September 5, 2010
July 7, 2010One of my favorite faces of the Columbia River is when it reflects warm light, shadows, and images from a surface that is glassy and yet fractured. The gray lines in the lower right corner are the distorted reflection of the radio tower out of the photo in the upper left.
Follow this link to see wonderful reflections from around the world. James's image at the top of the linked page is really special. It's one of my favorite reflections ever.
All month long, the small boats have been out on the Columbia River from first light till last fishing for sturgeon, and the salmon season is also opening. There are a number of web sites such as this one and this one that will tell you all you could want to know about fishing the Lower Columbia River. It's big business and also big fun for sports fishers.
The "Spirit of '98" leaves the dock at 17th Street and cruises toward the setting sun. After a short tour of Astoria's waterfront and a turnaround, it will make its way back up the Columbia River.
I think that for the next few days, I'm going to post several photos for each day - the regular daily photo, and then some Goonies stuff. Today's first photo is of people out early in the morning fishing for sturgeon on the misty river. I've already seen several weather changes, and it's hard to tell what kind of day it will be. The sparkles in the background are reflections of sunlight on the Washington side of the Astoria-Megler Bridge.
The door and interior of Video Horizons display Goonie memorabilia and a sign announces a costume party tonight.
Video Horizons' windows are filled with Goonies. I'm glad I picked up my weekend movies LAST night. I may try to go look at the costumes tonight, but I'm making no promises.
A new thrift shop on 7th Street across from the post office gets into the spirit.
I've been meaning to show you this Victorian-era brick church (First Baptist) for some time, but there are always cars in the way. I'm showing it now because the gray building to the left is the Goonies' Jail.
Here's the jail from the other side. It will have its grand opening as the Oregon Film Museum this morning, but as of last night they were still working on it. The words along the top are new. I think there was some text there during the filming, but I'm not sure. Typically there was none.
I only watched the first part of the movie because, unlike so many people around the world, I couldn't stand it. I usually don't give up on a movie part way through, but in this case, I did. I remember the jail scenes at the beginning, though, and I think there was a shot from this back corner. I wonder how they got rid of all those wires, or if they left them in the movie.
Didn't somebody's father work at a museum? They used the Flavel House across the street from the jail as the location for the museum. It's not such a stretch, as the Flavel House is - actually - a museum.
Here's the Flavel House from 7th Street. See Weekend Reflections from around the world.
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.
Does anyone know what this is?
How about now?
Got it yet? If you think it's stuff piled on a dock, think again.
You can see that old pieces of rubber tire are also used on the stern.
These are just bonus pictures that have nothing to do with the rubber tires. I liked the rope in different colors, although it lost some brilliance being photographed against the black of the deck.
Tidewater Barge Lines . . .
As I was leaving, I noticed another towboat, very similar, coming up the river pushing a barge. And now . . . time for coffee and lunch.
May 19, 2010It's rare to see Young's Bay whipped into such a frenzy. The waves are not huge, but . . .
. . . since this is a river bay with a limited distance for the wind to create waves, it's not every day that we see them like this. I liked this angle with the sun on spring poppies and the winter-like storm.
This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.
The current show at the Maritime Museum (shown several times in this blog) is "Crossing the Bar." It sounds fascinating and I'm going to make an effort to see it. It was a beautiful day yesterday as we strolled along the River Walk. Cruise ships disembark at two docks in Astoria. The smaller ones like this riverboat dock tie up at 17th Street, above, while the big cruise ships tie up at the port docks at the west end of town.
The photo above shows the Maritime Museum with its wave-like swooping lines and the dock at 17th Street. On the evening of May 13th, when I took the photo from the top of the Astoria Column, there were no ships docked, but usually you can see a Coast Guard ship and sometimes a passenger steamboat. If you enlarge the photo, you can barely make out the light ship Columbia, which is a permanent resident and part of the museum. Until a number of years ago, it was anchored 17 miles offshore, and severed as a lighthouse.
