Salmon Fish Wheel for eBay

My mom sent me a few things to put on eBay. It's been awhile since I've sold anything there, and I have to say, I like the seller tool improvements. Hopefully the integration with PayPal won't be as awkward and time-consuming as it used to be. This thing is a small model fish wheel we bought on a family trip to Alaska. I don't remember the year exactly, but it was about 1965, I think. I have some other things, but I thought I'd get my feet wet (as it were) again with this one thing. It looks pretty cool and the wheel turns. For the next 7 days, it will be here.

Note on October 22: It seems this fish wheel will be going to a school district in Fairbanks. It makes me happy that it may be helping to teach people about the culture of their area. And for the record about eBay - it was a total waste for cheap things (same as I concluded before) - but good for really unique or more expensive items. I was happy with the sale of the fish wheel and my old camera, but not so much with things from the shop. Also, eBay now takes a huge cut, between the high percentage they take of the sale and the smaller (but significant) fee taken by PayPal. It's also time-consuming and a contributes to my feeling of having a bunch of loose ends out of control. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have enough of those already, or if selling eBay were my main focus.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Mysteries and reflections

In the comment section of my Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo blog, Vogon Poet of my adopted sister city, Livorno, asked which ships were in the reflecton below. Today (actually, the day of that photo, since I'm writing this on October 4) there were at least five big ships anchored in the river. The two on the left can be seen reflected in the windows of Baked Alaska's lounge (see next photo below). I took the picture above from Waterfront Park (14th Street Pier), so at this time, Baked Alaska was one block behind me. I didn't take close-ups of the ships today to get their names, but the third photo appears to show that the second from left is the (Something) Wind, rather than the similar-looking Bungo Spirit, which was on the river a few days later. I seem to remember seeing a ship by the name (Something) Wind (possibly Celestial Wind), so I think I have it right. It's hard to read in the distorted reflection. One of the mysteries to me is how the ships appear so large in the windows. They were not moved, since these first two photos were taken only five minutes apart. I've left the top photo large when you click on it, but it's impossible to read the names of the ships.

Leaving aside the explanation for the size of the reflections, I think the picture is simply lyrical. In fact, the mystery and distortion just enhance this effect. The photo below was taken from a different spot on the 14th Street Pier. It was taken 32 minutes after the photo in Baked Alaska's windows. I had wandered around town and again passed the pier on my way back. Below, the reflection is in the waterside windows of the U.S. Customs building.

I've left this photo large, so if you click on it, you can barely make out the name of the ship on the left. The various shipping lines send quite a few different ships through the river. They look similar until you pay attention to the details. Hopefully, I'm going to find more time soon to keep my personal blog up to date. I do love noting the identities of the vessels that move up and down the river, and sometimes stay for a few days.

August 9, Astoria: Down to the Waterline Again

Astoria, Oregon ~ August 9, 2001

Back down to the river on a cloudless summer day.

That's the Baked Alaska building, and out of frame on the right is where the pilot boats dock. I'm posting this later, and I have no idea why I took so few photos. Maybe I still had a thing about using the up the space on the card.

Another vantage point . . . foreground and a reflection.

I can feel this day warming up with not a cloud in the sky. As I'm posting this later, I just looked back at the weather stats, and it got up to 86 degrees on this day. That's hot for Astoria. We don't get many like that, even in summer. It usually means there was an east wind blowing the heat from inland and blowing the clouds away.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.