This month we got together for a little meeting, and then headed out to the marina to take some pictures at sunset. It was fun to go out with folks for a change, usually we just get together and talk about photography and show off our photos.

Old man fishing off the end of the pier

We were hoping to get some of that nice sunset light on Mt Hood, but it just wasn’t cooperating.

We did see some lovely clouds. See that in the middle?

Heading for a landing at the Portland airport.

As it got darker, the fishermen started heading back to the marina

I would like to have seen these beautiful sailboats out on the water

As we walked back to the car, the sunset had one more surprise for us as the light filteres through a contrail, and made this lovely pattern in the sky

Our club, the Camas Camera Club is having a gallery display in the Camas Library in July. I’m very excited to have three of my pictures on display. It’s not only my first public display, it’s the first time I’ve even had any of my pictures printed out, let alone framed! I’ll post some pictures of it once we have it all set up.

Just some guys working in a hole outside my building.

I went for a walk at lunchtime (with my camera this time), and I started walking up the ramp just as the signal lights came on, so I hurried up to get some pictures as the Morrison Bridge opened.

When it is full open it is positively surreal to see the road going straight up into the sky. The lampposts are what gets me! Crazy!

The hard part is getting up to the bridge lately, because there is a tree growing next to the onramp by the sidewalk, and in that tree is a crow’s nest. That crow has been guarding the area around his tree for weeks! He sits up on the balcony and comes swooping down to attack walkers and bikers passing through his domain. But I risked it to get pictures of the bridge open!

Today I spent three hours working in the yard, mostly weed-whacking, while Dave mowed everything that was mow-able.

Before…

After!

I also got down the side of the house, and around the septic caps, which stick up too much to mow over.

And I spent a bunch of time cleaning up around the tree in the front yard. A few years ago it was a little umbrella shaped tree (which was a pain to keep trimmed), but it fell over in a storm, and before we got around to propping it back up, a new tree sprouted up out of the base, so now it looks like a tree and a bush, so I guess we’re just going to leave it alone for now. The new tree is nice because it makes a shady spot on hot days!

This is the front pond area. It is the site of an ongoing battle against bamboo that I stupidly planted there a few years ago. it just won’t die, and I can’t really do anything with the area until the bamboo is dead! The bamboo went under the walkway and comes up on either side, plus it went under the pond and walkway in the other direction and comes up under the deck and against the foundation of the house! Nasty stuff! Nothing kills it, all I can do is keep cutting it down until one of us gives up. I’ve been trying to kill it for at least three years now.

This is a project I don’t know what I’m going to do about yet. Our swing chair fabric is falling apart, and needs to be redone. The metal is good, so I hate to throw it away when it just needs fabric. On a sunny day I love dozing off in the swing chair in the shade. I MUST get it fixed before summer is over!

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Downtown Portland, Oregon. Friday I decided to bring my camera to work (I don’t bring it often because I worry about it getting stolen) and take a few pictures during my morning walk at break time, and then after work on my way to the bus stop.

Thursday I DIDN’T take my camera, and when I went for my morning walk I was walking up the ramp of the Morrison bridge, when I realized the cars were all backed up. So I hurried up the ramp and the bridge was OPEN! Seeing a bridge open is the most amazing thing – the roadway went straight up into the sky, about four stories tall! Seeing it in person, on foot, was really amazing. It’s so different from seeing it from inside a car. In fact a lot of drivers had parked their cars and got out and walked up to the front to watch. By the time I got up there it was already slowly coming down, and people were returning to their cars. What an awesome thing to see!

So on Friday I was hoping I’d get lucky and see the bridge open again, but no such luck. However, they were preparing for The Rose Festival at Waterfront Park by installing some rides, including a ferris wheel, right next to the bridge.

It’s pretty unusual to have that sort of vantage point to view a ferris wheel!

Looking towards downtown (well, it’s all downtown, but that’s where the tallest buildings are). See the building right in the middle, it’s short, and beige colored? That’s the Portland Building. We’ll get back to that shortly.

This is a view of Old Town at the foot of the Morrison bridge. I work in the Postal Building, which is the one with all the blue billboards on it, with the red Dekum building rising up behind it.

Got this shot of someone running along Waterfront Park, I love the shadow, but I wish that thing on the sidewalk hadn’t got in the shot. I don’t know what they call it, it’s one of those things they tie ships to when they dock at the waterfront. It’s almost Rose Festival time, and soon the Navy ships will be coming to town and docking here. That should be interesting. Anyway, I ran this through Picasa to give it a bit more interest with fading at the edge and a bit of grain.

A gentleman stops to catch up on his phone in front of The Quest

And now we’re approaching that funny looking Portland Building I mentioned earlier.

Home of ‘Portlandia’ (the statue, not the TV show)

I was mighty impressed with Portlandia when they installed her in 1985 (I was in high school) and I’ve always thought the gaudy building was pretty cool too.

She’s beautiful! And Big! Did I mention she was BIG?

In fact she is the second biggest copper statue of her kind, the biggest being the Statue of Liberty! She’s kneeling down to reach out to us below, but if she stood up she’d be fifty feet tall!

Continuing towards the bus stop…

Not a statue. Just a dude painted silver. Mr Statue, according to the web. Give him a buck and he’ll juggle. I hung around a little bit hoping to see someone interact with him, but people were doing a really good job of avoiding him. maybe next time I’m down there with my camera I’ll give him a buck.

Not sure of the name of this one, I think it’s Reflections. The human figure creeps me out a bit…

But the dog with his ear up is adorable. I think the paint is coming off his ear from so many people giving him a pat on the head. Who can resist?

Quite an entrance on this building!

Just look at those lamps! We just don’t put that kind of detail and workmanship into stuff anymore.

Well, that was my little tour of downtown. I’ll take my camera again soon and see what else I can find.

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The past few weeks the neighbors have had a dumpster and various equipment out working on tearing down the old barn on the weekends. Then last week we had a snow storm roll through and got about 4 inches of snow, and the next time I looked …

.. it looked like this. So I guess mother nature gave it a helping hand to lay down. They still have a lot of work to do before it’s all gone. That barn is HUGE.

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