UP THE COQUILLE RIVER

Took a little jaunt up the Coquille River today, to the boat ramp just beyond Riverview Kennel. It's been a while since I've been up there and was surprised to see a nice over-look of the marsh. See photo #3. Of course as soon as I got out of the car the sun hid behind a cloud and the tide was out. I was lucky to find a place that had some attractive grasses instead of looking just mud puddles. It looks like a really good spot to go birding...... on any other day but today, that is.

Isn't the robin looking like he's just sooo ready for spring?? And he was fussing at me a little.....maybe telling me that this was his territory. (Didn't know I looked like a robin, did you? me neither.)

The river itself had the tide rushing out and not too many birds around. I did see a couple of cormarants floating down the river....then every once in a while I'd hear the flap of wings and there they'd be skimming along the top of the water only to land in another spot. I'm seeing more and more signs of spring though. I saw some rhoddies in bloom up in Coos Bay. And there is a particular grove of alder trees growing in the middle of a large expanse of firs up on Beaverhill Road. I enjoy seeing them in the winter because with all their leaves fallen and at a distance, they take on sort of pastel and slightly fuzzy look. I noticed today that the pastel color is changing; deepening a little.

And of course, I know everyone has noticed the acacia trees coming into full bloom......Achoo!!

'scuse me.

BEACH-COMBING COUNTRY

BEACH-COMBING COUNTRY
Originally uploaded by Snap-Smith

My files seem to be a little confused so we'll have to look at a smaller photo today, unless you double click it. Then you will be taken over to my Flickr page.
Anyway.....this was one of the pretty sights the other day on the way through Bandon. You really can't see them without enlarging the photo quite a bit, but way over towards the pointed rocks, at the base of the rounded cliff, there are two lonely little people beach-combing. I'd have missed them completely but I was checking my pixels and then saw their fuzzy little bodies, all bent over looking for some treasure. In taking this shot I was lucky to have a few minutes of weak sunlight.
And now......I'm thoroughly engrossed in the Vikings vs the Saints football game. Brete Favre just got hurt and things aren't looking good for my favorite team. Booooo! Well, hopefully things will turn around. Fingers crossed. (and toes).

THE MARINA

Todays photo was taken out at the Charleston Marina. I've taken photos there before but this is another part of the marina. You can see part of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in the background. I've always loved the look of the Institute....all the cute little shingled cottages lined up. They look like they'd fit right in back in Cape Cod or thereabouts. I heard a number of sea lions or seals barking loudly but they were greeting an returning fishing boat way over on the other side of the marina, so no shots today. We made a number of stops on the way home. The sky was constantly changing but always stunning. There were large thunder clouds moving around the horizon looking beautiful and puffy one minute and ominous and threatening the next. I took a lot of those pictures......as if I didn't have enough sky and cloud shots!! But they are always new aren't they?
**An added warning here.....If you haven't yet seen "Julie and Julia", just don't go grocery shopping too soon after......the Illusions of Grandeur might get'cha! Now what am I going to do with all this food?? And I'd rather be out shooting!!

HISTORY LESSON 101

This is a replica of my great-great grandmother's home in San Francisco before the big 1906 earthquake and fire. She was a widow alone with 6 daughters and decided to turn her home into a boarding house for gentlemen only.....hoping the girls would find husbands, I guess. One of her boarders was a jeweler by trade and in the evenings began carving this replica of the house with his pen knife. His eyesight must have been exceptional because of the fine detail he included in this little house. It only measures about 5" X 10". The artistic part really shows as you can take off the roof and see all of the top floor, complete with furniture and those little extra things of what was found there at that time....chests, beds with cover, candle, those little porcelin bowls used for during-the-night-necessities. After the tour of the top floor, you lift off that and find the entire first floor.....kitchen with table and all the individual chairs, the table is set of course. The stove, a dog and some people. In the front sitting room is my Aunt Lily playing the piano along side a table that sits in the center of the room with the Holy Bible on it. The back porch has the outhouse, shower room, clothes lines you can see on the very top in this first photo. I don't know how long it took the man to carve this, but it is amazing, isn't it? I'm sure one of the San Francisco museums would love to have it. The home had to be destroyed to help prevent the fire from spreading and devastating more of the city. My grandmother remember them having to go to a 'tent city' up on Twin Peaks and she could look down and see much of the city burning.
I still have the trunk that my great grandfather made that held many of the items that were taken from that home.....what items that they could carry were in that trunk as the house was being blown up. I treasure every nick and dent on it and what it meant.

THE WOODWORKER

Can you tell that Norm might have been a career Navy guy? Anchors away! He's still very much a Navy man....meant in the very nicest sense.

He is also a wonderful woodworker, although he'd try to tell you differently. He made all these different anchors, all his own designs. He had been making beautiful trunks...think of the kind that was used when people traveled by ship using wooden chests....the kind with slatted and rounded lids. As an extra little bonus, he made these anchors and attached them with a leather cord and a couple of red, white & blue wooden beads, to the handle. Very unique and individual for each person who's lucky enough to have one of these heirlooms.

As a photographer, I particularly love the way the colors of the anchors are rich and the reflection shows so well against the wood of the hutch. Tomorrow I have a wooden heirloom of another type to show you. I think many of you will find it very interesting. See you then!

REMAINS OF SUMMER

This was once a bright yellow flowered plant that everyone sees around during the summer. Can't drag the name up, though. It doesn't look so pretty right now but in black and white it makes sort of a nice contrast, don't you think?
Today we had more rain and wind, off and on. I was hoping for a little more of a break between storms but that didn't happen. So, it was a good day to make some muffins, chicken and dumplings for dinner and get some reading done. Just a quiet day. We all need those sometimes.

A BREAK BETWEEN STORMS

The wild and wooley weather of the last two days finally subsided today...at least for a while. We thought we might take a short walk and get in some exercise before another one rolls in later today. It was drizzling lightly and I had my camera inside my jacket for most of the walk. And always!!!! I could kick myself for not remembering to change over to my telephoto lens! The deer seen above would have been just great to do a close up of. They stayed where they were, carefully watching my every move, while I shot one photo after another. Well....maybe next time.

This second one is a piece of dead branch that we found with some kind of conk or lichen.....not a mushroom I don't think.....but whatever it is I looks pretty, doesn't it? If it is a conk, it's hard to believe that these little guys would grow so large and become so hard that certain talented artists carve, woodburn or paint on them.

So.....that was about it for today. The forecasts say we'll be getting a series of storm coming in with lots of wind again. And rain. again! So find a good book, a cozy fire, and a hearty bowl of soup

and you'll be all set!

SEASONS

Such a nasty day out!! The wind part of our weather gauge has conked out but some of those gusts are pretty strong. So...I'm cleaning out some of my old photos and trying to make some order in my Adobe E. files. I came across these two photos that remind me of the movement from one season to the next. Sort of like our lives, huh? The lichen is a little gem that really caught my attention this winter. At times it's alone like in this shot; other times it almost smothers a tree, looking like pale green blossoms filling the graceful limbs. The way the light sometimes catches the lichen can actually look like it's glowing. And it's at it's best when there is rain about.....Winter. (Well, maybe not all the time, since this IS Oregon!).

But ready to move onto the scene when winter gives up it's hold is Spring. This bud on our rhododendron is just waiting to burst out in full bloom and glory. I've noticed in the spring when all the rhoddy's are in bloom, that the shabbiest hovel can take on the look of an enchanting cottage when some ignored rhododendron refuses to be ignored any longer! Hugh boisterous

colorful shrubs just shout that it's a new season.....Spring! Warmer temperatures, more limber limbs and feelings of renewal and an "I CAN!" attitude.

I'm ready!!

In taking a quick drive down to the dock today we saw that the gale wind flags were in place again. It was so wet out and instead of getting me and possibly my camera wet, I decided to cheat a little and use a couple of shots from last week when we had the same two weather flags up.....although I know that last weeks was far stronger in force than today's. For those who don't live here I'll explain that I purposely left a bit of the cement wall on the bottom of each photo to show how high the waves were lifting once they hit the large rocks below. The second photo just shows how churned up the water was that day. Norm always reminds me that from where we are on land, it might not look like much but when you happen to be in a small (or medium) boat out there on that water, you're really going for a wild ride. So....I'll take my dose of excitement in the watching, thank you very much!

NO PHOTO SHOW

Well, my "Add image" doesn't seem to be working today. I didn't have much to show today anyway, but I hope this is the Blogger's problem and not mine. I'll keep trying periodically throughout the day. If you don't see any photos, though, you'll know why.
Drat!!

Ahh-Haaa!

OK.....I turned off my pop-up blocker....I've never had this particular problem before, but who knows what kind of a mood my computer will be in from one day to the next!
The day isn't too inviting to go out and shoot. So a few days ago I took a quick pic of this fish a friend brought me back from a river cruise up the Amazon that she took. I love the colors! And the design appeals to me a lot also. The wall color looks terrible however, and is reminding me that I still have a new, unopened and unused, can of paint just waiting to be brushed on in that kitchen. But I'd rather be out shooting.

AROUND TOWN

These were a couple of shots I took the last few days. This first one was above Battlerock....up the street from the Mitchell's B & B. I really like this view and will undoubtedly go back in weather that's a little more mild. This was where I was holding on to the side of a house in keep my balance in the wind. Invigorating??

And the second one is the beautiful little creek that crosses under Hwy 101 into Lake Garrison. It's one of my favorite sights....all year long as it is constantly changing as different grasses bloom, change colors, show more water or less.....and the curve of the creek itself is appealing to me. Since I've taking up photography I've seen much more of not only Port Orford but different places in the south coast area. And there's still so much more for me to see.....and you will too as I take you along with me!!

A LITTLE CHANGE OF PACE

The winds are still blowing today, but not quite as wild. There was one crazy moment when I went up to the top of the hill on the north side of Battlerock and overlooking that little beach. I had to hold onto the building to stay upright. But yesterday there were a couple of places around our area that were deceivingly mild looking for some photo shooting. These grasses were in a shallow lagoon on one of the boat ramps on Garrison Lake. I like grasses and these were quite tall and had just the right amount of wispiness to suit me.

This second photo is that same boat ramp. As some of you might have noticed, I've been experimenting with my new Adobe softward editing. How do you like it?

ANOTHER VIEW OF STORMY COAST

Beautiful, isn't it??