[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”2″ gal_title=”McMenamins Passport”] On Saturday, February 21 2015, Dixon and I purchased our McMenamins Passport. The plan is to record our adventures through photos and blog posts. We’ve been having fun so far if a bit uneventful. We’ve accomplished 8 stamps in a quick succession of suburban pubs: [table caption=”McMenamins Passport Adventures” width=”500″ colwidth=”30|50|100″ colalign=”left|center|center|left”] date,Location,Stamps,Event Saturday 2/21/2015,Hillsdale,Pub + Beer Fest,Dinner after a birthday party Friday 2/27/2015,Oregon City,Pub,Car shopping in Gladstone Saturday 2/28/2015,Mall 2015,Pub + Pint of Cider, Saturday errands Sunday 3/1/2015,On the Columbia, Pub, Post Silverstar…

Fall permeates Southwest Portland Terwilliger’s Totem. Hints of Germany tucked away in Multnomah Village. Nasturtium (native to Peru) petals tickle pollinators while they reach for deep-set nectar. Fleeting sun and blue sky reflected in shop window. An unripe pumpkin has run out of time. Halloween comes quickly. Flames of maple. Watchful. Far from arid Persian origin, pomegranates split; fail to ripen Community uproar over sale to developer. Due-sprinkled web in prickly teasel. Promise of spring. Embryonic pink bloom inside the rhodie’s bud. Licorice fern.  

On a bicycle ride–my usual after-work 13 mile route, only it’s Saturday morning (and I don’t have a job right now). I had just turned off of Terwilliger onto SW Westwood Drive. Which means the climb up to Fairmount was starting. I was checking in with my legs, my breathing, how I’m feeling on the bicycle, thinking about the hill and how hard I planned to push it. A song played in my head as though I were in spin class; a steady beat to my pedal strokes….