Bucolic Shoreline

Astoria, Oregon ~ September 15, 2009

The shoreline looks downright bucolic in this photo from 2009 taken over the railing of Pier 39. One of these days I'll get around to photographing what it looks like now.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Shadows and Reflections

May 25, 2010

When I glanced up from the computer, I discovered one of the most glorious displays of evening light we've had all year. The drizzle and mist over the river caught the sun's fading light, turning the river into a wonderland.

The black mark in front of the hills of Washington is a buoy on the river.

Zooming changes the color of the sunset. In this case, it became more dramatic, but less real. This is how it came out of the camera - I didn't tweak. What I really liked and tried to capture was the momentary straightness of the sun's reflection over the water as it poured through the gap in the hills. Between my first shots and this one, the sun moved just enough to take one of the piers of the bridge into its path.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Railroad Crossing at Pier 11

April 24, 2010

The only railroad that crosses Pier 11's wooden pier these days is the Riverfront Trolley. I love the remnants of the industrial district here, although remnants is mostly what they are. On a typical day, you'll find tourists or locals out for a walk, bike ride, run, walking the dog(s), or wandering around with a camera.

We've been having a lot of this changeable weather lately: gray skies, blue skies, towering white clouds, pouring rain, and those in-between moments when the sun breaks through the clouds and lights up the land or water.


Notes from The (Weather) Underground for Portland: ...Record number of rainy days for April...A passing shower in the past two hours has now tipped April into the record books. In April 2010... Portland Airport has recorded 25 days with at least 0.01 inch of rain. The previous record was 24 days... set in 2003. Normally... Portland can expect 15 such days for April.

I don't know how the statistics look for Astoria, and we are on the coast and a distance from Portland, but I'd been thinking that April seemed extremely wet this year. One of my fellow bloggers in Florida says their dry season has been extremely wet, and now everyone is wondering what they're going to do with the water now that the wet season is at hand. At least here, it runs into the river and ocean. I'm not sure what the cumulative effect is.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Classic Beauty

February 23, 2009

I took this photo just about a year ago on a peaceful evening along the Columbia River from the dock at the Maritime Museum at the foot of 17th Street. It's especially nice if you click on it to enlarge the image. It almost looks like a channel or narrow waterway, but the structure on the right is simply a pier. That's the Astoria-Megler bridge in the background (our connection to Washington), and the radio tower reaching into the sky.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

The water sounds good!

One way to beat the heat on a day like today - one of the few really warm days we have all year - is to get into a cold river. You can do that here on Pier 39 via kayak or scuba diving, although some people have been going in over the side of the back dock at Coffee Girl. (Scroll down on their page if you need to.) Astoria Scuba & Kayak occupies one corner of the old Pier 39 cannery building. You approach via a wooden pier, and the building is already out in the water where you get any breeze there happens to be on a day like today, and you get a fabulous view, too. The building is quaint, funky, intriguing as a treasure hunt, and once again useful, with offices, a brew pub, Coffee Girl coffee house with the most amazing vew and deck, the scuba/kayak company and a number of offices. There's also a small museum with photos of the cannery's history, and some of the old boats used in the fishing industry, and nice people. It's just a great place to go - one of my favorite places in town. I'll have more pix coming up as the days go by.

Pier 39 has appeared in two posts already - this picture from the water side of the building, and this one taken inside Coffee Girl.

Happy Ruby Tuesday. Click the link for more pictures of red from around the world.