Storm in The East

I was on my way home Sunday when a storm started brewing east of the freeway. I had to stop and grab a few photos because the sky was so beautiful. I hoped the storm would catch up with me before I got home but it held off.

Bridge in Fog

I headed up the coast again over the weekend. I think I'm turning into a gypsy in my old age. I love the mottled look of this bridge. I don't remember exactly where I took it (that comes with old age too) but I think its somewhere between Florence and New Port Oregon. Photowannabe do you remember where this bridge is?

Row Of Trees

Misty Blue

Near Florence Oregon

Just Another Cool Old Barn

A Champion Moment

My grandson got in a great head butt shot at his soccer game yesterday and of course grammy was snapping away. I like the look on the refs face. Raymon is 7 and in 2nd grade soccer.

Eagle Island

At the Wildlife Safari (my other blog) there is an island where an eagle lives. He was injured by a hunter and can't fly so he lives on his own island where he is safe from harm. This little house is his shelter from the weather. I've driven by it so many times but have never seen the reflection in the water so clear as it was today.



Here he is sitting on his favorite perch under his house.

Sails and Newport Bridge

The Newport bridge is beautiful by itself but the two sailboats made a better composition. I did some post processing on this. I think I like it. I'll have to look at it a few more times before I really decide.



This is what the photo looked like before cropping and processing. It was too blah to leave it as is.



And one more version.



Which do you prefer?

Nature's Star

This is another one from the 30 Day Macro Challenge on DPChallenge. This is part of a Mexican Tomato plant.

Surfer Dudes... Waitin' For Waves

This series is from my last trip up the coast. I had a fantastic view from a cliff over looking the ocean. There were lots of surfers waiting for waves.



Then I noticed one free-thinking surfer who decided not to wait for waves to come to him, but to go out to meet the waves.



and sometimes catch a small one back..





He was quite good at balancing while rowing the board.



Occasionally he had an oopsie but he never lost his oar :)

The Look Out

I really like this fence and the grass around it. I like the crow but I don't like the fact that he is cut into with the horizon and I don't like the faded out water.

Miniature Flower

I'm doing a 30 day Macro Challenge on DPChallenge where I post a macro shot every day for 30 days. Some of those photos might end up here, such as this one. This is a tiny flower from a Mexican Tomato plant in my garden.

Newport Murals

When I saw these murals on the walls of buildings in Newport, Oregon I thought of Kaye and her photos of the beautiful street art in St Paul.

United Way Event - Hero's Breakfast

I had a fun morning. I volunteered to take photos for a local United Way funding raising event called "Hero's Breakfast". It took place at Roseburg High School where families were served breakfast and the kids could participate in several events including puppet shows, "air art" and having their photos taken with their favorite "hero".

It proved to be a wonderful way to spend a few hours. The kids were so fun and funny and the heros were.. well... heroic.






These were some of the high school kids who helped serve breakfast.


A group shot of all our brave heros.

Mount Hood

This is a view of Mount Hood from the hotel where I stayed for a Poverty Conference in Portland Oregon this week.

Mt Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon, standing 11,249 feet high. Even though it looks as if it is just across the river, it is 50 miles from Portland. It is considered an active volcano but the last eruption was in 1805.

Mount Hood is part of the Mount Hood National Forest, which has 1.2 million acres (4,900 km²), four designated wilderness areas and more than 1,900 km (1,200 mi) of hiking trails. It also has six ski areas including Timberline, the only ski area in North America that operates 12 months of the year.

Heros At Sea

While I was on the coast and in Portland this past week it seemed I was in the right place at the right time several times. This was one of those times.

The Coast Guard at New Port was coming in to the bay. At first I thought the bigger boat was pulling the smaller one but it wasn't so. What I like about this photo is that almost everything is gray which really makes the red colors stand out.

At Day's End

I'm back. Had a good time but its good to be back home. I took jillions of photos but this isn't one.

This is one I took during my last trip up the coast. I hadn't posted it yet because it was entered in a challenge at DPC. The challenge was to enter your favorite of all the shots you took during September. This was my fav. It didn't place well (as usual).. 132nd out of 612. The competition on that site is incredible.

Lexie With Crackers

Sorry for the gloom and doom in yesterday's post. This one is much brighter.

This little beauty with the crackers on her face is Lexie. She is the grandaughter of a co-worker.

I'm headed up to Portland for a conference so this will be my last post until Wed evening Oct 11.

Anger and Frustration

This morning, this was where my MP3 player and heater/air conditioner were :(

This happened in the small parking lot where I work some time between 3:30 and 5:30 this afternoon. Broad daylight in a busy area in my little town.

I just HATE this. I'm sure my insurance will pay for the damage and the nice officer I spoke to said chances are, since I have the make, model and serial number for the MP3 player, it will show up at a pawn shop somewhere eventually and I'll get it back. The thing is, is this is my designated parking space and I'll never feel safe parking there again. Many times I've worked until after dark and my car is the only one in the poorly lit lot and it hasn't bothered me. Now my sense of security is gone.

This is the first time I've been robbed and now I understand what people mean when they say they feel violated.

One strange thing is that there is no damage to the windows of the car and no evidence of a breakin and I'm 99% sure I had my doors locked.

So I'm sitting here doing all the self-talk stuff. I know by being angry I'm giving the thief power over me. I work at a non-profit agency that serves low-income folks with energy assistance, rent/mortgage assistance and homeless assistance. Many of these clients are dealing with drug and alcohol issues and some are desparately trying to keep their power on and food on the table, and people will do drastic things when they are in crisis. I'm telling myself this person was high on drugs or needed to feed his family and it was nothing personal against me.

It sure feels personal though.....

The Storm

This was my entry in the DPC "Rain" challenge last week. It came in 30th out of 127. Not great placement but I like the photo.

Funnel Webs of The Hobo Spider

Here I go with multiple photo posts again but when you receive a beautiful gift from nature, its simply too hard to choose just one or two to share.

One night last week we had a heavy dew and the next morning I noticed these funnel webs all over the ground. They sparkled like jewels from the water drops clinging to them. Each funnel led to an opening where the occupant could hide and await their prey.





Some of them looked like carpets of jewels




And in one I even found the occupant at home.

Accident waiting to happen

I was scared for the kid on the bottom but the board didn't hit him. Whew!

Red Shed

Looks like Blogger is making some changes again. Not sure how this will look when its published.

I posted this red building before but I like it so well I drove back out and took some more shots of it.

Unexpected Blessing - A Wonder of Nature

I received an awesome gift today. I was blessed with a rare encounter with one of God's beautiful creatures. The Red Tail Hawk was only going about her daily business and the encounter was no more than a few minutes but for me it was a once-in-a-lifetime, intimate blessing I won't soon forget.

I first noticed the hawk sitting on a dead tree and stopped to watch her, camera poised for whatever she might do.



She took off on a short flight from one dead tree to another



and sat there long enough for me to get off 10+ shots.



When she took off the second time I thought she would fly away where I wouldn't see her again.



I was excited and surprised when she landed in a tree at a further distance across the road.



While I watched a small bird dived at her several times, evidently trying to drive her away.



It worked. The last time I saw her she was headed further away around a group of trees. I watched for awhile after she disappeared but I didn't see her again.




Thank You God.