A Busy Month

August has been more or less flying by at a breakneck speed. We got to start off with a shindig for Jon's 62nd birthday over at Pat's. Suzanne cooked up a bird on the BBQ and the whole family gathered to celebrate Jon making it to the first social security check. Even with commercial cupcakes, it was a tasty event.

The following week Eden and I went camping at Kulaloch, Washington. The campsite was absolutely beautiful, and it was just a short walk down to the beach, which was amazing in it's own right. The entry to said beach is nearly 20 feet deep in driftwood, making for treacherous footing. Silly me, I didn't even wait for the wood to take a tumble. Of course I took the fall in traditional photographer's fashion, making sure that none of the equipment impacted more than I could help, which meant that although the camera survived, I paid for it in skinned limbs. We got an even more impressive evening, with the sun lensing through the clouds in an interesting rainbow fashion in early afternoon and a pretty sunset to finish the day. Even better, it turned out by chance that that night was the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, so we spent the late evening watching fire streak across the sky together.

We decided to take the long way home the following day, following highway 101 north and around to I-5. Of course with certain people's fascination for the Twilight series, we couldn't resist stopping in Forks to look around. In point of fact, it was a pretty sad sight - the entire town is glomming on to the popularity of the series, and obviously won't survive once that wanes. Honestly, the place didn't even bear a reasonable resemblance to the description in the books or movies. As we continued on to La Push, things got significantly better - the scenery was beautiful. We were planning to find another spot to camp for the night, but those plans were washed out with some impressively torrential rain along the way, so in the end we just headed home.

Eden felt poorly most of the next week, so I was somewhat restricted in locations to shoot. It actually worked out fairly well, as I found a couple of places near the west end of Mill Plain that had some great birds, both lakes and rivers. For the most part, it was a nicely isolated situation, with just a little bit of company from time to time. It also gave me an excuse to get some time in on the bike, as there wasn't any access by car in several places.

The weekend of the 22nd was another market weekend, actually the official opening of the new Bill Naito Legacy Fountain. Sales were slow, but it was still fun to see all the people enjoying the new waterworks. It's crazy how much fun kids can have getting wet.

A friend of a friend turned out to need a pet sitter in the middle of the week, so we took advantage of the situation, both to get out of the house for a while and to make up some of the money from the previous weekend. Both of Sean's dogs are great, and it was hard to take a bad picture of either.

As it turned out, Sean returned early from his trip, so we took a long loop around Mount Hood, stopping at Little Zigzag Falls and Lake Trillium along the way. Many, many good shots to be had here, which we of course took advantage of. It seemed as though the dragonflies on the lake were in mating season, as they zoomed back and forth crazily, sometimes banging into each other mid air with surprisingly loud impacts.

Finally, we headed to a potluck after market this past Saturday. The theme for the event was Mexican cooking, giving me a chance to try out a recipe for Bolillos. They ended up a little plainer than I anticipated, but it seemed like people enjoyed them. Unfortunately, even though the event was supposed to be for marketers only, it ended up crashed by both beggars and general public, making for a fairly uncomfortable situation and less than adequate food, as of course those crashing did not bring their own contributions. Regardless, it was nice to spend some time with friends outside of having to mind respective booths.

2009-08-31 Picdump [Show images on map] [Fullscreen slideshow]

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Random bits and pieces

I've got a new project in process that has been distracting me from posting here for the last couple of weeks, which will be revealed shortly (Even Eden hasn't been filled in on it, yet). As part of that project and in line with trying to get my digital life in line, pretty much every photo I own has been thrown into Adobe Lightroom and has been geotagged and keyworded extensively, which in turn means that those of you that are interested have a few new toys to play with on the flickr stream.

Firstly, you'll notice that all of the image slideshows from here on out and on older posts now have a link to [Show these images on map], which does exactly what it says. If you like, you can also see the entire collection on a map here. It's a fun way to explore what's been going on and to see where we've been.

Secondly, you'll now be able to find our shots of friends and family (and whatever else) by tag. You can see a tag cloud of the 150 most populous terms here, or a complete list here. Note that the tag cloud gets rid of spaces and such, so your name might end up looking kind of strange.

A more detailed post as to what we've been up to will follow, but for now, here's a picdump that never got it's own post earlier in the month to tide you over.

Picdump 2009-08-13 [Show images on map] [Fullscreen slideshow]

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

And now it's August

July was a fairly eventful month for us - of course we started it all with a bang on the 4th, after finding a number of very good deals at the various fireworks displays. Favorites were of course the various mortars and jumbo bees. It's amazing what can be done with a few chemicals and a cardboard tube.

We found a new (to us) swimming hole over near Stevenson, Washington, at Home Valley Park. It's been a fun retreat whenever the heat has risen, and we had fun introducing Cassie and Nick to the place. It's somewhat secluded and not too very popular, so we haven't had too much interruption while we've been there. The girls, especially, love playing along the river shore there for hours at a time.

I also got around to taking a picture of one of Eden's very favorite traffic signs that happens to be along the way. There are actually 3 or 4 of them in a row, and the curves in the road that they warn about are really not too severe, but the signs never fail to put a smile on her face. They're just so very comical, and any truck that found itself at such an angle would be in some pretty deep trouble... it's just something else.

Pat had a block party/barbecue mid-month that was a lot of fun (and tasty). It gave us a nice chance to hang out with the family, and especially to see Sean's son Nicolas. A cute kid that's not self conscious in front of the camera is a lot of fun to play with. Libby's cat Lucy is also especially photogenic, as she's proven before.

While I was waiting for my Canon Powershot 110IS to be repaired, I actually came across a wonderful deal on a fairly modern digital SLR, the Canon Rebel XS. My grandparents had actually given me a sizable amount of money recently, which let me take advantage of this. It's been a lot of fun to play with, but unfortunately after a week or so, the shutter started locking up every few shots, which is impressively annoying when you're sure you've locked down the perfect shot. So, to put it shortly, I bloody well love Canon cameras, but I've got to be a bit more picky about how sketchy my suppliers are. The good news is that the 110IS (which is an impressively capable camera for it's size) came back not too long after the SLR was returned, and a new copy of the SLR should arrive next week.

On the 23rd, I went down to my parents in an effort to trim a few hours from my upcoming trip to OIT. The weather was nice, and I didn't have any real commitments that day, so I spent most of it meandering around as much as I liked, turning on a whim and just occasionally making sure that the GPS showed me trending south. It was a nice way to spend the day, and it even finished with a nice pasta salad outside with the family, just watching the birds play around the feeders.

Unfortunately, the next day was not quite so kind. I left at 2:30am in order to make the event opening at 7am, and bumped into a curious stray dog along the way that found his breakfast in a trash bag along the road. For a while it looked like I was going to have enough time to try and take a few sunrise shots, but it was not to be. Turns out it's a lot harder to figure out exactly when the sun is going to actually pop over the horizon than I thought it was going to be, and I ended up without a clear east view when it finally happened. It was just as well though, as I made it to the parking lot at 6:56am. Bottom line, it was worth it, as I got a lot of things handled, but it cost. Final count, 12 hours on the road, 520 miles driven, and 7.5 hours at the event for the day. As a kind of bonus, I think I came across the only mountain with snow on it in July. Given the temperature spikes we've been having, that was interesting as well.

I spent the following weekend at market with Eden, which is a change from our usual routine. With the heat setting in, it was nice to be able to give her a few breaks along the way. It's always remarkable, to me, to see Eden interacting with her vendor friends - they're an incredibly tight knit and supportive group, not to mention some very talented people. Beyond all that, the various buskers are always worth shooting, as many of them have great energy while they're performing.

This past weekend was utterly amazing. We spent it camping with friends down at Cape Lookout, by Tillamook, for our friend Vash's 35th birthday. Temperatures in Vancouver and Portland had been topping 100 degrees all week, but at the coast we stayed in the comfortable 70 degree range, thanks to a permanent layer of mist that simply rose to just above the treetops during the day and came down to ground level at dark. It was great to watch it move in towards the end of the night. As Eden pointed out, it was exactly like the "Nothing" from the Never-Ending story, just eating away at the edges of our little contained world there. I had a lot of fun just hiking around in the morning to try to get some wildlife pictures before everyone else got to the trails.

Of course, given Vash's Circled by Hounds affiliations, we couldn't get together without having the group play a few rousing tunes. Beyond the wonderful music, they're all a lot of fun to play with, photographically. Vash is a tricky one to get, as he very obviously gets absorbed by the music, making it a bit hard to catch him looking up, but it's worth it if you can manage the timing. Kathryn and Matthew, on the other hand, are hard to catch a bad photo with. They're so incredibly expressive, and obviously very in love with one another as well. It's kind of funny when they're actually playing, as they're very much in one another's personal space, making fiddle playing an exercise in constant anticipation, just waiting for the bow to finally collide. I haven't seen it happen yet, but I can't imagine it hasn't.

All in all, it's been a great month, and I can't wait to see what August will bring.

Picdump 2009-08-07 [Show image locations on map] [Fullscreen slideshow]


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

MIA

Well, there's been another break since I've posted here - I'm going to have to blame that on finals, even though they've been done for a couple of weeks now. Other than cramming and recovering from said studying, we've been doing a lot! Looking back at where we left off, you folks haven't been caught up since the end of May, so let's start there!

Eden and I actually spent most of Memorial day apart this year; her family has a tradition of visiting Grandpa Dan's gravesite and sharing a meal; what with Portland traffic, she was gone almost the entire day. Since I knew I had a few hours, I decided to go get lost with a camera! I had a lot of fun just taking turns at random and watching the scenery for interesting things to shoot. I ended up mostly north of Battle Ground, and saw a bunch of parks that would be nice to work in, but of course they were too crowded with the holiday. After drifting through some amazingly vibrant clover fields, I actually ended up at Lucia Falls, and although the park itself was essentially inaccessible, there were just a whole bunch of amazing houses along the river to browse through and dream. All in all, it was a peaceful way to spend the day.

Since Eden was essentially still laid up, save for intermittent bursts of energy, I played in the kitchen a bit over the next few days, and have added a few more recipes to the list of food I can make that Eden likes. This pic is an incredibly easy pretzel recipe that I found a while ago and had been wanting to try. The results are delicious, and I've had the opportunity to make 4 or 5 batches now, each time getting better. There is a slight problem of over expansion that I'm still trying to figure out how to manage (rolling the dough down to make the twists works until about a 1 cm diameter, then the dough starts falling apart). Regardless, they've pretty heavenly with Beaver sweet hot mustard. I also made a batch of apple pies (best crust ever here) and some vegetarian lasagna that got some fairly critical acclaim. I've told the family that it's just a Betty Crocker recipe with a few liberties taken, but they insist on giving me all the blame .

Eden's nephew Nicholas arrived for the summer on the 7th, so we spent a lazy afternoon at Vivian's greeting him. He's not self-conscious in front of the camera, so I got a few good shots of him on the skateboard, as well as a few of Suzanne playing on his bike. They both were great sports.

On the 13th, Eden and I went wandering again; although we took the long way to get there, we actually ended up close enough that I had to show Eden Lucia Falls, and our possible dream homes. We spent at least a couple of hours wandering around the amazing rock formations and falls there. There were actually a number of fish jumping down the falls, but I wasn't fast enough to catch more than their splashes on the camera. The water there is pretty cool too - crystal clear at the top, with a bunch of standing foam and even what appears to be red algae bloom in one section. I also got the chance to spend a morning with Suzanne and Fizgig at the local dog park - it's awfully nice to have her home again, and we got to talk for quite a while.

The gay pride parade on the 14th was a blast, and a great opportunity to play with the camera. Nearly everyone had a great time - it really seemed like the performers were having fun. I was really impressed by the number of churches and politicians openly marching there - it speaks well for the community.
Unfortunately, there was one member of the press that did a good job of trying to ruin the parade for everyone in a two block radius; she kept on jumping in front of floats and stopping them until they posed just the way she wanted. Of course once they acceded to her demands and she finally got out of the way the float would speed past at 30+ mph just trying to catch up. Finally one of the performers got fed up with it and beaned her with an oversize soccer ball that was handy. Seriously, this guy is my hero!

Cassie came home for a few days before heading on to the east coast, so we took advantage of Nick's current proximity and went to visit. Apparently one of the bigwigs in Mt. Hood was a former crew member on the ship, so the town threw a big shindig as the boat arrived. The coast guard took the opportunity to do a few helicopter drills, and a few local groups set up mock pirates and British soldiers to exchange cannon fire. It was nice to see them both, and a nice preview for later in the summer, when they'll both spend some time living here.

We spent the 18th at the coast with Cassie, roasting marshmallows and just enjoying the sights. There wasn't quite enough wind to play with the kites, but it was still a good time. We finished the evening at the local Mo's, with delicious fish and chips. The girls had some fun scrawling in the sand, although Cassie's "C + N" got a bit washed away before I got a good shot of it, which of course made Cass miss Nick again!

Eden and I headed to Long Beach on the 21st on the basis of several recommendations, but unfortunately it wasn't what we were looking for. Despite a visibly burgeoning tourist industry, the beach itself was just a disappointment - pretty much just flat and nothing, even when we headed another 10 miles north to the Pacific Pines national park. I guess we're just more compatible with the Oregon coast. After that disappointment, we ended up heading back down to Cannon Beach for another marshmallow roasting session. Unfortunately, just as soon as we got the fire set up, rain clouds blew in and forced us to evacuate. Doubly unfortunate, my camera decided to abandon pocket at exactly that moment and got sand in the gearing, so there will likely not be any new shots for a while until I find a place to fix it for a bearable price.

Finally, we went down to Philomath to celebrate my birthday early with the parents, as well as a belated Mother's and Father's day. I did get a new Ipod touch, as I had requested, which makes me mighty happy. It should make studying on the go much more practical. I also got a partial diagnosis of a pain that had been bothering me in my left knee, that also happened to blossom in intensity on the trip down; it appears I have some sort of infection just waiting to invade the synovial fluid in my kneecap, so I'm on antibiotics and laid up for the next few days, as that possible invasion is apparently a Bad Thing (TM). I think that catches everything up, so I'll close here.

Picdump 06-23-09 [Show image locations on map] [Fullscreen slideshow]

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.