Ode to Portland: a gallimaufry

This is your lucky day because, by reading this blog, you will also (most likely) learn a new word: gallimaufry. No, I didn't know what it meant before looking it up, either. Or how to pronounce it. Gallimaufry means a hodgepodge, a mix of different things. I almost used the word smorgasbord in my title but upon seeing this word, I had to choose it for its unusualness (at least to me) as well as its accurateness. 

The problem I'm having is that there is still so much for me to share about this place and the things, places, people, ideas that I enjoy and yet time is getting shorter. So today, I opted for a gallimaufry of fun. 

Funky ice cream:

Very "Portland" ice cream shop

"Try something you think you'll like and try something that scares you." -the ice cream scooper

Bakeries galore:

Good to the Grain author, Kim Boyce's shop - delicious!

Eating sweets is serious business.

My favourite tea shop, Tea Chai Te, where I'd go to write - too bad the picture cannot capture the wonderful spicy chai aroma that wafted out of that place.... 

Bob's Red Mill:

This is only a fraction of the bulk section!

How I wish I had discovered this place sooner!

 Dragon boat:

Hillside garages:

There are plenty of other things, too, that I don't have pictures of:

-- sweetgum trees; I call these rainbow trees because, in the fall, their leaves really turn every colour in the rainbow (except blue) usually starting from the bottom and going up.

-- the tunnels through Forest Park that are covered with.... the forest (still working on a picture of these)

-- the way the city looks on a clear evening as you're crossing the bridge, the sun still shimmering off the river below, the city buildings spread across the dark green forested hills to the west

Sigh.... and so, the ode continues.....
 

book club, tunnels with trees on them, vine maples