A perfect summer afternoon

Spent the day with my friend Alex, who has lived in Portland since 1970 and knows all the nooks and crannies. He took me to a place I'd never even heard of, Pier Park in St. Johns, a park for trees. Portland has an arboretum and more park space per capita than anywhere else I've ever lived, but this is my favorite park yet, a completely new discovery for me and a wonder. Hundreds of very tall Douglas firs, red cedars, gorgeous ochre-and-yellow-bark madrona trees (which I love to photograph), pecan and walnut trees, alders of course, and a grove of massive, dignified redwoods, most of the trees 100-150 years old by the look of them.

We saw a dazzle/flight/cloud of dragonflies, surely at least a hundred quick blue babies darting around a meadow dotted with white marguerites. We saw young men (as in this shot) playing disc golf, which appears to be frisbee with a purpose. We saw kids on play equipment and in a swimming pool. We saw hundreds of unused picnic tables, a couple of decaying former equipment huts (I was tempted to blip one of those--wonderful sagging roofs and crumbling bricks under the tall trees). We saw birds, and Alex knew the names of them (I am lost if it's not a robin or a blue jay). It was a perfect day: sunshine, cool breeze, dapple under the tall trees. Lots of pictures. Alex even allowed me to take a series of portraits of him, first time ever.

We talked, as we always do, of books and films and people, memory and politics and symbolism. Alex can talk about anything, and will, and I am never bored with his conversation. But I'm choosing this shot because despite my attraction to decaying buildings and madrona bark, and despite my delight in finally being allowed to take pictures of my friend Alex, the real story of this day, for me, was the gentle dignity and age of these tall, tall trees contrasted with the small and very young, young men playing beneath them.

Here's a Blipfolio with the other shots I loved from this day. The shot of the bridge was taken from the back yard of an old friend of Alex's.