USA: Portland – A Pleasant State Of Mind

My prime motive for visiting Portland was to visit my good friend, Karen, who I met at an International Living conference a few years ago. Little did I realize that I would find a city that exuded the same kind of pure friendliness that I have found reflected in her own personality. I visited San Francisco back in the late sixties and early seventies. In those days the Bay Area was the friendliest place on the West Coast. Times have changed, and it seems to me that Portland has taken up the mantle that San Francisco has let slip.

KAREN DEVERS – Portland’s Ambassador of Amiability and my most prolific and thoughtful blog poster.

My buddy, Jason, comes in at a very close second, and I am most grateful to both of them for following me around the world and keeping me company. It has helped to fuel my desire to continue this blog as well as the completion of my five year journey. In fact Jason has given me the necessary inspirational nudge to pursue the writers life I have long considered to be the direction I am destined to follow. His encouragement has helped to remove any doubts and fears that were holding me back.

So, I have to say that a handful of friends and family have been the catalyst for the liberation I have found on the road, as well as moving toward my right livelihood which I wasn’t sure would ever come to pass in this lifetime. In fact I am currently finding life to be more fulfilling than ever before in the new found belief that it will all at long last surely come to fruition.

Karen’s Rescue Dogs Maxine and Macky – Two of the most well fed dogs in the Pacific Northwest. That’s home cooking you see there replete with veggies and Provencal spices. I’m not kidding here. They probably eat better than 90% of the human population. Rescue dog that!

23rd. Street – An upscale, low key tree lined shoppers street with restaurants, boutiques and clothing stores.

3 Monkeys – Great window shopping

 

Just a block from a hostel that I stayed at, these colorful Victorians harken San Francisco memories.

Cruising down the road with Mount Hood looming in the distance.

ALPACAS – Flashbacks of Peru!

They do have an amazing variety of quality apples in this region.

Cape Horny

 

Battleground Lake – A peaceful tiny lake in Battleground, a town just North of Portland in Washington state where I am considering establishing residency. There is no state income tax in Washington, and it would be gratifying to no longer funnel money into California where I am no longer living.

Washington Park – It feels more like entering a forest rather than a standard park.

 

 

 

Oregon Holocaust Memorial – Dedicated on August 29, 2004 to victims of the Holocaust. This is a simple but extremely moving memorial. I have traveled throughout Europe, and visited numerous Holocaust museums as well as the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. however this is an effective place to contemplate the horrors, but also to find healing in its presence.

Yet another prized possession was taken from a victim to whom was promised to be reunited after their housing situation was resolved. Most went directly to the gas chambers.

Our precious life rests not on our ability to see what makes us different, one from another, but rather on our ability to recognize what makes us the same. What ultimately defines us is the moral strength to believe in our common humanity, and to act upon this belief.

Another displaced belonging.

I visited Auschwitz this Spring, and it placed me into an intimate perspective of the former killing factory that was very affecting. It all came into perspective.

A reminder of the children that were lost in the camps.

One last devastating story.

International Rose Test Garden – Portland has the nickname of “The City of Roses”. There are 7,000 rose plants of 550 varieties throughout the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         PORTLAND JAPANESE GARDEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powell’s City Of Books

Powell’s Books is a chain of books in Portland, Oregon. It lays claim to being the world’s largest independent new and used bookstore located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown.

 

                                PORTLAND ART MUSEUM

This is a world-class museum, and a beautiful space to take in the art presented.

Francois BOUCHER – Portrait of a Lady – 1770

The name of the painter Francois Boucher is synonymous with the French Rococo-style that reached its highpoint in the middle of the eighteenth century. Boucher was not primarily a portraitist and, as the favorite artist of Madame de Pompadour, he did not want for employment. This late work seems, in fact, less a precise record of a specific set of facial features than a rendering of the ideal of femininity that dominated the Rococo style.

Childe HASSAM – Oregon Still Life – 1904

Hassam painted only about forty still lives during his career, two of them during trips he made to Portland in 1904 and 1908. This painting was executed at the home of Colonel Wood, and features fruit from the garden including Oregon plums.

Vincent VAN GOGH – The Thatched-Roof Cottages of Jorgus, Auvers-sur-Oise – 1890

Van Gogh spent the last three months of his life of his troubled life in the picturesque hamlet of Auvers-sur-Oise, northwest of Paris. He was fascinated by the town’s humble, thatched-roof cottages and made numerous studies for compositions. This work, painted the month before his alleged suicide, shows a group of houses belonging to a man named Jorgus. Van Gogh’s undulating forms and energetic brushwork are unmistakable.

Edvard MUNCH – Young Girl in a Landscape – 1920

Claude MONET – Nympheas – 1915

Pierre-Auguste RENOIR – The Seine at Argenteuil – 1874

Alfred SISLEY – Vallee de la Seine – 1885

Childe HASSAM – Nude in Sunlit Wood – 1905

Theo VAN RYSSELBERGHE – Beach at Low Tide, Ambleteuse, Evening – 1900

Paul CEZANNE – La Halle aux Vins a Jussieu – 1872

Raymond JONSON – City Perspectives – 1932

Yayoi Kusama – Infinity Nets – 2014

Urs Fischer – Sauteed – 2015

 

Barbara HEPWORTH – Dual Form – 1965

Louise NEVELSON – End of Day Nightscape II – 1973

Frank STELLA – Newell’s Hawaiian Shearwater (Exotic Bird) – 1976

Tony SMITH – Gracehoper – 1961

Isamu NOGUCHI – The Seeker – 1970

Jean-Michel BASQUIAT – Busted Atlas 2 – 1982

Donart

Video Art – Bush is depicted in prison and through the marvel of technology is finally apologizing for the horror and death he rained down on the Iraqi people. He can be heard repeating “I’m so sorry” and “All those people” while weeping intermittently. Frankly, I enjoyed every second I spent in this exhibit. Hearing the likes of a weeping Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld in jail repeating the same lines was so cathartic after those eight horrible years that Bush occupied the Whitehouse. This alone was worth the price of admission.

 

 

                                         ST. JOHN

ST. JOHNS BRIDGE

ARUGUARIUM – The French have nothing on this crepe at this restaurant.

TRÉ BONE – Source of treats for Maxine & Co.

Macky macking on a cow esophagus chew.

MAXINE aka the “Woodchipper” shredding hers in short order. I left my mini, travel herb containers in Portland, and the dogs encouraged Karen to enclose my favorite dark chocolate, almond w/sea salt barkTHINS snacking chocolate and Justin’s organic, dark chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

I highly recommend these two human treats for chocolate sluts who enjoy healthy, high quality chocolate indulgences.

THERAPY – A store that tells it like it is. Retail therapy is what it’s all about in our consumer-driven society. I succumbed to a mobile phone holder for my bike so I can have a navigation system while I ride around Playa Del Carmen.

At least that purchase was reasonable, had utility and was not merely a grasping bid for instant gratification.

Karen hides in plain sight due to the color choices of her clothing and accessories.

SIGNAL – A cool vintage gas station turned pizza shop.

BURGERVILLE – A St. John’s institution serving healthy, good quality fast food. Excellent sweet potato fries are a specialty.