Big Pink, grey day

This is the corner across the street from the Pearl Bakery, which features large in my personal history. 

I was enjoying one of their excellent sandwiches and scribbling in my journal when it dawned on me that I was driving across the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon at least once a week, and I should live here! 

Now I've been in Portland, in the Pearl Bakery zip code, for more than fifteen years, enjoying Powell's Books, several galleries (including Augen and Froelick, which moved to the hood after I did), Whole Foods Market (much better before Amazon bought it), Jamison Square Park and other Pearl District locations.

But alas, as I discovered when I arrived at their door on this dark day, the Pearl Bakery has closed forever! I have friends who worked there and friends who ate there. It was a friendly place. So the gloom of this day matches my mood.