Mar 21 2012

One Block Radius

We've been in Portland for 10 days and it's rained 8 of those days. For the most part, this isn't like the rain I lived with on the East Coast. In Portland, it rains for 30 minutes and then stops for an hour. It then rains again, switches over to hail (at least it did on Sunday!) and then two hours later, the sun comes out, inspiring me to tackle several hours of yard work. I'm hard-pressed to imagine prettier Spring weather than sunny Portland: sun-dappled flowers, a cool breeze, and magnificent light catching the corners of bungalows and flickering off of passing bicyclists.

On Sunday, despite a long walk, an even longer run, errands, and yardwork, I felt so invigorated by the afternoon sun that I didn't want to come back inside and start cooking dinner. Instead, I started looking around for more outside work to do. On Portland's rainy days, I don't mind working inside or walking around outside: either is fine. But when it's sunny, my computer and all indoor tasks can wait.

A few days ago, we experienced one of those ideal sunny mornings, and so, despite boxes to unpack and paint to touch up, I grabbed my camera and walked a block west from our house, taking pictures of the spring flowers beginning to dot our street.