I stopped and talked to Elizabeth for a few minutes today. She and her family bought neighboring houses just a block off of Hawthorne in SE Portland 25 years ago. She orginally caught my attention because of her duck Alex, who she has been mothering since he was 2 weeks old.
They have a small dog as well, who at one point popped up and touched his nose to Alex's beak. I tried to catch that too, but it was done by the time I got the camera up.
She mentioned that this used to be a more sketchy area, but then when the restaurants and stores started showing up it became safer and more vibrant.
I'm so glad I stopped and asked to take her picture with Alex.