Lilac on the Flower Clock in Everyday Ramblings

It finally stopped raining. I know I know some of you still have snow and some of you are still a bit too hot but man oh man was it nice to see the sun and blue skies yesterday!

Today it is a bit overcast but when I was coming back from the grocery late this afternoon I could see Mt. Hood all ghost like covered in snow and the late sun just touched the top for a moment to make this glorious golden glow. It was almost like you could hear a beautiful bell ring.

And the iris and lilacs are blooming, as are the Dogwoods. It is about as spring as spring can get out there. The tulips are up and the Redbuds are just coming on. It is intoxicating and even warm enough to go out without a jacket if one has sleeves in the afternoons.

I did my overtime all this week and I am tired but I wrote myself a big note on my Sierra Club Engagement Calendar (that I get every year for the photographs) that this afternoon was the red zone for overeating. I appear to making better choices about food this week.

Thank goodness, as my clothes are getting a bit tight.

After work yesterday with the light I walked over one of the nearby freeway bridges that separate my neighborhood from downtown and I noticed that one of the homeless encampments behind the big spray-painted No Trespassing signs and the broken fence and gate is growing.

And this young man came out ahead of me and stopped and exchanged a light for their tailor made cigarettes (no hand rolling here apparently) with a man a bit older who looked rough and was kind of scary. I stopped at the convenience store for a soda and the first guy was in there buying snacks. When I came back I saw the first guy next to this new tent, a bright orange and white one, not camouflaged by brown tarps like they have been doing lately.

Two women, I’d say in their 30’s, were walking independently ahead of me on the sidewalk. One had a dog and they were talking. When I got up to the light, far enough from the encampment to not be overheard there I saw that they were talking about how uncomfortable they both were with the encampment, how scary it was.

So I joined in the conversation. One of the women said she was going to call the state Department of Transportation when she got home and I said I would too.

This led me down a rather amazing rabbit hole that included a personal call from a specialist there that told me the state had spent 1.3 million dollars in the last 3 years cleaning up these camps. I found out the city has a one point contact form for reporting the encampments.

I had no idea.

The guy from the state is going to email me the policies of posting and then clearing these sites but he encouraged me to call law enforcement if I felt unsafe again. The city only wants to know if you are sure a crime other than trespassing is occurring.

Speaking of law enforcement when I went out in the hall of the office yesterday to fill my water bottle there was a tall beefy guy, professional in appearance, in a yellow dress shirt and nice slacks looking for a conference room and as I turned away I noticed he was carrying a gun on his belt.

And then there are all the interviews with James Comey. I think I liked the New Yorker interview best, there is audio as the editor David Remnick did it in front of a live audience last night.

He sure does raise some interesting things to think about.

One of my neighbors is going to Ireland in the fall, (I am not jealous no) and I am going to face my social anxiety and meet with her in the morning to talk about taking care of her sweet girl cat named Rainy while she is gone.

Then Most Honorable is coming up for a few hours to drop stuff off and pick stuff up and we are going out for lunch. I am really looking forward to that. We can talk about work.

I need to talk about work. It continues to not be my happy place even without the big guy with the gun out in the hall.

Last updated April 20, 2018