The rains are here

Here is a photo of a tree in my yard before the rain started. Since the rain started here in the Pacific Northwest last week, most of the leaves are on the ground now.

I'll be working in the studio tomorrow and plan on adding a progress photo on the painting I talked about in the last post. 

My brother visited for a few days and left this morning. We had a good time and spent time in Portland on Saturday and Sunday. The traffic is so much easier downtown on the week ends. We went to the Saturday Market under the Burnside bridge where there is a ton of building or urban renewal going on. Then over to Alberta street to look around at some shops and galleries which is always fun. We also went to The Nines, a new hotel on the top floors of the old Meier and Frank store in downtown Portland. It is now a Macys.  They have some interesting art on the 8th floor which is the public floor, with a nice looking restaurant too. All nicely done and light filled since the center of the building is open to a large sky light. I can't believe we didn't go to Powell's book store. Next time.