I was troubled when I doubled checked our blog the other day to see that the horseshoe I posted was upside down. Anyone who knows anything about the tradition of horseshoes being good luck, knows that your horseshoe needs to be hung like a "U" so that all the luck is held in. If it's upside down, the luck spills out and you don't have any. The Blazers lost both games in Houston by a total of FOUR points. They refer to those games on ESPN as heartbreakers. They should be coming home up 3-1 in the series and instead, they're coming back to Portland down 3-1. Here's hoping the Portland Trailblazers hold on to some luck tonight! No matter when the season ends this year, it will have been a fun one. It has been great to have three dates a week during the dark, rainy evenings of a northwest winter. We're excited to do it again next year. GO BLAZERS!!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
One More Time-Win or Go Home
I was troubled when I doubled checked our blog the other day to see that the horseshoe I posted was upside down. Anyone who knows anything about the tradition of horseshoes being good luck, knows that your horseshoe needs to be hung like a "U" so that all the luck is held in. If it's upside down, the luck spills out and you don't have any. The Blazers lost both games in Houston by a total of FOUR points. They refer to those games on ESPN as heartbreakers. They should be coming home up 3-1 in the series and instead, they're coming back to Portland down 3-1. Here's hoping the Portland Trailblazers hold on to some luck tonight! No matter when the season ends this year, it will have been a fun one. It has been great to have three dates a week during the dark, rainy evenings of a northwest winter. We're excited to do it again next year. GO BLAZERS!!!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Blazer Victory in Game 2
Rip City was born in 1970, the Trailblazers first season in Portland, when radio play by play announcer Bill Schonely exclaimed "Rip City!" in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers to describe a great shot made by one of the Blazer players. Other members of the broadcast team encouraged Schonely to continue to use the term. The term went into semi-retirement during the last six years when the Blazers had players who were less than model citizens and the team went though a stretch of not playing good basketball and not making the playoffs.In a larger context it has come to mean (in the Portland area anyway) anything good that happens.The 2009 NBA playoffs started on April 18 and the Blazers earned home court advantage, so we had a game that night. The atmosphere both inside and outside the Rose Garden (AKA the RG) was festive to say the least.
A band was playing,
Trailblazer team president, Larry Miller, was in the crowd.
Fans who are shown on the big screen in the RG were being interviewed by the media and photographed.
Game 1 was everything the Blazers had feared and probably more as they ran into a red hot Houston Rockets team (so much for the home court advantage in the friendly confines of the RG).
Game 2 was completely different, as the Blazers played well and tied the series at 1-1 headed to Houston for games 3 and 4.
About 2,000 tickets for game 5 went on sale at 10:00am the morning after the Game 2 victory and were sold out in ten minutes. Looks like Rip City! is back in Portland!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A Second Trip to the Fields
Monday was a taste of summer. It was 83 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
Ashley and I went back to the tulip fields after she got off work at noon.
It was a completely different day than when Dave and I went. On Friday, the fields were muddy and it was more of a challenge to get in close to get to tulips that were still tight, but not on Monday.
Monday, the fields were dry and dusty and there were tons of people there. I had thought we might have the place to ourselves, but a sunny afternoon brought everyone out. You had to work hard and be VERY patient to get pictures without people in them, especially around this tractor.
I finally just got up close and personal with it.
Some of the tulips were over opened because of the warm weekend. It looked as though they had gone through the fields and taken out a lot of the ones that were looking shabby. That made it easier to get single tulips in the foreground with lots of color in the background. I was so surprised when I looked at this shot closely and saw what appears to be a brushstroke-like background. I've only ever seen that on post processing programs, but this came straight from the camera with no adjustments.
The festival continues until May 3rd, but with Blazer playoffs and a boat to launch, I probably won't make it back. They do open the fields again in the fall though. . . 
Ashley and I went back to the tulip fields after she got off work at noon.
It was a completely different day than when Dave and I went. On Friday, the fields were muddy and it was more of a challenge to get in close to get to tulips that were still tight, but not on Monday.
Monday, the fields were dry and dusty and there were tons of people there. I had thought we might have the place to ourselves, but a sunny afternoon brought everyone out. You had to work hard and be VERY patient to get pictures without people in them, especially around this tractor.
I finally just got up close and personal with it.
Some of the tulips were over opened because of the warm weekend. It looked as though they had gone through the fields and taken out a lot of the ones that were looking shabby. That made it easier to get single tulips in the foreground with lots of color in the background. I was so surprised when I looked at this shot closely and saw what appears to be a brushstroke-like background. I've only ever seen that on post processing programs, but this came straight from the camera with no adjustments.
The festival continues until May 3rd, but with Blazer playoffs and a boat to launch, I probably won't make it back. They do open the fields again in the fall though. . . 
Monday, April 20, 2009
All Caught Up--Part 4
Blogging was on my to do list all last week, but laundry, dishes, unpacking, yard work, piano, etc. kept pushing to the top. I thought I was going to sit down Friday afternoon and get to it when Dave called. He was taking the afternoon off. It's supposed to be near 80 today, so I had planned to take the Monday and drive to Woodburn and check out the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, but with Dave home, why not go together. So we did.
I've always wanted to go in years past, but it's so packed on the weekends.
We didn't have the whole place to ourselves on Friday, but sometimes it felt like it.
We usually have the boat in the water by this time too and sunny Saturdays are spent on the water, not in muddy tulip fields.
This was the first nice weekend we've had and you can see the dark clouds in the background. We drove through several heavy cloud bursts on the way south.
Ashley is only working a half day today and I have no piano lessons, so we're going to wander back to the fields this afternoon.
Maybe we will have the whole place to ourselves today.
I think this catches us up to date and I hope to never get this far behind ever again. We took the camera to the Blazers' first playoff game in six years last night, but I think I'll pass on posting that nearly thirty point blowout by the Rockets at this time. I'll save them for a Wednesday post after a Blazer victory in game 2 on Tuesday night. Here's hoping. Win, lose, or draw, the city is in party mode. Blazermania is back and Rip City is on the rise.
I've always wanted to go in years past, but it's so packed on the weekends.
We didn't have the whole place to ourselves on Friday, but sometimes it felt like it.
We usually have the boat in the water by this time too and sunny Saturdays are spent on the water, not in muddy tulip fields.
This was the first nice weekend we've had and you can see the dark clouds in the background. We drove through several heavy cloud bursts on the way south.
Ashley is only working a half day today and I have no piano lessons, so we're going to wander back to the fields this afternoon.
Maybe we will have the whole place to ourselves today.
I think this catches us up to date and I hope to never get this far behind ever again. We took the camera to the Blazers' first playoff game in six years last night, but I think I'll pass on posting that nearly thirty point blowout by the Rockets at this time. I'll save them for a Wednesday post after a Blazer victory in game 2 on Tuesday night. Here's hoping. Win, lose, or draw, the city is in party mode. Blazermania is back and Rip City is on the rise.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Still Catching Up--Part 3
The Tuesday after I got home, I got a call to help with the photography for a high school choir festival on Thursday. Short notice, but of course I accepted. It was with the same photographer that we helped with the American Heart Association Red Ball in March. (Email me, and I'll send you the site where you can see those pictures.) The reports from that event were good and so we'll hopefully be going back next year. This photographer is an example of the kind of photographer I would like to become and so I jump at any chance to work with him and learn from him.
It was on a Thursday, so I had to reschedule piano lessons and clear the whole day. I was there from seven in the morning and got home when Dave did at six that evening. It's exhausting, but the important thing is that I learn a lot. I'm not sure those pictures will be posted and I don't have releases to use them.
The Blazers were back in town on Friday and came through for the fans by beating the Lakers. Saturday we headed north to Dave's mom's for Easter weekend. We don't drive through Seattle without stopping anymore and this trip was no different. We always stop at Pike Place Market because it's just too much fun to take pictures of all those flowers,
all that fruit,
and all those vegetables.
We're always looking for lighthouses to photograph, so we stopped by Alki Point, but construction and winter closure prevented any visual access from land. Dave wants to go back with the Klamath and take pictures from the water. I question how steadily I can hold the camera in a fifteen foot aluminum crabbing boat. You've all seen Alki Point Beach if you've seen Sleepless in Seattle.
It's where they filmed the scene with Tom Hanks and his son in a small boat and playing on the beach. Don't worry. We already have plans to go back the end of July. It looks like a great place to take night shots of the Seattle skyline and construction should be done around the lighthouse.
We drove up to the Fisherman's Terminal to see if any of the boats from The Deadliest Catch were in, but we only saw the Sea Star and it wasn't very accessible.
There were big crab traps stacked everywhere though. You can tell the commercial crabbing season is over.
The West Point Lighthouse is somewhere in that area, but we didn't have time to try and find it and then take the two mile hike out to it. Yet again, another trip.
I had no idea there was a lighthouse by the Mukilteo Ferry Dock.
We've taken that ferry from Whidbey Island several times over the years and I never noticed.
The gates were locked for winter hours, but shooting over and through fences presented some interesting and fun camera angles.
Easter weekend was the beginning of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. A cool spring kept the tulips tightly wrapped, but the daffodils were everywhere. There were seas of yellow at every turn.
We came home via Whidbey Island. The first stop is always the bridge at Deception Pass,
even though our destination was the Admiralty Head Lighthouse above the Keystone-Port Townsend Ferry Dock in Fort Casey State Park.
Fort Casey State Park is located on Admiralty Inlet which was considered so strategic to the defense of Puget Sound in the 1890s that three forts, Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, and Fort Worden, were built at the entrance with huge guns creating a "Triangle of Fire" that could theoretically thwart any invasion attempt by sea.
Construction on Fort Casey was started in 1897, but the fort's batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed.
The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack. Most of Fort Casey's guns and mortars were removed and sent to Europe and the Pacific during World War II, where they were mounted on railcars to serve as mobile heavy artillery.
We were disappointed to find more winter construction on the lighthouse, but it will be beautiful when we come back in the summer.
It wasn't a complete bust. You drive past a bird sanctuary on the way and there were herons standing in the marshes right next to the road.
As I walked up to the lighthouse, I turned to my left to look at the bay and was greeted by these two lovely ladies out for brunch.
From there we had to dash home for piano lessons and the Blazer game. Yes, another victory against the hapless Grizzlies. One more installment of Catching Up and I think I'll be done, but it's going to be a big one and the best one, but it's bedtime so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow.
It was on a Thursday, so I had to reschedule piano lessons and clear the whole day. I was there from seven in the morning and got home when Dave did at six that evening. It's exhausting, but the important thing is that I learn a lot. I'm not sure those pictures will be posted and I don't have releases to use them.
The Blazers were back in town on Friday and came through for the fans by beating the Lakers. Saturday we headed north to Dave's mom's for Easter weekend. We don't drive through Seattle without stopping anymore and this trip was no different. We always stop at Pike Place Market because it's just too much fun to take pictures of all those flowers,
all that fruit,
and all those vegetables.
We're always looking for lighthouses to photograph, so we stopped by Alki Point, but construction and winter closure prevented any visual access from land. Dave wants to go back with the Klamath and take pictures from the water. I question how steadily I can hold the camera in a fifteen foot aluminum crabbing boat. You've all seen Alki Point Beach if you've seen Sleepless in Seattle.
It's where they filmed the scene with Tom Hanks and his son in a small boat and playing on the beach. Don't worry. We already have plans to go back the end of July. It looks like a great place to take night shots of the Seattle skyline and construction should be done around the lighthouse.We drove up to the Fisherman's Terminal to see if any of the boats from The Deadliest Catch were in, but we only saw the Sea Star and it wasn't very accessible.
There were big crab traps stacked everywhere though. You can tell the commercial crabbing season is over.
The West Point Lighthouse is somewhere in that area, but we didn't have time to try and find it and then take the two mile hike out to it. Yet again, another trip.I had no idea there was a lighthouse by the Mukilteo Ferry Dock.
We've taken that ferry from Whidbey Island several times over the years and I never noticed.
The gates were locked for winter hours, but shooting over and through fences presented some interesting and fun camera angles.
Easter weekend was the beginning of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. A cool spring kept the tulips tightly wrapped, but the daffodils were everywhere. There were seas of yellow at every turn.
We came home via Whidbey Island. The first stop is always the bridge at Deception Pass,
even though our destination was the Admiralty Head Lighthouse above the Keystone-Port Townsend Ferry Dock in Fort Casey State Park.
Fort Casey State Park is located on Admiralty Inlet which was considered so strategic to the defense of Puget Sound in the 1890s that three forts, Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, and Fort Worden, were built at the entrance with huge guns creating a "Triangle of Fire" that could theoretically thwart any invasion attempt by sea. Construction on Fort Casey was started in 1897, but the fort's batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed.
The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack. Most of Fort Casey's guns and mortars were removed and sent to Europe and the Pacific during World War II, where they were mounted on railcars to serve as mobile heavy artillery.We were disappointed to find more winter construction on the lighthouse, but it will be beautiful when we come back in the summer.
It wasn't a complete bust. You drive past a bird sanctuary on the way and there were herons standing in the marshes right next to the road.
As I walked up to the lighthouse, I turned to my left to look at the bay and was greeted by these two lovely ladies out for brunch.
From there we had to dash home for piano lessons and the Blazer game. Yes, another victory against the hapless Grizzlies. One more installment of Catching Up and I think I'll be done, but it's going to be a big one and the best one, but it's bedtime so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow.
Catching Up--Part 2
Either I've been gone from Utah too long, or they had a long winter this year. I had envisioned sunny skies and 50 degree days. 
I wouldn't have been surprised by a little light snow, 
but heavy clouds hanging over the mountains and several days of four to six inches of snow? (Note:I don't go out in the snow to take pictures. These were taken the next day after it melted a bit.)
We had hoped to go to Rexburg and see Brad and Mel, but were snowed out. We had hoped to take Rylie and Tyson to the grounds of the Logan Temple for some pictures, but it was just too cold and snowy.
We did bundle them up and go outside one day, but we didn't last long in the cold and wind.
Tyson probably could have dug in the dirt/mud all evening no matter how cold and pink those chubby little cheeks got.
It looked like the weather was starting to improve about the time it was time for me to leave--of course. We dressed them up in their Easter clothes and took them to the park for pictures, but the wind started to blow and the snow started to fall again and it was almost naptime, so together pictures were out of the question--individuals only.
Rylie seems to always have to have her hands up by those cute cheeks. I guess that's her idea of a pose. Works for me as long as she holds kind of still.
Tyson just wanted to hurry and get out of the wind and cold.We went back to the house and changed and made a quick trip to the indoor fun park.
Rylie's too hard to catch in there, but if you put Tyson behind the wheel of something, he's content to drive for a good long time.
After that, it was time to leave for Salt Lake.
I thought going south would bring a little sunshine and warmth, but not so. It was cold, windy, and almost a blizzard on Saturday morning. I forget that my sister practically lives at the point of the mountain where the wind always blows and the snow falls even if it's not snowing anywhere else in the valley. The only picture I took while I was there was of the Draper Temple on Friday night.
I'm sure she thought I was nuts going out in the cold and the dark and the wind.
Keep checking. More parts of Catching Up to come soon.
I wouldn't have been surprised by a little light snow, 
but heavy clouds hanging over the mountains and several days of four to six inches of snow? (Note:I don't go out in the snow to take pictures. These were taken the next day after it melted a bit.)
We had hoped to go to Rexburg and see Brad and Mel, but were snowed out. We had hoped to take Rylie and Tyson to the grounds of the Logan Temple for some pictures, but it was just too cold and snowy.
We did bundle them up and go outside one day, but we didn't last long in the cold and wind.
Tyson probably could have dug in the dirt/mud all evening no matter how cold and pink those chubby little cheeks got.
It looked like the weather was starting to improve about the time it was time for me to leave--of course. We dressed them up in their Easter clothes and took them to the park for pictures, but the wind started to blow and the snow started to fall again and it was almost naptime, so together pictures were out of the question--individuals only.
Rylie seems to always have to have her hands up by those cute cheeks. I guess that's her idea of a pose. Works for me as long as she holds kind of still.
Tyson just wanted to hurry and get out of the wind and cold.We went back to the house and changed and made a quick trip to the indoor fun park. Rylie's too hard to catch in there, but if you put Tyson behind the wheel of something, he's content to drive for a good long time.
After that, it was time to leave for Salt Lake.I thought going south would bring a little sunshine and warmth, but not so. It was cold, windy, and almost a blizzard on Saturday morning. I forget that my sister practically lives at the point of the mountain where the wind always blows and the snow falls even if it's not snowing anywhere else in the valley. The only picture I took while I was there was of the Draper Temple on Friday night.
I'm sure she thought I was nuts going out in the cold and the dark and the wind. Keep checking. More parts of Catching Up to come soon.
