Nancy Lynne Photography

Ten Again

2011-06-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

My sister visited Newport last week from Florida, sans husband and sons, which is unusual for her... so she and I had plenty of opportunity to be kids again together. I actually had some free time, which is unusual for me, so we did some day-trippin and enjoyed some of the wonders of Lincoln County. First we went south to Florence. Had to stop for some photo ops.

Had lunch on the waterfront in Florence while we took the opportunity to wander the bayfront there.

Saw some pretty flowers...

And then we did the white-knuckle ride on the dunes... man what a blast. It's like an hour-long roller coaster but thru natural dunes that cover 75 square miles. If you've never done it, I highly recommend it. I got to ride shotgun (YES!!), and Linda is right behind me.

This is our driver, Rick. He did an awesome job... very exciting!

He'd stop for photo ops and take pics for us with our own cameras. What a trip! Linda wanted to try to do it again before she left but the to-do list was just too long. So it's on the list for next time. I can't wait.

We stopped at Darlingtonia Botanical Wayside just north of Florence. Awesome stop if you've never seen it. This is a flower of the Darlingtonia plant.

Here's the sign explaining what they are...

We had to stop at Jump-Off-Joe, my family lived in the little white house that used to be there when we first moved to Oregon in 1966. Good memories there. We were only there for about 3 years. That was long before I met Linda... guess that must have been 1970. Yes, she is my sister from another mother.

Then we went bottom fishing out of Depoe Bay on the Amigo. Skipper/owner Perry York was Linda's husband Jeff's business partner in South Beach Charters when I started working for Jeff as his deckhand on the 50' charter boat the Cricket in the early 80s. Time warp...

We had a great time... I'd never been fishing out of Depoe Bay so it was especially awesome.

Linda had a great time, we both love to be out on the ocean and love to fish. It was kinda chilly but the sun was out and the ocean was nice. A great day.

Here Linda chats with Perry while he takes a break.

Kind of a neat shot on the way in...

Driving back from Depoe Bay, Linda had never seen the Otter Crest Loop before. So we took that detour. This is the Ben Jones bridge on that road.

Then we went halibut fishing with Dell on the Ilwaco Indian out of Newport. 30 miles offshore to the 'chicken ranch' and the catching was steady all day. We all got our one halibut, and several ling cod were also caught but they had to go back.

Here we are with our skipper and our fishies... nothing better than fresh fish. Yummy!

Saw this parked in town... made me smile so I captured it...

Our dad's birthday is in August... he'll be 85. Unbelievable. But Linda won't be here to celebrate so we did it while she was still here.

We had to go to the aquarium the day she left... and everyone has to get a pic like this. When Linda visits, she and I both become ten again... we have such a good time together. It's wonderful to have a sister connection with someone who 'gets it'. I already miss her and can't wait to visit with her again. She and her hubby Jeff are off on other adventures now before they head back to the little latitudes of home.

She was able to accompany me on a family portrait session at the Adobe in Yachats so we took the opportunity to get some more fun shots there... it was a beautiful day and obviously a very beautiful setting.

I actually let her get a pic of me... pretty unusual for me. LOL - she has promised to send me the pics from her camera when she gets home... she got some really good ones.

Typical tourist, not paying attention to the waves...

And then...

We did so many awesome things this week, I can't list them all... but we had some great adventures together. Love ya, sis.

Coming Around Again

2011-06-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was called upon by my friend and fellow photographer to stand in for her at a wedding she'd booked - she had an emergency and couldn't be there for it. It just so happened that I was able to do it, and what a great time it was. The weather was perfect, and the setting also quite beautiful.

I recognized the groom's name on the contract, and wondered if it was the same Jim Hayter that I went to school with. Sure enough!! One of my classmates from Newport High. The families all had a good laugh about that. He looks great, is obviously very happy and married a very kind and beautiful woman named Ronda. They live in Arizona now. My class is having our 30-year (OMG really?? 30 years???) reunion this summer, and I'm looking forward to catching up with some of my other classmates. Jim said he hopes to be there as well. Interesting how things work out sometimes.

Starting to find my smile again

2011-05-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

'Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.' - Dr. Seuss

'Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.' ~ Harvey Fierstein

Two quotes I have been trying to keep in mind lately, as I feel I have been bullied into silence... and that just isn't right. I don't feel like a victim so much as I feel like a target.

So... getting back up on that horse with some trepidation but more optimism than I've been feeling for the last six months or so. It's been a really rough winter, but like the title says, I'm starting to feel like myself again. I'm still grieving my losses and I miss my mom and my Lucky every hour of every day, but I'm also starting to look forward to the next adventures that Life chooses to throw in front of me.

Transitions abound, life changes direction, some doors close and others open. Life is still good.

Like Jimmy Buffett says, "I've had good days and bad days and going-half-mad days..." Sums up the last half-year for me. So here's to more good days! Cheers.

2010 - what a year.

2010-12-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

My mom was always so good about reminding me to post on this blog, she wanted to see the newest pics of what I'd been doing. My apologies for not posting for a while.

She passed away on November 2nd after having surgery to insert a rod into her femur, which because of her osteoporosis had been broken by the tumor growing inside it. She was anticipating radiation on that tumor and another on her upper arm bone after she'd recovered from the surgery. The tumors were very painful and she couldn't undergo radiation with the broken femur. Anyway, I miss her very much. Thank you to everyone who expressed condolences.

On December 14th, my beautiful Lucky was apparently struck by lightning in the pasture and was killed. I am grateful that he was a big part of my life for 13 years. We had so much fun together at the beach and in the woods, he just loved to go exploring. I adored this exceptional horse and my heart is truly broken at his passing.

Lots more difficult and distressing events happened in 2010 as well... they have seriously tried my optimism. Of course it hasn't been all bad, many good things happened as well, and for the most part it was a pretty good year. The events at the end of it have been hard to take. I am so glad to see this year come to a close. Looking forward to 2011 being a much better year, and can't help but wonder what the Universe has in mind for me after the huge life changing events of this year.

So here's to an awesome and amazing 2011. Cheers!

Scarecrows!

2010-10-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's time for Toledo's Scarecrow Festival. I've seen them popping up all over town. Brenda Searle helped me set this all up today, was a beautiful sunny day and we had a lot of fun.

We used stuff we found in the attic at the Port office and some stuff that I had from doing past displays.

Had a super-short Council meeting tonight so I swung by to get an after-dark pic. Looks cute.

The weather is supposed to get ugly over the weekend, I hope it all holds up!

Lucky's Friends

2010-10-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight when I went out to visit my beautiful Lucky, the elk herd was in the pasture again. There are a dozen or so cows, and this beautiful buck. He was laying down when I got there. I quietly made my way out to where they were, the horses helped me a lot by gathering around me and camouflaging my approach. I got within about a hundred yards of them. They are just stunning.

He finally stood up and gathered up his girls.

When I'd apparently gotten too close, they decided to move back up into the woods. The horses just graze right alongside these guys. Too cool!!

Recently I purchased a new kayak, and these pics are from the maiden voyage up the beautiful Yaquina River.

I love my new boat, and am looking forward to many adventures in it. And lots of photo ops, to be sure! The leaves are turning color and falling now, so the scenery is at one of its finest times for photos.

What a site!

2010-09-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to Crater Lake... after living in Oregon almost all my life and never seeing it before. It is absolutely breathtaking. This is Diamond Lake, on the way there. Another beautiful spot. The day was sunny and warm... and very dry.
This was the first look at the lake and Wizard Island.

The rim road is 33 miles long with more than 30 places to stop and stare...

And take deep breaths and just soak it all in. It smelled like pine needles and sweet fresh forest up there.

The slopes are steep and slippery all the way around. There is one trail down to the water, where they do the boat tours. I wanted to do that, but it was really crowded that day... and time just didn't allow. So that's on the to-do list for next time.

The water really is that color. Like a jewel. There are no rivers or streams feeding the lake, only rain and snowmelt. They do get a lot of snow up there.

This is the Phantom Ship. There were forest fires in the area that day, so this far-distant pic (LOVE the zoom on the camera...) is a little smokey... the white patch in the upper right, above, is a remnant of the the snowfall.

This is the front of the lodge. It's as beautiful inside - even more, I think - than outside.

This is the view from inside, on the lobby level. I'd love to stay there on one of the upper floors to take pics of the lake first thing in the morning. I imagine the stargazing from there is pretty darned good, too! Would be neat to get pics of the stars reflecting on the water.

Making my way back around the where I started... obviously the light has changed to that wonderful dramatic level that makes things just go POP.

You can see some of the smoke in this one. Isn't that just an amazingly beautiful place?

Coming back around to the end of the loop. It was getting really windy by the late afternoon, especially in this spot.

The trees up there show the effects of really tough weather. I do hope to get back there before the snow starts, and do some of the things I didn't have time for on this trip. There are so many more things to take pictures of than what I got to see... and I spent 5 hours on the rim taking pictures and enjoying the sights that day.

I see lots of faeries in this tree... isn't it awesome?

I was googling stuff to make the links on here and I found this. Holy cow. I hope they get a big fat ticket for that. Hugely relieved that the dog got out in time. Geez, people. Seriously.

A Luau!

2010-09-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I attended a luau at Oceanview with my mom and some of her friends. Here she is. This is Violet. She's a doll.
This is Elvis. Isn't he purty? He did a great show, too.

Shannon gave him a hula lesson.

Then she gave everyone a hula lesson.

This is Sharon, whippin up the yummy drinks.

Isn't she a pretty lady? I don't know her name, but she was charming.

The lady on the left was the school secretary at my grade school. She still looks the same. And she remembers me.

Shannon dancin for the crowd. She is effervescent.

And beautiful.

Another pretty lady, Irene.

Saw some friends visiting their kinfolk too.

This is Dottie. She is often my mom's lunch partner. She has a sheltie and a big green parrot.

It's High Tea on Friday, I'll bet that'll be just as fun. Especially if it keeps raining like it has this week. Enjoy!

Scenes from the 2010 Boat Show

2010-08-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Wowee, what a weekend. This year goes down as the best Wooden Boat Show ever! Lots of pics to share so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the festival with me...

We had lots of live music over the whole weekend. Here is Unkle Nancy and the Family Jewels rocking the crowd with their fun music and funky costumes...

They even had a belly dancer! What fun. They are full of energy and spark, and very entertaining to watch.

The Gracenotes serenaded the Sunday crowd.

Lots of people were out enjoying a sail in the slough. This beautiful 17' Teak Lady sloop, MaZu was donated to the port for their kids boating club. Gorgeous boat, and very fast.

Love the colors on this boat.

Port Secretary Debbie Scacco and her crew including Karen from Island Wild Seafoods did an amazing job on the food, offering yummy tri-tip sandwiches, wahoo sandwiches, swordfish kabobs, shrimp cocktails, corn on the cob, and even s'mores toasted up with a blow torch. Those were fun, and yummy and gooey.

The Toledo Chamber crew served up their famous pancake breakfasts and the crowds were just eating it up! Good stuff!

Service with a smile...

Saw some familiar faces...

Attended the presentations in the brand new kids boating club clubhouse... This is retired Coast Guard Commander Tom McAdams, a wiry local legend with a talent for story-telling.

And Roger Fletcher, giving an interesing talk on drift boats...

Even a little snake came by to visit. I'd never seen one in the slough before.

It sure got this doggie's attention.

Also in the new boathouse, the free fiddle workshop by Kelly Tibodeau.It was fun to watch the young ones try out a fiddle for the first time.

Everyone enjoyed trying this out.

Ran into the Ferguson family...

Stopped by the face painting booth run by my friend Karissa and had her do a nice design for me. She does beautiful work... and is such a sweetheart!

There were people paddling all up and down the slough during the whole festival.

Jack and Maggie Brown help a couple of paddlers into their PFDs before they head off into the slough.

Saw lots of furry friends there too.

Even saw a pirate or two! Some of them were lobbing potatoes out of cannons at targets floating in the water. Arrrr...

The kids toy boat building booth was a hive of activity all weekend. Some amazing works of art...

And fun to do for the whole family... ;) Love the octopus on her face.

A budding young artist. And boat-lover!

This one is a veteran, I'll bet she has 5 or 6 boats she's built at the shows. We love our regulars!

One of the most impressive parts of the boat show is the family boat building. 6 boats were built at the show this year, started on Friday morning and launched on Sunday afternoon. The first person I ran into was Mr. Stangeland, my high school photography teacher.

It was really neat to watch the progress.

This is local boatwright Rick Johnson, one of the instructors for the boat building. His work is absolutely beautiful. And he is a super nice man.

Smiling happy boatbuilders.

And then they're launched. And away they go!

These are very stable, very fast boats. What fun! Of course, there were plenty of wooden boats on display, and lots of folks joined in the people-powered boat races.

Here you can see the new boathouse. It is beautiful inside, walled with rough-cut cedar... it smells so good in there. It'll be used as a classroom for the youth boating club, where they'll learn to build boats, run boats, maintain boats, and hopefully enjoy a life-long love of the water.

The weather was perfect all weekend. Our M.C. Chuck paddled around the slough with his mic and did the announcing from out there for a little while.

Then he had a run-in with the law.

This pretty much summed up the weekend, since the boat show was at the same time as the all-class reunion, which brought lots of people to town.

The wood boats are always so beautiful, a work of art unto itself. And obviously each and every one is well loved.

This is a detail from the bow of the Ravn, above.

Please don't let me oversleep and miss going boating...

Met lots of nice folks.

Rick Johnson built this canoe for my friend Tom Chandler. Beautiful!

It was one for the record books. Loved every minute of it!

Miss Lacey

2010-08-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Miss Lacey Duster, a bay quarter horse mare, was foaled on July 5th, 1978. She spent her first 13 years doing 4-H, and according to one of her previous owners, was ‘trained for heading, not the fastest but always honest (good in the box), and a good beginning roping horse. Used 2 years on a women’s’ drill team. Used for trail & pack for three seasons.’ This was the description of the horse that came into my friend Angie’s life in 1991.

I met Angie and Lacey in the summer of 1998, when I needed a place to board my Lucky during the fair, when they kicked everyone out of the fairgrounds horse barn to accommodate the fair horses. Angie lived with her husband Kent on several acres and had a barn and pasture where she offered horse boarding. When they divorced in 2004, Angie gave Lacey to me.

Angie and Kent’s property was just north and east from town and only about a 15 minute ride to the beach. We loved to take them to the beach, and they obviously loved it too. There were a lot of places to ride out there, and we took advantage of them often.

Then Lacey and Lucky lived out on Sam’s Creek Road for about three years, and then I moved them closer to Toledo so I could see them more often.

Lacey loved my Lucky; they were always looking out for each other. But Lacey was getting older, and in the last few months, really started to age fast. She started losing weight no matter how much she ate and ended up with a bad hip, which Angie says has troubled her for as long as she can remember.

So, Miss Lacey Duster was laid to rest yesterday, August 12th, 2010. She was ready.

The decision to euthanize an animal is never easy… knowing when it’s ‘time’ to let them go. Knowing when to ease their pain before they become miserable. I honestly couldn’t stand the thought of Lacey languishing out in that pasture, in the long cold rainy nights of winter, and letting her die naturally out there, probably alone (except for the company of her herd, of course), and quite possibly in a lot of pain. I needed to spare her that.

So yesterday, I arranged for a backhoe (lucky for us, a mutual friend has one, and I’ve known him since grade school) and a visit from a vet to come out and put her down.

I went out a little early to say goodbye to my loyal old friend. I sequestered the rest of the herd (and the land-owner’s goats) in another part of the pasture and led Lacey up to the barn. I gave her some grain – she’s always loved her grain, but tended to let other horses and even the goats push her out of her bucket. I always had to stand guard for her and shoo them away so she could finish it.

I snipped a couple of locks from her beautiful long tail, one for me, one for Angie. Then I let her back in to spend some time with the rest of her herd. The backhoe got there and dug a big hole for her in the pasture near the apple tree. Angie arrived and we talked for a little bit while we waited for the vet.

I’d gone in to the vet’s office earlier in the day and picked up a syringe of sedative for her, hoping to make her transition as gentle as possible. So when the vet called and said ‘give her the shot’, so it could take effect before he arrived, we went and got Lacey, gave her the shot – she was always such a trooper about injections, not like my Nancy-boy Lucky – and didn’t even seem to notice it. I expected her to get really sleepy and want to lie down, but she didn’t, she just patiently stood there and let us love on her.

When the vets arrived, we chatted for a few minutes, and one of the doctors asked Angie and me if we’d ever witnessed a horse euthanasia before. Neither of us had, so he warned us that it can be a very traumatic experience for the humans, because they tend to flop. We both decided we really didn’t need to see that, so we kissed and hugged her goodbye and went around to the other side of the barn.

A few minutes later they came up from the pasture and told us that Lacey was one of the easiest euthanasias they’d experienced. He said that she was ready to go. I noticed the rest of the herd’s rapt attention was on Lacey, now just a body lying in the grass next to a big hole.

So the vets left, and Mike and Angie and I went down to bury her. I got down on my knees and took her halter off. I knelt there with her for a few minutes as my tears fell on her face. I kissed her and told her goodbye. Mike gently moved her into the hole and started to bury her.

We noticed a tiny mouse running around in the hole he was filling. Mike tried several times with the backhoe shovel to gently move it out of the hole, but after several attempts, decided that wasn’t going to work. So he started filling in the dirt… and that mouse stayed right on top of it. When he’d covered Lacey with dirt and still saw that mouse, he got down off the backhoe, got down into the hole, and caught the mouse to put it up on solid ground so that it could live.

He finished moving the dirt back into place and packed up to leave. Angie left, then Mike, and the land-owner showed up to feed and milk his goats. After we closed the gates by the road, I let the horses back out into the big pasture.

They instantly ran over to where the dirt was disturbed to check it out. There must have still been a little bit of blood on the grass where Lacey laid down. The vets had installed a catheter in her neck to administer the drug, and a little blood had seeped back out after she died. They sniffed the ground and then got very excited. They whipped around, bucking and kicking and tossing their heads, as if to say goodbye. As if they were paying their last respects to their old friend. Then they headed back out into the pasture to graze.

I can’t help but wonder what they think, how much they are really aware of. I think they know their old friend was dead when they saw her lying there. I think they know she is buried under all that freshly-disturbed dirt. I don’t know. But I think they notice that she’s gone. Angie and I agreed that we’ll plant a tree over her to mark her grave and to honor her long life.

Lacey was 32 years old, which I understand would be about 96 in human years. This picture is from about a week ago, when Angie and I agreed that it was time to let her go.

You can see how skinny she was getting, and that bad hip that made getting around difficult for her.This is one of the last pictures I took of Lacey. That's my Lucky in the lower left, looking at me. Miss Lacey is the dark butt, grazing among a herd of at least a dozen elk, right there in their own pasture. She had a good life.

Goodbye and Godspeed, Miss Lacey. You were loved.

My friend Kathy sent me this poem:

Don't Cry For The Horses

By: Susan Humphrey

They were ours as a gift, but never to keep,

As they close their eyes forever to sleep.

Their spirits unbound,

On silver wings they fly.

A million white horses,

Against the blue sky.

Look up into heaven,

You'll see them above.

The horses we lost,

The horses we loved.

Manes and tails flowing,

As they gallop through time,

They were never yours- they were never mine.

Don't cry for the horses,

They'll be back some day.

When our time is gone,

They will show us the way.

Do you hear that soft nicker?

Close to your ear?

Don't cry for the horses,

Love the ones that are here.

Pretty Baby

2010-07-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

From a recent newborn session...
And her sister is beautiful as well...

Kids and pets are the most challenging to capture, and by far the most rewarding.

The Weather is Here...

2010-06-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, we have finally had a few days in a row with no rain! Yay! Been busy ticking off some things on my 'oh yeah, I still need to do that' list. Feels great to have a beautiful weekend to get 'em done. The yard is finally starting to get whipped into shape. Whew!

Yesterday I got exactly what I wanted as far as weather, cloudy so I could make these portraits of a lovely lady and her horses, then the sun came out about noon and stayed out. A great day!

I hope you're having an awesome weekend too!!

The Great Outdoors

2010-06-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Recently, I attended the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife's 3-day "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" camp-out at Drift Creek Camp, southeast of Lincoln City. The weather wasn't great, it was chilly and rainy the whole weekend, like our entire spring has been here. But it was a lot of fun. Hiking thru the woods, I ran across this face watching me. It's just moss and stuff growing on a tree, but how cool is this?

Drift Creek is beautiful, no shortage of water there, that's for sure.

Saw some raccoon tracks in the muddy riverbank...

This maple is huge over the river. Beautiful!

Saw a Hobbit House.

And a pretty waterfall.

Drift Creek Camp is a Mennonite Camp and a neat place to go. I vaguely remember being there as a little girl, maybe in Brownies or something. One of the classes they offered was fly-fishing. Here, one of the volunteer instructors tries for a trout.

This is the inside of the ground floor of the lodge. A pretty cool place to hang out.

And the exterior of the main lodge. There are cabins around the periphery too.

It really was a fun experience, the classes I got into included wood carving, outdoor cooking, map & compass navigation and archery. Guess if we wait for it to stop raining around here, we'll never get to do anything. Hope we get some sunshine soon. :)

A different view

2010-05-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I got to go fishing in the ocean again. It was a really nice day with very little swell and no wind up until about 11. Then it picked up and got cold and a little choppy... but it's always awesome to be able to be out there on the water. And icing on the cake when you catch a bunch of fish! We caught half a dozen too-small ling cod, 3 keepers and another half a dozen black rockfish. I love to eat ling cod the day it's caught. Nothing better in my book. There were lots of crab pot buoys bobbing around out there, and like this one some of them have been out there a LONG time.
We went north out of Newport, out to about 200 feet of water and tried to catch a halibut but no luck there. So we came in closer, over the reefs and caught some fish. Yay. The view of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse from out there is stunning, especially with the beautiful dramatic clouds hanging over the land bahind it.

We saw this on the way out, it's the Mt. Mitchell. I actually didn't see the little boat off it's bow until I looked at the picture. The ship is huge and very cool.

Been scramblin busy trying to keep up with everything. Wow. Wish the weather would turn around, I'm really needing to get out and do some more outside stuff... including yard work. Have a great weekend!

Boats as Art

2010-04-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

The recent Wooden Boat Show in Depoe Bay was a hoot, with lots of boats on display, food and beverages, vendor and information booths - including the Port of Toledo's - which featured live boatbuilding demonstrations, and a crab feed! Here is a shot of the bow of an exceptional boat with inlaid turquoise and coral. Amazing, huh?

This guy was having a great time... he looks very relaxed.

There were quite a few boats on display there... and this sign:

... was on this boat.

Lots of pretty boats to see.

And chat about.

The bagpiper played for a long time, it was awesome.

The Depoe Bay Chamber does a great job of putting on this event. The organizers have been a huge help to the Port of Toledo in getting our own Wooden Boat Show off the ground. Salud!

Agate Windows

2010-04-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

The GraceNotes have been busy lately, singing at assisted living facilities around the county. We have a few more gigs coming up and booking plenty more for summer. Woo hoo! Last Sunday we sang at the Yachats Presbyterian Church, where we found the most interesting windows. Unpolished beach agates are embedded in resin sheets and make up these windows.

The texture of the resin makes it look like a watercolor painting. Beautiful!

By the way, the GraceNotes have a nice new website. Check it out!

The Old Bay Mare

2010-03-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

... she aint what she used to be. Not that any of us are. But she's getting to be really geriatric now. She'll be 32 in July. Wowsers.
My old Lacey's been a retired pasture ornament for quite a few years now. She is a sweet old girl who loves to rub her face on people. A week ago I thought I'd lost her.

She laid down after she'd had some hay and rested for a while, then when she tried to get up, she couldn't. So she laid there and rested some more and then tried again. Nope. This went on for a good half hour, maybe 45 minutes. I didn't think that helping her up was the right thing to do, I thought she'd just lay down again if I did. I thought it was time to tell her goodbye.

So I sat down next to her head as it was getting dark, and thought that she wouldn't last the night. I petted her face and told her what a great horse she's been - she's had a long rough life - and that I loved her.

She rested for a little while longer, and then she got up. I was pretty excited about that. ;) Then I put some orchard grass out, and she started to eat. That was when I knew she was going to be ok. Whew.

She is shedding like crazy right now, she puts on the heaviest winter coat I've ever seen. It gets all curly. So this time of year it comes out in piles. Then she looks all sleek and shiny again.

I'm loving the time change, this is the time that feels 'normal' to me. I love that when I get off work, I still have half a day to go enjoy it, rather than it being dark and time for hibernation. Yay spring!

Another cover!

2010-03-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

In today's mail was a copy of the February Jefferson Monthly magazine with one of my pictures on the cover. How exciting!

This image was taken at Shore Acres State Park on a rainy November day. I posted pics from that road trip here. When the magazine asked if I had any south coast images, these came to mind. Sometimes those fun roads trips pay off.

Come to think of it, I'm overdue for a road trip! It's so nice to see everything blooming... and my grass is growing like crazy! Spring ahead next weekend and then the Equinox the weekend after. Yay. I'm really looking forward to the longer daylight hours.

Cheers.

Sweet!

2010-02-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned here, I recently rejoined the Oregon Coast Chorus of Sweet Adelines, and last night we sang at the annual Barbershop Festival in Yachats at the Commons.

It was a great show, with lots of great men's barbershop from the Eugene Cascade Chorus, their quartets Social Insecurity and Four Over Forty and the Coastal Aires Chorus from Newport.

I got some pics before we went on stage, here are my favorites.

Trisha sings with the chorus and with two ensembles as well. She is an awesome baritone and my section leader. She rocks!

Monica and Chelsie chattin before the show.
Group chat: Kathy, Carla, Evelyn, Margaret and Marguerite catchin up.
This is Miss Jo on the left, and Miss Chrissie on the right. They will both become nonagenarians this year. Jo is 90 in February (next week) and Chrissie will be 90 in May. They are both a lot of fun, and have had very interesting lives. I want to be just like them when I grow up.
Ellen, Chrissie and Sue sharing a smile.
Miss Betty and Miss Jo. Exceptional women.

After the show, the Yachats Lions Club hosted an Afterglow with food and more singing. We had a great time!

I'm glad I've been able to find the time this winter to rejoin, the new director Krista Johnson has been doing an awesome job with us, and she is a very impressive young woman. One of the young 'uns of the group, only in her early thirties, she holds a masters degree in music education and a doctorate in music theory. She really knows her stuff and she is full of energy and enthusiasm.

What a fun hobby!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Wow... things have been so crazy, I didn't even realize I hadn't posted here in over a month. My apologies to you loyal readers, thanks for checking in.

I took a part-time job with the Port of Toledo just after Thanksgiving, and that has been a lot of fun and quite an education so far. I'm working in the office, updating their website, and helping put together the 2010 Wooden Boat Show scheduled for August 20-22, which will celebrate the Port's centennial year.

Seems the holiday season is always so crazy, and this year was no exception. Lots of singing gigs with the GraceNotes and the Sweet Adelines chorus, along with the normal holiday stuff and this year, working on top of it all and keeping up with my photography business... whew.

I was able to enjoy a nice Christmas dinner with my mom, my aunt Irene (Dad's sister) and my Dad.

I'm already looking forward to spring with its longer days and more oppportunites for new adventures. But in the meantime, I'll just keep on keepin on and try to keep up with it all.

Happy 2010 to you, I hope it brings you much joy and lots of new opportunities to experience the best that life has to offer.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

2009-11-27T06:31:00.000-08:00

It's time to plan for Santa's visit and Toledo's Hometown Holiday celebration!
This year we'll be at the Main Street Galleries, 305 North Main, on Saturday, December 12 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

There will be lots of fun activities all over town, and don't forget about the lighted parade at 5:30!

See you there!

Extraordinary

2009-11-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

I joined the Oregon Coast Chapter of Sweet Adelines in the summer of 1994, just after my first divorce... because I was ready to do something just for me, and over the years it has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

The chorus is made up of some of the most diverse and extraordinary women I've had the pleasure of calling my friends, and I treasure them. Like many other members, I've come and gone from the chorus over the years, and have always been welcomed back with open arms whenever I was able to attend performances and other functions they have put on - they throw the most amazing holiday parties - and have competed with the chorus and in a quartet several times. These ladies know how to have a good time.

The whole chorus traveled to Washington, DC over the July 4th holiday in 2001 as part of a Music Celebrations event, and my quartet 'High Hopes' sang our swan song, "God Bless the USA" - after an amazing 6-year run - on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That was a very memorable trip.

Recently, one of our long-time members lost her husband of 56 years. The memorial service was today, and she requested that the chorus sing at the service. So 25 of us showed up to support our sweet Betty. It was something the ladies just do because we care, and the relationships behind the scenes are extraordinary.

Our members have ranged in age from 16 all the way up to Miss Jo, who will be 90 in February. She was one of the charter members when the group formed in 1989. There are a few who are still dedicated members after more than 20 years of singing barbershop and other acappella arrangements together. Plenty of members have come and gone over the years, but as you can see on the website, it is a family of ladies who share a love of singing.

I am privileged to be a part of this group of wonderful women, and I have appreciated the friendships over the years more than I can say. I have learned so much and grown so much as a person because of my affiliation, and I am thankful to all of them for being such amazing women.

Director Carol Duvall is retiring at the end of the year, so things will change again for the chorus. Check out their performance calendar and catch one of their holiday shows if you can, you will be greatly rewarded. Especially the one on December 13th at the Ark in Newport, I know that one will be exceptionally awesome. And I'll see you there!

Halloween Costume Pics

2009-10-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

The 5th Annual Halloween Costume Portraits Event will run 2 days this year, Friday the 30th and Saturday the 31st from 2:00 til 7:00, at the Main Street Galleries, 305 North Main. See you there!!

Gorge-ous!

2009-10-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

A recent roadtrip along the Oregon backroads to see some stunning fall color yielded some of these interesting sights...

A flock of wild turkeys - they were headed for the cover of the woods, making all kinds of interesting noises...

A beautiful wooded path...

Interesting fungi... And at a stop along the road to overlook the Columbia River Gorge, a raven stopped for a moment... it was dizzying just to watch him fly from so high up...

The view from up there... the drop off at my feet was several hundred feet and very unnerving to get too close to the guardrail...

The fall colors were just stunning...

And a surprise along the way, a herd of bison grazing on the hillside...

A parting shot before the sun went down, a highway bridge alongside a railway bridge... beautiful!!

Been down with the flu all week... ugh. Starting to feel better today I think, just in time for Halloween!!

I'll be doing costume pictures for Trick-or-Treat Toledo on Main Street on Friday and Saturday in the building newly known as Main Street Galleries, 305 North Main, across 2nd Street from Main Street Cafe. Hope to see you there!

Interesting Day

2009-10-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

I had a nice lunch date with Mayor Rod today, our conversations are always interesting, enlightening and enjoyable. Thank you, Your Honor. ;)

This afternoon I attended the Newport Chamber's Business After Hours, hosted by Bateman Funeral Homes. I knew it would be a fun and interesting event, they always are, this one especially because the catering was by Oregon Coast Catering, they always do such an awesome job, and live music by Coin of the Realm, which is always awesome as well. It was interesting to see the funeral home facilities in that context, rather than the circumstances under which I've been there in the past, that I'd lost someone near and dear. The Newport Chamber members are always so friendly and welcoming, it is a joy to attend their functions. I won a nice Harry and David snacky package in the raffle too... always a nice bonus.

I skipped out of there and headed north to Gleneden Beach to attend a class on the "Master Key System" - which I found to be very interesting and enlightening. I'd seen an ad for the class in the local paper and made a mental note... I even had to dig the paper out of the recycle bin when I remembered it was being held tonite... funny how sometimes the Universe just nudges you to do something... you may not really know why you feel compelled... but you do none-the-less. And it ends up being just what you needed...

I received a warm welcome there too... and during the break chit-chat, got the celebrity treatment that always tickles me so and lets me know that my marketing and advertising efforts have been working... "you're THE Nancy Lynne??" I always smile when I hear that... and I'm always grateful. They were a very kind group of ladies (and one man...) and I look forward to meeting with them again next week.

Looks like a possible road trip to Coos Bay tomorrow to ride along with a friend delivering tuna and salmon down there. Should be fun, hope the weather is nice. I'll be sure to pack the camera...

Back to the Beach

2009-10-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

Miss Freckles and I took a nice long walk on our favorite beach today... the weather was warm and a little windy, but no rain. It is so nice to have our 'private' beach back, where I can just let her run off-leash because there is no one else around. A nice long trip to this beach really rejuvenates my soul, and gives us both some much-needed fresh air and exercise. There was a lot of washed-up mussel shells and kelp today. I think it's beautiful. This mussel shell was about 6 inches long.
Lots of interesting colors and textures to be found.

Miss Freckles the mountain goat - she really loves it at the beach.

We saw lots of seagulls, pelicans and some chirping oyster catchers.

More pretty flotsam...

Last week the weather was perfect for a road trip down south, with some trekking thru the woods to find a bagfull of chanterelle mushrooms. The scenery is just stunning.

A short stop to check out the fly-eating plants at Darlingtonia Botanical Wayside... very interesting plants, and there were hundreds of them.

Another short stop at beautiful Cape Creek. Very tranquil and serene.

And along the way, another stop to watch this elk herd graze. Beautiful!!

I sure do love living here on the beautiful Oregon coast. :) No shortage of photo ops here!

All-American Girl

2009-09-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of capturing some beautiful images this week of a lovely, spunky and all-around awesome high school senior. We were out in the country near her home, and so we got some portraits of her in her mom's sorority dress under one of her favorite walnut trees.

She has two beautiful dogs, who were pros at posing for me.

And she has one very agreeable horse. He was fun, and pretty much took whatever we dished out to him. Plus he's gorgeous!

I also got to go fishing again, the ocean was nice when we got out there and I got some pics of these 4 female sea lions resting on the marker buoy.

Then the wind came up and the chop made it rough out there so we headed back into the bay for some crabbing. We did catch one fish before we came back in, and a few dungeness crabs in the bay... so fresh fish and crab for dinner. Yahoo!

A busy weekend coming up with weddings and singing at the local fire department fund-raiser... will be a blast. The weather has just been stupendous. Hope you have a an awesome weekend too!

I love this place

2009-09-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

My friend Chuck took me out fishing on the ocean today, we had an awesome time. Fishin is always fishin, you just never know. We caught 3 coho salmon but they were all wild fish, not hatchery fish, so we had to let them go. So no keepers. But we did manage to drag in one poor black rockfish that I filleted and ate for dinner. Fresh rockfish, yum! :) While we were out there, we saw LOTS of brown pelicans. They were everywhere. You can see how big they are compared to sea gulls. They are very impressive. Just gorgeous. They are getting ready for their southward migration now.

It got foggy on us off and on, and the swells were fairly big. We had a great time out there anyway. When we came back into the bay to check the crab pots - which were full of seaweed and nada for crabs - we cruised around the boat docks and I was able to take some pics of the local sea lion population. Every flat spot was occupied by a sea lion, and the barking was a cacophony... I know that if I lived near the bay I'd never get any sleep with all that barking. And we cruised thru the boat docks, there were sea lions resting on the docks too. This one was 'king of the dock' and wouldn't let the 3 or 4 others roiling around up on the dock. Look at the rolls of blubber... must be getting ready for winter. I can relate. ;)

I live in such a beautiful place. I really enjoy taking pics down at the docks.

The last pic of the night as we were speeding up the Yaquina River to Toledo. What an amazing day!
I really love living here and every day I'm thankful that my parents moved us here in 1966. :) Hope you have an awesome weekend.

Almost Autumn Already

2009-09-16T11:26:00.001-07:00

Wow. Time flies when you're having fun! I didn't realize I hadn't posted here for so long, sheesh. Sorry bout that... been a little busy. :)

Got the studio all closed down, that was a big job. Still trying to figure out what to do with all the stuff I still have. A lot of my photo equipment I keep handy for jobs, and I'm still trying to organize the rest.

I'm really liking this work-from-home gig tho. Been as busy as ever with jobs and bookings, but now I don't have the studio to have to take care of and now I only have one office, so everything is consolidated into one work area. So much nicer!! And I have a great new laptop so I can show my clients their images anywhere just as easily as I did at the studio from my desktop.

I've been singing acappella with a really neat group of ladies, there are 6 of us and we sing mostly barbershop stuff... here is a promo shot I did of the GraceNotes.

Front row, left to right: Stephanie Howe (tenor) and Arlene Kay Havel (baritone). Back row, left to right: Phyllis Unterschuetz (bass), me (baritone), Kathy Leib (lead) and Cindy Baker (bass).

We'll be singing at the Toledo Fire Department's Chili Feed Fundraiser on September 26th, looking forward to that very much. We rehearse at the fire station, Chief Ewing has been most gracious in making sure we have a place to meet, and Captain Larry Silva has been a very loyal fan/groupie/roadie/supporter - I guess at the fire hall we are known as "Larry's Ladies". ;) We are having a great time with it. We sang at a local assisted living facility last night, and the residents were a very appreciative audience.

I had the privilege recently of doing some senior portraits for Brittany, here are a couple of my favorites. She really loves these furry boots...And I love the foliage at the Ona Beach State Park. A very diverse array of natural backdrops and props there, one of my favorite places for sessions.

I also had the privilege of covering a very low-key, casual wedding last weekend, what fun! I really love the quirky, low pressure weddings, they are by far the most fun and memorable.
Toledo City Council meeting tonite... they are being televised now by the High School video team, you can watch the meetings on local cable channel 4 on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 10:00 a.m., and the second and fourth Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. Or - hint, hint - you could attend the LIVE meetings where you can actually participate in the discussions! First and third Wednesdays, City Hall Council Chambers, 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Family Portrait Time

2009-08-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

Last week I drove out into the country to capture a beautiful family for a big wall portrait. What a gorgeous place.
We got the whole gang in on it. What fun!

Scenes from a Boat Show

2009-08-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Toledo's 5th annual Wooden Boat Show was last weekend, and what a blast it was! The weather was perfect, attendance was great, and the exhibits, live music and other events were awesome. The Toledo Chamber did a pancake breakfast both days, and it was a huge hit! Mayor Rod Cross and his clan stopped by to fuel up on Saturday.

Former Toledo Police Chief Jerry Pryor and his wife Debbie had some breakfast, too.

Along with Margaret Epperson and her granddaughters.

Toledo's Port Manager Bud Shoemake came by for some hotcakes, too.

This guy was really getting into it. Yum!

There were artists...

Log-rolling demonstrations...

The life-ring toss was a big hit for folks of all ages... it's harder than it looks to get that life ring on the post!

Live music on Saturday with a great variety of styles...

And the family boat building was an interesting thing to watch. Six families built boats from start to finish over the weekend and launched them on Sunday afternoon.

Some brought their "Buddy"s...

The kids boat-building tent was hopping with activity the whole weekend... a very popular spot. I saw some awesome little boats and boat-builders filled with creativity.

There were many interesting vendor and information booths, this is Bruce Koike from the Oregon Coast Community College. There was a fiddle workshop where folks could learn to play...

Rides on the rail cars by the Yaquina Pacific Railroad Historical Society...

Tom Chandler and his friend were on hand to give tours of the YPRRHS museum both days.

There were pirates with potato cannons...

With pretty good aim! You can see the spud in this pic, in the air to the left of the sail on the boat they were using for a target. Bullseye!

Former Mayor Jim Chambers flashed me a nice smile...

Chuck Gertulla was the announcer both days, and he offered free rides on his boat, the Captain Ben F. He was a very busy guy all weekend.

But he took a moment to let me capture a nice shot of him.

Tom Murphy gives the safety talk before the big "Yaquina Run-Off" boat race.

And he did kayak safety demonstrations both days. Very interesting!

And his wife Karel staffed the Port's info booth all weekend. And of course there were boats. Lots and lots of boats. An awesome sight to see.

A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into this event, and it just gets better every year! Great job, folks!

Time for a cool change...

2009-08-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Seems the time has come once again to make some changes. I will be going completely mobile starting September 1st and not working from the studio location anymore. It's time to cut down on the overhead and work strictly on location with the stunning scenery we have here as a backdrop.

I'll still be offering all of the photographic services like High School Senior Portraits, Family and Individual Portraits, Weddings; everything I have been doing, just not from the Highway 20 location that I've occupied for the past 5+ years. If you'd like a studio portrait made, I'll bring my lights and backdrops and come to you, and we can set up an indoor location for the session.

The website and blog will remain up and running, the cell phone number will remain the same, the new mailing address is PO Box 501 in Toledo, so you can still reach me... and I will still be plenty visible at Newport and Toledo Chamber events, other local events and as a Toledo City Councilor.

I'll be having a moving sale on Saturday August 22nd here at the studio, so stop by and see what kinds of treasures you just can't live without. I have a big, heavy, old desk that won't fit into my house, and some other furniture along with plenty of odds and ends...

Earlier this week I was treated to a day on the mighty blue Pacific, trolling for salmon. Caught one nice keeper, and released a bunch more that we couldn't keep. The ocean was beautiful that day, and late in the afternoon we came in close to shore to try for some rockfish. Here's a pic of Yaquina Head Lighthouse from the ocean side. What an awesome day!

Toledo's Wooden Boat Show is this weekend, will be a great event again this year, I'll see you there!

Photo Class Field Trip

2009-08-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Had a great shoot last night on the Newport bayfront... we met at the Port Office and started looking around. There was a boat unloading some of the last dungeness crab of the season... I was struck by the pile of crab pot buoys where the captain would be steering the boat. They had a small catch, only enough to half-fill a couple of plastic trash cans... but they were big crabs. And pretty lively.
He sat down to wait for his partner to go get the truck, and allowed me a quick shot.
Then it was off to the docks where we got to watch a Great Blue Heron catch several fish for dinner.

I don't know what the significance of the deer antlers hanging on the anchor might be, but it caught my eye.

One of my all-time favorite movies is "Jaws" - the name of the boat in the movie is the "Orca". This boat has been around Newport for as long as I can remember, and it still makes me smile to see it. Even feathers laying on the docks make good photo subjects.

Here are some pics of my students as they enjoy making pictures.

We saw several canine crew members on the boats... this one is just gorgeous.

Lots of sea lions in the bay right now too, all over the breakwater and barking up a storm.

They seemed a little worried about these guys fishing so close to them...

And here are some pics emailed to me by one of my students.

We had a great time, the weather was just perfect, overcast and calm but not too cold. A great shooting trip!

Relay for Life

2009-07-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

The American Cancer Society's Newport Relay for Life is this weekend at Newport High School. Last night the Oregon Coast Aquarium hosted the annual Survivor's Celebration, and it was again a great success. Lots of people come together to make this an awesome event, and here are a few of them.
Jennifer Locklear, Surivor's Committee Chair. Way to go, Jenn!
Her husband Morgan, the MC. He always does a great job!
Cora Bray and Mike Cooper, Event Chairs. They really put in a lot of hours on this entire event - all year long.

Jenn and Morgan enjoying a break with a friend.
Sandra Kittel works the crowd at the registration desk.
Lyle Mattson flashes me a great smile.
Jenny signs up and recieves her Survivor packet.
Irene and her friend check out the crowd.
A couple of happy attendees give me a nice pose.
And we had free run of the Aquarium exhibits, my favorite part! Saw some very beautiful creatures...

And a few strange ones... ;)

Relay for Life kicks off with the Survivor's Lap at 6:00 Friday night, July 31, and runs until noon on Saturday, August 1. The luminaria ceremony will be at 10 p.m. on Friday night... this is a sight not to be missed!

See you there!

Photography Basics

2009-07-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

I am again offering my "Photography Basics" class, this time on Monday evenings, July 20 and 27, and August 3rd. Cost for the series is $60.

We'll meet here at the studio at 6:30 and will be done by about 8. The first class is about camera use and functions (make sure you bring your cameras and manuals!), the second session is about composing your images, and the third installment will be a field trip to put to use the things you learned in the first two sessions.

Space is limited, so call the studio to sign up today! 541-336-2606

Samaritan Summer Cancer Series

2009-07-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

As part of Samaritan Pacific Health Services Summer Cancer Series, I am offering studio sessions next Saturday (July 18th from 10:00 to 5:00) to cancer patients, cancer survivors, family members, and significant others at greatly reduced prices. Sessions are booked on the half hour so they will be private, no session fees, and very low print prices. There are still slots open, so call today for your appointment!! 541-336-2606.

Miss Karissa

2009-07-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

I met Karissa quite a few years ago, and have always remembered her as a bubbly, fun and happy girl. Here she is with Chicho at her Dad's wedding in 2006. I guess they had just started dating then. They were a lot of fun and very playful together.

Then, two years ago, we made her Senior Portraits, and just had a blast.

Then, last month I captured some great images of her wedding day...

It is so special for me to be able to capture some of the most amazing moments in peoples' lives, and to watch them grow up... and grow older... and to preserve those memories forever in pictures. Cheers!

Sweet

2009-07-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Knowing my affinity for photos, this is just too cute to not share:

A Child's View of Thunderstorms......

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning. The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child.

Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did, she saw her little girl walking along. At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile. Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother's car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her 'What are you doing?' The child answered, 'I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.'

So keep smiling, you never know who might be taking your picture. Cheers.

Karissa and Chicho

2009-07-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

I had the extreme pleasure of attending and capturing images at a very special wedding recently. I've known the family for some time, and always enjoy being around them, they are all just super nice folks.

I did Karissa's Senior Portraits a couple of years ago, and we got some of the most awesome images... here is one of my favorites.

And here is one of my favorite shots from the wedding.
What a lovely couple! Congratulations, I wish you all the very best!

Senior Portrait Summer Special!

2009-07-07T10:38:00.001-07:00

Now thru the end of July, book your Senior Portrait Session and get 25% off your session fees! Call today! 541.336.2606

The Florida Aquarium

2009-07-02T10:45:00.001-07:00

I think no trip to Tampa would have been complete without a visit to the Florida Aquarium. It was within walking distance of the hotel, so a few of us grabbed an opportunity to check it out. Here is Jaylyn, Amanda, Sara and Melanie out front.

Amanda, Sara, E.J. and Grayson check out the touch tank.

We saw some mighty big tanks... awesome!

And some very odd creatures. These are apparently called 'Rhinopias'.

We saw giant clams with iridescent eyes...

I have no earthly idea what this thing was, but it was moving... wiggling like jello filled with crawling bugs. Bizarre.

The gulls down there were very different from the ones here, much smaller and very beautiful.

And of course, the requisite alligator display. They are so gorgeous. From a distance and/or with 2 inch thick acrylic between us...

Mel got some neat pics of the jelly tank as the lights changed colors... trippy.

This is a Roseate Spoonbill. About as big as a pelican, and very unusual looking.

What a great experience. We all had a fun time on our visit. More pics to come!

Kayaking in Florida

2009-06-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

Wednesday of last week 4 of us girls rented kayaks and paddled down the Hillsborough River northeast of Tampa. What a beautiful area.

Here is Celeste as we're getting into our kayaks. Here we go!
And Melanie and Sara were having a great time!

It was a nice mellow ride most of the time with stunning scenery.

At the launch, we saw this sign.

And sure enough, we saw several alligators. They were a little shy tho. This one was about 6 feet long. Gorgeous!

We saw turtles...

And Great Blue Herons... A couple of times we had to duck overhead logs, and at one point we had to get out of the kayaks and carry them over a log. No alligator bites and no leeches on any of us, either. Yay! And I was surprised to only see a couple of mosquitos.

Sara looks like she was having a great time. I know I did!

I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. What fun!

Holy Moley

2009-06-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Whew! June has zipped by and is nearly gone already. Amazing. Seems I have been so busy with the Toledo All-America City Award efforts that the days just flew by.

Florida was an amazing experience. We flew down a day early and stayed in ocean front condos on Belleair Beach, just south of Clearwater. Here is the view from the balcony.
I got up early Tuesday morning and took a swim in the warm gulf waters and a stroll up and down the beach for some pics. There was a lot of seaweed on the white sand, which is made up mostly of shells. Beautiful!There were several fishermen out there, and each bait bucket had an attendant blue heron waiting for a handout.They were a lot less skittish than the blue herons here, so it was not too hard to walk up close to them and get some good shots. Ditto the great egrets, which I have a special affinity for.

These are white ibis.And according to my travel guide, this is a laughing gull.

Brown pelicans were in abundance too.Lots more pics to come as I sort thru them and pick out the best ones to share. Yahoo!!

Cohen's First Birthday

2009-06-04T15:33:00.001-07:00

I had the privilege of capturing some fun images of Cohen today on the occasion of his first birthday. What a doll.

Went halibut fishing this morning about 15 miles offshore, the ocean was nice and flat, it was raining lightly and pretty foggy, but an awesome day to be out there. Caught one small halibut, so fresh fish for dinner again tonite, woo hoo! Looks like another busy weekend coming up too. Yay! Hope yours is awesome.

Toledo, Oregon... All-America City Award Finalist

2009-06-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Things are coming together for our trip to Tampa in a couple of weeks to do our presentation for the National Civic League jury on why we should be one of the 10 cities to win the award... the fundraising is *almost* done, and we have had a ball with the events we've been putting on.

Memorial Day weekend, Iron Chef and Toledo Mayor Rod Cross and his crew cooked up some amazing prime rib and seafood lasagna for our fundraising dinner at the Elks... what an awesome evening that was.

Some of our helpful servers... Jane, Rick, Bob and Amy. They were great!

Then this last weekend, the Chamber did their famous pancake breakfast in the City Hall parking lot. Kim, Terri, TC and Celeste chatting each other up during a lull in business...

I spotted this couple taking a break on a Main Street bench. I see them walking all over town, the bassett hound is hard to miss, especially in his yellow rain slicker and sou'wester in the winter.

After breakfast, it was the All-America City Challenge, a scaled-down and localized version of the Amazing Race. One of the challenges was to 'shave' a whip cream beard using a popsicle stick. Here are a couple of good-natured Challengers, Tyler and Kylie...

And a big gold-and-blue 'thumbs-up' from Gregg and Janice. Great job, guys!!
Another City Council meeting tonight with an agenda that is two full pages long. Whew. Will be a long one.

Yay, spring!

2009-05-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

We finally have some spring-like weather today, warm and sunny just in time for Toledo Clean-up day. The Toledo All-America City team is doing a bingo and hot dogs fundraiser at the Eagles club this afternoon, I'll be over there helping out after a nice lunch at PigFeathers. Yay.

Took a day trip on Thursday to do some sightseeing and just get away for a little bit. Adventures ensued the entire day with unexpected things happening everywhere we went.

We enjoyed a ride on a 28' boat on Dexter Lake, in exchange for helping trailer it, that was an unexpected perk... the lake was windy but I love cruising around on the water so it was a blast.

Stopped in Oak Ridge to check out their amphitheater and river side park, and hiked around the woods for a while. Saw some pretty things.

Ended up in Crescent for dinner at the Mohawk, where they have a taxidermy museum (in the dining room... yikes...) and the biggest Jim Beam bottle and Avon collectibles array - amazing stuff. And frankly pretty amusing.

Afterward, we saw this in the parking lot. Wowsers.

I was tickled at how the horns were attached with leather straps and buckles...

Then "Cowboy Jack" came strolling out and visited with us for a few minutes and struck a good-natured pose for me.

On the way back we stopped to check out a lava field, and I found it striking how the trees have managed to survive in that terrain...

This hillside made me laugh, it looks like a bunch of cowboys standing around BS-ing.
Another awesome trip around our beautiful state. Very enjoyable, can't wait to do it again!!

Another outdoorsy day...

2009-04-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my adventure buddy and I went out to take advantage of the 2-foot minus tide to harvest some more horseneck clams under the bridge in Newport. What an awesome sight from this angle. It looks like you could walk all the way across the bay from here.
This is a part of the bridge you rarely get to see... the sea stars next to the water line are barely visible in the huge expanse of concrete.
This guy was REALLY getting into it... and the seagulls were very appreciative...

There were quite a few people out there harvesting shellfish.

A quick look back at the clamming hole island as we were leaving with our buckets full of clams.

We went back to Toledo, launched the boat and zipped back down to Newport to drop off some crab pots and then go ocean fishing. The ocean was just gorgeous with big swells but there was some wind chop on top and that made it kinda rough. We had fun tho and fished the day away. We ended up with one keeper ling cod and a cabezon. We got skunked on the crabs. But, fresh fish for dinner... priceless!! Can't wait to do it again. And again.

Wowsers! Time Flies...

2009-04-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a really busy couple of weeks! Holy cow. Seems I've hardly had time to catch my breath.

I'm so glad to have had some wonderful spring weather this week. Been summerizing the back yard and spending some much needed time in the sun. Ahhh...

Been busy at the studio too, I got to photograph an Oreodon fossilized skull that my friend Guy found, what an awesome and fun job that was!! Here are a couple of my favorite shots of it.

Those are teeth, by the way...

And last weekend was Easter Portraits here at the studio, and here are some of my faves...

The City Council has lots going on lately, and this has been taking up a lot of my time and attention, too. I'm SO excited about this and can't wait to go to Tampa and help win it!! Woo hoo!!

Lots of fun and exciting things coming up, too! Yahoo! :)

"The Weather is Here...

2009-04-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

I wish you were beautiful..." a line from a Jimmy Buffett song... it comes to mind when we do have some awesome weather like we've had this past weekend. Holy cow, sunny and 70s. All us beach folk got some serious spring fever goin on.

I had the pleasure of capturing some awesome images of a beautiful young woman on Sunday during our unbelievable sunset light. Wow. What a fun session we had out at the beach. Here are a couple of my favorite Senior Portraits of Karisa.

Got another busy week going on here at the studio with family sessions, getting set up for the Easter Portraits and also City and Chamber stuff. Whew! Keeps me hoppin. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Toledo ROCKS!

2009-04-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful little town was selected as a finalist in the All-America City Awards! Here is the news release on it. Wow. How exciting! We'll be working hard to win this award - Toledo is the only city in the northwest to be selected as a finalist. Woo hoo!

The sunshine is back today, and wow it feels SO good. Yay. Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Hello springtime...

2009-04-02T13:45:00.001-07:00

Yay. The days are really getting long now, with sunset happening at about 7:45. Holy cow, what a difference that makes. The horses are shedding like crazy even tho it hasn't been all that warm. Still daffodils blooming everywhere, and camilla and other flowering trees brightening up our pretty little town... yah.

And with springtime comes Easter, and with Easter comes Easter Portraits here at the studio. This will be a fun event, so make sure you stop by in your Easter garb for a pretty portrait!!

Its a busy day here in Toledo with all this going on, lots of neat things in the works for our pretty burg. This is an exciting time to be on the City Council and on the Chamber Board of Directors. Yay.

Miss Abby

2009-03-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

I had a nice visit from Miss Abby today. She is getting to be quite the celebrity as our City Manager's labradoodle. She is in training with the Oregon Coast Therapy Animals group. What an awesome personality she has, what fun! And she's beautiful too!
And it turns out, a bit of a glamour-puss. :)

I love my job.

Back at it

2009-03-23T16:57:00.001-07:00

As promised, fishing pictures. Had an awesome time out there with a couple of really neat guys. It was cold and foggy out there, we hit the fishin hole about 7:30, and it gradually warmed up and cleared off. We didn't catch any salmon and only saw one caught nearby. LOTS of boats out there, and some really nice ones. Wow.

Ron gets the gear ready to go into the water...
And here is the one fish that was tagged that day. The Fish Goddess rules!! :)

John was fishing with one hand and texting with the other...

And this is the result.

A mud-cat about 8 inches long...
We caught two other sturgeon but they were undersize so they got to go back to the bottom to grow up a bit for next time.

Ron expertly and meticulously fileted the sturgeon for me. What a guy! Can't wait to do it again.

The hummingbirds are out in force, I hung a second feeder in the back yard and they are swarming it. Wow. By the dozen. Nice to see them and hear them. Yay.

Welcome Spring!

2009-03-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

Today is (yay!) the Vernal Equinox... (yay!) - more commonly known as the first day of spring. (YAY!) The weather here doesn't really reflect it today, it's overcast, kinda drizzly and not very warm. But I know that will gradually change. The daffodils, hyacinths and crocus are blooming and the tulips are on their way. I can tell spring is on its way too, cuz my yard needs mowing a lot more often.

It's been a really long winter with more undue stress than is necessary, but I'm hoping that the light at the end of the tunnel is a sunny, warm day.

Going salmon fishing this weekend with a friend, as always, I'm looking forward to new adventures. Will be posting some pics from our trip in the next few days.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, and Happy Spring!!

A dog's life?

2009-03-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of capturing some beautiful images of a very special canine, Eyan (pronounced eye-yawn) who is Newport Police Department's drug officer. What a gorgeous dog he is.
The images will be used to promote the canine program and to create some decals for people who support it.

Freckles had to watch from the car and she was such a good girl about it. I took her out for a nice walk afterward. The weather is back today with a really nice sunny - but chilly - day. Yay! Spring is just around the corner.

Sea Stories

2009-03-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Right after my high school graduation in the early 80s, I had the opportunity to work as a deckhand on some of the charter fishing boats out of Newport. Those were some of the best years for me, I learned to love being out on the ocean with her many moods and to love fishing, watching whales, birds, and all the amazing life that resides out there.

That was when I met Corky Knutson. He has been a commercial fisherman out of Newport for over 40 years. A well-known salt who has Captained many draggers, shrimpers and crabbers… he’s done it all and really spent his time out there. He switched from commercial fishing to charter fishing during the days when I was a deckhand. Says he switched because wanted to come ashore every night. I get that.

He is a very intelligent man, and recites poetry with such salty flair, he is a joy to sit and chat with. He looks the part of the old salt too, his hair is white now and he’s 65 years old, tall and lanky… says he wants to give up his 3-pack-a-day cigarette habit and switch to a pipe. That will be the icing on the cake.

Corky lost his lady love last August and he has been grieving like no one I’ve ever seen. A couple of months ago, he started calling and coming to visit with me, had me restore some photos for him and we spent some time talking about things… he credits me with helping him get back out into the world and wanting to live again. I’m tickled that I could help.

Corky took me out to dinner last night, and we went up to Depoe Bay to the Sea Hag because he likes the musician who sings there, Michael Dane. So we had some dinner (oysters, yum…) and some drinks and chatted with people as they came and went and watched Michael sing and play the keyboards and guitar.

Gracie herself showed up and played the bottles, that was a real treat. She is such a neat lady, a real character. In fact she has a new biography out now and I got her to sign a copy for me. Woo hoo! Corky wants to write a book of his own and I really hope he gets going on that soon.

The music set was over and they were closing up shop when Michael recognized Corky’s deep, distinctive voice from across the room and came over to greet him. Then he sat down with us and his guitar and sang to us. It was such a fun time there, icon-filled and memorable.

Corky wanted to go dancing so we ended up at Moby Dick’s where it was karaoke night. That was interesting. Ran into a few people I knew and met some new ones too.

So, a salty Saturday night on the beautiful Oregon coast. What fun!! I love where I live.

An overwhelming response

2009-03-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

Caution: Rant

This letter to the editor got my attention and obviously really touched a nerve... from the February 20 edition of the Newport News Times:

Animal lover angry over want ad

To the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office/animal shelter: I read your ad for an animal “care” office specialist, for the “care” of cats and dogs. I am very angry that you would combine an office job with the putting down and burying of animals/critters. Most people I know, including myself, don't like the thought of losing a pet or an animal in their lives.

I used to work at a medical billing office for an abortion office. I didn't work in the same building, and as much as I am pro choice, don't want to be a part of the killing of those babies. How can you combine an office job with the clinical job of putting those unwanted/disregarded animals down? I know that a lot of the problems we face today, including meth, and other addictions, cause people to abandon their pets, but that should not be a reason for us to just throw them away. How sad our society has become.

It is very strange to me that you state that a part of the job is inoculation and medication. Not only that, but sanitary quarters and shelter. Why? If you are going to put them down anyway, why do that? I think that if someone comes along and wants to adopt the pet, let them go through the steps to make them healthier. Why spend tax dollars on a pet or animal care if you are going to send it to its demise anyway?

This is a very hard job to do, and I don't know anyone outside of drug-raged people without their right mind who would even think about doing this job. Don't get me wrong, I know someone has to do it, but it has definitely got me thinking.

I wish you the best of luck in your search for the person who is right for this position. I wish it could be me, but, as you can see, I have love for the animals.

Rochelle M. Trudeau
South Beach

My response was published in the March 4 edition:

It's about compassion for animals

Ms. Trudeau, you stated in your letter (“Animal lover angry over want ad,” Feb. 20 edition) that you “don't know anyone outside of drug-raged people without their right mind who would even think about doing this job.” Well, I am certainly outside of that description. I am a long-time county resident who owns and runs my own business. I serve on the Toledo Chamber Board of Directors and on the Toledo City Council, among other things. I think I am mostly in my right mind, and I have submitted an application for this very position - for many reasons.

The part time position calls for the care and feeding of the animals housed at the animal shelter, inoculations, medications, euthanization and yes, office work. The animal shelter is small enough that I can't imagine there could be the specialization in positions that you allude to. The person who takes this job will have to wear many hats, as I suspect most of the people who work there do.

While I don't like the thought of losing any of my beloved animals either, I have lost plenty of them in the course of my life. It's just part of the deal when you have animals and our life spans are so much longer than theirs. And some of them even had to be euthanized due to complications from old age. It's all about compassion for the animals.

Why would anyone not give the animals the respect they deserve by keeping them healthy, clean, sanitary as possible, fed and loved? It is not their fault that people allow them to breed willy-nilly when it is so simple and not terribly expensive to have them spayed or neutered.

Why spend the money and effort to keep these animals healthy? Well, honestly, who wants to adopt a sick animal? I don't think the shelter's policy is to just “put them down anyway” unless they are sick beyond hope or have proven to be unadoptable.

I am highly aware that this would be a very difficult job for anyone to do - certainly for myself, being the compassionate lover of animals that I've always been. But ultimately, the job is all about that very thing - compassion.

You said, “How sad our society has become.” I agree. Please have your pet spayed or neutered now. Don't add to this already huge problem.

Nancy Lynne
Toledo

I have gotten a lot of feedback on that letter, all overwhelmingly positive. And I have since found out that I'll be testing for the shelter job on Monday. If I have to euthanize animals because of human stupidity, you can bet I'll become one hell of a crusader on the issue.

We have a real problem in our neighborhood, and it centers around one household which is across the street from me... they have at least a dozen cats and kittens, maybe two dozen, and they just let them breed and breed and breed. It's making me sick and you can bet I'll be doing something about it very soon. I've contacted the landlords and they refuse to do anything at all about their tenants. Don't even get me started on the dumpy appearance of the residence itself. Yikes.

I just got off the phone with another neighbor (who is also a responsible pet owner), and it sounds like the rest of the neighbors are just as disgusted with the situation as I am. In fact, she informed me that last night she watched no less than 8 cats in MY yard, crapping, spraying and breeding. YIKES. There have also been a couple of dogs running loose in the neighborhood.

My poor doggie just goes NUTS when another dog comes trouncing into her yard, and she has the same reaction to the cats yowling and scrapping in the middle of the night. That is not a pleasant way to be awakened at 3 a.m.

I'll be looking into the city ordinances to see what can be done, and I'll be contacting some of the other neighbors in an attempt to get this behavior under some kind of control.

If you know me at all, you know how I feel about animals. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!

What a week...

2009-03-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

The weather is definitely here today, another gorgeous coastal day. Yay! So nice to see the sun after all the rain the last couple of days.

Had a fun session earlier this week with little 8-week-old Gavin. What a tiny little doll.The grandmother really loves this shot, she saw a lot of neat things in it... like how the child will depend on the mother like this for a long time... how he has ahold of her finger, and how her other finger supports his wrist... I love this shot too. It really tells a story.
This is from a fun session today... Nikki and her daughter Holly. What a little spitfire she is.
I hope you have an awesome weekend. I heard there was snow in the forecast here, and I sure do hope they're wrong. All the plum trees in town are in full bloom and they just look so pretty. I'd hate for the snow and cold to damage the things that are trying to grow. So we'll keep our fingers crossed for more spring-like weather. And it's spring-ahead weekend too. Yay!!

Dismal Nitch

2009-03-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Took another road trip yesterday, this time up north into Washington State. The views are simply amazing on our gorgeous coast. This is how I felt when I peered over the edge of that cliff down into the pounding surf below... very cautious.
Between Cannon Beach and Seaside, I came across this spike elk grazing along the roadside. Nothing at all seemed to bother him in the least, even semi-trucks whooshing past at 55 mph. He did look at me a couple of times as I walked closer, but was much more interested in the roadside grass. He was so beautiful.

Saw another really big herd closer to Seaside during the day and yet another on the roadside after dark. They are everywhere out there this time of year.

Drove on up to the mighty Columbia and up to Ilwaco to check things out. This is a detail shot of a statue of an eagle defending whale bones on the harbor there. Saw some interesting sights in the harbor too. Loved the name of this boat, and the blue and white and the sky just all made a neat composition. This skiff hanging on the back of the boat is called "Co-Pirate". I love that.
"Cloud 9" has seen better days...This conglomeration of bumpers made me laugh... and the step-ladder hanging there for crew access inspired me to call this one... 'careful'.

Spotted this bald eagle in a tree on the side of the road. Gorgeous.

Then it was on to Dismal Nitch. I LOVE that name.

It is a beautiful spot with an interpretive display that is not quite finished. The detail in the bronze sculpture is just breathtaking. The surrounding area is great too, a nice stand of trees with benches and a stunning view of the Columbia River.

Then it was back across that huge bridge into Oregon and up to the Astoria Column. It was closed - they are replacing the spiral cast-iron staircase inside - so I wasn't able to try to get to the top. My vertigo issues are much less than they used to be but this was going to be a test. Maybe next time. This is the view of the Columbia from the base of the column.

And of course, the column itself. The detail on this monument is very interesting.

I did notice some cracking on the outer layers... this one actually had moss growing out of it...

Another fun road trip, seeing the sights of this beautiful area. I am a lucky girl to live in such a stunning location.

Beach Time

2009-02-19T11:00:00.001-08:00

Freckles and I took advantage of the nice weather yesterday for a much-needed romp on the beach. The joy she exhibits when we're there is just infectious. She smiles the whole time and makes me smile and laugh. Just what the doctor ordered!

These holes in the rock are from Piddock Clams. They are everywhere on the beach but I still find them fascinating.

Of course, there are tons of shorebirds there, including crows, which are actually beautiful birds, tho I know they can be a nuisance.

The surf was high but the wind was calm. A gorgeous day to be out!

I liked how the sun was shining thru the Fresnel lens of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. One of my favorite things!!

Got LOTS of stuff going on this weekend with the Seafood and Wine Festival, among others... hope you have an awesome weekend!!

Another trip around the sun...

2009-02-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

They say it's your birthday... happy birthday to ya...

Yeah it's my birthday today (46! holy cow!) and I am hoping for one great gift in particular, and that is the Judge signing the divorce judgement. My fingers and toes are crossed. Would be an awesome thing to finally have that ugly, ugly chapter of my life closed.

Got City meetings today and the regular Council meeting tonite... our Mayor has promised me cake and ice cream! Woo hoo!

Oh, and I just got two big beautiful bouquets delivered here at the studio. How thoughtful!!

Here are the lyrics to the song mentioned in the title, by Jimmy Buffett and Martina McBride. A great song.

Hear 'em singing happy birthday
Better think about the wish I make
This year gone by
Ain't been a piece of cake.

Every day's a revolution
Pull it together and it comes undone
Just one more candle and a trip around the sun.

I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning
And it's good to know it's out of my control.
If there's one thing that I've learned from all this living
Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go.

No you never see it coming,
Always wind up wondering where it went.
Only time will tell
If it was time well spent.

It's another revelation,
Celebrating what I should have done
With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun.

I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning
And it's good to know it's out of my control.
If there's one thing I have learned from all this living
Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go.

Yes I'll make a resolution
That I'll never make another one.
Just enjoy this ride on my
Trip around the sun.
Just enjoy this ride
On my trip around the sun.

I'm thinking that Freckles and I deserve some beach time today too, since it's not raining and she has a lot of pent-up energy lately. I do too. Must be the approaching spring. There are daffodils in bloom already and my lilac at home is covered with buds. Yay!!

Hope you have an awesome day!

Playing Hooky

2009-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was such a nice day, I was going a little stir crazy here at the studio... I spend so much time in front of this computer, I just need to get away from it sometimes.

So I grabbed my yellow boat and headed out for a nice kayak trip on Beaver Creek. It was gorgeous out there, a little windy early on but it died down and was just stunningly beautiful. This is the result of a very busy beaver... you can see the teeth marks in this stump that they took down to use in their dam.

It is so peaceful out there, and the views are just breathtaking. I really love this new hobby.

Up river, the wind had disappeared and the water was so still and clear. Another awesome trip. Can't wait to do a LOT more of this.

Last night I went to Yachats to see this guy... I think I have quite a crush on him. He is AWESOME.

Oh, and Happy Valentines Day. I hope yours is enjoyable. I had a fun shoot here at the studio this afternoon that included a very busy labradoodle and her family. Whew. Kids and pets... always a challenge. Makes the beautiful results even more satisfying.

Have a great weekend!

Seriously...

2009-02-11T10:49:00.001-08:00

Caution: Rant

You know, I really have a strong dislike for Valentines Day anymore. Not so much the day itself or the things it stands for, but the way our society and the media have come to portray it as an obligation to purchase gifts.

I had the tv on this morning while I was getting ready for work and must have heard 'Valentines Day' a hundred times in an hour. Holy cow. Talk about shoving it down our throats. Isn't there anything more important to talk about on the morning news shows??

This is the message I get: If you are married and/or in a committed relationship, you can expect to feel obligated to purchase diamond jewelry and/or candy and/or flowers just because the media says you have to. I say bunk!

I heard a radio commercial the other day where the announcer actually said, you have to buy flowers for your Valentine because "she expects it". Well duh. Of course she does. Because every media is filled with advertising for things you HAVE to buy for your sweetie. Yikes.

So. Say you're a single woman. Oh, like me for instance. Single because you WANT to be. Single because you prefer it that way. According to the media, people like me have no more value than the pile of dog poo on the lawn. Because I don't have a 'partner'. Yikes.

On MSN: "Enjoy Valentines Day Even if You're Single." Seriously?? Because I'm single, I'm worthless? Oh please.

I actually think I'm one of the lucky ones, having no obligations or expectations of this particular day. If I give a gift, it is from my heart, not because I feel like I have to. If I receive a gift, I certainly hope it comes from the heart and not from a feeling of obligation.

I had an interesting conversation with my friend Martha the other day about gift giving and receiving. We both learned some things about ourselves, which is what good conversations are all about. One of the things I have become aware of over the years is that if you feel obligated to give a gift (or even so much as a greeting card), that - to me - negates the entire spirit of the giving. Giving, to me, is something from the heart which is more spur of the moment, out of the blue and unexpected. And I certainly prefer the gifts I receive to be in the same spirit. Not because the various industries and media tell you or me that we HAVE TO. Yikes.

Don't even get me started on Christmas.

Ok. End of rant. :) Happy Valentines Day. I hope you get everything you expect. :)

Taken for a ride

2009-02-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took my kayak out for her maiden voyage on a local lake... it was an awesome day - in the low 70s and no wind to speak of... a t-shirt day in early February. Wow.

I learned a few things and will make some adjustments but I know I am going to put a lot of miles on my pretty yellow kayak. What an amazing toy. Yahoo!

The scenery was, of course, stunningly beautiful. I can't wait to go again!

Things are getting busy at the studio again with High School Senior portraits and upcoming weddings being booked. Better get your appointment made today!

My new toy

2009-01-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

Ya just gotta love FreeCycle! I have given away a few usable things and have acquired some really nice stuff thru this network. It's awesome!!

Last weekend I received a sit-on-top kayak, and I just can't wait to try it out!! I have ordered a couple of things to make it safe and workable and hope to get it wet this weekend. Woo hoo!

I was hoping for one that would be big enough to also carry Freckles but this will definitely work for a starter boat. I look forward to posting some new pics from the water very soon!!

Keeping busy at the studio, got some sessions going on, including this one from yesterday, this is Jasmine on her second birthday.

Toledo's City Council is keeping me hopping and so is the Toledo Chamber of Commerce... we'll have our own booth at the Seafood and Wine Festival so I sure hope to see you there!!

The bluebell bulbs are up in the backyard, and the purple-leaf plum tree has buds on it. Yay! And I'm noticing that it's not completely dark when I'm done feeding my horses after work. Double Yay! Spring is on it's way. I swear. It is. Hang in there.

Clearing my head

2009-01-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday one of my very special friends took me down to one of my favorite parks, put me in a kayak, showed me how to paddle it, and shoved me off into the wild blue yonder.

The weather was stunningly beautiful, the water was glass-calm, and the experience was magical. I was out paddling for nearly an hour when I realized that I wasn't thinking about any of the stressors I have going on in my life right now, all I was thinking about was 'wow - what an amazing experience!'
I paddled upstream a ways, saw lots of ducks, a beaver, several Great Blue Herons and also several Great Egrets all doing their thing out there.

Herons are a skittish bunch, and I know from experience that they don't like to have round things pointed at them. I stopped paddling and just drifted with the slow current, as still as I could be while trying to capture images with my little point-and-shoot. The heron watched me the whole time and when I got too close, he took to the air again, squawking like a pterodactyl, to find another, more private perch.

The white dot on the snag is a Great Egret. Also very skittish about being photographed, or even sighted in on... next time I'll take a higher-res camera and a long lens. I don't expect it will help me get any closer to them, but I may be able to capture some higher-quality images to share with you.

Amazingly, this was my first experience in a kayak, and now I'm hooked! I'm looking for a kayak of my very own, preferrably one that will accomodate my sweet doggie too. I think she'd have a great time out there with me.

Reminder - time is getting short to get your Sweetheart Portraits done... call me today to set up your private session!

A much-needed day of rest

2009-01-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

Seems like I've been going non-stop lately with City meetings and photo shoots and radio commercials and appointments... all the daily stuff I do... so today I took a day of rest. I hung out at home, soaked up some 60-degree sunshine in the back yard, took a nap, and went out to see my sweet horses. I put a bridle on Lucky and we rode around the pasture for a while. It was awesome, and just what I needed. He has lost some weight over the winter - he really needed to - and now he's easier to stay on bareback. We cantered up and down the length of the pasture... what a joy to ride. He is so graceful and smooth.(Took that with my cell phone.)

Then I came home and had some delicious homemade clam fritters - went clamming on the last minus tide and learned a lot about horseneck clams. Like the fact that they taste pretty darned good!!

Back at it tomorrow with household chores and another City meeting. Hope you're having an awesome weekend!!

City at 5:30

2009-01-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

The City of Newport offered an event last night at their City Hall that I found very interesting and informative. It featured the Newport Police Department and they did an awesome job of it. Here is a link to the PDF they published. I have several friends on the force there and a couple more who volunteer for them. I even had my picture taken with the new K-9 officer, Eyan. He's gorgeous, and very smart.

I expect there will be more of these events, seeing how successful this one was, even in the driving rain. The sun is out today, and I am SO glad to see it! Have an awesome weekend!

Baptism By Fire

2009-01-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

Last night I was sworn in as one of Toledo's three new City Councilors... all women. Our new Mayor was also sworn in last night, in front of what I can only call a hostile crowd. Not hostile towards us, but because of the situation we are in right now. We've heard some pretty strong feelings aired by a lot of citizens regarding the proposed placement of an asphalt batch plant here in Toledo.

Here is a bit of history on the subject. The City Council chambers have been jam-packed at these meetings, and it has been interesting for me, and I'm sure for my fellow new councilors, to be jumping into this thing at this particular time. All of us are first-timers at this. We join 4 men on the board who have been at it at least for a while...

Well, last night, the asphalt plant owner and his infamous attorney gave us a two-hour presentation on their side of the story. After a nearly four-hour first meeting as a councilor, I was finally able to breathe a big sigh of relief that the first one is under our belts. Wow. What a way to start a four-year term. To say the least, it will be interesting.

It's a quiet time of year here at the studio, but the perfect time to do some fun, sexy portraits for your 'person', whomever that may be. I'm running this special for Valentines Day. Call for an appointment today, we'll need to get going on this so you can have your prints in time for Valentines Day. Have an awesome weekend!!

Another coastal trek

2008-12-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a road-trip day, and an awesome day for it. The surf was huge and just booming against the rocks, an amazing sight. This is from the State Park just north of Depoe Bay.

This is Cascade Head, we watched a couple of sufers headed in. The weather was nice that day, not too windy and not raining. A great day for discovering.

Those same surfers a few minutes later... you can see the surf behind them as it completely obliterates a huge rock. The waves were nothing short of spectacular.
This was atop a carport roof in Pacific City. Definitely an eyecatcher. Nuff said.

We came across this little Jack Russell Terrier with a fetish for sticks. I had picked up and inspected that same chunk of wood a few minutes before they came along behind us, and he was carrying it. It was nearly as big as he was, and he eventually left it behind when he got tired of carrying it.

One of the overlooks we stopped at... someone had left these cans of food behind... they are so bulged that they aren't even sitting on their rims. We were careful to not touch them, lest they explode on us. The strange things people do...

You know I love road trips and can't wait to go again!

It's a quiet time of year, time for reflection, planning, and battery-charging.

Happy New Year!

Clean Slate

2008-12-26T13:26:00.001-08:00

This is the time of year for new beginnings and for starting over with a clean slate. The solstice is the mental turning point for me, I know that the new year is the turning point for most, bringing hope and promise and things unknown and as-yet unexperienced.

I think 2009 is going to be a very exciting year for me. I will be learning and growing and adding lots of adventures and wisdom to my life. Some things will change, most things will remain constant... and for that I am very thankful.

I hope the new year ahead brings you the things you want most.

Wintertime

2008-12-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

Now we are 10 days from the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Also the longest night of the year. The changing of the seasons again, and after the solstice, the daylight hours will increase incrementally and imperceptibly. But we know.

I always look forward to spring and the ability to spend some quality time with my horses after work. As it is now, it's completely dark before I even leave the studio at 5, so I don't spend a lot of time with them... I sure do miss them. I love to be outdoors doing just about anything. I'll be celebrating the solstice as I'm sure many of you will in your own ways.

December also brings a very special visitor to the studio. Come out and bring your friends and family for my 4th Annual 'Portraits with Santa' event!

Toledo has a whole slew of exciting events happening this Saturday including the lighted parade at 5:30. Freckles and I will be walking in the parade this year with lights and bows and bells on our toes... should be a fun time in the old town that night. Come on out and join us!

It's Autumn

2008-11-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned earlier, Freckles and I drove to Corvallis this past Friday, and since it was such a beautiful warm autumn day, we spent a little time at Avery Park in Philomath on the way. Miss Freckles had fun sniffing around all the pretty fallen leaves... and sat for me for a moment while I caught her picture on my cell phone.
This is also in Avery Park. What a beautiful place. The pic is small but if you look closely you can see Freckles sitting on the landing between the engine and the coal car.
Yesterday I was treated to another water-day, fishing and crabbing. This hungry pelican came right up to the boat and let me feed him a herring. He didn't like the chunk of croissant I tossed him, and after tasting it he spit it out and let the gulls have it. They say the brown pelicans have been here in record numbers this year and they are staying late. They'll get on with their southerly migration soon. They are stunningly beautiful birds and seem very docile.

We ended up with 12 nice dungeness crabs, the biggest of which pinched the crap outta my finger! I showed him, tho, he got a long hot bath in boiling water and then was eviscerated and consumed. ;) He was absolutely delicious. There is nothing like seafood cooked and served the same day it's caught. YUM.

Fun, work and other things

2008-11-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

I posted on the lighthouse blog here about the event last night. What fun!

Oh, and I found this and this pretty interesting in a "Thank God he's out of my life" kinda way...

It's a gorgeous day here on the Oregon coast, and I'm driving to Corvallis to pick up my mom and bring her home for the weekend. She is very homesick. She is undergoing radiation treatments 5 days a week and stays at the Mario Pastega House. Send her all your good thoughts, ok?

Have an awesome weekend!!

Here, fishy fishy...

2008-11-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

I was invited to go salmon fishing yesterday up the river towards Elk City, and it was another awesome day. It rained some but it wasn't cold, and the scenery was, as usual, spectacular.

I reeled in this fish... a 32 lb. chinook hen. She was gorgeous. And tasty. :)

I snagged a coho buck in the middle of the back so we let him go, but not before I got a shot of his hooked beak.

Looks like we'll be out trolling again this afternoon, I hope we get lucky again. The fish were jumping out of the water all around us all day, what an amazing thing to see. Very cool.

Miss Natalie

2008-11-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

I had the honor of capturing some beautiful senior portraits of a very lovely young lady recently. Here are a couple of my favorites. We went out onto the South Jetty at Newport, among the giant rocks, huge driftwood and eroding pilings... one of my favorite places to shoot because of the awesome scenery and amazing variety out there. We came across a rock that someone had carved the word 'awesome' into. I agree!

The Definition of 'Rugged'

2008-11-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

A day trip to Shore Acres State Park on Monday proved to be an awesome time, even tho it rained all day. I'd been to the park for their legendary annual Christmas Lights display, but had always visited after dark. So I'd never seen the amazing scenery there before. Now I can't wait to go back!
Of course, no trip down the coast is complete without a stop to catch a photo of the Heceta Head Lighthouse. You know me and lighthouses...

Sea Lion Caves is just around the corner, and they were out in droves.
The next stop was Cape Arago Lighthouse. Next time I want to go out there onto the bluff...

Then Sunset Bay State Park...

Where we saw an unusual-looking jelly on the sand.

The way the rocks have eroded is just fascinating. These looked like skeletal fingers to me.

There were mushrooms everywhere!! These are on the edge of the bluff overlooking the ocean.

This tree was hanging over the bluff. Life always finds a way to survive.

This was an eye-catching stump, with the hole in the middle of it.

The surf was fairly big that day, but there was no wind. The scenery was just stunning. Wow.

I have always loved this place I call home. I am in awe of Nature's Ways, and find a lot of rejuvenation in the ocean, the woods, and the rivers here. The rain is worth it.

A Steam Donkey

2008-11-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last week, my friend and fellow photographer took me out and showed me a 'steam donkey' that he had been told about and then subsequently searched for and found in the woods. As far as we can tell, it was used in the late 1920s, and has been abandoned in the woods to rot along with the gigantic stumps of the trees the loggers cut.

They placed this steam engine on two huge logs for a platform, and then they would use the engine and steel cables to pull the logs they'd cut up the hill to the road.
The two huge logs were used for stability, and they are still bound together with axles.
It is slowly sliding down the hill...

Freckles stands on one of the stabilizing logs, you can see the scale thanks to her... she had a blast running around in the woods.

One of the stabilizing logs has put such steady pressure on this tree that it has flattened out and grown to surround the end of the log.

Another shot that shows the size of this thing...

This plate says "Willamette Iron and Steel Works, Portland Ore." We couldn't find a year on it tho. What a neat sight, it was definitely worth the hike!

In the news

2008-11-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

It seems like I've been in the local paper a lot lately...

Here is a story featuring my Halloween Costume Portraits Event... which was an awesome event again this year, the weather was nice and we had a great turnout.

Here is my write-up in regards to running for a seat on the Toledo City Council, which, by the way, I did win. Woo hoo!

And this is in today's edition. What a blast that was!!

Life has just been crazy for me lately, lots going on all the way around. But, I have been able to do some fun sightseeing and will post some new pics very soon!!

Its that time of year...

2008-10-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

The chill of autumn is in the air, the leaves are turning colors and collecting on the ground, and that can only mean one thing... it's time for the annual Halloween Costume Portraits Event here at the studio. Woo hoo! I have my scarecrow in the window - this year it's Miss Muffett and her spider - and am getting ready for this years' little ghouls and goblins... bwa ha ha ha...
Can't wait to see what fun and creative costumes you all come up with this year!

Update

2008-10-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a really busy time for me... and that's a good thing! I'm having a blast with both of my avocations.

There are plenty of other things on my plate right now as well, including 10 weeks of advanced obedience school with Freckles. We've been having a ball with that, especially when we walk up and down the waterfront in a pack of 40 dogs and owners. The people come spilling out of the bars to watch the parade of very well-behaved dogs. We all get a big kick out of it. Tonight we'll be walking around in a beach-side neighborhood in Newport. I hope it stops raining, cuz we'll go rain or shine.

Recently I had the honor of capturing some lovely images of Toledo's new City Manager and her husband and labradoodle Abbie... what fun! They are very, very nice folks.

I'm running for City Councilor in our little town, so that's keeping me extra busy... and planning for the upcoming holiday season, including the Halloween Costume Portraits Event here at the studio and the Scarecrow Contest. Whew! Life is good!

High School Seniors

2008-09-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to capture is High School Seniors. Usually they are very adventuresome and will do nearly anything I ask them to in order to create some fun and interesting images. Here are a few from some recent sessions.

If you or someone you know is a Senior this year, get your appointment made while we still have the gorgeous weather!

All play and no work?

2008-09-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems like it to me, too. I love to share images of the fun things I do, and I am lucky enough to really enjoy my work as well as my play time.

"Inside Lincoln County" filmed a segment on the Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses and I was there to capture some images of them at work. Of course, the incredible scenery out there, especially early in the morning, is what really caught my eye.
Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses recently assisted with the installation of stair supports for the 110-step staircases, which have had thousands of people climbing them over the years.

It's definitely worth the climb, this is the light mechanism inside the First Order Fresnel lens at the top.

And the view from the top is nothing short of spectacular.

Scads of brown pelicans are among the large number of birds that call the rocks at the Head home. And, at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, the local Master Gardeners group maintains a vegetable garden where they teach local elementary schoolers the joys of gardening, and the wonderful things they harvest go straight to Food Share.

This is Lighthouse Intern Anita Varnon in the garden.

The lighthouse was one of the venues for Jazz at Newport last weekend... even tho the day was very chilly and windy, FOYL President Doug Wills lashed the poster to the nearest tree and we all rocked out to some very cool jazz provided by 'Hot Club du Jour'.

I recently had the priveledge of capturing some beautiful images of a stunning young lady for her senior portraits.

Her niece was also there so I captured some of her redheaded magic. What a gorgeous little girl.

I also recently captured the wedding of an adorable couple in a stunning setting. Here are Pearl and Andy.

And the beach wedding of Tommi and Lars... another gorgeous day at the beach!

And here it is the weekend again! Plenty more fun in store, I hope yours is awesome as well.

Into the forest

2008-09-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Brooke likes to hunt elk with a bow and arrow... and she let me tag along with her yesterday. What an awesome trip. We traipsed around in the woods for a little over four hours. Didn't see any elk, or even have any respond to her calls like they had the two previous days but it was great anyway. Miss Brooke caught me hugging a tree.
We stopped and took a sandwich break after a couple of hours...Miss Brooke the mighty Huntress...

We saw some pretty mushrooms but left them alone...

Saw some others and took them home to eat! Yum. Chanterelles. The forest is so beautiful and peaceful and amazing. This little picture doesn't do it justice.

Checking out whether to go down the hill or not...

I was even able to get some yard work done yesterday after we got home, and this is what my artichokes look like... almost ready to eat! Maybe with some Chanterelles...

I hope you had an awesome Labor Day weekend... now it's back to work! Doesn't feel like work when you love your job like I do!

Another boat ride

2008-08-29T10:55:00.001-07:00

I was planning to go home and mow my yard last night after work but I got a much better offer. My friend Stu invited me for a ride on his boat, so Freckles and I hopped aboard in Toledo and we zipped down the river to Newport. It was a gorgeous evening, warm and sunny with very little wind, so we had a really nice ride. It was a first for Freckles and she took it all in stride. We saw some gorgeous scenery, of course, and the brown pelicans are here en masse.

They were busy preening and it does not look like an easy task with those long bills.

This was the scene as we headed back to Toledo, trying to beat the darkness. It was extraordinary.

Another busy weekend coming up, enjoy your holiday!

A memorable trip

2008-08-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, my dad turned 82 on Sunday, so a bunch of us piled into a minivan and drove to Salem to take a ride on the Willamette Queen, formerly the Belle of Newport (not to be confused with the Newport Belle, which is currently a B&B in Newport). This is the Willamette Queen as she looks today.
My dad and the Captain/Owner in the wheelhouse.

Here's dad in the wheelhouse with one of his favorite things in life...

And here with the other as well... beer and cigarettes. You rarely see him without one or the other, or both.

His adorable girlfriend, Alma Lee...
His second-born daughter and my half-sister, Shari...

And with Shari's son Scott.

Long-time friend Jimmy Higgins was our chauffer...

And dad's sister Irene joined in the fun as well.

Yours truly in the wheelhouse...

This is my dad eating dinner in the Belle's dining room in 1990.

And this is the Belle cruising Yaquina Bay in 1990.

Definitely a trip I'll not forget, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

The Awww Factor

2008-08-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

My colleague and mentor in Minnesota describes the sound women utter when they see something they really like... awww. Since he pointed it out to me, I hear it all the time when I'm shopping with my girlfriends and from moms when I show them their offsprings' senior portraits and also from mothers of brides. Awww.

This is my friend Julie's new Shih tsu puppy, 10 weeks old. Isn't she adorable? Awww.

The big boat show is this weekend, I'll be down there serving food for the Toledo Chamber. Come on down! It's a really fun event.

Sunday my dad turns 82. Holy cow. Sounds like some interesting celebratory events are in the works, I'll post about that next week. Have a wonderful weekend!!

That Girl

2008-08-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

Some kids are so beautiful I find myself staring at them... and then trying to capture their personality with my camera. This young lady was part of the wedding I did on Saturday, and her blue eyes just captivate me. What do you think?

She received the necklace as part of the ceremony and was showing it off to me.

She got kinda tired of all the hoopla and chose to 'sit out' the posed photo session... but still had enough energy to give me that killer smile.

It's my Monday, got another busy week filled with high school senior sessions, various meetings and event planning, and this event is tomorrow... I hope the weather improves for it.

What I did with my weekend

2008-08-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday my friend Bobby took me to the Bite of Oregon... we decided to skip OMSI that day and just enjoy the festival. It was at the Waterfront Park in Portland... we walked up onto the nearest bridge for a vantage point.

We saw all kind of interesting people there, including this silver guy. He would make like a statue until someone dropped some money into his bucket, then he'd 'come alive' and do a juggling act with crystal balls... he was fun to watch and so was the audience.
We met Duke the Great Dane, who is 8 months old. What a gorgeous boy.

Lots of people were playing in the fountain next to the festival, it was in the low 80s that day, very pleasant.
Monday, I went blueberry picking with my friend Brooke, her mom Pat and her friend Beverly. We had a ball. And picked 6 buckets of berries!

Here's Beverly and Pat...
And just Miss Pat...

And yours truly, taken by Brooke...

And Miss Brooke

The lines were long to get the berries weighed and paid for...

And some people had already had a very long day by noon...

What fun! Two more things I had never done before.

Another super busy week here at the studio with family sessions, weddings and work to be done for the Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses... keeps me hoppin'!!

Amazing

2008-08-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

Today my sweet dog Freckles is two years old. This was taken the day we met, at the Waldport Beachcombers parade. She was 10 months old.

That was in June of last year, the same week I joined Weight Watchers. And at my WW meeting today I hit my 40 pound goal. I can't even begin to describe how much better I feel. I still have a long way to go, but I'm a heck of a lot closer to my goal now than I was a year ago. Wowsers. As my friend Toni would say, "How exciting!!" I miss her.

So much has changed for me in the last year, it all feels like a whirlwind. And it's all good. Even the stuff that's been difficult... because I've learned so much from it all. And I'm thankful. I'm a better person for having gone thru it.

I'm taking Miss F to the beach this afternoon, she's been cooped up either in the house or in the studio so much lately, she really deserves a good run on the beach... she is so joyful when she's on her beach. Then I'm doing pictures at Toledo High School's Class of 1958 reunion - 50 years. Wow.

Tomorrow I'm going to OMSI and to the Bite of Oregon with my friend Bobby... should be a fun day. Looks like the weather isn't going to be all that great, but by now I'm certainly used to cloudy, cold, damp weather, even in August. I was chatting with my friend Candy the other day and we were lamenting the August weather or lack thereof... and she mentioned that we never really get to 'put away' our winter and/or summer clothes like normal people... we wear the same long pants, sweaters and sweatshirts all year round here at the beach. Ah well... it's a gorgeous place to be. And once in a while we get a warm, windless, awesome weather day. Those are the days we play hooky. :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Images of a Relay for Life

2008-08-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Just now getting caught up on all the images I captured last weekend... between the Relay and all the other jobs I had, it's been a whirlwind.

Wednesday night there was a Survivor's Celebration at the Aquarium. I ran into some very good friends there.

This is Jennifer Locklear and her daughter Abby. Jen headed up the Survivors Committee and has just done an awesome job of it. Her husband Morgan MC'd both the Aquarium event and at the Relay itself, and provided live music for the walkers.
This is Therese Bauer, she is the American Cancer Society Rep for our area. A very, very nice person. Thanks, Therese!!

Friday, the Survivor's Tent was where I spent most of my time, greeting survivors and capturing pictures as they got registered and all of their goodies...

The Color Guard led the Survivor's Lap.

Each survivor received a paper chain link for every year they have been cancer-free, and when they were all joined together, it was an amazing sight. Jen had rocking chairs next to the track so people could relax and watch the goings-on... and this beautiful and yummy cake was donated by JC Market.

The Relay was fun for young and old... Morgan's son and nephew enjoy the live music and all the hubub going on...

Later I caught Jen and Diane taking a well-deserved break in the Survivor's Tent...

The Luminaria ceremony is always so beautiful and moving...

Cancer is so close to each of us in so many ways... I think this event is so worthwhile... You can bet I'll be involved again next year. I sincerely hope you are, too.

A couple of fun things

2008-07-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon I went with my friend Howard to see Mamma Mia, the musical featuring ABBA songs, and I had the best time watching that movie! The singing was really good, the story was fun and sweet, the scenery spectacular, and it was made for women in my age group. I definitely recommend it.

Last night I had dinner with my friend Amber at Nye Beach's Savory Cafe. The atmosphere was fun and relaxing, the host Chris was charming and sweet, and the food was amazing. I highly recommend it. Plus they have live music coming up in August, featuring one of my favorite local groups, Coin of the Realm, among others. Tell them Amber's friend sent ya.

Chris was telling us he previously worked for Rogue Ales, and shot some promo videos for them... they are on YouTube and they are really very funny.

I'll be helping with the Survivor's Celebration at the Aquarium tonight, cameras in hand. Should be an amazing evening... I'll need to make sure I have some tissues in my pocket. Plenty to do before then, so I'd better get busy! Have a great day!

Another busy weekend...

2008-07-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

Toledo's Summer Festival was this weekend, and was filled with activities. I helped out with the parade, which was organized by the Toledo Chamber, and led by our Police Chief Mark Fandrey and "McGruff". TC Duty kept everyone in line...

And Steve Wilson was there to direct traffic.

Miss Julie Rockwell did an awesome job (as always) organizing things and keeping on top of things, including Mayor Jim Chambers.

Jim Tough was there to keep an eye on all of us...After the parade, I went to the festival grounds and said hi to my friend Karissa... Queen of Loyalty Days... as she calls it, "Loyalty Royalty". She had her own face-painting booth.
Her step-mom Misti displayed Karissa's talents for the folks.

Then I went and watched the famous logging show, always entertaining.

Then Saturday night I had a wedding at Starfish Point. Danielle and Roy always do such a nice job out there. This gal just tickled me with her personality... it really comes thru in this image.

Yaquina Head was foggy that day, but the fog rolled out in time for the ceremony, then back in afterwards, giving everyone a chill. Brrrr.

There were butterflies released after the ceremony, and a few hung around for pictures before flying off into the woods.

This little girl was just irresistable.
Looks to be another busy week, working on promotions for the Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses, studio stuff, and Newport's Relay for Life, too. All kinds of fun in store, I'll make sure I have a camera with me!

All I can say is 'wow'...

2008-07-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

I have found myself saying this word over and over in my head the last few weeks. I just have to smile and shake my head at the way things work out sometimes.

Some of this has to do with my friend Guy. So, as you know, last week I took my mom to her home in Golden, Colorado to attend her 55th high school reunion. She attended Golden High School. Guy attended Golden High School. His mom and brothers still live in the Denver area.

5 years ago on the 4th of July I married Eric in the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. We held our reception at the Embarcadero that night and watched the fireworks from one of the decks while Jimmy Buffett and friends provided the background music.

Guy and I went to the Embarcadero on the 4th this year, sat on the "Parrot Deck", listened to Jimmy Buffett and friends and watched the fireworks over the bay. I was wishing I'd had a time machine... but I guess that's a moot point. We had a great time.

I went into the gift shop at the Embarcadero, and what kept slapping me in the face was images of the lighthouse. THE lighthouse. Over and over again, on a book cover, glasses, tiles painted with the image of the light. (One of which hangs over my kitchen stove)... and the polo shirt that Guy wore that night? Yep, you guessed it, covered with lighthouses. Cue "Twilight Zone" theme.

A couple of years ago I was asked to photograph a fundraising dinner/jazz event hosted by the Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses, and I also donated a large framed print of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse to the raffle. That began a friendship with the President of the organization, Doug Wills. The FOYL recently re-organized and one of the positions they created is Promotions Coordinator. Guess who they pursued for the job? ME.

So. I'm not sure how much of this is irony, fate, or if it's all just coincidence. But between my profession as a photographer, which I LOVE; my adventures with my friends, which have been awesome; and my new (part-time) position as PC for the FOYL, I am having the time of my life.

Oh, and the jazz band at that fundraiser? Their name is Perpetua. And they used my images on their CD cover. They are really great, if you get a chance, go enjoy their show. Newport has an amazing Jazz Festival coming up, you'll be hearing more about that from me, since one of the venues is... yes, you guessed it, the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

Cue the music.

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

2008-07-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

I was very recently treated to a trip to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. My mom attended her 55th high school reunion. Out of a class of 95, nearly half of them showed up. They all seemed to have a good time seeing each other again.

We visited my grandparents’ graves and this caught my eye.

The soft, sweet, gentle colors and cold beauty of the stone standing all alone in all that green space just captivates me.

My cousin Melanie and Mom and I did some shopping while we were there, traipsing thru the little towns dotting the gorgeous Rockies. This was life-size, in a doggie toy shop.

But this is a real dog. This is Ruby, one of Mel’s three sweet and spoiled dogs.

The gift shop at the top of Lookout Mountain has this sign posted as you walk in the door... I thought my girlfriend Brooke would appreciate it... it made me laugh too.

This is downtown Denver from Lookout. Yikes.

This is Golden, and in the center you can see the Coors Brewery dominating the landscape.

I'm not much of a city girl, so we headed for the hills every chance we got. Melanie drove us all up to the top of Mount Evans. This is called Summit Lake... it was about 52 degrees up there that day, when it was in the 80s down in the city.
This is the view... I spent the whole trip saying "WOW!" Every bend you come around up there is just another spectacular image.
This is Echo Lake.

And no trip to Golden would be complete without a trip to Red Rocks. WOW.

The U-shape in the middle is the amphitheater.

The next day, Mel and her husband Scott treated us to another scenic mountain drive. This picturesque church was an awesome stop, and Mel and I saw a baby beaver in the pond below it.

It's at a place called Saint Malo, the church is St. Catherine's Chapel on the Rock. WOW.

It was so nice to see my cousins again, they are all such sweet people. I'm trying to get them to come see the spectacular Oregon Coast.

Been busy here at the studio, will post some more new stuff soon!!

Oddwater

2008-07-10T13:54:00.001-07:00

The new exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium is not to be missed. Local glass artists have created some of the most beautiful work for these tanks, here are just a couple... there are many more.

There are also some tanks full of red, white and blue jellies, they are so graceful... these are about 2 inches long.

I don't remember the name of this guy, but I liked his silver face...

Been really busy here at the studio with summer beach weddings, high school seniors and other fun stuff... here are a couple of favorites from recent events...

Happy newlywedsA playful and fun high school senior...

Who also has an elegant side...

And a fun couple whose wedding I'm covering on Sunday, this is from their guestbook album session.
I love my job!!!

Floating Horse Teeth and other fun stuff

2008-07-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Recently my friend Brooke had an appointment for annual health care for her 8 horses and mules, so we hauled Lucky and Lacey out to her place for their vet checks and annual care, which includes floating the teeth. Yikes. This is quite the operation. First the horse is sedated until the knees start to buckle, then they are fitted with this contraption. And yes, it's called a speculum. Then the vet grabs this drill-like tool with a long rod and a rotating grinder on the end and grinds the molars back down to smooth so the horse has an efficient surface to process their food... Its a difficult thing to watch, but necessary for their health. I'm glad I'm not a horse.

Brooke brought her horse Mocha out to where Lucky lives and we rode up in the hills above the valley, what a beautiful ride that was.
A recent morning had me out in the yard again with my camera. Things are growing beautifully. I get a dozen strawberries a day out of my patch. Yum!
I'm looking forward to seeing what the grapes produce too.

Freckles has an old rope she loves to play with in the yard. It was used on a fishing boat so it stinks, at least to me. I'm sure it smells wonderful to her.

A shot of one of the pretty flowers in my yard...

Happy 4th of July to everyone. I'll certainly be celebrating it, and I hope you stay safe. I was treated to another behind-the-scenes tour of the new exhibit at the aquarium, I'll get some new pics of that posted here very soon.