Hair

Here is J swearing that he will get a haircut "tomorrow".

Sniffle

So, J had a cold for about 5 minutes last week before I left town. Unfortunately, it latched onto me and has become a 5 day cold (at least). This little box has become my best friend this week. I am really suffering with coughing, sneezing, clogged ears (wha?), sniffly nose, and all the other symptoms on the nyquil bottle.

Leopard Print

Back to Portland, OR for one last day of chillin' with M. Here's her rather unorthodox portrait at a great little place we went for lunch called "No Fish! Go Fish!" that served small fish-shaped sandwiches. After this, it's back to Seattle to take J to the Mariner's game on Monday night. I figured he deserved a little treat after missing the weekend away due to work.

My Keens

I should sell this photo to Keen. These are my shoes you may recognize from several shots before (they are photogenic, what can I say??). This just says "summer outdoorsy beach" to me.

Still life

Beach house kitchen, with onion, and without.

Self Portrait

One final s.p. on the beach on our last day here. The highlight of the day was a long barefoot run on the beach with M. We ran through the surf, saw the biggest starfish I've ever seen (about a foot wide, a deep shade of purple, beautiful) and found a perfectly round, in tact, sand-dollar on the beach. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to tell if it was alive or not and didn't want to risk it so I left it there on the beach.

Sunday Morning

I love this one because I got up early on Sunday morning, and went out to the beach alone with my camera. I wanted to see how it looked in the morning and I was pleasantly surprised. The amazing thing to me is how these beaches have so many different looks and personalities. They change in look and feel depending on the weather, the tides, etc. This is completely different from yesterday's sunshine/blue sky/sandy dunes beach.

The Gang II

I just love this pic of T and his mom walking on the beach with all the dogs. It might not mean much to anyone else but it really means something to me.

M

M at the beach. I haven't really done much to photograph my friends in the past. Now that I am, I wonder what I was thinking?!? Photographing my friends and family doing the things we like doing is fast becoming one of my favorite things. I feel like people used to do this much more in the past and we somehow got away from it. I know I will always adore these photographs since for me they carry the time, the look, the feel, the feelings, the memories of the entire moment in which they were created.

The Gang

Here are my hosts for the weekend, the DragonFires and Mr. DF's Mom and their combined clan of 5 dogs - Wally, Smokey Joe, Annie, Lola, and Moots. When you're at the beach with 5 dogs, much of the weekend revolves around them but since that involved long walks on the beach, playing on the beach, eating, and sleeping - that was just fine by me.

Finally, the path opens up to these large sand dunes that you have to scale to get to the beach. It doesn't look that big but I can assure you that 4 healthy adults and 5 healthy dogs were huffing and puffing to get up to the top of these dunes.

The Path

Here's another look at the coolest path to the beach EVER. Have I mentioned how cool it was?

Huck Finn

To get to the beach, you have to take a short walk on the coolest path to the beach EVER. If you were going to write a kids' adventure story about a path to the beach, this would be it. It consists of boards laid down in an overgrown bog so that you have to tunnel your way through the brush and watch out for any loose rotten boards. Totally awesome! Again, the beach keeps proving to me that it is the perfect place for these "contraption" photographs.

Wildflowers

I pottered down the coast the rest of the afternoon to the point of realizing the sun was going down and I was still more than an hour away from my destination. There weren't any good photographs of sunsets over the seas but I was intrigued by these wildflowers in the setting sun being blown about in the wind.

I had to hightail it down the 101 to get to the cabin before dark. I didn't make it in time - the road got very dark and twisty and turny - but I finally made it there safe and sound and was glad to be out of the car. I drove 370 miles in 9 hours of driving - 14 hours since I left the house in the morning. M and T teased me, "Aren't you glad you drove 14 hours to avoid driving 6 (on the interstate)?" and yes, I am glad I did.

Cheese

I stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory at Tillamook, OR. You can watch the whole assembly line through windows and it's really interesting. The cheese came in to the beginning of the assembly line in 40 pound blocks!

Angel Wings

The Coast

The coast changes a lot as you drive south. Here, it started to feel more like California. The sun came out and the water was gorgeous.

The Waves

the waves catch you! It was instantaneous - once the waves hit the shoes they were soaked...so there's was nothing to do but photograph it and enjoy it!

You can see a larger version on flickr.

when you can take two??

Sometimes, to get the shot, you have to sacrifice a little bit. Sometimes you make a conscious choice, and sometimes...

Why take one picture...

This should start to look familiar to any kids who grew up with "The Goonies". The beaches were beautiful and the waves behaved very strangely. They flatten out as they hit the beach and the surf is very shallow. The waves then spread out far and wide and can catch you unaware because you cannot believe they can make it to as far away as you are standing.

Root Beer

On the beach at Seaside, someone had sweetly proclaimed their love of root beer. You don't see that every day.

Starfish

I next stopped in Seaside, OR which has a lovely big beach. The town is one of those "faux" towns that's built entirely around shopping. Like a more low-brow Carmel or Rockport, MA. Anyways, off in the corner of town is a very shabby looking privately owned Aquarium. It's been in operation since the 30s and it shows. But, they did have some very cool animals and a lot of "touch tanks" where I got to touch starfish, urchins, anemones, and crabs. The anemones seem to just kind of "stick" to your fingers - and that's their sting! It's very cool. The strangest and most interesting animal was the Pacific Giant Octopus. It's impossible to explain it - it's like an alien species - it swims like you might imagine a ghost would fly. And it actually looks at you with it's eyes...very strange.

Chai

My first big stop was in Astoria, OR. It's a strange little town at the north end of the coast that has a lot of old architecture, a somewhat-rundown waterfront, and some artsy funky new stores and galleries opening up. I'd love more time to explore here - it's major claim to fame is that "The Goonies" was filmed there. I only had a little time for a walk and a quick Chai break at the Astoria Cafe. I loved the way it looked against my red table.

The View

This is the view before I left home. It reminded me of when J and I set off to drive the CA coast on vacation in 2003. It was so foggy we hardly saw the coast around San Fran at all.

But today, I am on my way alone to drive down (almost) the entire Oregon Coast in one day. It's a bit ambitious...but I am up for an adventure.

Be prepared, there's about 25 more entries coming up just about the coast of Oregon!

Domestic Goddess

I have had 24 hours that made me feel like a domestic goddess! (something rarely felt) It was one of those days where you multitask to perfection, accomplish tons, and generally feel "Man, I rock at this!"

It included:
- Loads and loads and loads of laundry
- Cooking my favorite lunch.
- Burning to a crisp two pieces of chicken for dinner.
- Sorting things
- Garbage, recycling, compost.
- Getting the mail and packages.
- Cleaning the kitchen
- Watering all the plants

and many many other things while simultaneously working, calling to chat with my dad, spurring on Mr. Apple to get his work over and done with, and preparing for my weekend getaway that I leave for very early tomorrow morning.

I am off to the Oregon Coast to visit the DragonFires, 6 dogs, beautiful beaches, and some very large sand dunes!

Change

This is another new idea that came to me today while playing with my camera on the beach. I would love to show these "before and after shots" or a series of shots showing what happens to the sand, rocks, and water as they interact with each other and bring the tiny, repetitive, relentless changes that make the beach what it is. This really intrigues me. By the time you guys come to visit, the house will likely be filled with these toy images!

Driftwood

There are some photographic ideas, and therefore some successful photographs that just give me chills, goosebumps, and butterflies all at one time! I have found that the images that hit me in this way are fairly often the images that don't resonate at all with others. This one was firing all my synapses today! And I'm not telling how I did it...trade secret!

Sunlight

Went to the beach again today. J has been working (and grumbling) non stop so I think he was as glad to see me go as I was to have the sun and wind on me. I did more experimenting with the new technique and I love it more and more each time. The thing I love about this one is that the sun flare is out of the frame of the picture which makes it look three dimensional to me.

Morning After Bread

J made this new bread today. It's called the morning after bread since it's made only with beer and coffee! It wasn't as good as yesterday's bread...but you know.

X marks the spot

J has been on a crazy bread-baking kick lately. I suspect (shh) that it's a good way to pretend work is not driving him nuts. Not that I'm complaining, but if I keep eating a loaf of bread every day I am not going to fit into my pants much longer.

I didn't do too well with photographing the bread today so you get the bottom of the kitchenaide bowl instead!

p.s. Mom, J was very clear to state that your recipe for pound cake is SUPERIOR to the one he tried this weekend - he'll never look back!

Gray

This pretty much sums it up for today.

Mac and Jack's

We met up with our friend Chris today who is in town for an interview tomorrow. It's been really cool that several people have been able to "swing by" Seattle for short visits since we've moved here. It was good to see him.

The highlight of the day was when we took a brewery tour of our favorite local beer, Mac and Jack's. It's a small brewery that doesn't bottle their beer so you can only get it on tap in the local area or by going direct to the brewery. We got to taste 4 different beers and surprisingly, my favorite was the Porter - and I don't usually like dark beers! We picked up a growler of it and bought a beer poster to hang in the kitchen.

I told J, "Our apartment just got a bit more manly."

Carbon Leaf

This is my point and shoot's artistic interpretation of the Carbon Leaf concert we went to on Saturday night. Crappy D actually took better pictures of this concert so check out J's blog. Carbon Leaf is my current favorite band and it's a folksy/irishy/rock band. There's an accordion, the lead singer also plays the flute and the piccolo (and not in Jethro Tull style) and you can understand all the heart-felt lyrics. The closest comparison we could come up with was a more rocking Guster.

It was raining, but we went to the concert anyway, which is the first hurdle to overcome in learning to live in Seattle - you do whatever you were going to do had it not been raining! We picnicked in the car until the concert was about to start and by then the rain was the kind that you can see in the air but that never actually reaches you and makes you wet.

This was a very civilized concert! The theme was that it was the first "carbon neutral" concert in King County and it had booths featuring info on recycling, composting, making your own "worm bin" and reducing your electric and water usage. Very cool! It also had a gourmet beer and wine garden and a Tully's booth. It was a cute little venue and wasn't at all crowded. We had good seats, and this was J's first time being at a concert that wasn't from the mosh pit. Indeed, there was no mosh pit! It was a little weird that no one stood up to dance or clap - people just sat there - and that we were definitely in the younger half of the crowd. It was still a lot of fun, the band was really good (yeah, Virginia boys!)

Mush Playing

He likes it! He likes it! He's actually getting some excercise! Now to make about 8 more so I can stop crawling under the couch and kitchen cabinets every time he bats this one away...

Cat Toy

It was a gray, rainy, weekend here in Seattle. This is the first rain we've seen in months?! Saturday was a good day to stay inside and experiment with making homemade cat toys. I had seen this done while I was on vacation at the island in July but I hadn't tried it yet. This is the shot of the one that worked - not the goopy, soapy, tangled, hideously ugly messes that I also pulled out of the washing machine today!

It was kind of fun and I can't wait to try more. Accepting your orders for cat toys now... :)

Fun on a Thursday Lunch Break

Today on our lunch break, we drove over to nearby SPU to stand in front of a webcam to be seen by one of my friends over in the UK. We wanted a clever way to make sure she could see us so in addition to standing there waving up into the sky, J had the brilliant idea to throw this giant green ball back and forth - she couldn't miss that!! We had a lot of fun and got a decent arm workout too. Being a college campus, people were mostly like "Oh, cool" and didn't give us any strange looks. I think they though we were just photographing ourselves throwing the ball and they weren't even aware that a far away friend was watching us from the clocktower!

For more takes on this little diversion, check out J's take on it.

Photobooth

Who needs a photobooth when you've got Crappy D at the beach (and a little photoshopping later)? We sat on a log and watched the sunset, which seems like a great luxury. To actually be able to see the entire ball slip little by little behind the mountains (yes, mountains...and over water) is such a neat way to spend a few minutes of the day. We all tend to look over at the general sunset colors in the sky and think "Oh, nice sunset." but to actually sit, stare, and watch it disappear is amazing.

J is really good at holding Crappy D out at arm's length to take our pictures! Crappy D is less good at aiming!

Sunset II

The color on the water...

Sunset I

Of course, the one night I decide I don't really need to take my camera along because I'd rather be unencumbered on the beach and just enjoy...we get the most gorgeous sunset ever! Crappy D didn't do too bad a job here so you can get the idea. But, it was much more beautiful in person. The clouds were amazing and the sun cast its color all over the surface of the water. Add in several sailboats, a few kayakers, and people of all generations and walks of life sitting on the beach to watch the sunset and you have a pretty idyllic scene.

Skipping Stones

J is trying to teach me to skip stones. We made a lot of progress in the first lesson (going from one large, close to shore, giant "plop" to actually getting 1 or 2 skips) but when we go days in between beach trips I forget and need to be taught all over again.

Art

I killed time while waiting for the car by walking around the industrial neighborhood of the tire shop. It was like a mini-warehouse district. I passed electricians, plumbers, woodworkers, metalworkers, a maritime life-raft company, a place restoring interiors on old Beetles and Karmann Ghias, and many other cool buildings and companies.

For those of you who know my "pee scale"...I did have to walk underneath a highway bridge where about 4 men were living. I smelled pee level "1" (out of 5) and that is only the second time I have smelled pee since I moved to Seattle.

Car

Weird, unproductive, day. I spent most of it getting my tire fixed. It had a nail in it.

The Big Dipper

On our late-night meteor-hunting walk back from the Indian Place, J said he was going to take a photograph of the big dipper. I said, "No way, you can't!" and just to prove it I added "See, even my camera can't do it." As I clicked the shutter, which remained over for a very long time, a car drove by in the night...and there you have - my attempt at not being able to capture the big dipper.

But, this made me want to learn how to do star photos so I am going to attempt it soon - as soon as some photogenic clouds appear in the night sky!

Playing

Here's me - I can't resist an empty playground to play on and this one was super awesome! It was all metal and ropes and climbing equipment. If they made this in adult size they would call in a climbing gym and it would cost $100 a month to join!

J and the Space Needle

And here is J holding a miniature version of the Space Needle.

J in Seattle

We went on a very nice, very long, walk from our house to the Indian Restaurant at the bottom of our hill. It took about an hour including stops for photos and a few minutes to play on the playground.

Here is J being serious in Seattle.

The Mountains

I have been trying to get a good shot of the mountains that you can see off in the distance from the top of our street. You can't always see them because of clouds or haze but sometimes they seem so clear and so big. It always feels like a good omen when I see them (like the dogs on the Brooklyn rooftop or the Neckface graffiti - don't ask!).

It's not the greatest photo in the world but it conveys the idea...

Ice

The cartoons may appear unsympathetic to a poor, injured, J. But, after months of telling him to "ICE YOUR DAMN LEG" and/or "Maybe you should get it checked out" after EVERY SINGLE run when he complained about the pain...my sympathies have worn down a little bit. I have spent the time wracking my brain for ways to gently explain how/why/who/what/where/when icing any sore part on your body is so wonderfully helpful. I have run a lot, read about running a lot, talked about running a lot, and (oh by the way) run the marathon*...so you'd think he'd'a listened!

This is much later in the day, when for an unknown reason, he finally succumbed to my nagging and iced his damn leg!



*Yeah, this is one you get to pull out for special occasions when you need it...

p.s. If you'll go back to my previous post, I think you'll find both the couch and J's outfit very realistic!

Are you sure?

Later in the afternoon...after we got the call about the clear x-ray, after I spent 20 minutes reading aloud to J from WebMD all about shin splints, their treatment and prevention...