Portland walking... ain't what it used to be

Yesterday we ran a few errands on foot, which is normal for us.  All the development gets ever closer and more intense.  I hate it.

Here is a temporary sidewalk around a building site.

You can't see over the plastic into the building site when you are walking.  It's a little nerve-racking to hear all that equipment so close and yet you can't see it.  If something happened, there you are, stuck in a tunnel with no exit.

It was very very noisy.  John said it was the heavy equipment.  I would hate to live within earshot of it and a lot of people do.

It used to be a food cart pod.

This is Movie Madness, where we returned a video.  Movie Madness rental prices are often quite a bit cheaper than streaming rentals from Amazon.  For example, the DVD rental from Movie Madness was $3.75 (it was a new release) and from Amazon streaming, it was $5.99.  It doesn't make sense to me that streaming costs  60%  more than renting the DVD.  Plus I get to keep the DVD longer (three days vs two days).

This is across the street from Movie Madness where they tore down three houses and all their trees.  You can see some of the trees stacked up at the left edge.

Then we walked on to Hawthorne which is also in heavy development.  It's so nasty out there that it makes me long for headphones and anything to take me away from reality.  So sad.

I guess I am not the only one complaining about the difficulty walking/biking in all the construction.  The city is considering doing something.  It LOOKS like they will, but we shall see.

Walking to Burrasca for lunch

Yesterday we walked to Burrasca for lunch.  They used to have a food cart that was about a mile away but they moved to Clinton Street and now they are about 2.5 miles away.    That is further afield than most of our walks.  I can't always walk that far on concrete but I knew we could take a bus part way home if it was too much.  I am happy to report that I walked the whole way there and back (more than five miles).  I couldn't have managed that last year so, Yippee!

Lunch was delicious and the walk was very nice.  I love walking in old Portland neighborhoods, seeing the great houses and the gardens.  It was quiet there yesterday.  Our neighborhood is filled with construction noise and the quiet was a balm.  We saw some houses on hormones but not as many as I feared.  Not as many as in other sections of Southeast Portland.

Isn't the bowed out window nice?  There was a little sign that said "Vintage Woodworks".  I've never heard of them but the name and the state of the house both seem promising.

Community garden plots

What a big old tree

Looking toward the river and the West Hills of Portland.

This house sits on a huge lot (almost its own block)  and is quite huge itself.  This is the main wing.  It had multiple wings with lots of windows, probably to catch the light.

We liked this fence.

John noted that the decorative sliver is cut from the top piece, which is pretty cool.

The siding on this house seemed like it was wiggling.

 We ate in the back courtyard of Burrasca.  The roof drains through this sort of industrial waterfall thing.

There was a pod cart on Division that included not only places to eat, but also other businesses such as a place selling plants and a hair salon.... that's new to me in pod carts.

This is the plant seller, working out of an Airstream trailer.

This is a note on the for sale sign.  It says "This is always good for a laugh.  Are you people out of your minds?"  The house is a brand new house on hormones aka McMansion for sale for almost a million dollars.

This is your fairly standard style for a house on hormones being built today in Portland.  They usually call it Craftsman style but it doesn't look very Craftsman to me.  Craftsman houses have more overhang, more porch.   Houses on hormones are taller and bigger than their neighbors, filling up the whole lot with house.  Most of them are an unappealing shade of gray.  This one is trimmed with a bad trim color.  You can see how it towers above it's neighbors on both sides.  There isn't any room or light for much to grow.

Walking in the neighborhood

We run most of our errands on foot and the walks are enjoyable.  We vary the route and see different things.  With the threat and reality of demolition and destruction everywhere, things seem especially precious.  Here are some of the things I saw these past few days.

This one was from the window of the car.  The man-made stuff is pretty ugly but what a sky!

This trim is like lace.   I bet it is difficult to paint but it sure looks cool.

I got his picture just before a Fred Meyer employee asked him nicely to move along.  I admired his look.

The sign is for Fix Portland Zoning.

Almost home...

Home.

Neighborhood walks