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!

Dec 1, Portland: Another day at OHSU

I wanted to remember breakfast. This image was stronger when I was back further and the perspective was greater, but we were walking, and I didn't take time to direct the scene. Most of the pix in this post are of that type - on the fly. Memories.

The contrasts caught my attention in the parking lot as we walked back to Jane's condo to get ready to go in to OHSU (Oregon Health Science University: the hospital) for the day. My job was to be moral support, but of course I did it because I wanted to be there.

Moss along the paved sidewalk, and a red curb.

A beautiful old live oak. I'm sure it was once happier without the pavement. Its better angle is from the right in this image, but we were walking and I missed it.

Beautiful fall trees still have their leaves despite rain and wind. This is at Jane's condo in Lake Oswego (Portland).

The drive up the hill. Trees. Talking about the 70% chance of success, hoping it will be within the 70%, and what does that really mean. What does it mean to think positive? But it doesn't hurt, and we were doing our best to think positive even though the procedure was already said to be very tricky.

Yellow autumn leaves still glowing in the morning sun.

Oddly, I like blurry photos along the road. This is so Oregon, even in the midst of the city.

The tram at OHSU was under construction for so long, and now it faithfully carries people from their cars parked at the base of the hill up to the buildings where they work or visit the hospital and other buildings. It's massive, and is built with interesting shapes and colors. We opted for parking in the lot on top.

Into the maw.

More modern shapes and contrasts. If you have to have something done at a hospital, it may as well be an interesting one.

More angles at OHSU.

Tram top and covered walkway.

More new construction.

Shapes and reflections.

From inside the 9th floor hallway, I tried to get a shot of this deco design through tinted glass as we waited.

The halls have some nice paintings. This is in the 9th floor waiting area. Strange. A woman in a wheelchair needed a signature from someone not in her own family and not on the hospital staff. They were to sign a form witnessing that the woman had signed a document. I offered. The lady was grateful, but "She doesn't know who I say I am," she said. "That doesn't matter," said the staff member. I signed. Of course, I didn't have to show I.D. either. Weird.

Traveling Wilburys . . . out of the closet and I can't stop listening

Just a disclaimer. I didn't take any of these photos :) But probably nobody will mind, since I'm linking everthing to their official site. If you've heard them, you'll probably want to listen again. If you haven't heard them, you're in for a big treat. I was excited today to find a link to super-high-quality videos of End of the Line and Handle With Care. There are more, but these are my two favorites. (There is no arrow, just click on the photo when you get to their site.) If you think you haven't heard of the group, take a look at the faces. It's only a few friends having fun making music: Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and George Harrison.

I remember the day in the late 1980s when I first encountered them. I had no idea, but I couldn't believe what I'd just heard on the radio, and I couldn't believe there was "some group" out there so remarkably gifted and this was only their first record. I called the radio station and dutifully wrote down "T-r-a-v-e-l-i-n-g-W-i-l-b-u-r-y-s." Then I scraped up a few bucks and went to find their music in the store. I had those two cassette tapes for a long time, and when I began replacing tapes with CDs, I was distressed to learn that the group was not on disc. In fact, they'd been out of print for quite some time. But by that time I was getting the idea that sooner or later everything would be available on CD, it might just be a matter of waiting. (There's actually one obscure tape I'm still waiting for, but it wasn't very popular.)

Well, times have changed. Identities have been revealed. I bought the double CD with the DVD and fell in love with the sound all over again. The video was fantastic. I pulled it off the shelf again the other night after watching a horrible DVD of Cream's farewell concert at Albert Hall. I love Cream, I love their sound, but this DVD had not captured the sound I loved, and the visual was old and almost unwatchable. The thing it seems to have captured best was Jack Bruce's bad complexion, and I could have done without that information. So what that has to do with the Wilburys is basically nothing except that I wanted to end the evening on a better note, and I knew this video would do it for me. I could not stop hitting the replay button. Tonight for laughs I looked them up online and found that the videos have been made available online. With a computer, speakers, and a mouse, you don't even have to pay for it. I love this turn of events, but I'm still trying to figure out how one little room could hold so much genius. And the varied talents blend so perfectly. There's a video included that tells the story, and it's delightful and amazing to watch. And . . . they were having fun, which is so gladdening to feel part of, which is what happens to you. It's 100% infectious. And as Sue said, no egos. I guess I've said all I know how to. Just listen. Enjoy.

A gift of tapirs

I did not take this photo, but I feel lucky that my work is such that people send me things like this! There were four photos in all. For the full story and three more photos, please visit my tapir blog.

Oct 10, Bend: Morning colors and things on the tops of buildings

There are always unusual things to take pictures of in Bend, Oregon. On the way to a garage sale this morning, I spied this found-metal fish on top of someone's garage. Very Bend.

Down the street was more garage art. What the heck is this horse doing on the point of the garage roof? Who knows. Maybe they couldn't part with it after it wore out. Anyway, it's something a little different.

Of course, this is also the time to be enchanted by trees turning colors. Some turn faster than others, and they turn such a variety of colors.

It's also a good time to find native high-desert plants in flower - at least, I think this is a native sage.

The trees on Wall Street near Revere were screaming red.

Here's a closer-up view of the same trees.

And more sagebrush, also on Wall Street near the highway entrance.

The flowers on the brush are subtle, and so pretty this time of year.

Flowers with more of the sage. The dusty colors complement each other perfectly.

I also like the gratings around the young trees in this part of town.

Here's one with a touch of Autumn showing.

These leaves are more withered than showing the natural trend of the season. The colors are here, but they are also fading rather than glowing as brightly as they otherwise would. A freak early snowstorm on October 4th (seen here on Lee's Bend, Oregon, Daily Photo blog) zapped the life (or part of it) right out of many of the plants here.

I left this photo in mainly to remind me that I want to go back and photograph some of the old buildings in this area. They are definitely frontier era, and quite charming, even though sometimes hard to photograph between the cars and behind the power lines. This one is on Revere Avenue and Division Street.

Today is Laurel's birthday. Happy 28th!!! We called, but were sorry we weren't there to help celebrate. Laurel, if you read this, I or we will be bringing something to Astoria for you by Wednesday or before. See you then :)