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.

Aug 26, Astoria to Bend: On the Road

Thus begins a mini-adventure. Not that we expected anything to be difficult, but it would be the first time Laurel and I and Teagan would travel from Astoria to Bend to see Lee, aka Dad and Grandpa. First stop, Coffee Girl on Pier 39. I couldn't help but take a photo in this setting. I was a bit sorry to be leaving our wonderful weather and the coast I so love for dry and possibly hot parts inland.

My first glimpse of Teagan for the day was in the dark cave of the SUV. Dark because we're parked inside of the Pier 39 building.

Ooooh. Micky, Minnie, and Donald. I hadn't liked them so much as a child, but it seems they've morphed with modern technology into educational animals rather than ones that simply get caught in stupid situations and make impossible contortions with their bodies to get out of trouble. The colors are nice. As long as Teagan can't see the road from his car seat, he can learn about angles and the formation ducks fly in. I'm wondering if his first words will be, " . . . two sides of the triangle."

Same-old, same-old in a sense, but always different, and always worth a picture. I love being able to see the ships just about every day.

A few hours later and nearing Mount Hood, the clouds were interesting. In this case, the white thing on the left is INSIDE the car. Oh, well. I just like taking the photos.

More cloud formations nearing the mountain.

You get only a few good camera-worthy glimpses of Mount Hood as you skirt the old volcano. Today the glaciers are pared down to a bare minimum from where they were a decade or two ago.

Nice cloud formation, beautiful Mount Hood. Skirting the mountain by road.

Here's an underpass with pedestrian overpass adjacent to the mountain. It's attractive, with each design element featuring an animal or image. I hoped to get an animal in the camera sights as the car swooped past, but I think I got toboggans. On another trip, I believe I got a fish.

The small town of Government Camp is just off the main road. We stopped at the part of Government Camp that sits alongside the highway to use the facilities and take a break. As we pulled into a parking spot, a small animal (apparently a vole) scampered out of the weeds and stopped still. I didn't want to scare it, and my first photos were from farther away - as close as I could get with the optical zoom. After awhile, as it hadn't moved, I crept closer. It still didn't move, and I began to get the feeling it wasn't going to. "How weird," we both said, "It just crawled out of the grass right in front of our eyes and DIED, or what?"

Apparently so. This is my close-up of the cute little vole, but now it's a cute dead vole. I didn't touch it, but I did stomp on the ground a mere foot from the animal now baking in the sun at the top of the pass. Too bad. How strange. I wonder if it had been poisoned.

This is the view of Mt. Hood and the ski lift from the road at Government Camp. It looks beautiful, and today it was hot - about 95 degrees.

Here's another view of Mount Hood. For the record, this is the end of August, 2009, and the snow and ice is certainly depleted.

Laurel and Teagan get some exercise. I'd already checked to see about brain freezes or smoothies, but the place was out of ice cream and their freezer was broken. Hot coffee? Not today, thanks.

We had expected to see a lot of this, but there really wasn't much, so it didn't slow us down too much. Another two hours to go. Everything was going fine.

Past Mount Hood, down the slope and onto the high desert plains. It was August tan, gold and brown, and also hazy from fires. This particular short stretch is one of my favorites. It's in a slight draw with a marsh at the bottom. The branches of the marsh plants turn red and other interesting colors in most seasons. At one time it burned, and I always like the contrast of the tortured dark trees in front of Mount Jefferson, but unless one stops, there's only a fraction of a second to get a good photo from a moving car, and this time I didn't. In order to walk to a good photo stop, you need to park off the rise and walk on the narrow siding. That wasn't happening today, so I'm happy with the memory-book photo I did get.

Another photo of Mount Jefferson as we passed it, and then I put the camera aside for awhile even though there are wonderful rock formations between here and Bend.

I came up with one last photo, which I just love, in the valley at Warm Springs. I wouldn't know how to describe this feathery image with its subtle color and perfectly-formed shadow, so I'll simply say, I really like this one.

And on to Bend.

April 26, Astoria: The good, the bad, and breakfast at The Pig

For the fourth photo on my new project, the Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo blog, I was looking for something quintessentially Astoria, something representative of the whole town on its hill - the trees, the buildings, the scope. I thought I might get it from the Safeway parking lot, as we were going to Starbucks anyway for coffee. But I found that what was quintessentially Astoria was the fact that the nice view was marred by power lines and bad lighting. I zoomed the lens and got a photo I liked (above), but it didn't give the essence of place that I was looking for.

Astoria is such a hodgepodge of the strikingly beautiful and the maddeningly, stupidly ugly. I guess what city isn't, but I notice it here because - I guess because the damage feels so much greater than other places I've been. I can examine the reasons later. What I was looking for here was the idea that when the sun comes out, the events seem to blossom. Astoria has stuff going on all the time, but the outdoor events are ready to pop now that the sun is out. Both Astoria and Warrenton were packed full with the Crab, Seafood and Wine Festival running from Friday through Sunday, and a classic car show in Warrenton. I loved seeing that the Astoria Sunday Market will be starting again on Mother's Day, but I don't know the date. I didn't know there were boating classes, but of course there would be, I'd just never thought about it. Their slogan on the sign ("Boating is fun - Safe boating is more fun") is certainly a good one for our current-filled river. It's good to know these things, but look what we've allowed to happen to our special vista. It's awful.

We'd gone to The Pig (technically The Pig 'n' Pancake) because we wanted a cheap breakfast with some eggs in it, and we didn't want to cook. It seems everyone attending the various events had the same idea. It was crowded, but the wait wasn't too long. Lee decided to color while we waited for Laurel, Teagan, and Jen to arrive. And he kept on until he finished. The crayons in the cup were distinctly limited: purple, orange, yellow, and something dark. He stuck to the orange and purple. Probably a good idea.

Nice work in progress.

Teagan is starting to extend himself into a broader world, taking more and more notice of people and things around him, and wanting to go there. The first thing he did when he was born was to fling his arms wide, kinda like they are here. At the birth, of course, I didn't touch. Here, I reached across the table and brought him over for a chat. He likes pushing his legs straight out and either trying to stand up on you or just going rigid and holding the pose. He's starting to be more fun, and soon he'll be into everything. I can hardly wait. Actually, I wonder what it will be like. He's been very mellow from Day One, but very alert and has agendas. Let's see where they go!

December 17: Snow in Astoria, 2008

It began snowing during the night. It was one of those nights I stayed up into the morning and worked online, doing what I could to boost our visibility in the searches so our gift shop would generate much-needed orders. It was fun anyway. I love working with photos - blogging, Panoramio, web albums. . . .

The snow was a surprise. I'd forgotten all about it until I looked outside as I was getting ready for bed about 4:15 in the morning. I love these night pictures - the scenes look so gentle.

When I finally got up late in the morning, there was more snow yet. This is outside The Animal Store looking west toward town and the bridge.

But it wasn't all snow, and it wasn't all that cold. There was a lot of slush and water. The reports said the freeze was coming, though, so whatever was water now had the potential to become very slippery very soon.

I thought about the ice potential wherever I went today. I was driving. Although I have summer tires, it wasn't bad today. But it wasn't quite usual, either. A mound of slush had built up at the exit of the parking lot, and I almost ran over my friend Lisa. Oops. I love this pic with the reflected lights in the footprints and under the tree. After going up in flames, the Bank of America had moved into a portable building in the old Safeway parking lot. I thought it was fitting that it now looks like a fire engine. Maybe they took the motto to heart: "Be Prepared."

Here's another pic of the bank showing just how much it does look like a fire rig. Look at all the footprints in the wet snow. This is really a novelty in Astoria.

Next to the portable bank. I liked the track pattern, but also this shows what's in store when it freezes. That's all water and slush.

I went up to see Laurel and James and little Teagan. So cute. I held him for a long time. He likes to put his hands together. Laurel says it's a comforting gesture for him. He was also holding his mouth for long periods of time in a position as if he wanted to whistle. In this case, with the tongue out.

There you go. That's the whistling one; he does it quietly - no sound.

I'm learning to hold a young baby, since I haven't had much experience. I've held a few, of course, but it seems ages ago. My friends didn't have them till later, after they or I had moved, and I wasn't around much when my sister and brother's kids were young. I got out of Dodge and stayed out, pretty much.

Sleeping. I must be doing a good job. Note the hands again.

Here he is after Laurel (Mom) did the changing. I'm not ready for my diaper changing lessons yet, thanks. That will come in time. (Maybe.)

Swaddled and back in his crib. And now he's down for a long winter's nap.

Well, not really, he wakes up a lot, but outside it's looking more and more unmistakably like winter.

I returned to work. Isn't it wonderful when work can consist of plastic eels and such? I love it!

Welcome home, Larel, James, and Teagan!

Hey, it was good to see all of you back here in Astoria! Lee arrived in time to greet the family with its new member, and I arrived on foot a few minutes later - huffing and puffing from the fast walk up 11th Street. Teagan is not really yellow. He's a little reddish, but then he's a baby. I see I'm going to have to learn to take photos under artifical lights. There was no available daylight at all when I got there. So here he is, just eight days old, my little grandtapir. I love his expressive hands!

This blog's for you!

I will admit that I've never bonded with babies especially well or taken a lot of interest in them until they became older. And then - well - I've never lived close enough to my family or to friends with babies to make much of a connection. And suddenly, thanks to Lee and Laurel and James, I find that I'm one of the grandmothers. I was at the bedside when Teagan was born, and I'm doing what grandmothers do. I'm getting goofy about this baby. I've taken over 500 pictures, and he's only 4 days old. I like it. Is this baby adorable, or what?

Jane and I drove from Astoria to Portland today to visit Laurel, James, and little T. in the NICU. Today he was four days old. He was five weeks early (hence the NICU and feeding tube) and, thankfully, doing extremely well. Laurel has written two blog posts already (post 1 and post 2), so I'll let her tell the details, and I'll begin posting some of the thousands of photos I know will be part of my life over the next years.

It was dark in the room when we arrived, and when I lightened the photos, the baby turned redder than he really is, although when he cries, which isn't too often, he DOES turn red.

He moves a lot. Being a "wiggle worm" seems to run in the family. Teagan was born with arms flailing, and already he's kicking off the covers.

Waking up slowly. Too cute!

Ooooh! A face! I thought of Lee. He covers his mouth with his hands when he's hungry, too.

We're jumping ahead here. Feeding took awhile. You can read about it on Laurel's blog post. Here James is holding him next to the incubator, which he barely needs now in its heating capacity, but which is still his bed. The lid was open the whole time I was there.

Laurel and Teagan. The splotch on his cheek is the tape that held the feeding tube. Teagan has decided he doesn't need it any more, and it came out sometime during the breast-and-then-bottle-feed process, and the nurse said they could leave it out because he was about done with it anyway. He ate a lot today, at least it seemed like he did.

Here's Jane with the baby - Aunty Gram. I got to hold him next, and for quite a long time. I haven't decided what my name will be yet. Maybe Grandma Tapir (Grandma Tay?). It's silly, but I've heard worse. It's weird choosing a new name. I just wanted to be "Sheryl" to my nieces and nephews, but they called me "Aunt Sheryl" anyway. But "Sheryl" is too hard for babies to say when they're very young.

It takes two people to swaddle the kid for sleep time. He loves flailing those arms and legs. I don't blame him. I don't like my feet under the covers, either, unless it's really cold. His parents have already dubbed him an escape artist. "Hey, where did those arms come from???! We just tucked him in."

Sleeping peacefully till next feeding. Such a sweetie, and so much fun to watch. Goodnight till next time! Being the "grandparent," you get to go home and sleep, too.