The Fort George Incident

So I walk into this bar and Shorty stuffs a Goldfish in my mouth. Not just ANY goldfish. Note the captial "G." It's a Brand Name cracker, and he was good, too. Shorty, I mean. He caught the action, made the grab, and WHOMP. Right in the kisser. The Goldfish wasn't bad, either.

One for me, several for Shorty.

Yeah, I know. This one is out of focus, but I needed pix for my story. You can see how deftly Shorty (Teagan) handles pieces of food. In this case, I think it was bread. Speaking of "right in the kisser," the kid had had a little accident with a bathtub and a mat the night before. The doc said all was fine, but he still had a bit of a fat lip. Gave it to himself. He seems to be entering one of those stages.

I think we all cherished these moments. It wasn't long before Wiggle Worm was outa there and Mommy and Daddy had to put down their burritos and play herd dog.

The classic shoe phone - always in style.

Byeeeeeeeee! See ya around, Kid.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

A Gorgeous Day

The day dawned spectacularly blue and balmy.

I took this one mainly to record the name of one more ship. This is the Jin Yue. Although I didn't get any further info, ships can usually be found online these days. By the way, on the left is the new, colorful cap to the railing improvements on the pilots' building.

The other end of the Jin Yue.

I thought I'd drive to Astoria Health Foods to pick up some NADH instead of walking, just because I was feeling so tired, but it seems everyone was visiting the coast on this beautiful day, and the parking spots were all taken. I ended up walking about as far as I would have anyway. It was a nice day to be out. This bench seems to be new. I'm noticing new benches and planters all over downtown Astoria.

My first thought was just to capture the old Art Deco tile in the unused entrance to the Astor Hotel ballroom on Commercial Street, then I noticed the strange "flower" growing the pot. Later I noticed the blue glove on the window ledge. Since they're working on the ballroom, and since people leave their trash in inappropriate places, there's no mystery or story at all, but simply visually I thought it was a kind of fun '30s-style mystery image. No?

This is no mystery, it's the front of Amazing Stories. See today's Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo.

I liked the way the light was playing on the curtains, but you have to click to enlarge in order to see the effect of the old glass.

Coming back, I was struck by the color of the center building, although it doesn't show as well in the photo. Still, I like the image.

This is the sign for Amazing Stories. I'll capture it someday it better light. I think it's one of Astoria's nicer business signs, and the Deco certainly goes with the building.

Here's another bench I hadn't noticed before.

I'm always a little surprised to see kayakers out. There's a kayak rental place on Pier 39, but it's not every day I see them on the water down here. I'm sure there will be more as the weather actually turns into summer.

Evening on the old Englund Marine building. I always love this view, and the pilings are so green right now.

This evening shadow of the deck railings above me always catches my attention, but it doesn't photograph very well. The lines are not sharp. Maybe someday I'll get it.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Sunset Glow

As I looked out the window, I was struck by the magnificent effect of the sunlight reflecting off the vertical parts of this ship below. But once I got onto the deck, I realized I'd have to be quick to catch the more subtle backlighting on the pilot boat. Tricks of the light often take my breath away, and this was one of those times. You may have to click on the photo to see it.

The ship was moving fast, and once I got it into the frame and focused, I'd already lost some of the drama of reflected light.

But it was gorgous. The timing was perfect. It's such an exciting moment to glance outside river and catch something like this.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.