress to find out what Portlanders want in a rebuilt bridge.

Portland is best known as the City of Roses, but it's also the City of Bridges. There are 15 bridges within the Portland city limits, including the only fully functional double-lift bridge in the world, the oldest operating lift bridge in North America, the signature example of a Rall-type bascule (a type of drawbridge that minimizes wear on the bridge, but opens and closes very very slowly), and a bridge that spent over 30 years as the world's longest tied-arch bridge. And okay, one boring and functional freeway bridge, but that's fine because there's only one of it.

So adding a new bridge design to the collection is very serious business, thus the public consultation. The Burnside Bridge is currently pretty basic, but options are being offered for spicing up the non-drawbridge part of it with either a tied-arch or cable-stayed span.

My personal favorite is the basket-style tied-arch option. Second choice would be the Y-shaped cable-stayed one, which would still look a lot like the cable-stayed bridge that Portland already has, but is the most different of the cable-stayed options. Annoyingly, the survey insists that you pick an overall category first and rank your choices within it, rather that being able to rank all six options together.

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