A ROUGH BAR TODAY

Up in Bandon today and we took at quick trip over to the jetty. Wow! The wind
was really blowing and the tide coming in was throwing a lot of water around.
It's always exciting to see. I'd like to get up to Cape Arago sometime this winter
and capture some of the action up there. That's spectacular! Although over-photographed.
I got a number of shots like these but these were two of the best.

MICHAEL THE TRUCK

For those of you who are Oh-so-curious as to what Michael, Norm's
new truck looks like.....well here he is! Ta-Da!! What REALLY catches
MY eye is the reflection of the clouds in the front window. Rain
tomorrow.

OLD GLORY

I'm sure that all who live around the south coast area are familiar with the
sight in Bandon of our Old Glory waving in the breezes. It is an ENORMOUS
flag! I mean REALLY, REALLY big. And it never fails to stir our hearts
and our national pride when we see her. I read that this year they will take her
down and fly a smaller flag when the weather is nasty. That's OK so long as we
know that they'll be flying her again when we have our sunny days back.
Isn't she beautiful??

VIEWS OF COOS RIVER

A few of the views of Coos River looking towards Charleston.....except the first one. That looks toward 'Hollering Point" to the north. I wish I could
have spent more time there as the colors and view were changing so rapidly.
Charleston always reminded me of the setting of the TV series "Murder, She
Wrote" with Angela Lansbury........for those of you old enough to remember!
A quaint little seaport town and, I'm sure, filled with it's own share of human
characters. Part of the charm............

AUTUMN SUNSET

Norm finally bought his new truck today. This gorgeous sunset is what accompanied
us home from North Bend. I think Norm was feeling very pleased with himself and his
new toy and he readily agreed to stop off and give me a chance to take a few quick
photos. Then I saw what he was REALLY doing! He was checking out some new
something or other on the front of the truck......which he has named Michael. Michael
is the young salesman that sold us (himself, AND) the truck. He is newly over from
Sligo, Ireland. I think he calls his Mom everyday and probably his girlfriend too. He'll
be going back for a holiday month long stay and is hoping to talk his girlfriend in moving
to the states also. He was really such an open and fresh personality....the kind you'd hope
to see more of. So....if any of you are thinking of buying a Toyota....be sure and ask for
Michael of Ireland.

CACTUS

This Christmas cactus hasn't bloomed since last winter....now here it is pushing
Christmas on us already! As if the stores weren't bad enough! It's such an unusual
color and is looking so lovely, it's to be forgiven. But a reminder that the holidays
are coming fast.

STORMS COMING

The other day the warning flag at the dock was flapping away and the
waves getting larger and stronger as the day went on. Most all boats
were in dry dock and secure in case winds got too strong. These floats
on the back of one of the boats appealed to me........there I am in that
"orange" mode again!

GOD'S COUNTRY

Here are a couple of scenes that we have to feast our eyes on around the area.
The photo at the top is a sunset. We face the south so the real vibrant color is
not usually seen from this view.
The second is some of the waves hitting our poor ole' breaking-down jetty. When
we first moved here to Port Orford, it seemed to me that the jetty was higher and
I know, didn't have any holes in it. A few years ago there were some really wicked
storms that came through. It caused a lot of damage not only to the jetty but
around the area also.
Some of the folk lore around here says that whenever their is a "cap" on Humbug
Mt., (you can see it in the background) that there will be rain. I've never it known
it to be anything other.

LAKE GARRISON GLOW

I was playing around with light editing. I've taken
shots of this old dead tree in the shallows of the lake
before and it always looks too congested.....too messy.
I like the glow though. It softens all the rough edges
and I think creates more of sense of unity.

PROFILE IN CONCENTRATION

Since the weather was nasty today and I didn't take any photos, I
went to some older files. Gabriella is always a favorite of mine. Here
she is concentrating very hard in Kelly's class on tie-dying. I must
be really stuck in the color, soft orange, this week. Seems most of my recent
posts have been in this favorite color of mine. Well....ONE of my favorites.
I'd never limit my preferences to just one. How dull, dull, dull and boring that
would be!

GATHERING STORM OF PELICANS

Sometimes what we do don't always carry common sense. I'm trying very hard to
get over the flu. Norm, thinking it would do me good to get out a bit, took me out for a short trip to town to pick up some things
he's ordered. Instead of straight home, we drove down to Paradise Pt. and then
the dock. Out on the jetty were ALL these pelicans. I don't see that many of them where we live,
but read recently in the news that this year there were thousands of the big birds
stopping off on the south Oregon coast along their migration path. Since I never
go anywhere without my camera these days....of course I had to see what I could
shoot. I complained my bad luck of not having my telephoto lens on so instead used
my smaller one. These are the results. Everytime I went to return to the car, another
one or more would fly closer and overhead. "Uch!! Wait one more minute"...snap-snap!
Then I'd go to get back in the car.....here comes another one.....out I'd jump.....snap-snap. This must
have happened about 4 or 5 times at least. The wind was beginning to kick up and it was not
warm......Finally, common sense returned as my body began to feel hypothermic and
my cough drowned out the wind. So as you look at these, remember how a passion
for a new art, at times, carries action but little else. And maybe someday soon I'll

warm up again!

AND STILL THE BLOOMS COME!

This is probably my favorite rose and since winter cold doesn't seem to sticking
around, I'm continuing to get more rose buds. I was experimenting with different
effects and textures and these two are a couple I rather like. How 'bout you?
Pretty beautiful, huh?

SUNSET

Two views of last night's sunset looking towards the south-west. The lighter one,
(second photo) was taken first...then the darker one a few minutes later. We've had
clear skies lately. When the clouds come in the sunsets are spectacular!

COLORS OF THE SEASON

I just wanted to show off the pretty colored mums that are growing
on our deck. Actually, I think they are gaillardias and the yellow in the
back are the mums. We're having some beautiful weather and I'm hoping
to be over this darn flu tomorrow so I can go out shooting.

FEATHERS

I found some steller blue jay feathers last week while on a walk.
Definitely not a good sign for the fate of the jay. But today I though
I'd experiment a little. I like the complimentary colors in
both as well as the texture in the second. You can't tell very well
but the leaves and feathers are floating in a bowl of water.
OK...since I have the flu today, I'm going to go read a good
book.