Thousand Islands

Lis' family has a 3 1/2m high diving board off of their camp up in Gananoque, Ontario. The sun allowed me to get some really clear shots here.

Zexy.

Droplets of water.

Sunset on the St. Lawrence.

For breakfast we had black tea, scones with jam, and a fruit salad drizzled with maple syrup. Simple and delicious.

Tribute to a Good Friend

Only in Canada.

The Bicycle Mecca

Eastbank Esplanade

 

I've never seen a city that was so pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. It's no doubt one of the reasons Portland is considered the greenest city in the U.S.

Pabst Blue Monster. I'm not sure if this was a critique of mass-produced beers. Portland is renowned for its microbreweries and microdistilleries. 

 

A call to drink.

Portland Rescue Mission

Murals for advertising.

The Doggfather

 

As I was reading a newspaper, I felt as if it had a very homosexual tone to it. Turns out it was Just Out, Portland's premier gay and lesbian newspaper.

This woman from Korea (should I have asked her which one?) ran an American diner near Chinatown. 

This is Bill, whom I met near the Skidmore Fountain MAX Station. I can't remember where he's from, but I know that he was in a serious car accident involving alcohol. I believe he was a passenger in a car that was hit by a drunk driver, thus explaining why the right side of his face sits in like it does and why he has lost movement in his right arm. He's currently out of work and was waiting to get his paycheck from the government. I was impressed with how resilient he seems after suffering through an accident like that.

Bill offered me a hit on his joint, but I declined. Nevertheless, he seemed to trust me and didn't mind telling me about some of his wild days back in California. Bill commented that the drug dealer who lived in his town sold everything from marijuana and mushrooms to LSD and heroin.

Self-portrait.

 

I met a lot of interesting people around the MAX (Metropolitan Area Express) station, including Bill. One man whom Bill greeted had spent the past year in Chicago. For a while I was confused how such an eclectic group of people could congregate in the same area. I soon realized that I was next to the Portland Rescue Mission, and that it was open when I walked by. I was impressed with what I saw:

http://www.portlandrescuemission.org/

sk8topia (Portland, OR)

 I met the sk8topia crew while I was out in Portland. They drove out from Ohio, and while they didn't seem like great skaters, they were stoked on the scene at Burnside.

This girl had an extremely powerful Nikon. She was almost as big as it was.

Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.

More Burnside (Portland, OR)

There were some requests for some more Burnside photos.

Burnside Skatepark (Portland, OR)

 One of my cards containing Costa Rica photos is still in Williamstown, so I'm going to keep posting photos from the latter half of the summer. These are photos from my time in Portland, Oregon. I was there for my cousin's wedding.

 In Portland, I stumbled upon Burnside Skatepark and met a really interesting group of skaters there. The park is located underneath Burnside Bridge, so it's well hidden.

"In the early 90's, a group of Portland skaters emerged into the public eye. All in their late-teens to early twenties, these skaters were sick of their homemade equipment constantly being torn down or burned, and tired of being kicked out of any public place for just wanting 'to skate so fucking bad.' These kids were smart, and knew that continuing to fight with their enemies would get them no where. Like the adage goes, if you can't beat them, join them. They became allies with their foes and built one of the most challenging skateparks in the world guerilla-style." - Switch Magazine

Burnside oozes with creativity, whether on wheels or with an aerosol can.

 Like I said, creativity. 

 

This guy was killing it all afternoon.

  

For all you gamers, you may remember Burnside Park from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Grind Session, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. It was also featured in the film, Paranoid Park.

 

Dropping in.

Ambrosia Pt. 2

 

Wasted food is a strong indicator of a privilege one rarely sees outside the 1st world. Aside from the methane gas that ultimately gets released from food not properly decomposing in landfills, it often represents our comfort with tossing a product that could have been used. In this photo, one can see a combination of rinds and skins, as well as once edible foods, such as the grapes and strawberry.

My Mom and I freeze the food so that we can take care of composting all at once. This process eliminates dealing with any unpleasant smells and prevents the liquids from running all over the place.

I grind some of the food up so that the composting occurs faster. As this uses extra energy, I try to minimize using the blender. As you can see, the O-ring is broken. 

 

Fabulous. Composting is a bit of a Yin-Yang process, requiring materials high in Nitrogen, as well as ones high in Carbon. The dark brown specks are coffee grinds. The dark material underneath is largely grass clippings and leaves. The following blog and website provide plenty of info concerning wasted food and composting:

http://www.wastedfood.com/

http://www.composting101.com/how-it-works.html

Ambrosia Pt. 1

 Fresh raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries with ice cream and chocolate syrup.

 

I'm extremely lucky to be able to work in my Mom's kitchen when I'm home.

Fruits, vegetables, and fresh tea.

Lis made the best chicken curry I've ever had. For those of you familiar, this was not Indian curry, but sweet curry, or Jamaican curry. While Indian curry includes a number of other spices, it still inspired a lot of Caribbean and coastal South American dishes when Indians emigrated to those areas. I'm still working on photographing food, across which is one the hardest subjects I've come.

After a long a day of work, a necessity. 

Why only have bread, when you could have it sautéed with olive oil and garlic that was just minced?

 

I think this photo is testament to how difficult meat can be to photograph. This lighting was difficult to start with and using a tripod was essential. Nevertheless, the burgers came out looking like mystery meat. My Dad purchased a quarter cow from a fellow farmer in MA, and we mixed the ground beef with Dijon mustard, Vidalia or yellow onions, soy sauce, and tarragon. The salad was mixed greens with Roquefort cheese and walnuts. Lis candied the walnuts herself and made a Walnut-Sherry vinaigrette.

Mejor Muerta Que Sencilla

Fresh till death: bikini by American Apparel, Ray-Ban Wayfarers, headband by Lululemon, Sanuk Spring Fever shoes, and a Sigg water bottle. (Bottled water was never stylish and never will be.)

Lis left yesterday, so I felt this photo was better posted now than later. There will be more coming, but not just yet.

Construcción

 

Pim van Hooff, once an a acquaintance and now a good friend. Pim hails from outside of Eindhoven, Nederland (think Band of Brothers) and spent five months studying and working in Costa Rica. He was more or less our liaison to CPI, the Centro Panamericano de Idiomas.

One of Santiago's assistants.

 

Taking off the covers for the upper beams. 

  

I'm not sure whether Pim speaks more like a Brit or a North American, but he never hated on me for saying greengrocer or zed.

  

Another one of Santiago's assistants. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to these guys very long, but there was a lot of other work to be done.

  

Ronny, checking out the progress. 

  

Not sure what the opposite of soldering is, but it's happening here. It was as bright as it looks in the photo.

 

This is after we took the beams down, threw up the concrete supports, and then put the beams back up. We had just a few minutes to relax before the rains came in.