A Sunday Sort of Peace

Sunday. Shhhhhh....

 

(best if viewed full screen)

music: Norah Jones - Peace                

Neighborhood Walkabout

While the light was pretty terrible for taking photos, the afternoon finally warmed up and demanded a walkabout. I complied. Who wouldn't? In a neighborhood that is full of homes being spruced up before the cold settles in, hammers pounding, paint freshening, all on buildings that often make me pause while having a few homey lustful thoughts, it seemed to me, all in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

I'm not sure if this is an indoor Coney Island or not but the outside was good enough for me!

One of hundreds of flyer covered telephone poles. There are layers and layers of flyers - 

no doubt a sociology major could get a fine dissertation out of them

You can't help stop and gawk at this intersection on a back street here. The flower dominates, stretching beyond the boundaries, up each street, vibrant and complex. Huh?

The extremely colorful home - think Caribbean Victorian - was too big to really do justice to in a photo, but the surrounding wall was full of mosaics like this.

There was a man doing some work on the house so I asked him - was this an apartment building? A center of some sort? He told me it was owned by a scientist who was quite taken with the Fibonacci Sequence, which includes the Golden Ratio. It's all about math but all about nature's patterns as well. Since math is not my forte (I'm known to say that I am the reason god invented calculators) I'll just take the word of the experts for the truth. Whatever that means, the expression of it in this man's art is pretty wonderful!

Or to quote from the above link, put mathematically:
In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. (I don't get this at all and it hurts my head to try, but to others I know,
it makes perfect sense. I'd rather look at a snail - same thing, right?)

If I were a picket fence sort, and I admit, there is still that little 

squiggling part of me drawn to fireplaces and wood floors, big farm like 

kitchens and sturdy furniture, I could be pretty happy in a house like this...

I guess these people like bowling...

This sidewalk is outside of a two story Victorian that is painted a deep DEEP purple.
I run across purple houses and have often tried to take photos of them for Francie, whose love of the color purple is pretty well known. But it never comes out right. I don't know why. So here's the sidewalk instead, which is pretty cool, all by itself

Winter is coming, get out of my way!

In a sea of grape leaves, this lone rose came to the light. 

The yard behind the fence above holds an area with the most beautiful chickens! Every Portlander is legally allowed 3 chickens in the city, with a permit paid, more can be kept. Pretty neat! And, being from Culebra, pretty damn funny. There is even a store called the Urban Farm Store, which is about all things chicken keeping related, along with beekeeping, gardening, beer brewing and more. Part of the strange whimsy of Portland, and another reason that for a city, it ain't half bad.

This morning it is cold again, but the sun is working its way through and I think I'll strike out in the other direction later on. To see what I can see. And all of that. Along with keeping an eye on the wildly unpredictable once again a hurricane Katia...

Have a free range Friday! Do something not so friable.

A Slice of Downtown Portland with some Grillin' and Chillin'

Hmm. Hinky goings with blogger - where everything but one word of this post disappeared...but suffice to say this: We were going to have a big downtown walkabout the other day, but instead of sunny and warm, it was grey and cold and blustery. So we stopped at the place I mentioned last year, the annex of The Cellar Bar, another of McMenanins holdings (for a corporation, they seem to do a nice bit of saving and restoring historic buildings, and I don't want to really know more than that), across the street from Jake's, another of their places. Another over 100 year old building. Maybe that will be on next year's menu.

Another cool sign and probably another good restaurant

Sarah had an appointment so I walked around and found this really nice public space in the center of an office and/or apartment building. Lots of large river rocks, flowing water, teak benches...just a very restful spot. Plus, one of the most brilliant rain spout systems I've ever seen. It is always good to see something modern that says 'We didn't have to do this, but we did!'

.

 When the rain comes down, it emerges over the little 'falls' onto the copper 

sheathing with its colored glass buttons, then onto the rocks. How good is that?

 Sarah, mussels and homemade brew and chips (chips with three dips, mind you!)

 I never thought I'd use the word creamy to describe mussels, but there is no other word, even if it sounds sort of - not appetizing. They were wonderful, as unlike New Zealand mussels (which I also really like) as possible and still be in the same family

Last night, we grilled. Make a mix of kosher salt and garlic power, take a wee bit of butter and rub some potatoes with it, then coat them with the salt/garlic powder mixture. Poke a few holes in the skins (small small!), wrap in foil and put on the fire, well on the grill over the fire.. The mesquite fire. Have chicken (we used thighs because we like thighs) already rubbed with some s & p, garlic powder, herbs you like and put them on the fire, no sauce yet. Keep an eye on them, as the fat from the skin, which helps with flavor, can start your coals into flames burning all the work into an inedible something. Slow cooking is a good mental place to be when grilling. 

When you think the meat is almost done (and no food police will come if you make a cut to the bone to make sure there is no red), then it is time for the sauce. Less is more in my opinion. We used Black Horse Verde Chile Sauce. If you can get it, do, it's really, really good, without the sticky sweetness of so many bottled sauces, plus it is all natural. I'd never heard of it before (surprised, huh?) but I'll look for it again!

Have your daughter/son/other/self make a salad of everything in the veggie drawer, including two very precious heirloom tomatoes. Pour the wine. Sit. Eat. Groan with the grilly goodness. 

One of Sarah's housemates (not the same one as last year) is in a couple of bands, maybe three, I'm not sure. They practice in the basement, which he has turned into the ultimate man cave. He apologizes for the 'noise'. I say, no need. He's a great guy and the music is good too. This is a sampling from last night. The band is situated pretty much RIGHT under this heating vent...

Have a toe tappin' Thursday! Do something tenderlicious.