Shoshana Hoose starts the day with a visit to the egrets made by artists Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein for Portland’s Back Cove. Photo by Shoshana Hoose Portland resident Shoshana Hoose, 70, first fell in love with the city in 1977 and moved here in 1986. She teaches English part-time at Portland Adult Education.
She says one of the things she loves about Portland is that she can often find free activities, and she challenged herself to envision a perfect day in which she would not spend any money. My perfect day begins about a half hour before dawn, when I leave my Portland home on bike and head to Back Cove . As first light burnishes the marsh grass, I ride to the statue of two egrets across from Hannaford.
Artists installed the bamboo sculpture in June, and it quickly became one of my all-time favorite pieces of public art. As I bike, I sing a medley of favorite songs, including one by Linda Hirschhorn: “May I stay amazed through all of my days, / And all of the ways of the world’s turning, / Amazed at what I’ve got, not what I’ve not, / All soon forgot in the world’s turning.” I arrive at the egrets just in time to see the sun rising behind them.
I give thanks for the bicycle and pedestrian advocates who helped build a network of trails and bike lanes in our city. Because of their work, it is easier every year to get around without a car. And I thank Portland Trails ; because of their work, every city resident lives a half mile or less from a trail that con.