Red and "Blue"

Astoria, Oregon ~ June 13, 2011

Here's another shot of the purple (lavender?) rhododendron bush outside the post office. Yesterday's photo was the "art shot," today's photo shows the brilliant red flowers on the adjacent bush. I think the sceme is supposed to be vaguely red, white, and blue. The nearly-white rhodies at the other end of the building were falling apart as of yesterday, but here is my shot of them from last year. If I remember, the pink were still looking OK, but the white ones are about gone.

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Purple Rhodies at the Post Office

Astoria, Oregon ~ June 13, 2011

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Plenty of Snow on Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood from Government Camp, Oregon ~ June 4, 2011

About 3 hours' drive from Astoria

On June 4th, I drove up to the high desert, and was surprised by how cold it still was over the pass. It was cold even in a sweatshirt when I got out of the car, and snow was still piled maybe 8 or so feet deep where it had been plowed into drifts near some of the buildings. With the zoom, you can see how much snow is waiting to melt among Mt. Hood's crags. There has already been a lot of flooding along Oregon's rivers. I don't know if there's any noticeable rise here in Astoria for those who observe these things more carefully than I do. I haven't noticed whether the river has been higher or not, as it isn't noticeable from my perspective. Does anyone know if it's a fraction of an inch, or maybe even inches this far downriver?

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KMUN Building with Rhodies

Astoria, Oregon ~ June 3, 2011

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Rigging

Astoria, Oregon ~ May 21, 2011

Photo copyright Parker Ivanoff

My ten-year-old friend Parker got a chance to take a sail on one of the tall ships on the Columbia River during Astoria's bicentennial celebration. He brought back this wonderful photo of the adventure taken with his mom's cell phone. I think it came out spectacularly well. Maybe when Parker sees this, he'll fill us in on the event and I will update the post or upload another photo from his day "at sea" (in quotes because it's really the river - a huge one, at that!). I also hope to find out which ship this is. There were two of them on the river that day.

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Church Flowers

Astoria, Oregon ~ May 31, 2011

Rhododendrons are blooming everywhere, globe-shaped colorful bushes from small to huge to the size of trees. This rhododendron bush, not in full bloom yet, can be found in the garden behind the First Presbyterian Church and this building at the corner of 11th and Harrison.

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