Who says Portland’s gray?

Don’t even try to figure out where I am by this blog, since I seem to be at least a week behind, but just pretend I’m still in Portland. I’ve just had a long leisurely breakfast at one of Portland’s hip little restaurants with some girlfriends – beautiful women I admire and am proud to know – and we were wandering aimlessly down NE Alberta in hopes of delaying our departure from one another. At the corner of 17th, we’re assaulted by a blast of color. Two artists were setting up tarps and paints to do some touch-up on a huge detailed mural designed by Robin Corbo that was on the wall of the Community Cycling building. Apparently, a car had driven into the wall…ooops…and the two women were going to repair the damage.

It was cool but sunny that morning, but then again, when I returned to Portland the next afternoon – after going to a wedding that included dancing, food and fire in the woods near Alsea in the Coast Range – this is what I returned to. Oh yeah, I remember this, the deluge, the reason for all the green, the arrival, around this time of year, of…The Rains. I love these rains when nestled inside on the couch with a cat and cup of tea. Not so fun on the highway, when youre creeping along at 35 mph, squinting thorugh the windshield. But of course, there was also a rainbow, and for one fleeting moment, all was right in the world.