In My Life

The three photos below are all from Portland.

I keep thinking we’re in Canada because this city is so different – very ‘cool’, very green – they even have compost bins for every household.  The trees are green, the grass too – unlike down south where the drought is intense.  They need rain here, but they seem to be hanging in better.  The shops are big – stretched out in old buildings.  We had our best American coffee this morning at the biggest bookstore we’ve ever seen, and we’ve been buying food supplies at a SUPER supermarket named Whole Foods.  It’s hard to believe the choices and the organic fruit, like our black seedless grapes, tastes better than anything else.  We are flat out not buying what we don’t need.  

I only took my old brown lace-up shoes but today we came across a great shop and I got sandals and casual shoes for half the price in Brisbane.  Also got a portable modem so we can stay online for the next 4+ weeks.  The guy in the shop was great in helping to set it all up – and even told us where to get another great coffee – this time a drip coffee – but very good.  People in the street and on the trams are keen to talk and full of advice.  A woman in the street chased up to us later to tell us to go see a park around the next corner – wonderfully cool and shady on this hot day.  

Despite the obvious prosperity, there are so many street people – begging on every corner – gathering in numbers, sitting together on the ground.  Tattoos are popular – even on the poor – never seen so many all-over markings.  

Our little apartment is just on the edge of downtown – up the road from the bookshop and Whole Foods.  We haven’t met the owners but we communicate by email which is how we found this place through Airbnb – a social network of people willing to lend you their home or a room.  It’s cute – it’s neat – it’s near everything.

Glenys was exhausted yesterday – but a good sleep last night has revived her – and she’s resting once again while I write this.  She’d love to watch the News but there is only a DVD player.  In a moment we’ll have dessert – a chocolate brownie with cherry yoghurt fresh peach ( the size of a grapefruit), and chopped cold bananas.  And perhaps some more grapes.      

This entry was posted on September 15, 2012 at 3:45 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.