Well, it’s been over a month since I went to work as a pirate to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate day. On that fine day back in September, I walked through downtown to get lunch and no one batted an eye. In fact, I even spotted a few other pirates. Arrr! Portland be ever friendly to those pirate-y folks.

Now I’m feeling pressure to dress as something besides a pirate for Halloween. Perhaps a viking will do…

Well, we have survived another Rose Festival.  A few things of note this year: a) lots more ships again,  b) annoyance with parade spot taping came to a head, c) boy, did it dump on the Grand Floral Parade!

Every year around this time I wonder about the stinky trees.  There are some seriously stinky trees in Portland — rotting fish and something worse wafting on the warm spring breeze.  I think I’ve heard that some of them are ginkos, and that maybe we’ve made the situation worse by planting trees that are all one sex.  The stinky sex, apparently.

The first time I encountered a stinky trees was on NW Hoyt between 20th and 21st.  At first, I was concerned it was me, and then that someone was using the super stinky fish fertilizer.  But no, it was coming from the sky!  Now I notice the smell in many places throughout Portland, and I suppose I should view it as merely a sign that Portland is in the midst of spring.

I’ve been waiting for something truly momentous to mark my first post to the Central Portland blog, but instead I think I’m using at an excuse to not post at all.  So, let’s just break that glass ceiling and move onto one of my favorite topics, Portland.