The Hawthorne and Belmont Neighborhood

Here are photos that I've taken in my new neighborhood. People saw me wandering around with a camera and taking pictures, and they gave me odd looks. That's one way to make an impression on new neighbors.

Bamboo!

The architecture around here is impressive: here's a Victorian house with a tower, and across the street is a stucco apartment building from the 1920s.

Strangely, this looks like a governor's mansion. It's probably a commune.

I thought the plants here were at least as interesting as the house. Later I noticed that the balcony is, um, under construction.

I've seen so many beautiful flowering trees lately. Achoo.

A Japanese archway stands between a house and an apartment building. Japanese garden architecture, particularly gates and fences, are popular in Portland, Oregon.

This is a Chinese temple (presumably Zen) with gold letters on the wall proclaiming it the Buddhist Preaching Association, North America (or something like that).

Quanyin statue in the garden

The neighborhood is full of cats. This particular cat purred and rolled around on the sidewalk and let me pet her.

This is one of many cement sculpture/benches, and it has an acquatic theme. It's in the front yard of a big old house, which might be divided into apartments or might be a communal living situation.

A purple house trimmed with yellow, and with Tibetan prayer flags.

Landscaping is in. Flowers spill out over the sidewalk, like a water fountain made of plants.

This tree looks like a claw reaching up for the sky.

These stones look like Buddhist offerings to me, like on Vulture Peak in India.

A Japanese gate.

A friendly cat and bamboo.

I hope someone fixes up this big old house and moves in.

The Portland Dharma Center, or Zen Center.

Flowers like tiny bells.

This is a strange, twisty plant. (That's not the botanical jargon.)

Daphnes, with a powerful aroma. They're reminiscent of lilacs. I wonder if there's a flower named after Scooby Doo.

An outdoor mural....or impressive graffiti.

The popular Avalon Theater, a combination movie theater and pinball machine arcade. It's quite an experience.

Guesthouse with sculptures in the front lawn.

I'm not sure it's clear in the photo, but this sculpture on the gate includes a bird playing an old saxophone. It's a real saxophone.

This bright and sunny house is at an intersection that has vestiges of paint on the pavement, I think forming a sun shape that used to fill the intersection.

Murals with a Hispanic theme.

More metal fence art, and beyond that is a brightly painted Mexican restaurant and an equally bright bus.

Oozing flowers

Another friendly cat.

This yard art is amazing.

African masks made of found items, such as forks.

Goddess shadowbox. It's not really visible in this photo, but the shadowbox includes a tiny Willendorf Goddess.

Another random pretty house.

Maybe this house was painted to match the flowering trees.

Umbrella-like flowering tree

Salmon Street Writer's Group

I've never seen this kind of plant before, but I've seen several in this neighborhood.

Glorious orange