Smilin' Jack: Chapter 78 - Life Goes On...

Life goes on.

And so do I, in a small way. Getting antsy just sitting and doing a lot of nothing, I decided it was time to take a walk through McMinnville. A semi-large city on the road to Portland, it has a rich history and a bright future.

And they've done a bang-up job of keeping their downtown vibrant and alive. And it was there that I headed. But, first, a stop at the CofC for a Historic Downtown Walking Tour Map. Turns out they didn't have one!! What the...!?!

But they did tell me the McMinnville Downtown Association had a guide of sorts and so, off I went. This picture, one of the side streets in this old city, is misleading. The city has much, much, much more traffic than you might think seeing this picture.

The Downtown Association is located in the Cozine House. Believe it or not, this house was used for storage starting in 1984 until just a few years ago when the Association bought it, renovated it and moved in.

Seriously, storage!?!

I won't go into much detail. Mostly it's just me shooting pictures of the architecture. I appreciate the beauty, the style, the functionality, the dignity of these old buildings.

Like this, built in 1885. One of the many banks in the downtown area. Look at the detail, the symmetry, the beauty in its construction.

Even down to the small details on an entry way into one of these old buildings. Every chance they got they built in a bit of beauty...something pleasing in their otherwise hard lives.

The streets were mud, the sanitation nearly non-existent, the comforts of their lives were few and far between but where they could they built something with utility and, more importantly, with an eye towards the aesthetics of the structures they lived and worked in.

Like this old home, now a restaurant.

The early pictures of McMinnville that I saw showed a street without trees. Not true anymore. Part of the charm, but a relatively recent addition to the community, are the tree-lined avenues. They strike our modern eyes as an integral part of the community but they weren't always there.

And another part of their Old-Time charm is the banner strung across the street.

These banners are an especial favorite of Carol's. She's a huge proponent of putting banners across The 101 in LCO. But it does say, "Small-Town America".

I had plenty more pictures of McMinnville but I'll spare you. All two of you.

Instead, let's slide on over to Amity, Oregon. It's about 5-7 miles south of McMinnville. Established in 1848, it got its name because of a deal between two competing towns to build a school. They decided to build it between the two and the first school teacher named the school Amity...and the name stuck for the town.

A small city of about 1,700, it is, more or less, just a block of downtown and then a few streets. A large number of the people in this city live in the rural areas around the city.

They're following McMinnville's example and gentrifying their tiny downtown. They have some trendy restaurants and then this, a antique store that, evidently, recently came into possession of a large number of tubs.

There's the whole downtown. Well, OK, there's one building to the right that is not shown in this picture. Just the one. There's not much across the street. A restaurant and open space. But it was a nice day, wasn't it!?!

And HOT!!

I saw this house on a side street as I was ambling along and struck by how much it reminded me of the homes one would see in Panama. From the color of the house to its slapdash appearance, it just takes me right back to Panama.

And the tallest structure in the town, the silo, grange? Whatever. It stores grain.

I wandered around Amity which, believe me, doesn't take long at all and then, with the temp rising, I hit the road back to home and the coolness of the coast. I ignored Garmin and just followed my nose and promptly got lost.

But, seriously, it's not hard to get unloose. There aren't a lot of roads in the Oregon Countryside and so there isn't a lot of opportunities to get magnificently lost...as I have been known to do.

So, while I was temporarily misplaced, its only significance was that I got to see country I normally wouldn't have gotten to see.

And, on a side note, I experimented with my camera. What a marvelous machine!! The things that camera can do!! It's amazing. Anyway, I slipped it over to "Creative Filters" and then into the "Poster" mode. And BAM!! It made a difference. The color is deeper, brighter, more vibrant and totally unlike-like.

It's interesting and I will play with it more.

And this one is a 'posterized' picture, too. But I toned it down just a bit in iPhoto.

But not this one. See what I mean about throwing that color at you!!

POW!!

Right in your face!!

Carol had walked to the Safeway and then called me for a ride. She had spotted an osprey sitting up on a telephone pole right there on The 101 and wanted to show it to me.

I had my camera and so I pulled over and got this shot, among others. I submitted it and, surprise, surprise, they printed it in the News Guard.

I think this was a young osprey. He had something clutched in his left claw and had been sitting there for over a half hour when we arrived. I waited, hoping for a shot of him taking off and was just putting my camera away when he took off. I need more patience. I do.

I love the doors of Ireland. The pictures of those unique and beautiful doors always interest me. When I was walking I saw this and had passed it by when the thought struck me that it was, kind of, like the doors of Ireland. Unique and singular.

I backtracked and composed this shot. I shot it in vivid (a color choice), B&W, poster and neutral. I chose the vivid rendition, the one you see here.

Fair warning...this might become my next 'thing'. You know, like the mailboxes and roads.

Ah, flowers. I get a kick out of them. And I enjoy being successful (to a low amateur level) with them. And there are a lot of them around.

I shot this, and I haven't been successful with daisies in like forever, with little hope for anything useful. I take to the unusual ways to see a flowers. From underneath, behind, backlit, whatever. I saw this and thought it might work.

I let in more light with the exposure compensation. I moved it up 3 clicks. That's why this picture is almost ethereal in its presentation. I shot it with a regular exposure, too, but I preferred this version.

I do love the long lens on my camera. It allows me to stand back and reach out for small thingies without disturbing them. Plus it flattens the image a bit and I like that effect.

Some great color, eh!?!

You can see the Creator in all of nature. It's wonderful.

BAM!!

I think the camera was on 'vivid' for these. The colors are more 'in-your-face' bright.

And, as always, I look for the new way to see these beauties.

I think I've improved with my compositions. I think I'm seeing the picture now and then shooting. My abilities in balancing and placing the subjects has improved.

I'm getting a wee bit better at something. That's process.

And I am thinking more.

It's getting better. Technical skills are growing along with my artistic skills. My eye is getting a little better and it, every-so-often, shows.

I even moved around to try and frame the flower with the leaves. I am loathe to alter the environment when I shoot. I think it's because I am so lazy but I tell myself that I am a purist in capturing nature. Hahaha, whatever helps me sleep at night.

Boom!!

And I came back for a closer shot of a similar flower. But I composed it. I thought about it.

I also enjoy side shots. This is a view you don't see that often. I spotted this one standing, as it were, above the others and wanted to get a shot of it. I backed off so the background would be thrown out of focus and moved to where the secondary subjects, the flowers below it, were set in a semi-pleasing manner.

From horizontal to vertical. And the way the camera interprets the light changes, too.

I've been shooting mostly on Av, Aperture priority. I usually have the camera at f/8. The pros say this is where the camera optimizes the lens. Occasionally, I will, depending on the effect I'm reaching for, either open it up or close it down. I like a small aperture when shooting 'scapes. I go for the large aperture when I definitely want the background out of focus.

And my puzzles. I likes'em simple, like me.

I enjoy the small challenge. And I enjoy the final product. There's something satisfying about completing a project. And enjoying the total scene.

I especially enjoy these old, nostalgic puzzles.

The little details. That flat plane. The simple themes.

And I included this detail of the covered bridge cuz I like them so much and, in the larger picture, you could barely make it out. I felt it was being ignored.

OK, it was 3-4 days ago I noticed this guy by the feeders. He stood out for two reasons. First, he was banded and, second, he wasn't overly concerned with my presence. He would step back a foot or two when I filled up the feeders but didn't run or fly away by my approach like all the other birds.

I chalked it up to his being bred in captivity. I was thinking the bands meant he'd been a part of something, somewhere.

On the afternoon I took these pictures, I was heading out for a walk and saw him by the feeders. He'd been under the car when I washed it and never seemed to mind me. But, right then, I was thinking it was like the ducks. He'd found a place that was friendly and food was provided and so he was coming back. I was thinking it was another bird that had sorta adopted my feeders.

So I got these pictures and I left on my walk. I even showed the pictures, still in the camera, to Carol when I stopped by her place.

Then I came back to the shack. As I rounded the corner of the house heading to the back door, I glanced over at the feeders. I had put out a small tray of water for the pigeon before I left. I had thought he didn't look too well when I took the pictures.

I didn't see him by the feeders and then...

...I found him by the back porch.

He'd come back and passed away here. I checked and he hadn't been attacked. He'd just died.

I started adding up the clues and decided that he'd come here several days ago and was too sick to move on. He'd found some food and water here and sheltered nearby, maybe even under the car. And today he finally gave out.

I gathered the information off his bands and then I buried him near where he had passed.

I'm getting tired of birds coming here to die.

Doing a little research I learned he was part of an American Pigeon Racing Union. He had been banded in 2019 and assigned a number and his club was in Jeanerette, Louisiana.

How he got here I haven't a clue. I wrote to the club listing all the information and the details of his death but I haven't heard from them.

OK, happier things. Out on a walk to Carol's, I found this in front of the Dorchester House and picked it up.

This was the side that was up and...

...this is on the reverse.

I tried several variations of this information on FaceBook but came up a cropper on all of them.

But it made me think of my daughter, Amy, and her kids and the rocks they painted. Here they are before she and the kids hid them.

At any rate, I decided that I'd take this one, the one I found, and put it over in the Connie Hansen Garden. That'll be a nice place for someone else to find and enjoy it.

Sitting in the recliner I stood up one afternoon to stretch and looked out the window at the beach and saw all this activity.

Seems they were conducting sea rescues and that's why they were there.

The big kids were honing their skills on the jetski and, I suspect, having a bit of fun, too.

Gotta get out there in a hurry.

And that means taking the waves head on.

And moving quickly. And they're good at it.

I took some pictures and then went back in. About an hour later I spotted this little drama. Seems two beach-goers were feeling just a wee bit too good and started causing a commotion with the Fire Department who called the LCPD.

Well, two tourists found themselves....

....being arrested and taken into custody by the cops.

Not smart.

But while I was out, Kirk, from next door, and Mary from across the street came over and we talked. Kirk is a professional photographer who has displayed his art, and sold them, all over Oregon. We got to talking about High Density shooting on these new digital cameras and I showed him mine and took this shot in HD.

What it does is takes several pictures at different settings and then stitches them together to minimize the contrast in the scene. It's amazing.

I got this shot and it just looks a little bit better than the plain ol' way.

I'm learning.

Cade graduated from Security Forces School. He and his lovely Bride, my Granddaughter, will head to Montana after a short vacation.

Looking good!! Cade is in the back center.

And a blast from the past.

I've been putting all my pictures on flash drives. I must have 15-20 of them and still the computer is always full and can't take anymore pics. I talked with Allie about this and she sent me two devices that store pictures. I've used one, it has 4 TetraBytes of space and loaded ALL my flash drives on it. I have OVER 50,000 pictures.

Now they're all in one place and I can visit them easily. I was rummaging around in my memories and found this geranium and just pulled it out for the pleasure of it. This was taken with the little SX 170 that piece of shit stole from me. I am not a proponent of the death penalty but, honestly, this scumbag makes me want to reconsider my position.

Enough!! It's a nice little picture.

I saw this puzzle and had to put it together.

A 'Route 66' store in Seligman, a town on the old Mother Road. Hahaha, I had no choice. And guess where we'll be stopping when we make the Route 66 Trip!!

The ospreys around town are doing well. This is the nest at the mall.

Mike got this shot of my best side at the Pack Meeting.

My slim and trim days are long past me.

Carol and I were scouting out places to hold the Pack Committee Meetings. Aces Bar and Grill is just too noisy and busy for a successful meeting.

Judd, the manager at Oregon Coast Bank offered his conference room at the bank and so Carol and I drove on over to take a look at it.

Carol took these two pictures.

And I took this one with the timer.

It's big enough. And quiet, too. It'll work but I will miss having a beer or two and something to eat during the meetings.

And, finally, one of the Dads volunteered to make a rope-tying station for the Pack to practice their knots. It folds in half for easy transport. It'll be great to help the Cubs learn their knots.