Smilin' Jack: Chapter 37 - From June to July and Points In-Between.

It has been a hectic month, or two. Seems like things just won't stop happening. From Scouts to Fests to all the points in-between it's been busy.

Like the other chapters in this long but entertaining saga, this one, too, lacks clarity, organization and cohesion. In other words, it's alarmingly banal and fits right in with the other tomes disguised as 'Chapters' in this endless screed.

Let's start this rather lengthy narrative, shall we? And we'll begin at some vague point chosen entirely by the alpha-numeric system given by the various cameras I've sued. It's as simple as that.

We begin, then, with Carol's Fencing Lessons.

Mr. James Ciaramitaro, a Physical Science Instructor and Fencing Master at Willamette University, and his wife move into The Dorchester House, where Carol lives, every summer. Seems the Mrs. suffers badly from allergies and living in the Valley during the summer is, for her, quite an ordeal.

So the two of them flee to the coast where the living is cooler and fresher and less rife with pollen. As a consequence, Jim must find ways to occupy himself in this tiny little tourist town. Haha, after the first couple of years everything begins to be old hat for the residents and I'm sure it's become that way for Jim.

To break the doldrums of these long, languid, sometimes laborious summer months, he teaches fencing to whomever he can...which was Carol and Laurel.

The story is Jim contacted Laurel and she was interested and Laurel roped in Carol because nobody else in the whole place was interested. And that's how this story began.

Neither of the girls are worth a hoot as a fencer but they're having loads of fun. There is a lot more laughing than fencing going on. Fortunately, Jim has an apparently infinite amount of patience.

Quick change of venue!!

Early one morning I grabbed my cuppa and headed out to the bluff with the camera to sip coffee, contemplate the world and snap a shot or two.

I had the camera, the Nikon in this case, set to a filter with a blue hue to it. Oh, and I had it set to B&W, too. At any rate, I was distracted by the gull set up on top of the empty house in front of mine. I call it, the house not the gull,for rather obvious reasons, the "Hardy Boys Mystery House". The aforementioned gull was sitting on top of the roof yelling at me to feed him. He was loud.

Being the wit I am, I went ahead and got a shot of him with the camera since I didn't have a gun. It was a throw-away shot taken on a whim.

When I downloaded it, I found it interesting enough that I decided to play with the shot. I deliberately chose to darken it even more using film noir and it worked. With the blue filter it threw the dark areas into total blackness and made the white of the gull even whiter.

Another "Happy Accident"

There will be plenty of these quick changes of pace/scenery/narratives during this novella so stay alert and try to keep up with me, 'Kay?

The Saturday of the PixieFest, June 26th, was also the Chinook Winds Anniversary. The Casino celebrated with their usual Mighty Fine Fireworks Display. And, like last year, I was on hand to capture the magic.

I used the Nikon and discovered it has a 'Fireworks' setting. You put it in "Scene", select "Fireworks" and, as usual, the camera does all the work for you.

I did mount the camera on my tripod and then I pointed it in the general direction of the festivities and, when the muse moved me, I released the shutter. The camera took over and measured out a 2-second exposure for me.

My biggest concern was when to release the shutter. Then I just had to not bump the camera until it was done. Hahaha, EZ-PZ!!

No nasty ol' fooling around with f-stops, type of film, ASA, time-exposure and focusing. Hahaha, where was all this technology when I was a young'un!?! Damn, it would have made a WORLD of difference for me!! A world!!

Buen trabajo, Señor Camera.

And now a quick segue into flowers.

Seriously, what's a blog without a flower or two.

I still marvel at how easy and fun it is to capture reasonably decent pictures of flowers. It's soooooo doggone easy that, for a while, I stopped taking pictures of flowers altogether because, well, because it wasn't even a smidgen of a challenge.

I felt like that's all I was seeing was flowers. I've just started taking pictures of them again because it's Spring and they're in bloom but also because I've missed them. A lot.

So I'm looking for flowers again.

There are times, as I marvel at their beauty, that I am reminded of the Divinity of God. What a Master Plan He has for us that he can create these lovely things for our enjoyment and use. If you want to know the Lord, look at a flower.

Hahaha, my inner B&W self again.

What do you do with a guy who see all the color in flowers and still wants to render them in B&W!?! Humor him and hope he gets over himself.

Ka-Ching!!

Oh, the ospreys. How cool is it to live in a town with four nesting pairs of ospreys. And, as far as I know, two of the nests have chicks. I haven't checked on all four. The nest at the Grocery Outlet is up in a VERY tall commo tower and hard to see. The one at the south end of town, the nest on one of the lights at the high school football field is far away and off the track.

But I pass the one at the Little League Field and the Mall parking lot quite often and it is these that I feature in my pictures.

Like these. At the ball field.

Dad caught himself a fish and decided to light in a tree across from the nest and enjoy a quiet dinner all on his own.

Meantime, Moms kept an eye on things in the nest and was quite vocal with her displeasure at Dad's selfishness. You can see one of the chicks just in front of her and the other a bit farther away...the one with the slightly red back.

Bam!!

Another lightening change!!

Carol and I decided to drive to Eugene to do some serious shopping at the Scout Store at the Oregon Trail Council. Hahaha, we needed some books and I was thinking I needed a short sleeve shirt, too.

Off we went for a leisurely drive through the beautiful Oregon countryside.

I had planned on eating lunch along the road. I have a strong affection for the little dinners and one-of-a-kind restaurants that populate the small cities of America. They're unique and they're usually quite tasty...solid food at reasonable prices.

And so I did a little research on this miracle called the Internet and found this...

...and, tucked away inside of the Eugene Livestock Auction Building was this gem: Stockman's Cafe.

And it was GREAT!! Seriously, great!!

The decor was down-home Americana. The service was easy and very friendly. The atmosphere was welcome and inviting. It was, well, it was great.

From the Advertising Coffee Mugs...

...to the Cattleman decor, it was all perfect.

Even the menu screamed "Love me!! I'm unique and I'm real!!"

Hahaha, they were great, all kinds of meat, cheese and potatoes. A man's meal.

I'm a sucker for breakfasts and I'm a huge sucker for a chicken-fried steak for breakfast so, for me, it was pretty much a no-brainer.

Chicken-fried steak, please. Make my eggs over-easy, my hash-browns crispy and my gravy thick. Oh, and I'll take sourdough for my toast.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...

It were good, folks. It were mighty good.

Hahaha and, truth be told, I enjoyed the second half of it for dinner later that day as much as I enjoyed the first half during breakfast.

Carol got herself some pancakes with strawberries.

Some of the locals gathering round the breakfast table and trading news on the latest goings-on.

How cool is this!?!

I liked it so much that when we swing down Eugene way again, we're gonna make a special stop there for Round Two.

The Stockman's Cafe is just south of Junction City along Hwy 99. I highly recommend it if you're in that neck of the woods.

Just a random bird.

Cuz I can.

Hahaha, it's my blog, dammit!!

And my camera. One of them.

The Nikon Coolpix P900.

There are more bells and whistles on this baby than I'll EVER be able to use...in two lifetimes!! An amazing piece of technology.

And I don't even know why I have this picture. Maybe for insurance? Anyway, I also do not know how it got into by Blog Folder but, what the heck!?! There it was and now here it is.

Hahaha, it's the "my Blog" thingie, again.

On a lark I submitted this picture of the male Osprey sitting on a light pole near his nest to the local newspaper, The News Guard. I had taken a number of different pictures and liked this one. And they featured it on their website and then, surprise of surprises, they ran it in the newspaper.

Coolio!!

Hahaha, so, we made it to the Oregon Trail Council Headquarters. As we were leaving I got the idea to try out the panorama feature on my Nikon.

I had Carol looking surprised on the left and then, as I panned to the right, she ran around behind me and sorta waved to herself from the right side of the pic.

Amazing, eh!?!

Hahahahaha, you're damn right, Skippy!!

BAM!!

Let's jump ahead and now we'll visit the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Actually, we'll be visiting the newest path through part of the Refuge. They just completed it several months ago and so Carol and I, with nothing else to do, decided today would be just the right day for a walk-through.

And it was well worth it.

This whole area had, at one time, been drained and turned into a cattle pasture. In the recent past they've set about reclaiming the Bay and returning it back into an estuary. They've done a good job.

We followed the Millport Slough into the area we were going to explore.

The tide was out.

Hahaha, love the panorama. Don't know how I can effectively use it but I keep playing with it. Modern technology!! It is simply amazing.

Carol's reading the information board you saw earlier. This whole thing was, as I mentioned earlier, just opened a few months ago. When we arrived there wasn't another car here and while we were walking we saw no one else. However, when we left, we began passing people coming in and the parking lot was full save for one spot.

Amazing.

The Millport Slough.

The story behind this pic is that we were both on the look-out for birds of any kind. In fact, Carol had asked me to shoot this shot and then zoom way in at the dark figure almost center in this picture along the slough. Turns out that was just two dead branches from the log that had fallen into the slough.

I didn't see the Great Blue Heron until I had downloaded the picture. We were looking far for the heron and there he was, taking the sun, right in the slough. Can you see him? About two/thirds of the way down the picture and slightly to the left of center in the water.

Hahaha, we were looking so hard we missed this guy right under our noses.

I've learned how to easily and quickly switch from color to B&W. You've been warned.

And just like that he's back to color. Dandelions would be treasured flowers if they weren't so common and pesky.

When the tide goes out the mudflats appear and they leave evidence of every living being that passes over them. Until the tide comes back.

Just an interesting color. I'm not big on bending over anymore and so I just held my camera down below my waist and merrily snapped away. Think what it might be if I had just tried a little.

We got to hear the birds. I should say, "I" got to hear the birds. Usually there is too much background noise and they're too far away for me to hear. Not today. Today I heard so many different birds. It was really great. I got to hear a lot of these song birds and enjoyed it all tremendously.

We (and by 'we' I mean Carol) hasn't figured out this bird yet. There were several on this limb but by the time I unlimbered the Nikon and found them they were all getting ready to leave.

But I heard them!! And, you can see, I was still in my B&W mode.

Oops.

What a glorious day it was.

Clear blue skies and lower 60s temps.

Excellent!!

I had the time, the opportunity and the inclination and so I indulged myself with a lot of B&W. And a lot of iffy shots.

But sometimes you can't beat color. Just can't so don't even try.

I caught Carol just as she was turning. She was off the trail looking for some birds.

And as she was returning I saw that there was someone else there on the trail just ahead of us.

Hahaha, I know you just rolled your eyes!!

Get used to it. B&W is here to stay!!

At the apex of the walk we were on the Siletz River. When I came up to the bank I disturbed a heron and these ducks, not knowing what exactly was up, decided it would still be wiser to move on up the river a bit.

Looking out over the Siletz River.

And we finally found our Great Blue Heron.

But just for a couple seconds. He wasn't too keen on us and took off for someplace quieter.

Toward the end of the walk I saw this composition. Lines, angles, shapes.

I don't know. Just interested me.

This one finds the most money on the ground of any person I've ever met!!

We're walking back to the mini and, Hey!! Lookit!!

Part of the reclaimed pasture. The tide is out. There are times, at a particularly high tide, where most of this grassland is under water as well.

Alright!! Kyllo's Restaurant in LCO.

Background is that Hannah Raines offered a prize, a $100 Gift Card to Kyllo's Restaurant to the person who got the MOST Scout Training done prior to June 30.

Both Carol and I promptly forgot all about the contest...memory retention is not our forte.

But we both remembered we had promised to become fully trained for the Cubs and so on several days we sat down in front of our computers and painfully, slowly and laboriously sat through a whole bunch of training. A lot of training.

At the last Committee Meeting Hannah mentioned that we were in the lead with Sean just a few hours behind us. Both Carol and I looked at each other and then at Hannah and said, "Huh?"

Hannah explained, again, the contest to us. Well, what the heck. We were in the run anyway so the next day we added a whole bunch more from the Commissioners Training and, TA DA!! We won!!

Woo, Hoo!!

We were Winners!!

So today, after our Siletz Bay Adventure, we stopped by Kyllo's Restaurant for lunch.

Winnah, Winnah! Chicken Dinnah!

Kyllo's Restaurant is a fancy-dancy place on the beach next to the D River State Park. We've passed it a thousand times but I never thought I'd eat there. It's in a price range that I generally always consider as, "Over my head"

But I had the gift card and so...