Dec 6, Astoria: Cold today

I took surprisingly few photos today - in fact, only this scene. The tides have been big: high highs, and low lows. And the river was rough, but I didn't hang around to catch white-capped waves under the radio tower, because it was already in the 30s near sundown. For here, that's pretty cold and I wasn't prepared. Wind had been shaking the building, and something underneath was thumping against the pilings in the high tide. As I write this just before bed (at 1:30 in the morning of December 7, although I'm posting it to December 6), it's only 30 degrees out. I've been working all day and all evening, and even though the heater's been on, the room is cold. Clearly, it's time to turn in!

1490 Marine Drive - from the catwalk

Fourteen ninety Marine Drive as seen from the catwalk by the radio tower. This is an unusual view for me, as the catwalk is supposed to be off limits, but I was trying to get a huge 20-foot log back out into the river. I mean HUGE. Here it is.

April 4, Astoria: The garden, before and after

This little patch of garden near our front door isn't very big, and that's probably a good thing. When we moved in two years ago, I was too busy to tackle it, then last year I started planting some things and the owners followed through with their plans to renovate the entire outside of the building. It looks great now, but for the duration I couldn't even get to the garden, let alone do anything. It had tarps on it, equipment, lumber, ladders, and work boots trampling on it all summer. A few things survived - the peppermint on the left, some purple sage in the middle, lavender on the right, and (surprise to me) a couple of small stands of chives were coming up and smelled really good. I didn't remember that they were there last year. After months and months of rain, I decided to take part of this sunny Saturday and dig in.

Here's the "after" shot. It's hard to photograph in the mixed light and shade, but I got most of the weeds and grass out. Oh my god, was that hard; my muscles are screaming at me tonight. Four and a half (or was that five and a half) laps on the treadmill last night were only about a quarter as hard as this. I had fun, but "ouch." Some of the plot has nice potting soil, and some is the worst rocky subsoil. Then there were the huge chunks of grass with roots that infiltrated like molars. I moved the rocks out around part of the border to take in the whole dirt area. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some more plants and finish filling it in.

Here's another photo of it after I finished today. I left in everything I could from last year, and addd new things. The plants I bought last night were Siberian wallflower (yellow), carnations (light pink), Tuscan blue Rosemary, fuchsia (babies), cyclamen (purplish, I hope), variegated rockcress (blue/purple), columbine hybrid ("swan pink and yellow"), heather (bright purple, right front), ranunculus (deep red-purple), anemone Mona Lisa (the big red flower; I may need more in that or other colors). I tried to get mostly perennials, but I have some annuals, too. I like it when they get big year after year, and it's less work and expense. My most recent experience trying to keep a garden taught me that some of the "annuals" actually last a few years, depending on what they are. There are a couple of sucker trees or big bushes around the backlog that will need clippers.

I bought the flowers at Freddy's last night, and they looked nice in the sun this morning.

I think I'd like to put in a more ambitious planter here on the outside of the building. Other businesses have them down the River Walk and in town, and they look so nice. These pots came from my apartment, planted several years ago, and I've neglected them badly for two years. They're herbs, or they were. I bought some bush beans and things to try in pots this year, and also some herb seeds. Yeah, I'll get to the dandelions, too. They're pretty, but you look at them and your mind says, "weed," so I guess they have to come out.

This area is between the garden and the front steps of the business. I want to do something about that grass, because it's not mowable. I put the pots there for the moment, but I'll plant something else - maybe spearmint and purple sage. They do really well and shouldn't need much maintenance. I hope the fern rejuvenates. I like it, and it came with the place. If not, the spearmint will probably take over anyway.

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 :)

Beads from Colombia

I may not have the date right, but part of what TPF received as samples for potential inventory were several strings of seed beads dressed up in cellophane bags with hearts and flowers.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Drawing again and Palisade scenery

I've taken up drawing again after having done very little or nothing with it for years. It seems your eyes and your muscles start all over again, or almost all over again, after this long. It feels clumsy and it's frustrating, but I decided I wanted to see how good I could get before I get much older, since it's something I used to do pretty well. I began taking a class at the art center in Grand Junction.

It's all exercises at this point. The infamous gesture drawings. But truly, if you can learn to do them well, it will help a lot. If you ever wonder if gesture drawings have any point, find some by Rembrandt.

Peach trees and snow at the end of Milleman Street. This is looking approximately west toward Grand Mesa.

I suppose this would be southwest. There's Grand Mesa and some smaller hills.

Simple and small. The early days of TPF. The gift shop items are in the white cabinets. The rugs are from Salasaca, Ecuador, brought back by Craig Downer.