The past few days have been terrible in many ways. Too hot, too much ash in the air, too much forest fire destruction. I took advantage of one fringe benefit of this late-summer situation, however: I took pictures.

Tuesday morning, getting off the MAX at the Hillsboro Airport stop, I was greeted with this view of the Sun trying to shine through layers of cloud and smoky haze:

And Wednesday morning gave me cause to quip to my coworkers later, “I didn’t know that ‘Portland’ was an anagram for ‘Mordor’, but Sauron’s Eye was quite prominent out toward the East.”

I’ll be glad when we return to fully breathable air, though.