Green

January 5, 2010

Even the decking turns green with this much rain. I took the photo from the end of Waterfront Park at the end of 14th Street.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Under the river

In Astoria, all roads lead back to the waterfront. I wouldn't want to be walking down there unless I had some Wellingtons, but I do like the image. The tide is not all the way out yet, but twice a day it uncovers stuff at the bottom of the river and reveals the moss or algae (or both) that grows on the pilings. There is about eight feet difference between a typical high and low tide at this point on the river. On a deep and wide river like this, you get a huge tidal bore even here, about 10 miles from the ocean.

I took this photo on May 6, 2007, shortly after we'd leased the building where I'm standing with my camera. There's a deck around the perimeter of our building, which makes river-watching very nice. The building next door is the one visible here. It stretches much further into the river than we do, and it was a marine supply for a long time. I'm not sure if the mud-covered ropes came from the marine supply or some other river-side operation over the years. They are basically stationary, while other things such as bottles and logs come and go with the tides and currents.

This photo fits nicely into Watery Wednesday! Please visit that link to see more photos of water.

Addendum: A number of people commented on the intensity of the green. Check out some photos I took of the same pilings on May 14, 2009.

The emerald road

This lovely forest road is actually right in town. It winds its way to the top of Coxcomb hill, and makes a nice walk - not too long, but very beautiful and relaxing. I took the photo on May 4, 2005, before some of the trees blew down in the great storm of December 2, 2007. It's still very green, but a little thinner on the right side, especially as you climb the hill. One of the first things I noticed about Oregon when I moved here in 2001 after living in Southern California and Western Colorado was how green it is! I loved it, and I still do. In the spring you can see more colors of green than I've ever seen anywhere. I've never been to Ireland or much of the UK, so I can't compare, but northwestern Oregon is a veritable artist's palette of greens.