PORTLAND OREGON FROM THE THIRD FLOOR

City lights in Portland Oregon brighten before sunrise, one window at a time, floor by floor, until an entire wall reveals the secret shadows behind steel and glass.

Every city feels anonymous in the beginning. Tall buildings full of strangers become familiar in time. After that, it’s your town.

A clear orange sky promises fall colors painted on the low ridges until they drop into the Willamette River.

Get up early enough and the city feels reborn. Doing the right thing helps.

Flowing winter water and bridge traffic reflect their purpose to each other.

Places to go people to meet, or quarantine in place. Time is moving either way. Why not do something with it?

A rusting barge lift and cranes of a just past era pressed between bridges on one side, an array of drop down ceiling lights slicing two stories of glass on the other. 

Our world moves faster than we can keep up. The rewards go to those who try, who make an effort, and pull others along with them.

Stay in the box? The land speaks.

Zidell leased a portion of the old Commercial Iron Works shipyard, which already had a dock where workers had built ships for World War II. 

Emery Zidell’s son Jay grew up helping his dad build what once was the nation’s largest shipbreaking operation. 

“People would be lined up for blocks to come and buy this stuff,” she said. “It was just like treasures for people.” 

But the shipbreaking process was messy, and it left a lot behind on the land and in the river. The insulation on the ships, the wiring, the linoleum on the floors and even the paint was full of contaminants.

Or turn on the lights and take inventory.

The brightening day reveals a riverside factory for an era not passed.

Heavy industry on the Willamette? How much longer?

Mated buildings side by side with tops like battleship bottoms sit next to industrial medicine.

If the land OHSU occupies in South Portland was an old shipyard, or ship breaking yard, bring the good medicine.

Traffic swarms over Bridge City spans bound for bays, mountains, work, and home.

Drivers keep their eyes phoned forward while the rising sun blazes from the east.

Portland Oregon in the morning looks like victory. Today is the day.

It’s your day. Go get it.

At the precise moment every morning light from the east looks like a laser attack on the Ross Island Bridge arch.

It starts dark, then gray, then slightly orange, before the blast. (With a photo edit saturation assist.)

So have a blast. I read a Minnesota take on snow and attitude.

“Have a joyous feeling about snow. If you don’t, you’ll still have the same amount of snow but a lot less joy.”