Tell Me a Story - August 2015

A Drive up the Coast

I have been so unmotivated to photograph anything, so I said to my neighbor, friend and fellow photographer Elise, "Let's go somewhere".  We had planned to go to the wildlife preserve near Eugene, OR but it was going to be 90 degrees that day and us "coasties" can't handle that heat!  So we decided to drive up the coast to Newport and come down.  It was a longer drive than we anticipated and it was very sunny and warm.  The lighting was not good, but I took some photos anyway.  First we stopped at Georgie's Beachside Grill restaurant where I had a bread bowl of clam chowder.  Some of the best on the Oregon Coast IMO.

Our next stop was Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Here are a few of the lighthouse

Lots of visitors this day.

 A Sun Dog!

We stayed and looked at some different views of the ocean.

There were cormorants everywhere raising their young.

I enjoyed watching this mama and her 3 kids throw "cobbles" into the ocean

Next it was stopping at Cape Perpetua south of Yachats.  Cape Perpetua hosts sightseeing opportunities including Thor's Well, Spouting Horn and Devil's Churn.  Unfortunately we were not there at the right time (high tide is the best), but I took a few pictures anyway.

Read about Cape Perpetua here:  (yes I used a wiki site)  Here are a few photos, though not exceptional, they are mine.

 Spouting Horn wasn't spouting.  It was about 2.5 hours before high tide.

 Hwy 101 looking south

 Looking North along the coast

 Thor's well is straight out on the rocks.  If you look close you can see a lot of people looking into the "well".  Hope they left before the tide got high!

This is Thor's Well with not much activity because of the tide.  There was still one person taking pictures with an IPAD but I have photoshopped her out. 

There is a long path down to the rocks and Thor's Well.  One day I will walk down there, but the day was already getting late and my friend had to be home at a certain time.

This was our little travelling companion, Ruby who is about 12 weeks old.  Such a sweet sweet poodle puppy she is!

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Sharleen N. Stuart Photography / South Florida Photographer



In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth. ~Rachel Carson</sup>

Our son's Change of Command Ceremony

 

These photos did NOT turn out how I wanted them, but I thought I'd share since I am so damned proud of him and his little family (We're also very proud of our daughter and her slightly bigger family).  These were taken with my 50mm 1.4 lens and I do not know what happened but oh well here goes.

 

Before the Ceremony, outside in front of the hanger.

Papa and Emily (age 4)

Stage setup.

Color Guard.

Announcing the Wing commander, the Outgoing Squadron commander and my son ( the incoming squadron commander) on the right.

My son saluting his troops as the new commander of his squadron.

Emily's favorite part.  THE CAKE!

Emily and her other grandma (Nene).  I think they look so much alike!

 

Thanks for letting me share a little part of my life. 

 

Please read my fellow blogger's sites starting with Sharon Meyer Photography and follow the circle around back to my blog.

 

 

The U.S. Military is us. There is no truer representation of a country than the people that it sends into the field to fight for it. The people who wear our uniform and carry our rifles into combat are our kids, and our job is to support them, because they're protecting us. ~Tom Clancy

 

 

Tell Me a Story May 2015

Bullard's Beach State Park

Flowers and More

We went camping at Bullard's Beach State Park on the Oregon Coast (where I live) and took a 4 mile walk/hike on Wednesday.  There were wild flowers blooming everywhere and initially that's what I thought my blog would be on and it is, except I've thrown in some other interesting (I think) things.

Please visit my fellow blogger and see the blog circle we have created @ Sharleen N. Stuart Photography / South Florida Photographer

I came across this sign and thought it was pretty interesting and I've taken a couple of the Camas flowers that accompanies this sign.

A beautiful Camas by itself

 A field of Camas

We continued our walk and found some beautiful little flowers.  Not sure of the name of all of them but I will attempt to name them.

 I thought this was some sort of wild clover, but I'm not entirely sure.

 This was growing right in the sand.  They are called beach morning glory.

 I love these tiny heart shaped bells.  They are called Salal.

 I believe this is seashore lupine.

For the life of me, I could not find the name of this flower.  I used this website to identify some of the images listed:

http://www.pnwflowers.com/ 

 Wild Iris

Wild Radish

 This is Scotch Broom and although it's very pretty and comes in all yellow blooms as well, this is an invasive weed to our area.  We pull it up out of our property.  I'm sure one day it will take over everywhere, thereby eliminating all other flowering plants.

Scotch Broom flowers.

A few more images of our walk in no particular order.

 This is a "by the wind sailor".  Read about these beautiful creatures here:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150420-velella-jellyfish-pictures-california-beach-ocean-animals-science/

 Looking back toward where we travelled.  We picked up ticks in this area we believe.  Nasty little bugs.  Thank goodness we got them all off the dog and ourselves!

 Just some interesting grass I played with.

 Hub found this rusted something or other.  Kind of looked like a drain out of a ship or something!

 I have never seen tops ends of pine tree branches red!

 On the way back to the trailer, we went thru this tunnel of trees.

"Uncooked" pine cones?

This plant was growing up towards the sun.  The very ends of it were red and I thought it was very pretty!  Not sure what it is.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anais Nin



Tell Me A Story - April 2015 - A Windy Day at the Playground

I went to Minot AFB, North Dakota to watch my granddaughter Emily, while her mom and dad went to a conference in Virginia.  She LOVES going to the park and we tried to go everyday, but boy was it windy out.  This day we went to the "froggy" park as she calls it. 

Minot AFB has tons of playgrounds in its housing area.  This is the "froggy" park so dubbed by Emily!  Balancing on a beam takes "talent".

Peek-A-Boo (yes we had a bit of a runny nose)

I love this image.  Her face was full of joy as she went down the slide!

 Wild haired girl, Getting ready to go down the slide!

Do I have piggy whips (lips) Grandma?

Last swing of the day.  Swing me HIGHER Grandma!  I admit I was afraid to let her go too high! I also should have put her hair in a pony tail or braid!

A sunset at the end of our day made it special.  These were taken from the back of my sons house.


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 Beth Williams - Venice, Italy

Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation. ~Lois Wyse