Surprises

Winter is a good time to notice little things that may change you and your world

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Good luck in the new year!

One Portland homeowner has affixed the lucky horseshoe in the good luck position, ends facing up. That way, the luck can’t run out.

Fran Gardner photo

Another year, another birthday

I turned 76 on Jan. 1. I wrote a poem about the past year.

Shedding 75

What a year, what a year!
New-found things and new thoughts;
Light plays on the pavement, on my soul.

I publish 52 Substacks, eat zero bananas,
Vote just once, ride the bus to Sandy and Sauvie Island.
Dash between raindrops as the Padres lose.

Destruction and protests, lives torn apart,
Frightening forces rule the land.
Part of the White House demolished forever.

Kindness of hearts, passing of friends,
Songs in my heart. I join a gym.
Life clicks on by, a train with no station.

Three words

This week’s triad comprises a trinity of happiness.

• Forgiveness

• Gratitude

• Compassion

Forgiveness

You may already know that the hardest person to forgive is yourself. To do this, you must be brave. Plumb your depths and find the love that is your birthright. As you move forward with your life, start here, with forgiving yourself.

Next, move on to forgiving others. Some things that others have done may seem unforgivable. But . . . there is no other pathway to your own freedom. This is tough for me to write, because I don’t have huge sins to forgive. I don’t know if I could. I can only put forth what I know, bone-deep: that forgiveness is a key to survival—and happiness.

Gratitude

Compared with forgiveness, gratitude is easy. You think about your life and your loved ones and say thank you, thank you, thank you. Say thank you as you arise in the morning. Say thank you as you fall into slumber. Thank the earth for bearing you. Thank the sky for covering you. Thank the rain. Be grateful for everything.

What you have, what you own, is overwhelming. The world is a miracle.

Compassion

Compassion may be easy for you, or it may not. I struggle with it. Compassion is a step beyond sympathy, merely feeling bad or concerned for someone. Compassion involves reaching deep inside yourself, bringing your blessings to the surface, then becoming the other, feeling their pain, willing forgiveness. Forgiveness is quite a trick, but so worthwhile when you can do it.

Fear keeps us from being compassionate. We are afraid to take on the burden of another’s pain, emotional or physical. To give up a part of our life and comfort, if only for a time. But if we can do it, we are so much richer.

A trinity

These three concepts—forgiveness, gratitude, compassion—are what happiness is made of. I believe this.

As we move forward into a new year, I hope you will see this triad, these three concepts, in a similar way.

Surprise

I’ve run this photo before, but it’s a good example of how surprise can populate your world. The pylon looks like a party hat.

Celebrate the bus! Fran Gardner photo

Living in surprise

Winter is a season of surprise. Of awakenings and new beginnings. The turning of the solstice changes the momentum of days. The earth waits breathlessly, here in the North, for the green shoots that will arrive sooner than we ever expect.

The holidays, of course, were full of surprises, from Hanukkah to Christmas to Kwanzaa. Even Halloween. Traditions connected with each celebration, each feast, are always realized in surprising ways. Even if it’s just making a new variety of fruitcake.

On Christmas Day, I was surprised by a few things. One was the morning light gilding downtown buildings. I posted that photo last week.

But I also found this little necklace of pumpkins surrounding a sapling. And not just fall pumpkins, but also a banana.

The banana, with the blue sticker, is at 3 o’clock. Fran Gardner photo

Walking past that tree on subsequent days, I found the banana was still there. I guess the squirrels didn’t want it.

Also on Christmas, I photographed a newly opened azalea blossom. Azaleas are blooming all over my neighborhood already. They are traditionally spring bloomers.

Say hi to global warming. Fran Gardner photo

Joy in the world

C.S. Lewis (author of the children’s books set in the mythical land of Narnia) wrote a book, Surprised by Joy, about his conversion to Christianity. It has also, prehaps erroneously, been thought to be a reference to his delight in a woman, Joy Graham, whom he met while working on the book and eventually married. No matter, I just love the phrase.

I am surprised by joy, every day. Just little things: the pattern of leaves the sidewalk, how the green onions line up as I get ready to slice them, a child who looks me directly in the eyes as he talks to me, no longer shy.

Notice how the route you walk every day changes in texture and color and light. Pause, just for a moment—you have a moment, don’t you? And be aware. The tree branch that juts at an odd angle. Bird droppings on the pavement—don’t stand there!

Surprise yourself

It isn’t hard to find surprises in Portland. This city is quirky, an adjective I like better than “weird.”

I’m always finding little hidden things: a garden gnome ensconced in a bank of ivy, a trinket hanging from a tree, dogs and their funny owners, odd items discarded at a bus stop.

Another fairy ring, this time ducks in a parking strip on Southeast Bidwell. The front garden of the adjacent house is full of plastic dinosaurs. Fran Gardner photo

I see so many of these oddities because I travel all over the city by bus and like to explore new neighborhoods in my wheelchair.

There are some online aids to finding surprise and joy in Portland.

• Portland on the Cheap is part of a national network of sites offering tips on where to go and what to do in town. The Portland publisher, Victoria Hampton, has a keen eye for what’s worthwhile and keeps her descriptions brief and breezy. I’ve attended a lot of events based on her advice. Her bio says she’s “mid-twenties,” but her knowledge seems so much more mature.

• PDX Sidewalk Joy maps sidewalk art throughout the city, mainly Little Libraries and their variants, like puzzle libraries, but also dinosaur exchanges, rubber duckies and skeletons. It was created and is curated by Rachel.

I found Sidewalk Joy just days after I discovered this little diorama on SE 55th Avenue between Salmon and Taylor.

Messages for our times contained in an old lantern. I took this photo in late July. Much has happened since then. Fran Gardner photo

Portland on the Cheap did a write-up about Sidewalk Joy in November 2025 that lists some of the more interesting installations.

Resolve

Last week, I posted a set of resolutions or topics for each month of 2026. My topic for January is “buy nothing.”

January is famously the month of resolutions. We all start off strong after New Year’s, ready to be better, saner, more organized, more disciplined, more, more, more.

And it’s the “more” that scuttles us, every year. We bite off too much and end up not digesting.

Most Januaries, I stick with just this one resolution: Buy nothing.

Of course, I make exceptions for necessities like food, medicine and the electric bill. But all month, I refrain from hitting the “buy now” or “place order” button online. If I see or read about something I want, I make a note of it and revisit in February. By then, chances are 90 percent—or more—that I will no longer want it.

Give early, give often

Do, however, make financial donations in January. It may be tempting to wait until the end of the year to consider charitable giving. Yet what we give to others deserves to be more than just an afterthought, what’s left after a year of consumption.

Starting this year, give charity your forethought, if you’re not already doing this. Figure out your likely income for the year in January. Then set aside at least 10 percent of it to donate to causes and organizations you value.

Ten percent may seem like a lot, but liberal giving has a way of redounding. I find that the more I give, the more prosperous I am in return. The universe provides.

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The deal no one takes

Harder Day Coffee Co., at Southeast 38th and Belmont, has a big old sign by the register advertising coffee and a croissant for $2 on the last Tuesday of the month.

The croissants, made by Musette Baking Co., are huge and perfect, crisp and buttery. The coffee, which was a Guatemalan blend on the last Tuesday of December, is delicious as well.

When I ordered the special last Tuesday, the barista affirmed that I was the first one to ask for the offer, even though it was already 9:30 am. She says she usually reminds people, but this day she herself forgot.

Here’s one case where noticing could pay off. Folks are so over-focused, absently ordering coffee drinks while mentally dressing the bones of the day, that they don’t see what’s right in front of them.

On other days, the Hawthorne store offers coffee and a croissant for $6. Still a deal.

Croissants

Coffee and croissant— 
Bitter and flakey, black and pale.
Why put butter on a buttery pastry?
Because it tastes better that way.

Croissants in Berkeley at the Bateau Ivre,
Fifty years ago! The place is still there.
Still on Telegraph, the street of hippies
In a dim old time, the memory sticky as jam.

An old friend, a Jewish child hidden in France
In the big war 85 years ago,
Always ate two croissants for breakfast,
The best thing held over from a bad time.

Croissants are still the best breakfast,
Something rich in the morning, with jam
Or just butter or just plain.
And all those crumbs? Just shake them off.

Ciao for now

Dear reader, thanks for making it this far. If anything caught you attention, please comment. I love comments!

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Please return next week for all new content, with joy, poetry and pictures.

Love, Fran