Oct 10, Bend: Morning colors and things on the tops of buildings

There are always unusual things to take pictures of in Bend, Oregon. On the way to a garage sale this morning, I spied this found-metal fish on top of someone's garage. Very Bend.

Down the street was more garage art. What the heck is this horse doing on the point of the garage roof? Who knows. Maybe they couldn't part with it after it wore out. Anyway, it's something a little different.

Of course, this is also the time to be enchanted by trees turning colors. Some turn faster than others, and they turn such a variety of colors.

It's also a good time to find native high-desert plants in flower - at least, I think this is a native sage.

The trees on Wall Street near Revere were screaming red.

Here's a closer-up view of the same trees.

And more sagebrush, also on Wall Street near the highway entrance.

The flowers on the brush are subtle, and so pretty this time of year.

Flowers with more of the sage. The dusty colors complement each other perfectly.

I also like the gratings around the young trees in this part of town.

Here's one with a touch of Autumn showing.

These leaves are more withered than showing the natural trend of the season. The colors are here, but they are also fading rather than glowing as brightly as they otherwise would. A freak early snowstorm on October 4th (seen here on Lee's Bend, Oregon, Daily Photo blog) zapped the life (or part of it) right out of many of the plants here.

I left this photo in mainly to remind me that I want to go back and photograph some of the old buildings in this area. They are definitely frontier era, and quite charming, even though sometimes hard to photograph between the cars and behind the power lines. This one is on Revere Avenue and Division Street.

Today is Laurel's birthday. Happy 28th!!! We called, but were sorry we weren't there to help celebrate. Laurel, if you read this, I or we will be bringing something to Astoria for you by Wednesday or before. See you then :)

Astoria, fall leaves (in December) and more

These pix come from walking around Astoria today on various errands. It was overcast but not actually drizzly. The ground was wet and water clung to leaves. The colors are still brilliant when the light comes through the trees. Today's light was mostly filtered through overcast skies. The building above is the Heritage Museum of the Clatsop Country Historical Society, taken from Exchange Street.

The bright sky behind the trees made it hard to get the color to show up in the pictures. I need to learn more about taking photos of back-lit subjects. I know one way described by the instructions for my camera, but Canon didn't really think a person could push the trigger halfway with their index fingr and hold it, push the "Set" button down with their thumb and be coordinated enough to then push the trigger the rest of the way down (while still holding the "Set" button) and time this to shoot the picture when they had finally framed the shot, did they? The buttons are just too close together! Come on!

The curling bark on the trees (above and below) with light coming from behind was just stuning. I hope the photos show it half as lovely as it really was.

It's too bad about background. I was en route on an errand or I might have tried more angles. I guess one should carry a portable ladder.

Please click on this one to see it bigger. It's nice, but not as nice at the reduced size.

My errands took me down to my dentist's office down on the River Walk. This is the building they call "Big Red" - it's Royal Nebeker's studio, which was badly damaged in the big storm of December 2, 2007.

Autumn colors, mauve wall

Every year I intend to take a picture of this tree when it changes into its autumn colors. Some years I get a good picture, and some years I don't. Often, the days I have my camera with me the sky is overcast or there are cars parked in front of the tree. This time there was a large white truck, but I was able to crop it out and still have enough of the photo. There's something about the shape and the color of the orange and yellow in front of the mauve colored wall that appeals to me. This tree is across the street from the Bank of Astoria (now re-named Columbia National Bank), and around the corner from Deja Vu.