Thursday, April 30, 2009

Cold Fog Clearing

Finally after almost two weeks I'm getting better and the fog is clearing out of my head. I still have a lingering cough that I could do without, but it could be worse. Right? I'm caught up on my reading. Started a new book last night, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I'm not too far into it however it looks good so far.

One photo to share. The apple trees in the yard are about to bloom. They are such a happy pink color.








Thursday, April 23, 2009

What to my wondering eyes should appear?


Off there in the distance. 18 miles across the straits, docked in Victoria, the season's very first cruise ship! My very favorite season of the year has begun. CRUISE SEASON!



It is a bit easier to make it out in the this cropped version of this photo. It is the Holland America MS Amsterdam. Until a bit later in May the cruise ships will be making Pacific Coastal voyages of a few days each before starting the Alaskan cruises. In fact Port Angeles will be visited in the first week of May by one of the Holland America ships. For more info click here http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?noOfFlexibleMonths=1&flexibleMonths=false&pageNumber=1&voyageCode=S929&destCode=L


I enjoy watching the ships go by every week during the summer and I do camp out on the deck with my camera each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening when the weather is perfect. Here are a few of my favorite shots that I've taken the last three summers.

The Norwegian Star and Mt. Baker. I enjoy watching this ship go by as I've been aboard her twice to Alaska and the Mexican Riviera.



The timing was perfect on this shot. The sunset and the ship both! I haven't been that lucky since.

This my second favorite shot. Again timing on this one. A cruise ship and a submarine in the Straits at the same time. Lucky!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Chicken Soup and Lots of Rest

I have a cold! I'll say now that I find them to be pretty much the most annoying things on the planet. I'm getting plenty of rest, cold medicine, and soup. This has also left me with hours to fill since getting outside to enjoy the weather is not an option. The view has been great. Kayaks, sailboats and one of my personal favorites, tugboats, have been busy in the harbor all weekend.
To me Tugs are strong and look as though they can handle anything that comes at them. I see them push through wind storms that blow through the Straits here in the winter pulling their cargo behind them. They symbolize never giving up to me.


I've also been busy in my scrap room. I need to finish a few pages in a mini album I've been working on for a friend. Those will have to wait until the cold fog clears from my brain. As it is right now I might end up journaling about what I had for breakfast instead of the photo on the page! ;) So I'm sticking to cards for now. They are easier to fix if I get too "creative" in my cold fog and also easier to work on between naps.





Time passes, but I remember

14 years ago today a bomb exploded in Oklahoma City. That bomb changed many lives as well as ending 168 peoples lives. It was a very sad day. A day where I remember everyone asking, "Why?"

I am not old enough to tell you where I was when Kennedy was shot. I can however tell you where I was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, when the World Trade Center buildings fell, and when the bombing in Oklahoma City occurred. April 19, 1995 I had closed the door to my dorm room and my phone rang. It was my Dad. He knew my class schedule as well as I did. He wanted me to hear the news from him first. I turned on the news, sitting there watching and talking with him for almost an hour. It was surreal in so many ways. To know that this chaos was going on only a few hundred miles away from my quiet college campus. To think that this could even happen. In the days that followed to think that another human could hurt so many people he didn't even know. At the time many thought, and even said aloud, that some how the pain would be less if the terrorist act had been carried out by someone who wasn't American. 9-11 taught us a several years later that violence like this always hurts. It doesn't matter who carries it out. It just simply hurts. Time does pass. I hope that the hurt is a bit less for the family and friends directly effected in Oklahoma City by the pain that day. I know that they remember. I remember too.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Firefly

This show is one of my favorites. It was short lived but can still be seen on hulu.com and on DVD. Had the press been better during production just at getting the word out for the show and Fox not have been so quick to pull it Firefly would have been beloved like Stargate. Instead the 14 epidsodes of Firefly and its movie Serenity are beloved after the fact by a very strong, almost cult like, fan following.

On my scrap desk

 



This is one of the small projects I was working on tonight at my scrap desk. Time really flies by while I'm in my scraproom working on layouts and cards. Tonight it was all about handmade cards. I'd gotten some new card magazines and wanted to try some ideas I saw. My desk is a mess of button, stamps, inks and now scrap paper. What fun I've had though!
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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hood Canal

In 14 days and about 4 hours the Hood Canal Bridge will close. This is one of 3 floating bridges in our area and it is time to replace it. You don't want a bridge sinking in one of our winter wind storms.

Normally a bridge closing is annoying and causes a driver to find new ways around town. Here in Port Angeles we dealt with this, as two bridges that linked the eastern part of town with the western part were closed for over a year while being replaced. It was annoying, however we all found new ways around our little city. The Hood Canal closure will be a bit different. This is the most convenient way off of the Olympic Peninsula. Otherwise if we want to drive to the mall it will be about a 3 hour drive. Seattle will now be about 4 1/2 to 5 depending on traffic. The difference is caused by having to drive south along the Hood Canal to Olympia and then north to Tacoma and Seattle.

Gearing up for the closure has been going on now for almost a year. Plans are in place for a foot traffic only ferry across the canal with bus service on the Kitsap side. Hopefully there will be no need to use this service. All doctors appointments in the city are out of the way and I think I can survive 6 to 8 weeks with out the mall and the larger craft stores. ;) The closure should end before tourist season really begins and we are praying right now for the project to stay its 6 week schedule.

More info can be found here about the bridge, options, and the closure: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr104hoodcanalbridgeeast/

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Beloved Book

Where The Wild Things Are is one of my favorite books. I enjoyed reading this book aloud while I babysat many children in my teen years. Because I made all the sound effects, it always became one of their favorites too. I, by some odd occurance never owned a copy of the book until college when a dear friend purchased not only the hard cover book for me, but also a stuffed Max.

To say that I am excited to see the movie adaptation of this book is an understatement. I watched the trailer tonight and so far I love how the Max looks and also the Wild Things. I hope the ending is just as sweet and the Wild Things just as wonderful.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Off Shore Flow & Other Odd Things

Apparently I have that to blame for the return of the grey sky! Our weather is coming from off shore again. I have faith that the sunshine will return as it is only April and May can be such a lovely month here.

I found myself out and about during the course of my work day. At one point around 2:30 I made a grave error and drove near our local high school. The school day ends at this time and so several hundred teenagers get behind the wheel of their cars and begin to drive home. If you can call it driving. I'm certain my friends and I drove just as poorly. I mean we must have right?! It's just the years since graduation clouding my memory. About the time I thought I had made it through the streets surrounding the campus without incident there was an accident. It happened right next to me. Inches away. Had my car been 4 inches to the left I would have been involved it was that close. Instead I saw the car go by mine too fast and knew exactly what was coming next. CRASH!

The noise of metal on metal is one that I haven't heard in 18 years since my own car accident. Even though I wasn't involved in this one I found myself physically responding as though I had been. I was shaking and such. The human brain amazes me. How it can block memories out for almost two decades and in the matter of seconds a noise causes the memories to be released. In my thoughts it was the fall of 1991. I could feel the impact of the blazer hitting my car and my car spinning. Finally it coming to a stop and trying to get the door open. Then sitting on a curb in Plano, Texas at the corner of Legacy Drive and Preston Road waiting for my mother to arrive. I could see the car I had been driving, her car, up on the grass and the blazer I had collided with upside down on the street with a woman kicking in the windshield trying to get the driver out. Another man was trying to tend to me while we waited for EMT to arrive. I can see it all like a movie now playing in my head. Up until now, I had small memories of the accident mostly from just before and then later with the EMTs and talking with the Police. The majority of my knowledge came from the police report. For years after the accident I wouldn't even drive though the intersection. I was even afraid to return to driving. My Father forced me after giving me a few days to heal up mentally and phyically. It came back to me today. All of it and even half an hour later when I was back at the office I was still shaking. Like I said the human brain amazes me. I couldn't have handled it all back then, now I can. My brain kept the memories safely locked away until I could handle them. Amazing.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Olympic National Park

ONP for short is huge. It fills the majority of the land mass of the peninsula. Only a portion of it is accessible by car. The rest of it you have to get out and explore on foot or simply leave to the animals. Today after finishing up a few quick things at the office I drove west out of town on Hwy 101 headed for Lake Cresent and an ONP trail head.

I found myself here.

Here appears to be about 20 miles away from home!


The drive didn't take long. I guess because there was a lot of eye candy to focus on.



This is where I was headed, Marymere Falls. Today was another warm, beautiful day. A perfect day for this nice, easy hike.



Check out that sun through the trees!!


No matter how many times I cross the creek on this little bridge made out of a tree I still love it. Doesn't this just look other worldly? There are days where I'm amazed I live here. Will I ever get used to the beauty? I really hope not.


And we have arrived. The first glimpse the falls.



Marymere Falls in all her glory

Monday, April 6, 2009

By Request



A look through my lens at Port Angeles. This evening was perfect for a walk along the waterfront and then south through downtown. As requested by a friend who has only read about Port Angeles in the books by Stephenie Meyer, here is Port Angeles. Well at least some of it.






Murals along the waterfront
Taken from the city pier looking towards Hurricane Ridge. The mountains really do meet the sea here.


Each year there is a festival called "Art on the Town" and new pieces of outdoor art are placed on the sidewalks throughout the town. Each year money is raised to purchase a favorite from the artist so it can be kept for the town to continue to enjoy.



The MV Coho. The only car ferry that will take you directly from the US to Canada. It is the best way to enjoy the charming city of Victoria even if you are visiting Seattle.


This one of my favorite murals in downtown. It shows the MV Kalakala ferry, an art deco ferry built in 1935.


Port Book and News - The best place in town to find books for grown ups. They carry new and used books. I have another store in town were I head if I'm looking for a book for the under 12 crowd. Port Book and News also has a great selection of magazines, local guide books, and cards. I don't think I could live in this town without this store.


Now for a bit of Twilight's Port Angeles



The Lincoln Theater - This is where Bella goes to the movies in the books.



Bella Italia - The site of Bella and Edwards first date I suppose you could say. Great food. If you visit don't just go because it was in the books. Go because the food is great. When my friends visit from all over the country this is the place they want to go unless they are from a place that is devoid of good Mexican food. Then they want to go eat at my friends restaurant.