...to the sea

...and then there are the times when you just need to get out of the city and go to the sea...

and just be... watching the waves and catching the cloudburst on the horizon.

...finished with a sunset. Beautiful.

Sign of the times from Portland, OR

On a recent visit to Portland, I spotted this in the Pearl District. It seemed to me to capture a certain spirit of what is happening right now all over the USA.
Something about hope and community, a grassroots gesture in the economic recovery process, a process that continues to be up and down.

Just today, more disappointing news about the fragility of the job market.
Stats show the number of new claims for unemployment benefits increased unexpectedly last week, despite many economists believing it would go the other way.

This follows an announcement just last week from the US Labour Department that 120 thousand new jobs had been added in March, about half the number of new jobs created in February.

You hear the numbers and the stats, but it is, of course, about people. People trying to make a living, feed their families, keep their homes. That's why the act of a helping hand like this one from a neighbourhood dry cleaners in Portland spoke more than any reports on employment statistics.