Margery Niblock

Memorial Walk Becomes Fund-Raiser

 

                         [Paul Lauzier]

Paul Lauzier will begin a memorial walk on March 9, from St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston, the date of his daughter Tina’s birthday. Tina was born in that hospital 44 years ago. Lauzier’s destination will be the home of his son who lives in Sebastian, Florida, which is 1,505 miles away, according to his calculations. He also plans on walking back to Maine and Portland will be his finishing point, intending to arrive here on August 6, the day his daughter jumped to her death from the Casco Bay Bridge in 2010.

Lauzier says "Tina belonged to Amistad," the agency in Portland that helps people suffering from mental illness. Amistad held a fund-raising breakfast on Thursday, February 10, to kick off the walk. They raised $600 that morning. Lauzier plans to donate the money collected along his walk to three organizations: the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, and the American Cancer Society. All of these agencies were closely involved with the women in Paul Lauzier’s life; his mother had Alzheimer’s; his first wife died of cancer; and his daughter battled mental illness.

Tina Lauzier attempted suicide previously by jumping from the old Million Dollar Bridge in 1996. Amazingly, she survived that fall. But she couldn’t win the battle with her mental illness.

Officer Daniel Knight had talked her out of jumping from the Casco Bay Bridge only one month previous to her fatal jump. Sadly, he was also one of the officers who responded to the call when a woman walking a dog saw a body under the bridge.

Paul Lauzier, who will turn 67 soon, is hoping to walk approximately 30 miles a day and he’s anxious to get started.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Time

Pumpkins! They're great. The sight of them adds so much to the months of October and November. They have beautiful color, wonderful shapes, and I love looking at their stems.

 

The neighborhood is beginning to gear up with fall decorations, getting ready for that big night, Halloween. 

 

I was told that the pumpkin "head" is actually a lamp and it gets lit at night. Wonderful things can be discovered at yard sales, and that was such a find.

While taking my walk on a lovely fall Sunday, I noticed this hand sticking out of a car's trunk. I was pleased to have my camera with me. I should have it with me all the time.

  How about that lilac nail polish? Pretty spiffy, isn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my "baby" pumpkin, which I have on my dining room table. I like to get a small pumpkin with a wonderful stem, and this guy certainly fills the bill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this lineup! They're hoping someone will take them to a nice home.

 

Around the Corner

Street Art

I have a lovely neighbor whose name is Simone. She adds delightful bits of art to our neighborhood.

One of the things she does is to put colorfully-knitted cozies on tree branches. You never know where one might appear.

This one is on a tree on the sidewalk just in front of the little pond at the corner.

I saw an article about "street art" in a local free paper here, which referred to these items as "Ninja" knitting / knits: It said these are knit pieces that are prepared in advance and fastened onto poles and trees.

The author, Matt Dodge, went on to state "These are very time-intensive, coveted by collectors, and easy to remove so they often don't stay up very long."

Simone has also placed one of these cozies in front of her own house.

Here's what hers looks like.

In addition to adding decorations to neighborhood tree branches, she also decorates fabric with beautifully embroidered designs of her own making.

The other day I ran into Simone while on my walk and she was wearing a delightful long skirt with some of this embroidery. I didn't have my camera with me then. But I did have it the next time I ran into her. When I mentioned her skirt, she said she had just washed it and had it hanging outside.

I walked Simone home and laid the skirt out flat so that I could take a few shots of the designs.

These are some happy dogs! 

 

Here are a couple of cute mushrooms.

The teapot and the rabbit are also on this skirt.

 

 

I need to have Simone wear the skirt, and then photograph it on her. There are so many other things that have been lost by doing it this way.

 And here is something that is literally art I saw lying in the street. So it definitely falls under the category of "street art."

I think it was drawn by a child, a talented child.

I like it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Colorful Wreck (featured in The Bollard)

I've been somewhat neglectful of my blog for several months. I believe it had something to do with joining Facebook. If I took a photo of something interesting, I posted it on my Facebook page and never bothered writing a blog article.

Thank goodness that didn't last too long. So I'm back at it again.

I'd taken this picture quite a while ago. This house is set way back from Cumberland Avenue and I walk past it several times a week. It was as though I'd never seen it before. And I guess I really hadn't seen it. I would just glance at it and know there was a house there that needed a great deal of work, but I never really looked at it.

When I actually saw it, I was astonished that I'd passed so often without truly taking notice.

Awfully colorful, isn't it?

When I was looking through The Bollard the other day, there was the house in Emily Guerin's feature article entitled "That's My Dump!" It was fun to read the story behind the building. It sounds like John Edwards, the owner, is a very nice man. I wish him luck with his refurbishing of this property.

Hot Men, Hot Colors, Hot Car!

Here's my neighbor Joe, of the beautiful garden with the pond. His passenger is my favorite Inca, Byron. They're both nurses and they're also lots of fun. That's an important attribute for anyone to possess.

I neglected to ask where they were headed. I was glad I had my camera with me. You just never know what you're going to see. I'm carrying the camera everywhere I go.
 

 

Here and There

Support Your Local Farmer

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is very popular around here. Many people participate by getting fresh produce on a weekly basis from a particular farmer.

 

Several people in my neighborhood gather at the little park at the top of Munjoy Hill at the end of the day and meet up with the people from New Beat Farm, in Jefferson, Maine. They do this from May through October, so that season has just started. 

The man with the blue shirt is Markos Miller. He's brought his son Oliver with him to pick up their produce. 
Oliver is a delightful little boy who is bilingual. Spanish is his second language. Since his dad teaches Spanish in high school, it's an easy way for a child to become totally comfortable going back and forth between two languages.

 

Here's a Cute Outie

Poor dolly, left out on the street! I was really tempted to bring her home and give her a good bath because I love redheaded dolls, especially Cabbage Patch dolls. But I restrained myself and she was gone the following day.

Looking at her here, now I'm sorry that I didn't save her from the trash heap. At least I don't have many other regrets in my life.

Neighborhood Fish Thrive

Our neighborhood fish pond is such a joy to everyone. Children are always stopping with their parents to admire the fish.

The fish are getting really big. Joe worries about where he's going to keep them all when the weather requires bringing them indoors. I tell him not to be concerned. It worked out last year and it will be be fine this year.

The water plants are also doing fantastically well. It's so nice to be able to hear that gentle sound of water and to see how well the fish are doing at that location. And it's right there at the sidewalk, which is the best part. 

Check Out This Tiger Car!

This wonderful car, painted like a tiger, was pulling up right in front of my FlameMobile the other evening, making my block a pretty snazzy-looking place, if not a bit outre.

I was able to speak briefly to the woman who was the owner, who said she has a business painting cars. She's just moved to Maine from Rhode Island, so perhaps we'll see lots of unusually decorated vehicles on Portland's streets. That's OK with me.

Curious Place for a Lighthouse

Several years ago there was an event where people and schools created colorful lighthouses with various designs and themes of their choice. The lighthouses were all the same size and had been fabricated somewhere and then given out to be decorated.

For an entire summer they were at various places around the city, giving a festive air to Portland. 

A Snappy Little Boat

My North Street neighbor, Tom, has been doing a lot of work on his boat.

The other evening while taking my walk I noticed the celestial pattern that had appeared since the last time I'd seen it.

He explained that it was fabric, which he had adhered to the boat and was then coating with some wonderful magical resinous substance. 

I passed by a few days later and Tom was once again diligently at work on this project. He said that he'd run out of material to cover the ends. When I asked what he was going to do, he dug into the boat and came out with fabric having a different pattern, although still in keeping with his celestial theme.

And here it is!

Voilà! That works just beautifully. I'm looking forward to seeing the completed boat. 

Spring in the Air

A Beautiful Spring Parade

On April 11, the Maine College of Art and the Museum of African Culture hosted an Ebune Spring Festival & Parade.

The parade was marching up Congress Street and that's where I went to get some photos of the action.

Oscar Mokeme, head of the museum, led the parade and looked spectacular.

It was a most festive and colorful display, with all the animal costumes participating in the event.

  I especially liked this bird.

The parade is a celebration of spring and the ram is symbolic of renewal.

Here and There

What have we here?

I never know what I'll come across when taking a walk. That makes a jaunt around the neighborhood quite an exciting event.

I was thrilled to see this little pink snake (or perhaps worm) a block away from my home when I was returning the other day. It's made out of jiggly plastic, so that when you hold it up, its movements are very snakelike (or perhaps wormlike). 

I considered this a highly successful walk because of such an unusual find. It doesn't take much to please me. I'm very easily amused. That's a good trait to have.

 

 

Look at this! A real pink worm. I found them just one week apart. I think that was really considerate, so I'd have them for this blog.

The dumbest parking sign in Portland

 

 

In case you're not able to read this sign, it says "NO PARKING HERE TO DRIVE."

And I hope you've noticed that the distance between that dumb sign and the driveway is less than three feet.

Maybe the parking people and/or the sign people were drunk or hopped up on drugs when they came to Montreal Street to install this ridiculous item.

Let's not even talk about wasting money. I feel like organizing the neighbors to have a "take-down" party.

I got it! Those sign people must have also seen this cup that was sitting downtown on Portland Street. They obviously went and got some good free drugs, and then continued their important work of putting up ludicrous nonsensical signs on Munjoy Hill.

I'm glad I figured that out. I feel much better now about that sign.

Graffiti is nasty!   

The fools who did this must have thought they were very clever.

They're idiots! And they've made an ugly mess. Obviously they have nothing better to do with their time, which is a sad thing. Just imagine, stomping around in white paint in the middle of the night.

Vandals that do this are a drain on society. It would be nice to catch them and force them to do something beneficial—like graffiti removal.

What a thought!

New pin

This is my new "precocious" pin. People like it, and so do I.

I'm not sure what the image is but I think it's some sort of neuron. That sounds good, doesn't it—like I know what I'm talking about?

I actually looked up a picture of a neuron and I'd say that's what it is. That high school biology is still stuck in there somewhere.

I got the pin at ferdinand, a delightful shop with handmade goods, located on Congress Street at the bottom of the hill near India Street.

They had a little basket filled with pins that had words and pictures on them. It was a lot of fun just browsing through and looking at all of them. It's a great store for gifts, either for a present for someone you know or for yourself. Hey, we all need to give ourselves presents every now and then. At least that's my philosophy.

Moola from Italia

My dear friend Vince, from oh so many years ago, sent me these incredible Roman coins.

He's a retired former Major Crimes Detective from Philadelphia, who now lives in sunny, humid Florida, playing lots of golf and loving it.

He said he'd been traveling in Italy and came across an area with a lot of pieces of lava. He picked up some of the lava and saw that there were coins embedded in it. He removed the coins and sent them off to me.

I've been working on cleaning them up. I know that if they are valuable coins, you shouldn't remove the patina. But they're not valuable, so I'm not concerned about that. I'm just interested in seeing the images that are on them.

I do a little cleaning and then I peer at them through my large magnifying glass. It's fascinating to me.

I was thinking that I might want to make a bracelet or necklace from them. We shall see. But right now they're just neat to have around so I can look at them whenever I want to.  

Politix lite (April 1, 2010)

On April Fool's Day the President of the United States of America paid a visit to Portland, Maine, a place that is quite fond of him.

I didn't even try to use my West End NEWS  press credentials to get in for the speech. There were two reasons for this: The first is that I truly detest political speeches and the second was that my editor, Ed King, was inside.

It was a perfect spring day in Portland, and I was happy just being outside watching all of the goings on at the site where President Obama was coming to speak.

This lovely young woman and her parrot were standing behind me, and I turned around to take a few pictures of them.

I wanted you to see her Obama T-shirt, but I'm posting this second photo of them because it's such a nice shot of the parrot.

See what I mean?

 

 

 

 

Can you imagine losing this car?

When I returned to where I thought my car was parked (after the presidential excitment), it wasn't there! This is the car Ed King, editor/owner/publisher of the West End NEWS dubbed "the FlameMobile." I like that and think it's quite fitting. Aside from being a talented cartoonist, Ed is also very good with words. And we're not surprised.

Since no one in this country likes to take the blame for anything, I'll be a good American and blame the losing of my car on someone else. I can do whatever I like here and so I'm going to place the blame on a handsome young policeman who'd pulled up right behind me and double-parked. It was someone I knew, and I thought "Oh, there's Handsome Young Policeman."

We chatted for a couple of minutes and I walked up to the next street, looking for the person I was originally going to check in on, someone who wasn't there at that time. This was the street where I'd originally intended to look for a place to park. Perhaps that's why I returned to this street when I was leaving. I knew I'd parked there. I even had to walk an extra block to get there.

This was a first for me: losing my car! I'd locked my keys in my car once. And now I'd lost my car. I thought it might have been towed—or heaven forbid—stolen. Since I'm probably the only person in Portland without a cell phone, I was at a total disadvantage. It was also approaching five o'clock, so I was afraid I might not be able to reach Mary-Ellen Welch at the Midtown Policing Center. I thought of her as my savior. She'd be able to accomplish anything! She had magical powers!

But I did reach her! And that wonderful woman did save me. She came to get me. It wasn't far away, but for me it would have felt like walking ten miles because I'd taken a long walk earlier and I'd been on my feet for a couple of hours at the "event."

Another officer checked to see whether my car had been towed. The answer was negative. Mary-Ellen was going to drive me around that neighborhood (with her top down—it's a convertible) to see if we could locate the car.

Then we saw Handsome Young Policeman up ahead. That was good. I said "He'll know where I parked because I spoke to him right there."

He did know and he told us. It was one block west of where I thought, and I'd started walking east. So the car was found, in exactly the same spot where I'd parked it.

Thank goodness I'm beyond embarassment! (To me that's like the Dr. Seuss book Beyond Z.)

The next time I ran into Handsome Young Policeman, I told him I was going to blame him for the loss of my car, and that brat said: "Why, because you got twitterpated when you saw me?"

I said I was going to add him to my "stable." We like those clever, fresh wise guys. Another clever one was in the room and his comment was: "Why do you want hamburger when you can have steak?"

Do you think one of the two men on the right made that statement? And if so, which one?

I'd say the one with the Taser on his belt looks like steak!

And lest we forget, this is a reminder that April 15 is coming right up.

 

Hey, Scott, here's your lunch box! (This time it's for real!)

What you've been waiting for . . . Scott's lunch box. Here it is.

And here's another view.

And I know what you're saying now: You want to see Scott and find out what this is all about.

Okay. Here's Scott. As you can see from those three stripes, he's a sergeant, a distinguished member of the Portland Police Department (that's the one in Maine). He was at the Midtown Community Policing Center when this picture was snapped, which is a central location of the area he supervises.

Scott not only has a great sense of humor, he also is a great cop. He makes lots of arrests and he has the distinction of deploying the first Taser in Portland, thereby preventing a man from committing suicide. That's a very good use of the weapon.

The Midtown office is a very active place because there are many social service agencies nearby and a lot of the clients they serve stop in to talk to Mary-Ellen Welch, the civilian coordinator who runs the office.

People come to see Mary-Ellen because they love her! She'll listen to anyone's problem and try to help. She refused to allow me to take her photograph for this article though, and that's too bad.

I realized that I already had a picture of her, taken last summer at a Bayside block party, which was a huge success. Here's that marvelous lady with two of her other "boys" who are in the office a lot. That's Karl Geib on the left and Dan Knight on the right.   

When I first saw the lunch box it seemed as though it might have a story to tell. I'm very intuitive about things like that, so I asked about the container. Scott said he got out of the army in 1986 and then got a construction job. He needed a lunch box, and he still has the one he bought back then—this one—which makes it quite special.

And then we come to the various fruit labels on Scott's lunch box. Can you imagine that there's a Web site devoted to the thousands of fruit labels that exist? Check it out; there is such a thing. Here are some photos of those things.

I must tell you that these are not bananas from my kitchen. No sir! If I had these, they would have been eaten long before they got so many brown marks on them. But I don't choose my friends according to their banana likes and dislikes. Kevin likes bananas with brown spots on them. Yikes! I find it hard to even imagine such a thing. I've never asked Megan if she feels the same way about bananas. I'd have to assume so because their marriage seems to be solid.

I find labels on fruit and vegetables to be extremely annoying. Evidently Scott and I have similar feelings on this topic. That's how all of the labels got onto his lunch box.

He has a wonderful philosophy, which is: "I don't eat labels on fruit." I thought that was so nicely phrased. I was able to immediately relate to that statement. Scott peels labels off fruit and pastes them on his lunch box. Perhaps it would do me good to get one of those because I peel them off, while cursing, and then try to unstick them from my fingertips so that I can place them where they belong: in the trash!

Summer Strolls

Nature in the City

I have no idea what sort of caterpillar this is, but I'm sure I'll find out. It was big!

I saw it near the curb in front of my house. It looked as though he was heading directly across the street, which could be a dangerous thing to accomplish.

I ran into the house to grab my camera and when I returned with it, I couldn't see the caterpillar anywhere nearby. Finally I found it heading up the street. It had traveled quite a distance in the few minutes that I'd been gone.

I placed him in some grass, off the street, and out of danger.

This poor little frog was one of those living in Joe's water garden. Trying to solve the cause of this creature's demise, we thought that perhaps it had jumped down to the sidewalk and then became dessicated when unable to return to the water.

Poor thing! The fish are thriving and are really growing quite large. They'll be moving indoors to an aquarium when fall arrives.

The children in the neighborhood love to come to the water garden to see the fish. It has become quite the gathering place.

I go over several times a day, and the sound of the running water is soothing.

The downtown birds that hang out near the waterfront, trying to get morsels dropped by people dining outside are doing quite well also.

Here's one of our local seagulls, taken last week when I was having dinner on the deck of a restaurant right next to the water. What a beautiful, blue Maine sky there was that evening.

This sign has been posted for a couple of weeks, but I hadn't noticed it previously.

Now I'm curious to know whether the person who'd lost the rabbit ever got it back, and how it disappeared initially. That's something to ponder.

My son found a baby rabbit under a car early one morning in downtown Philadelphia. When he found out that the local animal shelter would have done away with it, he wound up taking it home, buying all the equipment he needed to care for a pet rabbit, and having that rabbit for a good many years. It got to be huge! And it had a lovely home. 

It was shortly after Easter when he saw the rabbit. Someone probably got it for the holiday and then had enough of caring for a bunny, and just let it go into the street. We do not like people who do things like that. Not at all. 

This dead bird was lying in the grass as I walked down the very steep hill on Walnut Street.

I hope it's not there the next time I'm walking on the street. Some cat will probably remove it. And there are plenty of them prowling around.

Someone changed a bleak-looking landscape into a cheerful garden that's right on the sidewalk. After passing by this area so many years and just seeing ugly bricks, it's a real pleasure to be greeted by these giant, healthy sunflowers.

What a difference something like this makes to an area.

And speaking of improvements to neighborhood views, Portland Pottery should get an award for beautifying Washington Avenue.

What a great mural! It has improved the visual aspects of walking along that street. Portland Pottery has classes for adults and children; they have seasonal sales of ceramic items made by different people, where wonderful bargains can be had. I've bought many objects at those events.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nature à la David Howe

 

You've seen these marvelous creations before, when they were all dressed up for Christmas. This is what they look like without their holiday garb; this is their everyday appearance.

I do hope that people look up to the roof and see this cat and dog. They're missing out on a truly wondrous site if they don't.

David is now working on his garden fence, another delightful aspect of this property on Munjoy Hill. I'm going to share some views of the fence with you and I hope you all enjoy them.

Here's the gate.

I love the way you're able to see the green grass through the cutout of the frog.

And don't miss that sinuous snake to the right.

In the photo to the right you can see the cat on one of the posts. And there is a tree that's sketched on another post, which hasn't been cut out yet.  

And not to be forgotten, is Iggy the iguana who resides in the hallway coming up to David's apartment; another special creature to beautify this dwelling.

 

What a talented guy! I'm sure you'll all agree with that assessment.

Summer in the City

What's in the Streets

Hey! This is a city, which is obvious from the surface that this beautiful snakeskin is lying on.

It certainly makes me wonder whether this snake actually shed his skin right in the street on North Street or if it got blown into the street from a garden nearby.

I was lucky to find it when I did, because within four days there wasn't a trace of it left. I watched it disintegrate each time I walked past. I was astounded to see something like this in my neighborhood. It was a wonderful sight for me. But I'm glad I only saw the skin and not the snake. That was enough nature for me while walking in the street.

Gloves—in the Summer?

If I'd come across these a few months ago I wouldn't have been at all surprised. People are always losing gloves during the cold weather.

However, it was slightly shocking to see these wool gloves—aside from their shocking color, which I like a lot—during very warm summer weather.

It always makes me wonder about what sort of story might be connected to these dropped gloves. But I'll never know. That means you'll never know either. But we can all just imagine our own stories to go with the image.

How Did This Happen?

 

I counted an awful lot of cigarettes before taking this ugly picture. They hadn't been smoked. And there were more cigarettes than there are in a pack, which made me wonder how this happened.

Oh, well, it's just one more story to imagine.

Great Catch, Geep! Summer Sport

Geep went down to Connecticut to visit his family last week. He went fishing with his brother and this is what he caught.

Pretty astounding fish. He said his brother didn't catch anything. That hardly seems fair.

This is a striped bass. I don't know its length but I've been told that in Maine you can't take one less than 26 inches or more than 42 inches.

I don't know what the law is in Connecticut, where this whopper came from. I was given a piece of this delicious fish. Yummy!

I've never gone fishing. One of the many things I've never experienced. I have to wonder what it must have felt like to be trying to pull such a large fish out of the water. It seems as thought you'd be able to be pulled overboard with something that size flailing around.

Bayside Block Party Huge Success

Perfect weather and lots of hard work combined to turn Cindy's long-desired block party into a wonderful neighborhood event, enjoyed by lots of people.

It was pretty hot in the sun, but there were beverages to cool people off, and there were lots of hot dogs and hamburgers with all of the trimmings. Everything was free, including the balloons that children were hanging on to when I arrived.

The festivities began at noon and ran until five o'clock. It was the perfect setting for a summer day on a Saturday in Bayside. Lots of people donated many hours of their time in order to make this event happen.

Our famous "bike cops" stopped by several times to see how things were going. This area is part of the city that they patrol, so they were familiar with many of those attending.

Here they are, Dan Knight and Karl Geib. Even though they are in a social setting here, you can see by looking at them that between the two of them they have everything covered visually.

They're always working when that uniform is on, even when they're stopping in at a block party. They have all bases covered, all the time. Quite a duo!

I always have to give leg shots whenever I take their photos. My female readers require that.

That's Dan's leg on the left and Karl's on the right.

 

Here's Mary-Ellen Welch with Dan and Andjelko Napijalo, who also patrols the Bayside neighborhood. He wasn't on the Segway on this particular Saturday. But he'd become a real icon for several weeks as he cruised around on the unusual vehicle.

He drew adoring crowds everywhere he went. And he still was able to make arrests.

Mary-Ellen is the Coordinator for the Midtown Community Policing Center. She worked very hard at this party, making sure things were running smoothly. It was an extremely hot day and there was little shade in the parking lot where the event was being held. I can attest to that because I spent a few hours there.

I should have taken a photo of Mary-Ellen's car, a VW beetle convertible, with a license plate that says "AMORE." I tell you, she's a woman after my own heart! A real delight.

July Is Here

 St. Lawrence Hosts a Wedding

It's July! So far we've had an inordinate amount of rain, but thankfully the Fourth became quite a lovely day. That was a good thing because many people would have been disappointed if they hadn't been able to view the spectacular fireworks.

July Fourth was an extra-special day for celebration on Munjoy Hill because City Councilor Kevin Donoghue tied the knot at the St. Lawrence Church on that day.

Ed King, the editor of The West End NEWS had done beautiful wedding invitations for Kevin and Krista, with delightful caricatures of them. He did this chalk drawing on a large, heavy piece of slate that was inside the church. Ed's cartoons are a delight; I now own three of them. It seems as though a lot of people who read the paper on a regular basis aren't aware of the fact that all of the cartoons, including the large one in the centerfold, are done by Ed. The man has talent!

Best wishes and a toast for a long life with much happiness!

The photographs below were taken during the period when part of the church was being dismantled due to safety concerns.

All of the pieces that were removed were numbered and have been stored in a safe place.

It's hoped that at some point enough money can be raised to return the building to its former stature. It was a beautiful building, and it's still a shock to walk by and see such a large portion of it missing.

When a structure that was such a prominent part of the neighborhood becomes reduced to an empty lot, it's difficult to come to terms with the loss.

I'm sure there are many people who still see the ghost of the tower when they walk past the part of the building that remains.

. . . and Down on the Promenade . . .

This polar bear amused the assembled crowds. Many children had conversations with the big guy, but many were also a bit fearful of him at first.

There were vendors selling food and toys for children. It was an atmosphere of fun and joy.

I must admit that I'm always happy to see July Fourth end. The fireworks are held right down the hill from my home and thousands of people flock to the neighborhood. Of course they do!

It's nice to see everyone walking back up the hill from the Eastern Promenade, heading home. This year seemed to be more quiet than usual. There were no people setting of firecrackers and bottle rockets until two o'clock in the morning, which was a welcome relief from previous years' festivities.

July Fourth Plus One

 

The weather was beautiful, so there was no need to put anything away—evidently.

I always look forward to strolling along the Prom early on the morning of July fifth, to see what people have lost or left on the grass. This is the first year I haven't come back with a miniature American flag. I usually find one. What I always find is at least one brand-new cigarette lighter. Of course there's always change that's dropped and that gets added to my found-object vases with the money collected from my walks.

These flip flops are quite jolly. Looking at them on the grass makes me wonder what sort of condition the person was in at the time she left that location. Perhaps she was carried away? Mmm.

 

Don't you know that you're leaving an event barefoot, when you arrived wearing something on your feet?

I have to assume that it just didn't matter.

 

And so we leave the remnants of America's birthday party to be cleaned up by the city's able crew. The Promenade once again becomes the gem of Portland; the trash and the crowds have left. That's okay with me!