Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
Ellie and I came across this example of life imitating art imitating life on our walk on a rainy November morning. I’m thankful for this old neighborhood we’ve lived in for over fifteen years, for the pup who’s led me out to explore it for nine, and to all those who’ve installed art around their homes for us to enjoy. We’ll likely have to move as I look for a new job but there is still some hope we can stay. Regardless I’m thankful for our time here, we’ve been blessed.
My favorite pair of garages, I’ve photographed them before in spring and winter, now the fall.
With the cooler weather of fall, Ellie doesn’t tire so easily and has been up for longer walks. Anti-inflammatory medicine and pain pills help with her advancing arthritis too. Since I’ve been home most mornings after getting laid off a few weeks ago, I’ve been able to take her on lots of long walks, a real treat since who knows how many more we’ll get together. She still enjoys going to see if her buddy Steve is out on his porch, as he gives her treats, but he’s only been out once. He mentioned that he was the caretaker of a man who just died and they weren’t sure if they were going to move someone else in for him to look after, or move him somewhere else and do some renovations on the house. Fortunately Ellie can’t hear well and thus is unaware her buddy might be moving.
Not far from Steve’s house is this mural on the side of a dialysis center that I frequently walked past on the way home from the train, so I was pleased to be able to get a picture of Ellie next to the perpetually smiling Pepper. I wasn’t sure if I’d get the picture even though she wanted to come down this way on multiple days (mostly I think to double back to give him Steve a second chance to be on his porch), as the blinds in the window above Pepper were open and I didn’t want the people inside getting treatment to worry about why someone outside was taking pictures. On this day though the blinds were drawn and I got my picture of the two good pups.
A pair of Canada geese rest on a fallen tree on a fall morning in Portland, Oregon.
Red, yellow, brown, orange, these are the colors of fall. I’ll include the picture below as well, a sidewalk paved with gold, in case you prefer your fall colors a little less silly.
In early December, I wanted to photograph this maple in fall color in Irving Park with the Door of Hope church as a backdrop. Even though it is just a few steps from the dog park, I had to bribe Ellie with treats to even get her this far, as she was ready to head into the neighborhood. That’s not Ellie walking across the leaves in the first picture, she was by my side, fortunately another dog filled in as my model. We’ve had many great memories in this little park, the pup and I.
We had a sunny day on the weekend after Thanksgiving so I brought my camera along on Ellie’s morning walk to take some pictures in Irving Park. I had in previous weeks hoped to take some fall pictures with her but the groundskeepers had been too efficient at removing the fallen leaves (not to mention Ellie’s beloved acorns). I noticed a clump of leaves under the canopy of this old tree so I took Ellie’s leash off and made her pose for me.
I’m extremely thankful for this sweet pup who has blessed our lives for seven years, and also for this nice little park just a few blocks from our house where we can walk her (the dog park is a little ways over to the left). And I’m thankful too for people many decades ago who decided not to chop down some of the old trees in the park, I never get tired of seeing them on our walks.
A picture from the fall of 2011 of Ellie in Irving Park, there was a lot less gray in her face back then. The big red strip attached to her collar lit up, one of several approaches we’ve tried over the years to make her more visible at night on our walks. The dog park is at the top of the hill in the background, normally she would be on leash at this point but I took it off for the picture.
Sadly I haven’t found a good time to photograph her in the fall color in the years since.
Boolie 