proteanme

The days are getting wonderfully long. Dusk happened around 9pm tonight. The fact that it was sunny made it all the more amazing. Long days are one of the things I love about Portland. It also got up to around 70 today, which was perfect weather for the bike ride home. We have such a long ass spring out here and this one’s been chilly. So when things have warmed up on the fews days that have been over 60, it’s felt like such a luxury.

Strangely I haven’t minded the rain that much. At least not yet. I say strangely because March and April set some records. March was the 5th wettest March on record (I’m not sure how long the “record” dates back). Total rainfall for April was the third-highest in 71 years. However if that pattern of precipitation continues into July, I’m sure I’ll be losing mind.

Today is the anniversary of the eruption of Mount St Helens. That fact plus the huge trees, vast stretches of wilderness and all the massive rock formations make me feel like I’m living right on the edge of the prehistoric. If prehistoric was accessible via bike.

Pre-pride rainbow 2010

Originally uploaded by proteanme

Stopped on my way home last night, riding over the Hawthorne bridge, to snap a shot of this rainbow. It was almost storybook in its color and brightness. And although I could see the full arc from my perch on the bridge, I could only capture pieces of it with my camera phone, which is kinda poetic, I think. The rainbow’s occurrence seemed especially fitting as Portland queers are getting ready to celebrate Pride 2010.

Snowing. Again. I predict the whole town will shut down soon. It does seem like a proper winter though, romantic notions of a “blanket of white” aside. The cold, the hassle, the cars sliding around — they mark the season for me. With all this external stimuli, I finally have something concrete with which to identify winter in the long stretch of rain that usually accompanies this time of year. I feel like ten years later I’m finally at a place where I can miss things from home. That’s it’s not going to kill me to feel the longing for friends or family or other familiarities. And right now I miss the rhythm of seasons.

I don’t know if the flakes are bigger or I’ve just forgotten what they look like, but it’s snowing here. A once or twice yearly occurrence. Last time I remember snow like this was last year at Christmas. If it keeps up all of Portland will shut done except for the people that don’t know how to drive in the snow; and they will speed around way too fast thinking that the chains or studs on their tires give them have special super snow powers. My cat doesn’t know what to make  of it. He keeps looking out the window, his head following the flakes from sky to ground. It’s pretty. I think I will go for a walk and be out in it.

Something else I’ve learned is that nature will kick your ass. Every year since I’ve been here people have gone out into the wilderness and not come back. I cannot count the number of missing hikers, skiers, snow mobilers, backpackers and mountain climbers that get lost, with only a lucky few getting found.

Last summer Bec came out here for a short backpack trip up Mt. Jefferson, and in a sad coincidence, at the same time, a young lady who worked at a resort near Jefferson’s base was lost on the mountain. She’d gone out alone for a hike, started back too late, and then got caught in the dark. One of the lucky few – she found her way out about 3 days later, which was after we’d come down. On our way up, we ran into rangers on foot and on horseback searching for her, and it was eerie being up there in our tent in the cold and rain, thinking about her.