Hot and Cold on Regatta Day

Astoria's annual Regatta parade took place on one of the hottest days of the year, that being 90 degrees - possibly in the sun, not the proverbial shade. I might not have gone out exept that I wanted to take a few pix for Astoria Daily Photo. The heat had me lying pretty low, but I loaded up a plastic bottle with ice and blended fresh fruit and crossed the street to this bit of shaded park in the median between Commercial and Marine.

Looking back at the home front, Marty had arranged with the guys resurfacing the pilots' place to resurface the front of 1490. I'm partial to the old gray, but I guess this helps keep the property in shape. I accidentally walked on it, but found out from Marty that (surprisingly) Windex takes out the marks left on the carpet by your shoes.

It was hot all the way until the end of the parade, then something happened that I just love our area for. The marine layer came in. Right on the river, it actually became cold. The cloud itself is not the marine layer, but the marine layer either creates clouds or pushes them along underneath.

. . . A lacy insect inside the porch alcove.

As I drove out to Warrenton, I was so invigorated by the cold air, I stopped and walked out to take photos of the low clouds. It's amazing what this burst of cool air did for my state of mind. I parked along Marine Drive and walked out to the water - probably farther than I've been able to walk in some time. Welcome signs of recovery, be they ever so slow.

Walking back to the car - the Suomi Hall and the graceful curve of the bridge.

A giddy view. I like the tree in front of the pier.

More giddiness, now facing the onramp.

New design and new purple paint. I like it.

I took this one without looking, since I was driving over the bridge. The marine layer is growing.

By the time I got back to Astoria, this event was taking place just on the other side of Englund Marine. Every year they do a simulated rescue as part of Regatta.

Up . . . I like the piece of a ship in this one.

You can see the spray tossed up by the 'copter.

Back on the west side of Englund Marine, there were more boats coming to the event on the other side of the building, which now I couldn't see.

Guys on the boat.

I'm not sure what the Port Authority is doing here, although they're also on their way to the Event. It would probably have been more fun before it got foggy and cold.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

April 29, Astoria: Gorgeous sunset tonight!

It's been pretty nice with the sun out, although it's still very cold for April. It looks nice, and I step out with "just" a sweatshirt and run back for my winter jacket, even on a day like this. The tree, by the way, is still firmly anchored horizontally in the pilings.

The little patch of garden is doing nicely. The columbine is blooming.

The ranunculus (red) and wallflower (yellow) are doing well, and the purple sage is looking good. The horsetails are also coming up. Technically, they're weeds, but I'll let them stay for a little while. I enjoy the green and they're such interesting ancient plants. There's something with a broad leaf that I should take out soon, some stray grass, and a few dandelions. I saw Jim pour vinegar over the dandelions around the edges of the building, and I was astonished. I'd never tried that (I have a whole litany of things I did try in a former life that didn't work, and another list of things I didn't try because I didn't want to poison the yard). Well, it worked! White vinegar for weeds! It's non-toxic, and it's cheap, too.

The clouds came and went today in a typical pattern of Astoria on an inconclusive day. I loved the shades and lines here, and I have a thing for peeling buildings when they look as cool as this does.

I worked late, as usual, and when the sky began to turn orange, I left for the gym with camera in hand. You never know what the sky will do. It had been raining, and everything was wet, but the clouds were thinning out. I took this from the Sixth Street Viewing Platform.

This was the view facing the other direction (up-river). Lovely colors.

I walked a little way down the River Walk and found this nice reflection before I turned back. I was planning to drive in the direction of the bridge anyway (just barely visible in the lower right of the reflection).

It was worthwhile. It was still and quiet, just a little damp from the rain, but not much. Only another photographer and a dog-walker were about on the River Walk behind the Holiday Inn Express.

Along the River Walk in the evening

There was plenty of light when I left home to walk to the gym with my backpack filled with all my stuff. I haven't bothered to put the shampoo and stuff into smaller bottles, so it was pretty heavy. I could have ridden my bike or taken the car, but sometimes it just feels like a walking day, and so it was. My back has been feeling better, maybe largely due to raising my computer screen up higher off the desk than I'd ever done before. I'm seeing a new chiropractor in Bend and she was adamant about this. It IS making a difference!

We've had clear days for about a week. The light almost looks like the dog days of summer, but it's still in the mid-40s during the day. I guess the bare trees would be a give-away, too.

I'm walking away from this scene, east toward the gym, but it's hard not to look back. I don't know what this cement slab thing is. There are all sorts of nifty ruins of things here. Most of them have to do with the heyday of canneries.

This scene is just east of Pier 39.

Now I've been to the gym, taken a long shower and am heading back. Is it beautiful, or what? If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see a ship in the sunset at the right side of the visible part of the bridge.

Lovely. There were still a few people out running and walking their dogs. I haven't reached the Maritime yet.

Looks a little like Chinese writing, but it's really the lights on the side of the old Englund Marine building making patterns between the pilings.

Now I'm home. This is Area Properties to the left and the Astor Hotel rearing up to the right. The Animal Store/TPF is just behind me. I'm going in. It's still nice out. It seems warmer than it did on the walk toward the gym. What a pretty evening it's been. And my hair's washed. Yeah! I love the new stuff I bought to put on after the conditioner. It's called BioSilk. It feels great and replaces three kinds of goo I was having to use to attempt to make it come out right. And then it didn't. On another topic, has anyone noticed how many words have a capital letter in the middle but no space (like BioSilk)? I think this happened when computers wouldn't read file names with spaces in them, and then it got trendy. Anyway, nice product! Smooth, light, non-sticky. No, I don't sell it, ask your hairdresser.

Xclusive

I took this shot in the mirror while I was getting my hair trimmed and colored at the Xclusive Salon upstairs at Docks on 12th. Celestine is the best :) I've been trying to learn more about the camera and different settings. I didn't use any of them for this, but I did get the time and time zone set - finally!

Sunset from The Ship Inn, Astoria, Oregon

The food was predictably lousy, but the sunset was gorgeous to watch as Lee and I ate dinner. I'm not sure why we chose the Ship Inn except maybe because we couldn't believe the food was as bad as we remembered it. A lot of people seem to like the place and it's a local landmark, in the guidebooks, etc. We'd each been there separately, but not together, so we gave it a go. Today is my mother's birthday. She would have enjoyed the setting, but she was south in California. So, Mom, this picture is for you. A have three more photos of the sunset in my Picasa Web Album, "Astoria 2007."

Sunset on Bond Street

I love the sunsets from my apartment. So often the salmon-colored undersides of one set of clouds contrasted sharply with the dark of others. It was breathtaking - and of course the pine tree and the Astoria-Megler Bridge didn't hurt the scene!

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.

June 20: Sunset and the Astoria-Megler Bridge

This is a classic view here in Astoria - sunset and the Astoria-Megler bridge. I'm still amazed that this is what I see right out of my own living room window. It's breathtaking and calming, and I'm starting to feel at home here. I loved the sunsets over the high desert palisades and mountains in Colorado, and I'm going to love them here, too. What a sight. The lighted sign of the Rivershore Motel below me is visible in the dense black.