Chapter 89 - An Oregon Summer Pictorial

It's not summer but the weather has been better than any summer I've had here. These past few weeks have been glorious. Magnificent. Beautiful.

Not much in the way of clouds . . . when there are it's just a gray overcast. But it hasn't rained a lot and the temps have been milder than usual.

And I haven't taken advantage of any of it. I am becoming that single guy again. And I normally don't do a lot on my own. But I did force myself out a couple times to get some pictures this past week. I admit, I had more ambitious plans when I started out and I quickly ditched them for just what was nearby but, y'know, I did get out.

Oh, and I had my heart test. The nuclear one. My Doc should have the results in a few days and so I figure I'll hear about them in a month or two. No big expectations because the man is overwhelmed with all the old vets here in LCO. I am just another point on the linear graph that leads from 0800 to 1700 and from Monday to Friday. But I will hear someday and I am keen to know what they found, i.e., How's the ol' Heart doing. Cuz I know I am not caring for it like I should  . . .  or could.

Hahaha, laziness will kill me. That and a horrible fondness for fat, greasy fried food covered in salt.

HOOAH!!

There was a sunset recently, one of many, where the light was golden and the opportunity just lay outside my back door. I finally made it outside. Ah, inertia. You're a bitch!!

But I got out and looked around and saw these two guys taking in the final rays of a beautiful day and got this tinted shot.

No clouds!! Just some beautiful light as the day slipped down into the ocean.

And burned a golden color over everything.

Looking up and slightly to my rear, I saw the Moon was coming out. It is rapidly becoming a waxing gibbous moon. I love getting shots where I can see features on the Moon . . . ON THE MOON, Guys!! But I do it too often and it is too easy. I had plenty more of these but I am getting better at the self-editing. You're welcome.

Still, ain't it a kick to realize I can take a 'hand-held' picture of the Moon and capture all that detail!?!

The sun setting colored the sky in ways I could only imagine. It is awesome.

And I tried exercising some of the things I've learned . . . like using the natural surrounding to help frame the picture. Yeah, it doesn't work here but it is an effort . . . I am thinking. And in that regard I'm successful. 

And, speaking of thinking, here's a part of the beach, the southern end, that I've long neglected. Mind you, I'd gone up just in front of the Hardy Boys Mystery House. It's a place where I've seldom gone before. But the sun is setting further to the south now and to get it all I went up. I shot this starting from the sun moving left towards the south.

Hahaha, there's not much to the beach looking south. But look at the way the sun colors that horizon.

Then I moved the lens up a bit and shot in reverse. My intent was to catch more of the sky in the same scene as I shot before with so much of the coast in it.

I don't know. Six of one and half-dozen of another. Both have small plusses to recommend them but neither is what you'd call a solid hit.

But, as I keep saying, I am learning!! Yay for me, the Little Learner!!

Alrighty, then. My Grandson-In-Law, Cade, and his lovely bride, Alexis, thought it would be funny to send me an Air Feces T-Shirt and Cap. Oh, and a lanyard, too. I wore it once for this picture just because, well, just because.

But I haven't forgotten about Cade's obvious lack of a keen sense of humor. I mean, c'mon!!

Oh, Hahahahahaha and ha. Very funny!!

Because Cade is (shudder) an Air Man, I realized, and believe me, I seldom EVER thought of a game with Air Farce, that in addition to Navy the Black Knights of the Hudson ALSO play the Air Force Academy. On November 3rd of this year to be exact. And so I made a bet with Cade and bought him THIS shirt and cap for the bet.

If Army wins (which it will), then Cade has to wear this t-shirt and cap ALL weekend. He's got to go on base wearing this and drop by and say hello to all his Security Buddies.

It would be really rich if he could go in and say howdy to his First Sergeant or his Platoon Sergeant or whatever the Chair Force equivalent is. That would be keen fun!! Totally worth the money I spent getting him this cap and shirt!! Totally. Oh, and he's got to get pictures, too.

Hahaha, he's being a good sport about it and even sent me this picture modeling his new shirt and cap. Nicely done, Cade.

So Cade sends me this picture and then the OTHER Air Force Knob, Chris, chimes in and says, "Cade proved he has the shirt and cap so now you need to prove you have the Air Feces shirt and Cap." I pointed out to him that I'd already sent Cade and Lexi a picture of me in that (shiver) shirt and cap but he wanted more.

So I swallowed my bile and my dignity and set up the tripod and got these shots for Chris, Cade and Lexi-Lu.

"Yeah, I'm wearing it!! I got it on!!"

And to push the point home I gave him my 'unamused' look for another picture in the dreaded cap and shirt. Not quite my 'War Face' but it does show that WE are not amused.

And I don't expect I'll have to wear it after November 3rd. Nope. Not at all. But I did promise to wear it for a weekend IF Army lost AND to wear it to a Kiwanis Meeting, too. I don't have a First Sergeant anymore so I figured embarrassing myself in front of the Kiwanis Club would make the bet a bit more even.

Gooooooooooo, Army!! Beat Navy!!

(Right after you mangle the Flimsy Falcons of Air Farce!!)

I am NOT amused!!

Hahaha, that was fun.

Another clear sky for another colorful sunset. And I was out and about. I'm trying to be more proactive. I tend to, when I am alone, to vegetate and grow mold. I dislike living alone but I'd better get used to it is the attitude I am trying to accept.

And so I sometimes force myself out and about.

Like this night. Same beach, different day.

And trying to catch the magic of the light in different areas, different venues.

It reminds me of the initial seconds of an atomic detonation. Like I keep expecting to see a mushroom cloud rising above it all in just a few seconds.

Playing with the exposure control I jacked it up to +1 which lightens up the darker scenes. Like here.

Horizontal or vertical. Both have their positives. Which do you prefer? I'm thinking, in this instance, vertical. Thank goodness this person who was taking their own pictures moved closer to the center of the picture making this shot possible.

Then I pulled out the tripod and pointed the camera up and hung it out there for 30 seconds. Trying for the stars but, still, there is too much ambient light that 'clouds' up the skies and reduces the number of stars you can see. But I could, with my naked eye, still see some of the galaxies up there. Just couldn't catch them with the camera.

To show you how much light was pulled in on this dark night, that is the Hardy Boys Mystery House there in the lower left with nothing to light it for the 30 seconds exposure except the lights from porches and living rooms.

Powerful, eh!?!

And funky Jack . . . I lit myself up with my cell phone flashlight. I look like Thor's senile Oncle Olaf in this picture.

Hahahaha, I tried it again. You can see stars but it's not anything special. This shot was looking toward the east and the city lights took the edge off it.

So I lowered the camera and shot the rentals across the street. I'd hate to have their electric bill. It is a point of pride that my monthly electric bill last month was $23 and some change. Yep!! Only possible because I do live alone.

Wearing a head-band light for this shot. Just fooling around.

Another shot, lower, out over the ocean with the Hardy Boys Mystery House in the foreground.

Now on this one you have to do a little looking. I set it on 30 seconds, hence the overfit houses in the background . . . especially on the right side where the street light blew everything out.

Then I stood to the left and turned on the headlight for 5 or so seconds. Then I took a step to the right (in the picture) and did another 5 seconds. Then one more step to the right and once more with the 5 second exposure.

You can see the three small beams and, if you look very hard, the slight, faint outline of my image there three times. Having fun in a gentle way with light. 

And learning.

On the Road Again!!! 

Oh, I wish that I was back there on the

Road Again!!!

OK, I changed the lyrics a bit but how best to express my current feelings. Ah, if only I were rich, I'd be on the road a lot. I think, if I were wealthy, I would buy a rent a small apartment and live in a different exciting and exotic city for a year and photograph it in detail. And I'd be on the road more than I am now.  

I would.

And it's opportunities like this that rekindle that fire. I see a small stretch of road, highway, lane and I see possibilities; I see mysteries; I see pleasant challenges; I see fun and adventure.

And I want to be, "On the Road Again . . . "

And seeing the world according to Jackie.

I find the small details interesting. I especially like lines and patterns as I have said before and those aspects strike me and attract my attention. And I shoot.

Like this fern. In the woods. Existing in a certain beauty. Ahhhh, I was dramatic . . . and, a bit, poetic.

Oh, yeah!! That Road Thingie again.

There is something about the open road that needs exploring and documenting. 

I'd finished my appointment where they injected me with some nuclear unguent and then observed the effects. No word on what they found but my VA Doctor will have the results in a couple of days and so I am sure I will hear the whatever it is in a couple of months. At least.

Afterwards I felt, since I was in that part of town, it would be nice to get a little exercise and go for a walk. I went into the Open Space (an Oregon term for a nature park) and then walked down the new, and little used, boardwalk along the road and, in part, along the lake.

Where I got this shot of a small inlet from the lake creating a marshy, boggy area. Zooming in a little, I was able to concentrate on the colors reflected on the water using the foliage as a frame of sorts.

Still waters run deep, y'all.

I do tend to grab hold of something and drive it into the ground. 

Not feeling social, I skipped the Pack Meeting and drove, instead, to Taft Beach. In my mind's eye I saw myself going further and staying longer but I didn't. However, I am satisfied I got out even if it wasn't as far as I had envisioned.

It's a start, eh?

It was another beautiful sunset with the sun coloring a cloudless sky over the Siletz Bay.

They've decided to update the pier at Taft and they're currently in the process of tearing it apart now. But it still lends itself to a dramatically lit scene of the Bay leading up to Mo's. 

"Everyone knows about Mo's!!"

And no visit to the Siletz Bay would be complete without a shot, or two, of The Four Brothers. 

In Oregon things get catchy, tourist-attracting, meanlingness names. There's The Three Sisters near Bend, Haystack Rock near Cannon Beach and so on. It must work as folks flock in droves to the Coast to see these Famous (cuz they've got some catchy, kitschy names) Natural Sights!!

Whoa!! Who's this!?! It's Ol' Mr. Moon over the Siletz . . . looking oddly similar to the one over Jack's Shack at the Beach. Wax on, Señor Moon.

This shot was with a tripod and not handheld. Can you tell the difference?

Loving modern technology.

And there it was . . . a Blue Heron on one of The Four Brothers. What a photo opportunity. Oh, in the hands of a pro this would have been a kick-ass shot.

And then looking down there was this. 

I'm not sure I am as enchanted with the close-up potentials with this new camera as I was with the Old SX 170 I had for those many years and which was stolen out of my car by one of our Valued Homeless because, well, I'm sure he needed the $5 or $10 more than I needed the security and the affection I had for that camera that I had used so long and so happily.

Using the wide-angle . . . there's the Bay in the evening sun.

It was a target rich environment.

But, like most times, I felt that small subconscious unease, the discomfort at being there alone. I sometimes feel a failure with all this and no one to share it with. 

It causes me to cut things short. I have found if I am uncomfortable in any situation, I will simply leave it and cost be damned. It's me.

I think I like the vertical one better.

C'est Magnifique

And the horizontal. There's something to be said for both. I imagine it is your mood and personality that informs your choice.

Which do you prefer? And, honestly, this one is no slacker, either.

A Happy Accident in that my eyes were so bad I could see the two kayakers but nothing else. I was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded (Hahaha, used to have to say, "developed") the picture and saw two harbor seals frolicking (In my mind the seals are always frolicking in any of my pictures) in the foreground.

Ah, Nature. Ah, Oregon.

And this one . . . which, again, brings to mind the Ol' Nuclear Explosion thingie again.

But it's just the sun making it's mark.

OK, I realize it's lame to point out aspects of the picture . . . kinda like having to explain the joke to someone and then expecting them to laugh. 

But, see them? The couple on the spit? There, to the left of the sun in this picture? See'em!! Love them as I do!! They MAKE the picture, dammit!!

I waited, somewhat impatiently, for these two Kayaking Yahoos to finally get into line with the sun and then caught the . . . MAGIC!!

Hahaha, I got the pic.

This just pleased me as I was getting ready to go. The plan had been to drive further south and shoot the night sky where there wasn't so much light pollution. But, well, I was done. 

But then I saw the birds flocking and went ahead and shot a few more pics.

For the hell of it.

And for some inexplicable reason when I saw these gulls circling and swooping I put the camera on 'continuous' and shot away. I think I had around 40 or so pictures of this particular theme. 

I chose this one.

You're welcome.

I was trying to leave!! Honestly, I was!!

Then this guy popped up. That heron now between two of The Four Brothers.

I wasn't even trying, really. I was just shooting because it was there. My head was leaving but my heart was sticking around for just one more shot.

And that led to this. 

But I was done. I had accomplished, somewhat, my goal. I had gotten out, somewhere else than my yard or the hustling, bustling downtown of LCO, and gotten some pictures. I had, in a small way, broken the mold.

Who knows what secrets lay out there?

The Shadow Knows!!

Different day, different scene. There was an alert issued by The News Guard about being aware and staying safe as the increased activity along the beach would bring with it serious sneaker waves and more debris being tossed up on the beach.

That caught my attention and so I directed my gaze to the outside goings on and, by golly, the waves were larger than I was accustomed to.

And so I went out and promptly got this shot of the Hardy Boys Mystery House.

Yeah, I don't know, either.

But the waves were high . . . and getting higher. Much higher than I'd seen on this particular stretch of beach. As I watched, I thought of my Son-in-Law, Matt. He's a surfer and I thought he'd definitely appreciate these crashers.

Alright, I wanted to be artsy-fartsy in shooting this but I also shot with an eye towards documenting (that was, to be sure, a very small and secondary consideration) the unusual wave activity.

But the waves were high . . . and dramatic.

See what I mean!?!

Ah, loving the zoom.

And then, after these waves, I saw this!! It was like putting the cherry on top of the chocolate cake, a squadron of Pelicans winging it southwards!!

How cool is that!?!

I was out of my chair in a flash whipping up my camera and shooting away. Actually, I struggled to get my fat ass up out of the adirondack chair without hurting myself or dropping the camera. Then I fumbled around with the lens cap and the 'on' button and, by luck or providence, got a couple of useable shots.

I've got an affection for these ungainly and preposterous birds.

OK, enough. I do not know why but the wave action was heavy. 

And they were breaking even further from shore than usual.

And it wasn't that windy a day. The temps were pleasant and the breeze was refreshing. But those waves were really acting up.

It was quite a show.

And after I tired myself out shooting waves (and I had over a hundred of those shots but I exercised my increasingly better self-editing skills on them. You're welcome.) I turned to head back into my shack and saw this Halloweeny sight in the parking lot of the beach access next door.

Someone likes this Holiday.

And so I turned back. 

Big waves.

I will be quiet and allow you to "Ooooh" and "Aaaah" at the collected scenes.

Big waves!!

Did I lie!?!

Now, because I am at heart a broken artist, I tried this. Hahaha, it failed miserably but it was fun to make and gives you an idea of how many pictures I took. Mind you, I deleted around two pictures in between each of these shots to whittle it down to just these.

I was trying to catch the rolling waves. It was like, and forgive me here, a stadium full of people and they're doing The Wave.  It just rolled from the Crescendo to the right and moved down the beach towards me.

I hope you can see it.

And now, some pictures on a more personal note.

Here's my son-in-law, Matt, with the die cast metal WWII planes I sent to him. I bought them, oh, I don't know, way back in the dark ages when I was a teacher. I liked them; liked their lines, their beauty, their history. I enjoyed having them about my desk. I was the kind who had a busy desk with lots of mind-distractors on it.

I recently got them and honestly couldn't think of what to do with them or where to put them so I offered them to Matt and he accepted. I mailed them to him a couple days ago and got this picture in return. 

Have fun with those little pieces of history.

And the cap saga continues. I wonder for how long. Because, once it becomes artificial, where I am spending more time 'arranging' the random pattern of these caps then it becomes forced and no fun.

But, still, for now, it's an interesting challenge to see them and appreciate the haphazardness of the whole thing. See the beauty in the chaos that is life. I've even started a folder just for these picture.

And tomorrow I shall clear off the couch and stack the caps back in my room and then start the whole process over again. You can tell I grabbed the one on the right there and wore it and then put it back. Plus I put on the fedora but then decided against it. Oh, and I wore the Air Farce cap for the "T-Shirt Bet" pictures for Cade, Lexi and Chris. And afterwards, I felt I should wear the Marine cap, the red one. Ah, I lead a complicated, emotional up-and-down-rollercoaster kind of life.

And now to really mix it up, I've rearranged the furniture in the 'Hahahaha, living room'.  Now my recliner sits not directly across from the couch but on line and at an angle to the couch. 

It naturally changes the perspective. So there will be some where I am too damn lazy to get up off the recliner and so it's a sorta side picture and then the other where I stand in front of the couch and snap off a shot or two.

As the mood moves me.

At some point, in 1966 or 1967 (and I don't remember going except once when I went with my Mom after I got back from overseas) (and I know I had gotten back from overseas because I had the Yashica TL Super hanging round my neck.) (If I tried wearing that camera around my neck today it would quickly become a real "pain-in-the-neck!!) I visited Disneyland and had this caricature made.

I'm pretty sure it was in '66 or early '67 because I was still, sorta, taken with the idea of being a Marine. See the little saucer cap and the yelling, disgruntled and unhappy Sergeant? Yeah, so that was still a thing for me. Not so much after I got back from overseas. After I got back it was just how long until I got out. No one cared if I served. I never mentioned it. Didn't bring up that I had been overseas. Like I said, no one cared. I can't remember having too many conversations about it. Which is, y'know, kinda shitty. I mean, I didn't do anything but I at least went.

I volunteered a number of times for combat. First, I joined the Marines in June of '66. That kinda sealed the deal right there that I would, eventually, go overseas. Then, in October of '67, I volunteered again to go overseas. When I was finally in-country and working at the COC on a radio watch, I asked for (volunteered?) to go back to the Comm Company at 5th Comm Bn after R&R knowing pretty darn well that would mean doing radio support for this operation or that one. Out in the field. 

They screwed me after I got back and just moved me to the Teletype Section. It was a transfer but not the one I wanted. 

Then I volunteered for CAP (Civil Action Patrol) which would have put me in a platoon living in a village and providing support to the people of the village. I really believed this was a winning program. I even wrote to my Dad about winning the people over. They said, "Sure, you can go to CAP...you just have to extend for another year."

I couldn't do that. I was willing to serve my tour but I couldn't bring myself to extend another half-year plus to put my ass on the line. I didn't. 

So, what was that? Like four times I volunteered to 'do' something overseas. And I didn't do anything.

So after I got back I wasn't too gung-ho about being a Marine. Plus, the Marines at that time were, possibly, at the lowest point ever in their history. Race relations sucked. Esprit was for crap. Morale was low and all anyone thought about was getting out.

So that's why I think this silly thing was made in '66 or '67. Back when I still cared.

What a dumb-ass.

And there it is.

You have to work at life to make it work for you. I've still a lot of work to do.

Hooah!!