Portland W

Windy
Thursday, January 26
I have to beg for a rain check for today. I thought I was smart having two options, the first was a definite place: Waterfront Park; the second was conceptual (and admittedly a bit of a stretch): "Wind" for a fascinating art exhibit on kites at Portland State University. Turns out the wind was real and ruined the first and the art exhibit was imaginary.

But, speaking of air, let's begin with a deep breath. It's good for you. This morning I see a calendar item in the paper about a brown bag lunch talk at the library on breathing techniques to reduce stress and promote health. I like breathing, so I decide to go and it's on the way to the waterfront. Al Lee, the presenter, walks us through several exercises and reports on some of the health benefits of deep breathing--that just five minutes of it can give you the equivalent of an extra hour's worth of energy--not to mention the boost it gives to your immune system. The lecture was very well done and the exercises felt good.

From the library it's a short train ride to Waterfront Park. But when I get off the train, it's really raining and when I get to the river, the wind is almost gale force. As I struggle along the walkway, my umbrella is straight out in front of me and I can't see anything ahead. Hardly anyone else is out here as far as I can see. I come across a shopping area, but it's rather depressing. I get the idea that it's not well-travelled even in nice weather, several of the shops are closed. One of the few that has life inside is a Psychic Reader and as I pass I see a woman shuffling Tarot Cards and looking hopefully at me as if to say, "Wanna Play?" I do find a little shelter and snap my one and only photo for the day.

I decide to cut my losses and walk over to PSU where there's an glass exhibit, "Glass, Kites, and Light." I stop first at the Water (there's a W!) Gallery in the PSU student union and there is a small but evocative photo exhibit by Saul Robbins. Across the street, I go into the library, but find out that the installation has been delayed, so I'm out of luck. It supposed to be up next week and so I will return and add an addendum to this entry. Waterfront Park? I think I'll wait till summer.

Postscript: March 9. I went back to check on the Kite exhibit on it's last day at PSU. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised how small they were. Still they were interesting to look at and I've since learn that the exhibit is part of Portland's Everbody Reads project that took place in February. The selected book was the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which I picked up at the library and at this date, I'm already up to page 135!