A sunny Sunday in Astoria

On August 21, I noted that we'd been having winter-like squalls for a couple of days. I don't dislike them at all, and I don't dread the dark, wet days of winter. But the sun is glorious, especially here where we can't count on it. I threw a few things in my backpack and sauntered down the River Walk. From our location at 15th Street, the walk goes east, which has more trees and less city, and west, which is right through the main part of town. I headed west to return a video, then got my camera out as I headed back east toward Sunday Market and home. The top photo is not too far from the video store. The town is on the right (on land, yup) and the red building is Pier 11.

This is looking back behind me (west). I like this part of the walk, as it passes fish canneries that are still operational in some seasons. The tourist trolley runs along this track.

Um. That's a wave. The only waves we get on the river are when boats stir up a wake. There were more than the usual number of smaller boats on the river today because of nice weather, and maybe because the salmon have been running. We also get waves when it's stormy or windy, but the point is, this is not the ocean. There's a lot of water here, but there are not always waves. On a day like today, when you see a couple of waves in the placid water, they're from boat wakes. I love the green pilings. The moss gets long and stringy. Check out the working boat and ship below. That's with a long lens. The mountains are four miles away in Washington.

I love the scene. People use the river walk for running, biking, hanging out, walking. It's Astoria's most scenic and laid-back transportation route as well as entertainment and getting or staying in shape. It's a social venue as well. The red building to the left is Pier 11 again, and the darker red one on the right is the ever-popular Wet Dog Cafe. The outdoor tables were packed today.

See that long pole? It's bigger than it looks here. It doesn't seem to be tied down to anything, so I'm guessing the river dumped it here and will take it back out when the tide comes in. We have about an 8-foot tide through town. The red building is Pier 11 again, and the white building has had fish markets in it from time to time.

This is Xclusive Salon upstairs at Docks on 12th. It's where I get my hair done. I like the image of it hanging right out into the sky. Below is more of the landward end of the building. Like many buildings along the river, a few feet of it are on land, and the rest is on pilings over the water.

Sunday Market. It was actually hot when I turned away from the water the short half block to the market. Under the awnings are fruit, vegetables (much of it organic), and hand-made or home-grown things you can buy. I loaded up on fruit and veg. They taste so much better this way. I also bought some earrings. A person can never have too many. The vendors rent the spaces for an entire season, rain or shine, and the stuff has to be made by the people who sell it. You can also get a massage or a tarot reading.

In the parking lot next to the organic stalls there is always a band playing (usually very good). This is where the barbecue and ready-to-eat food is sold. Mostly it's off my current eating plan, and that's OK. I feel so much better not eating it. It smells good, though. It's a nice place for people to gather. You can see the radio tower against the sky on the right. It's at the foot of our building (Tapir Preservation Fund, The Animal Store, home). You can see how close it is to the market. You can also see in on Google Earth, but it looks like a flag. You can look for 1490 Marine Drive, which is our address. Google has that address (not too strangely) in the middle of Marine Drive. But we're not on Marine Drive actually, we're on the River Walk, which has no addresses of its own. If you Googlearth it, just take the extra few paces toward the water. That's us.

Occasionally, such as today, there's also stuff going on it the parking lot that used to be the downtown Safeway. Sunday Market is not very visible in the background. The emcee was explaining a contest that was about to begin involving crab pots (the wire traps you see there) ropes, glasses of fake beer (rootbeer), a pretend bar, and, as barmaids, some of the cast of Shangheid in Astoria. I didn't quite follow and the sun was getting hot. Time to buy my veggies and head home.

Home Sweet Home (below) has been the object of much exterior refurbishing for the past few weeks. They're doing a beautiful job. They've progressed to the roof, and today one of the two Jims was laying a new back deck. More pix on this another time. I can still get in, but barely. The entrance is on the right near the piles of shingles sitting on the back of the truck. The patch of dirt in the foreground is the trolley track. Behind me as I take the photo is Marine Drive. The whole asphalt area in front of the building is not a street, but the River Walk, although cars can drive on it at this point. I love it here. I would like to own it, but I don't. I do have at least a few more years to enjoy the location, though.

All for now. Back soon :)

Sunday Market in Astoria

Nice hair!

I took this photo while looking toward the Columbia River from somewhere near the middle of the Sunday Market's lineup of white tents. This is a summer event much enjoyed by Astorians. It occurs rain or shine. We look forward to buying fresh fruit and vegetables, starter plants, looking at and sometimes buying hand-made jewelry and many other crafted items and artwork, running into friends and generally relaxing from work. One of the rules for having a booth at Sunday Market is that you have to make the products yourself. This makes the event continually interesting, friendly, and ever-changing.

If you walk toward the river and turn right, The Animal Store (my business) is only two blocks down the River Walk. I've especially enjoyed being close to the market these past two years. The dark blue shapes you see at the end of the street are actually the hills on the other side of the river in Washington.

Facing away from the river: On the left in the old bank building, is Mike's Columbia River Day Spa. Getting a salt scrub, facial, or massage with warm, rounded stones is a real treat!

July 8: Scenes on the river - Astoria, Oregon, 2001

Sunday Market. A couple of streets shut down and you can listen to music, have food from vendors, and browse hand-made products and hand-grown produce. It's laid back and lazy, and a great place to go on a sunny day.

My apartment is taking shape, things are getting put away. The book shelf is filling up, and altogether it's still pretty neat (either meaning).

I thought I'd brighten up the room with a salmon-colored mattress cover. It's serving as a couch right now. The bed is out of the photo on the right. That white furry fabric may someday be pillows. Both are out of keeping with my usual choices, but this is fun.

You can't see the mini mirrors, but the navy blue square on the door is Indian mirrored fabric. Supposedly if you have a front door and back door facing each other, you should put something reflective on the door so the energy flow stays put. What I like about these Feng shui solutions is, they usually feel right, look right, or something. I wouldn't keep doing it if it only felt superstitious.

Here's the front door. The hall is filling up. What a great space to put books and things so my other rooms can feel spacious. On the right are two ceramic tapirs made by Audrey Jakab for the tapir gift shop. Yeah, they all made it here without breaking.

The office, too, is coming together. And I'm learning things. I bought the copier in the lower right when I was in Colorado. Once I got here, the paper started sticking and jamming, and nothing that had worked in Palisade to keep it going worked very well in Astoria. I had Mike come out from a local store and he told me the copier itself (a Konica) didn't work well in damp climates, but worked fine in dry. I mean, who knew? Who would guess that? Not good.

I like this funky photo. It makes the river look as wide and limitless as it feels. It's four miles wide right here. I took this from the Sixth Street viewing platform.

All of the rest of the pix in this post were also take from the platform or near the base of it. Here's a shot looking up river with some of Astoria's houses visible on the hillside. The waterfront is used for many things now. These are office buildings nearby. I'm not sure what the building further back is. It may still have something to do with fish.

The bump to the right of the ships is the peninsula of Tongue Point.

That's Sixth Street, as seen from the platform.

I love this. It needs music or something. The pilot boat is racing out to do its thing with the ship - exchange pilots for the trip across the bar, which is incredibly dangerous to navigate if you don't know what you're doing. It has more impact if you click on the photo to enlarge it.

Nice! This ship is making its way up the river. I love the sparkles.