Sunset Minus Wires

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 4, 2014
Saturday's sunset minus some wires.
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"Fort Clatsop Trail" by Amy Ryding

Fort Clatsop, Oregon ~ Photo by Amy Ryding

This photo was taken in July. Check out Amy's picture of yesterday's snow-covered beach in Long Beach, Washington.

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Fall Colors on Exchange Street

Astoria, Oregon ~ Photo by Sheryl Todd
I've interrupted our guest blogger today because I wanted to share the amazing colors I found this morning near Exchange and 18th Streets.
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October Morning on the River Walk

Astoria, Oregon ~ October 21, 2013
Hello Everyone,
This is Sheryl. I want to thank Cyndi Mudge for her time, effort, and vision in keeping this blog going and posting her visual record of Astoria for most of the past year. Even though we all live in the same town, it's always fascinating to see what interests different photographers or how they view the same locations. It's been fun to see Astoria through the eyes of another person. 
I will be posting a number of my own photos again, and I am also interested in finding other photographers who would like a showcase for a week's worth of their images. I will be having guest weeks, so send me your photos any time. Or if you have fewer than seven, that can work, too. If you took that one great shot that you'd like everyone to see, send it along :-) I won't have space for absolutely everything, but I do want to showcase photos by people other than myself. You can contact me through Facebook, or by email. My address is oregontapir@yahoo.com. 
It's nice to be back. I look forward to sharing comments about our favorite town on the river!
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Christmas

Date taken: December 24, 2012. 'Tis the season to be jolly.  I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Christmas. Mine was exactly how I wanted it to be, perfect. I was with my family and we spent the whole day together. I hope your day was just as special.

Visit Jessie's Blog
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Drive-by Astoria #12: A Woodsy Scene on Marine Drive

Astoria, Oregon ~ September 15, 2012

Marine Drive

Being built on a hill, Astoria provides numerous views like this one, and being in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), the views are usually green, even before the rains start after summer. I took this photo along Marine Drive not far fron where the bridge crosses to Washington. There may be Blackberries in there. . . .

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Signs of Spring

Astoria, Oregon ~ February 15, 2012

Guest Photographer: Jessika Robinson

I've been looking at rain and feeling the cold for the past two days, but it was a beautiful day on Wednesday when Jessika took my camera for a walk.

OK, this is weird. The photo was supposed to be rotated 45 degees counterclockwise, and Blogger keeps changing it. I've encountered this once before and eventually fixed it, but I don't remember how. Any ideas?

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With This Lot You Get Color in November

Astoria, Oregon ~ November 8, 2011

It's true - the colors are gorgeous on 11th Street and around Astoria. You also get one thing with this lot that I removed from the picture. I don't usually Photoshop out the power lines, but today I couldn't help showing the blue sky crystal clear. As I type this, the clouds are moving in.

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Autumn Leaves Last August

Astoria, Oregon ~ August 14, 2010

On the day of the Regatta parade last year, I looked up and saw red leaves among the green. I couldn't understand why I was seeing autumn colors in the middle of August! Was the tree sick? Was it dying? Apparently this was a clue from nature. Is red normal in August, or did the trees know what was coming? Without looking at the stats, I can tell you this has been the longest and coldest winter I can remember in my ten years here. I don't know if it's been the wettest, since all winters are very wet here, but I rememer that winter started early and I've had the heater on more than any other year. Speaking of which, it's nice to see blue sky and green in the photo, yes? Is anyone out there ready for spring? (By the way, it seems I did take note and post this picture last August - similar but a different shot. Now in hindsight, it makes sense.)

It's good to be back, and I expect to start posting every day again. I can hardly believe it's been three weeks since my last post. I've been to see family in two states, and I've had a bad cold followed by the worst flu I can ever remember, and the longest to get over. I'll be taking some new photos, but for awhile, I'll also be bringing out new stuff from the archives. I think it will be just as interesting as the new pix. Some days you just get a lot more good photos than others, and I have quite a backlog of those days.

I'll be seeing you around your blogs again  :) 

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

End of the Light Show

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 19, 2011

Smith Point

This photo comes from the same day as the three recent ones with a bright red sky, reflections on the water, and black pilings in the foreground. I took this one as I returned to my car. It's quiet and peaceful and the brilliant color has faded. I thought it was a fitting end to the beautiful display. The earlier posts are located here, here, and here.)

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Cows on the Long Beach Peninsula

Long Beach Peninsula, Washington ~ October 30, 2001

I encountered these cows, steer, heifers, or whatever on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington shortly after I moooooved to Astoria from Colorado. Not that there were no cows in Colorado - there were plenty - but they didn't live in drippy rainforests. I found the mossy, licheny environment very enchanting and somewhat peculiar, as this scene is a scant couple of miles (if that) from the ocean. It was nice to see some friendly faces, and amusing to think that these bovines rated a home of their own, even though they didn't seem to take care of it very well.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Big Trees on the Trail

Fort Columbia, Washington ~ November 6, 2004

Across the river and west a few miles from Astoria is Fort Columbia, and behind the fort buildings are several hiking trails, at least one of them going up rather steeply among fallen trees.

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On the Tillamook Head Trail

Tillamook Head Trail, Oregon ~ June 27, 2009

This is one of the views of vegetation along the Tillamook Head trail (you can see Tillamook Head from Seaside in yesterday's post). This is what the vegetation looks like in one spot. The amazing thing to me is how much and how rapidly it changed all along the trail of several miles. I'll show you more later, and I'll also show views from the top. For much of the trail, you're encased in dense forest, but there are points where you can look out over the ocean. The orange berries are salmonberries, found along the coast from Alaska to California. By the way, here is a fantastic aerial overview photo showing the trail. You can also see that this is one of the places to see undistrubed old-growth trees, because you'll see the brown logged patches in the photo.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Through the Trees at Oswald West

Oswald West State Park ~ August 8, 2002

The trail from the road down to this spot takes you through ferny rainforest and down to a creek which empties into the ocean. Then you can walk out onto the beach and along the rocks or hike up to Cape Falcon. Every view is breathtaking. The park is not named as the west part of "something," but is named for Oswald West, governor of Oregon from 1911 to 1915. Under his administration, the entire Oregon coastline was set aside in perpetuity for public use, which has to be one of the best moves a public servant ever made. Before moving to Salem, Oswald lived for a time in Astoria.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Boardwalk

One of the ways Astoria manages life on the hillside is with this section of boarwalk on Exchange between 17th and 18th Streets. The hill slopes steeply off to the right. I originally took the photo because I liked the lighting, the grate, and the sun coming through the orange tag on the tree. There are also stretches of wood planking along the river walk, but I don't remember any other stretch of boardwalk elsewhere in the city.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Gone

July 12, 2010
Along the River Walk

Remember the hollyhocks from July 12th's post? I didn't mention that they were right outside my window. I also captured them just in time. . . .

July 14, 2010
Same Location

To my surprise, when I looked outside today, huge metal jaws were devouring that very same bush. Soon it disappeared along with the tree, the mound of earth, the roses, and the other greenery. What's coming next? I'm not sure, but my guess is . . . a couple of parking spaces. [Later note: Thankfully, they will be making a new planter rather than parking spaces. For the moment, we're looking at level dirt.]

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Light through Trees

June 15, 2010

The brilliant yellow-green light created by the sun coming through the new leaves caught my attention and I had to stop and take a few photos. I'm afraid the small size doesn't do justice to the scene, and it might help some to click on the photo and enlarge it.

This could also be part of the never-ending series of "Houses on Hills." This is a somewhat unusual exterior for Astoria, as it's left in the wood-shingled finish. It looks perfect in its tree-shrouded setting high above the corner of 12th Street and Harrison.

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Red, White, and Blue?

May 26, 2010

The violet rhodies at the southwest corner of the Astoria Post Office are almost in full bloom. As you can see, the red ones in front have about disappeared. I've been musing on the fact that the scheme at the post office seems to be vaguely red, white, and blue, with violet covering for blue. There are at least six or seven bushes around the front of the post office making up what looks at first glance like two huge bushes, and I'll show others in upcoming posts.

The shelter across the street at the corner of the courthouse is a memorial to (or display of) one of the area's lumbered old-growth trees. It's hard to photograph with the strong lights and darks, but I'll post it one of these days with good or bad photos. The corner is 7th and Commercial.

Here's a close-up of today's rhododendron flowers.

I took this photo four days ago when many of the blossoms were getting ready to open.

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After A Storm

April 14, 2009

I still remember how I felt when I noticed this cloud over the trees in Warrenton almost a year ago. I'd gone to the gym in the shopping center, and next to pavement is a large expanse of marsh with a few trees in it. I hadn't expected to see much other than gray that day, so I was surprised when the sun burst through, and that's when I took the photo. We've had a few beautiful days, or parts of days, this year, but not so many. I'm not really REALLY complaining about the rain and cold, but I do love colors, and I'm waiting to dig in the small garden patch until it stops pouring and warms up.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Big Tree at the Flavel House

March 27, 2010

I've usually been so intent on taking pictures of this lovely old house showing the turrets and the building, that I haven't shown this remarkable tree on the blog until today. It withstood the storm of 2007 that caused its neighboring tree to become so damaged that the remains had to be cut down, and I assume that the remaining tree lost a few branches. I love the upward sweep of the lower limbs. Here is a reference giving some history of these two trees. Unfortunately, we can no longer see them both. I believe the one still standing must be the Port Orford Cedar.

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