Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 5

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 


Today's post of another stairway, the last one in this five-day series, is one that I could only take figuratively, as in just take a photograph and long to climb the stairs and turn the curve from where I stood across NE Wistaria. So, I used the satellite view of Google Maps on the iPhone and saw that there is a really big looking house at the top of those stairs which curve sharply to the right into the yard before turning ninety degrees so that one can eventually walk up onto a porch at the back of the house. Too bad I couldn't just make myself walk on up and ask if I could take a look at the view from their yard and or home. But I that would have taken a degree of intrusiveness, nay, rudeness which I don't possess. Literally or figuratively.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 4

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 

Just to the left of the stairway seen in the post on Wednesday, August 21, I noticed this completely different stairway, one that you'd never catch me taking although you can tell it's not locked, nor is it controlled by any vigilant human being. It does head for an unlocked gate in the chain link fence. So, since I am not a goat, literally, I took this stairway figuratively. And I tried to crop the vertical image into two separate images which I could then resized and juxatposed on the screen so that you could get an almost accurate idea of why I found this stairway the most interesting of all that I saw. Who took the time to find these stones? To place them there? What was the weather like when it was done? How long have they been there? At any point in time, have people walked up and down the stairway?

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 3

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
  After I visited with my friend for a while, I walked back the way I had come, until I got to that set of stairs that I had actually walked up. I then continued westward on the less steep street to NE 47th where I turned south and walked to NE Sandy Blvd. where I waited six minutes for the homeward bound 6 bus. On the way to that destination, I passed this stairway, another one controlled by a vigilant human or two which I decided to take, as in photograph. I could not take it, as in walk it, because it too was locked. For me, though, this stairway is more interesting than the boring one in the Tuesday, August 20, post. I think it's the mystery at the top, brought on by the hint of a change in direction.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 2

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 

I figuratively took these stairs, as in I took this photograph but, as you can see there on the left, the gate is padlocked, so no walking up allowed to any passersby. Looks like no owner literally takes any time with this stairway, making this stairway interesting to photograph.
 

The next stairway I walked by, controlled by at least one vigilant human, thereby rendering this particular stairway boring to photograph--I only did it to contrast with the other one.

Stairways taken, literally and figuratively, No. 1

According to the Urban Dictionary online, People often confuse literally with figuratively. Literally is a much misused adverb, often for emphasis. So, that's what I'm doing with it here, on purpose. And Urban Dictionary defines figuratively as "What everybody means when they say "literally." I suppose that's what I'm doing here, too, because literally is defined by Merriam Webster online as in a literal sense or manner, actually, while figuratively is defined there as: representing by a figure or resemblance. And, of or relating to representation of form or figure in art. Now, I've confused myownself, doggone it. Let's see if I can straighten this out successfully. It's a play on words, y'all, because I took the stairs (walked) and I took the stairs (photographed). Both things actually happened. This idea of mine all hinges on the definition of take from Merriam Webster online. One is use as a means of transportation or progression. Another is to obtain as the result of a special procedure, in this case photography. Whew. Now I'm spreading these photos out over five days starting with Monday, August 19, 2013.
 

I literally took these stairs on Saturday morning on my way from the 12 bus at NE 50th and NE Sandy Blvd. to a friend's house on NE 50th between NE Alameda and NE Stanton. On the bus ride there, I kept thinking to myself, I bet I'm going to have to walk up a hill, hopefully not too steep a hill. At home I had looked at the general location on Google Maps on the iMac, and I knew that I had Google Maps on the iPhone, so at least I wasn't worried about getting lost, just out of breath. Well, when I saw a Dead End sign as I walked north on NE 50th, I thought, "Well, shoot, I didn't pay enough attention to that Google Map at home."

I fired up the Google Maps on the iPhone and realized that I could walk one block west, then continue north on NE 49th. When I came to the spot on the street that you see at the bottom of these stairs, I looked to my right at the curved, sloping road, then I looked at the stairs and decided I'd take the stairs. Maybe the road I would reach wouldn't be as steep, maybe it would be parallel in slope, I wouldn't know until I got there. I can report that I made it up these stairs way easier than I figured I would and the road was noticeably less steep. And I made the decision to seek an alternate route that didn't involve walking back down this stairway to get to the return bus home. Happy to be closer to my destination, according to Google Maps and my own sense of direction, I walked along the north side of NE Wistaria and came across other stairways. Come back tomorrow and over the next few days to see them. Thank you.