Vivid Abstractions

A few selections from paint-spattered walls in downtown Portland.

Variations on Santa Claus

A couple more selections from the particle board wall in downtown Portland.

Particle Board Postings

Near SW 11th and Stark in downtown Portland, a particle board wall has become a locus for various ads, causes, and artistic expressions - sort of a combination of graffiti and collage. Some selections:

Back to Portland

From now until our next trip, I'll be reverting to my usual practice of showing off the beauties and idiosyncrasies of Portland, Oregon. A few colorful ones to start off.

Hawthorne Bridge across the Willamette River

Corner of SW 12th and Stark, downtown Portland

Good color combo: orange and blue

Last Evening in Tarangire

December 25, 2015: Of course the tour leader and staff had planned something special for Christmas Day evening, our last day in Tarangire National Park.

Cocktails al fresco before dinner. Tour leaders/drivers M'zee (2nd from right) and Arnold (at left), park ranger Noele (2nd from left) with others of our safari staff.

A supermoon rises over the horizon

Our faithful Land Cruisers in the beautiful evening light

Table runner in our dining tent, showing the hot peppers that enlivened our meals.

This ends my series of photographs from our great East African safari to Tanzania and Rwanda. Now back to Portland and closer-to-home scenes, at least for a while.

Christmas Day in Tarangire

December 25, 2015: Our last day in Tarangire National Park, before moving on to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, and the Serengeti. It was a good one, beginning with sunrise.

We went for a game drive, and soon saw this orb weaver spider on a bush by the side of the road.

We walked for a bit and posed for a picture (except for me, who took the picture). Note our good-humored guide, Noele, a park ranger with a gun, and our Masai guide/guard with a spear in the back.

Continuing our drive, we finally saw the animal we'd been looking for: a leopard. Leopards are usually found in trees, but this one was sitting calmly on the ground by some termite mounds. Close inspection of the photos shows that it has lost its right eye.

To close this post, I'll repeat the remarkable photo of a python attacking a puff adder that I posted a few days ago, prefaced with a picture of an earlier attack, a minute or two before, from the same event.

Elephants and Monkeys

December 24, 2015: Tarangire National Park is probably the best place in Tanzania to view elephants. There are a lot of them, and they move freely throughout the park - including close to our vehicles and near the kitchen of our camp. They're red because of the iron-containing mud they wallow in.

Vervet monkeys also turn up with some frequency.