Tag: photoblog

May 29, 2011

Turnback.

Every Memorial Day weekend the Austin Yacht Club holds the 2 day Turnback Canyon Regatta – sailing about 25 miles upriver on Saturday to the K-bar Ranch and returning to AYC on Sunday.

We sailed up one year as a cruiser, but the last 2 years or so there has been little wind, and some rain, so we have decided to stay close to home and watch from our anchorage in one of the Arkansas Bend coves.

This year, however, the wind was strong – gusting in the high 20’s.

Today we hung out at the opening of Hurst Harbor to watch the boats sail by.  This is a shot of Kurt and Wally on Dancer as they zipped by.   I believe they took first in their class yesterday.   I think they were the first Catalina 30 that went by today, as well.  Nice job guys!

May 28, 2011

Found object.

I explored the cove this morning on the kayak.  I spotted this anchor wedged in the rocks.  The falling water level is exposing all sorts of hidden treasures.

It came out easily and joins our collection of about 5 found anchors.  It’s becoming a hobby 🙂

May 27, 2011

Long weekend!

This is the Friday before the long Memorial Day weekend.  And we are headed to the lake!  We’ve  packed up everything to spend 2 nights on the boat and made it to the cove before sunset.  We’re rafting up with Marty & Sue tonight, and tomorrow Lori & Dave will join us as well.

The lake is low, 651′ and dropping about 2′ per week.   It’s so sad to see the water disappearing, but we’ll keep coming back to play.

 

May 25, 2011

Crikey.

Tonight we went for a walk with our neighbors and the Austin Parks & Recreation Department through the city park adjoining our neighborhood.  The City wants to turn it into an off-leash dog park.  So we’re all getting ready to take a position on whether we want that in our backyards or not.

Afterwards we went out for dinner.  This is a shot of a custom wood wall covering that looked very cool, right above our table… taken with my not-high-tech cell phone.

Enjoy!

May 24, 2011

Round and round.

First zinnia shot of 2011.

May 23, 2011

P is for...

Pasta.  Pizza.  Provolone.  Prosciutto.  Portobello.  Pottery.  Pinot Noir.  Passion.  Patience.  Polenta.  Palapa.  Prayer.  Peace.  Painting.  Parmesan.   Projects.   Persevere.

Photoblog.

May 22, 2011

Here duckie!

Back in Austin. And it’s nice to be home.  We went to the lake today and everyone jumped in.  The baby ducklings are growing up fast.  This one seemed very comfortable hanging out with the humans by himself.

May 21, 2011

Totem.

This is the Ha Tu Ba Di memorial totem pole,  carved by Makah Nation artist Frank Smith.  It honors a man who worked to conserve tribal artifacts.

It’s located on the waterfront in Port Orchard.  In the background is south end of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

May 20, 2011

Frilly.

This is a picture of a bloom on a cyclamen plant — a very unique and pretty flower.

May 19, 2011

The mountain is out.

I was able to catch Francine’s soccer game tonight.  This is a shot of Mount Rainier that I snapped as I was driving to the game.  I can’t look away when the mountain is out.

May 18, 2011

Timber.

Many years ago, a friend of mine came home with me for christmas holidays, and looking out the window as the airplane approached for landing at SeaTac declared this place to be “the land of giant christmas trees.”  It’s true.  Forget about 5 or 10 or 40 foot tall evergreens.   These trees are more like 100′ feet tall.

Amazing, awesome and humbling all at the same time.

Ok.  Now for something a little different.  I am experimenting with a photographic processing technique called the orton effect.  I’ve never done this before, and am not exactly sure if I’m doing it right, but i’ll give it a shot.  I used Gimp to manipulate the image.   I think it’s a tad on the overexposed side, but here goes….

Orton effect.

May 17, 2011

Jelly bellies.

I’ve been told that me and my siblings bear a strong family resemblance.  But one thing I don’t share with them is a love for jelly beans.

I’m not a fan of jelly beans.  Never have been.  Every Easter (year after year), when all of us kids would make our way to the easter baskets, they were loaded with jelly beans.  But, I always left them in the basket along with that plastic grass.

This week, a friend of my mom’s brought this box of gourmet Jelly Belly jelly beans up to her hospital room.  And with the steady stream of visitors, they have been slowly disappearing.  Some flavors quicker than the others.  Good thing there’s a legend on the box top.

I have to admit that I did break down and try a buttered popcorn flavored jelly bean (2nd row from the bottom, 4th from the right), and it tasted EXACTLY like movie popcorn.  Amazing.  That ought to do me for a while.

May 16, 2011

Rhodies.

The rhododendrons are blooming everywhere.  These are in the front yard.

I like the splash of animal print these are wearing 🙂

May 15, 2011

Phalaenopsis.

I got a chance to visit with my cousin, Steve, who lives back east but was in the area for a business trip.  He and his nephew, Patrick, stopped by the hospital to see mom and then a bunch of us went out to lunch to catch up.

Things are looking good to mom being discharged, maybe Monday or Tuesday, to home instead of to a rehab center.  Since I’m staying here at her house, I can help her get around and be here if she needs anything.

This is a shot of the lovely orchid that Steve brought mom.