Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day 21. June 21, 2011-Portland, OR


Dearest Readers,

I returned Hand to Hand gloves to former Atlantan, now Portland area artist Christine Hogg in the International Rose Test Gardens here in Washington Park. We’re holding one of her six yellow rubber dishwashing gloves turned inside out from December 2007. Each one is printed with the image of Michelangelo’s Pieta, the sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the draped body of her dead son Jesus across her lap. The text on the hands relays the number of U.S. soldiers who had died at that point in the Iraq War. The gloves are a testament to all the mothers and families who mourn the loss of their loved ones in war.





Christine took a picture of Etta and I with Mt Hood in the background. I snapped one from the park hills overlooking Portland below and snow-covered Mt Hood again in the distance. The Willamette River runs below the hills and flows right through the city. Portland is a place of many bridges, has a comfortably sized downtown area, lots of bicyclists, and a moderate amount of traffic–welcome relief from the highway congestion I encountered Friday afternoon near San Francisco and Oakland.



Please don’t be bored readers, the rest of the day I dedicated to car and self-improvement. I worked out as a “guest” at Ayla and Joel’s Rock Climbing Health Club last night, and this morning I exercised in the Weight Room in my daughter's office building. After three weeks of sitting and driving, just moving my right foot from the gas pedal to the brake and back again, it was time to tone up.



I gave the “toaster” car a hand wash, had the oil changed and the dirty transmission fluid flushed out.



I relaxed tonight with pork loin cooked by Joel on the grill, a pot of home-grown greens, and salad from the garden.

1 comment:

  1. Okay, now if one looks very closely at this photo of you and Miss Etta, I'll be danged if you both don't have the same sh*t-eating grin on...looks like pure contentment...yep, nothing like going through the fire and coming out the other end to make one (2) smile!

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