Day 121 is the Last Day ...

The last day I'll be uploading photographs of Birch Bay, WA. Tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. I'll be hitting the road and new images will start appearing on this blogsite. But here are today's impending rain photographs. 'Bye Birch Bay!

May 31, 2011

Day 118 and Stolen Moments ...

Today found me wearing my Realtor hat for most of the day, but I stole away for a few moments to walk the beach in the sunshine. The last two days were to be rainy. Don't you love it when the weather folk are wrong? And wrong they were about yesterday and today; wonderful days!

Oyster shells and barnacles simultaneously attract and/or repel my eye. Sometimes they are ruffly and unusual looking. Other times they are awkward and ugly. Maybe it is all in the eye of the beholder or the mood du jour. Behold three shots of oyster shells I was attracted to, that I offer up for today.

The first one captures the sometimes odd, more complex oyster structure. There's even a little limpet shell thrown in. The other two photos are variation on the same shells. I enjoyed the barnacles and the slight pink/lavender coloring on the ruffle part of the oyster shell.

05-28-2011

Project 365 hugs and kisses ...

Suki and I wandered along the beach in Birch Bay State Park. She's blind as a bat, but her nose works well, and she was having fun following scents along the beach. I was picking up rocks. It's an obsession, I tell ya! But at least I have fun of picking up beach treasures and then ship them to my friend, Karen, in Oceanside. She uses them in her art business Touch Stone Artwork.

As my mutt and I wandered aimlessly, I came across an old concrete bulwark that had long ago been broken down by the elements and the surf. Only rusty metal supports and a bit of concrete are left.

I thought how appropriate ... XO ... I kiss-n-hug love the beach!

05-27-2011

More of the beach in Birch Bay ...

Another day of organizing and wrapping up everything. Amazing how the time is quickly--QUICKLY!!!!!--passing. Less than a week and I'll be truckin' off to CO, literally.

Anyway, here are some more beach photographs. In the latter two photos it was fun to capture how the tides sculpted the seaweed and the sand and pebbles.

05-26-2011

Beach Farewells ...

Since my time by the bay is quickly drawing to a close, I think I'll try to do my last week of photographs of Birch Bay.

Today's photograph is one of the many picnic tables that dot the shore and park. Wasn't it nice of someone who pushed them all together to make this wonderful image? My thanks to them. With the coming Memorial Day weekend, I can well image the laughing, eating, drinking folks who will occupy these tables. What fun!

05-25-2011

Day 114 and Aunt and Ant ...

If I were in Clearwater, FL, I would have photographs of the birthday gal, Aunt Helen, but alas, I am on the wrong coast. Happy Birthday, Helen!

Instead, I'm going a little "buggy" today, in more ways than one.

For example, I took this photograph of rhoddies, not even noticing the ant so prominently in the shot. I guess it just goes to prove that we see what we want, or that we see what they think we're seeing. Yes?

Havin' fun in the Pacific Northwest ... at least for another week!

05-24-2011

Today Let There Be Photographs ...

Getting caught up for the last couple of non-photo-upload days. Here we go. I really had fun shooting a number of angles of the empty metal drums, enjoying not only the repetition of the circles, but the individual deterioration and dents and dings that made each drum unique.  It was hard to narrow the selection down to just these five, but I feel they represent the variety.

I also came across this derelict yellow taxi on one of my trips down side roads here and there throughout Whatcom County. These images will be added to my ongoing Bondo Series.

I'm having technical issues with my laptop, which are making editing very difficult until I can get it fixed, or replaced. I'm concerned about quality being compromised, but such is life right now ... a series of compromises.

Onward!

What? No Photograph?

Yes, well, I'm here at the office with camera and cord to download my photographs, BUT, although I'm here I've obviously left my computer at the house.

I'm here, so making a post I am. Hmmm. What can I write about?

I'll be leaving Birch Bay on June 1st, heading first to visit with my sister Mel in Spokane and then driving on down to Grand Junction, CO. I'm taking a route I've never travelled before, so I'm not sure what I'll encounter. I have a AAA Triptik, and it gives a one or two sentence description of the lay of the land, but too brief to give me any clear idea. In any case, it will be different from  Altitude 0 at Birch Bay. New images to capture, new experiences and perhaps fun adventure to be had.

My camera doesn't hold a charge well, so I'm trying to anticipate having enough battery to keep clicking shots!

I've been trying to sell my Miata on Craigs List, and today met with a man who was interested in buying a Miata for his daughter. It really is such a small world ... he knew Grand Junction quite well, being originally from Colorado Springs, CO. He hates the weather here and assured me I will fall in love with the weather and sunshine in Colorado. If he had the opportunity, he would go right back to CO. Nice fellow. However, his daughter didn't want to pay as much as I wanted for the Miata. He gave the car quite a check over, so I am assured I have a good car. AND I was assured that, by this fellow's reckoning at least, I was going to like CO, if not LOVE it! Sounds good to me.

While looking for a truck in Lynden yesterday, I drove through Whatcom County and came across a place that had some stacked empty metal drums. They were great fodder for photographs. That was what I hoped to upload to my computer and publish today. Darn it!

Tomorrow I'll provide photographs.

Day 108 of 365

I am feeling the pressure of leaving Birch Bay; things capturing my eye perhaps for the last time. When will I again wander the shoreline, stooping to pick up a shell or a piece of beach glass? My entire environment will soon alter. Colorado. Red Earth. The sun will set upon mesas instead of San Juan islands.

I'll just have to think of it as stretching a new blank canvas. Don't look back. Eyes forward.

Today's photograph is of mossy driftwood.

05-18-2011

A Sunny Day 107 ...

Today's photograph is in keeping with sunshine. As is the nature of this area at this time of the year, boats of all kinds are being taken out of storage and readied for use. Mooring floats are dotting the tideflats. Memorial Day weekend is coming and Birch Bay is waking up after a long winter. Oh, right. Back to today's photograph. It's a close up of two kayaks; bright sunshine yellow.

It is a regret of mine that I never got into and paddled a kayak in all of the 7 years I've been here. It was on my list of "wanna dews."

05-17-2011


Kayak Yellows




I took this one today, too. Rhoddies on the livingtroom table.



Monday and 16th Day and Day 106

Which are the same, except there's a zero between the 1 and the 6. Details! Details!

We are celebrating the first sale made by Kwest Studio 8 on Etsy! Hip Hip Hooray! No, it wasn't one of the m-a-n-y photographic images available for purchase, but was an 8" x 8" acrylic painting, Red Hot Chilis. I loved the "ghost" I was inspired to paint ... that hot taste that lingers long after the chilis have been eaten. Apparently a gentleman in The Netherlands was also taken with the image. May the painting be the first of many sales!

But, back to the day to day. Today's photographs have a lot of little details ... blossoms and  lots of beautiful rain drops.

05-16-2011

Day after day, like this Day 105 ...

There's a little gift shop that opened recently in Birch Bay, which has several colorful whirligigs out front. The wind blows and those li'l whirligigs whirl to beat the band! I could not resist parking and going over to watch them twirl their thing!

Today's photos are ... all about motion!

05-15-2011

Day 105 ... Oh My!

Well, I have a few days to make up for, don't I?  I always forget to upload my Project 365 photographs BEFORE I return home. It's too cumbersome to get back in the car and drive back to the office. (Quit your caterwaulin' ! OK)

So, here are four photographs to get caught up:

05-14-2011


One of my FAV Birch Bay beach cabins



05-13-2011



Anneke's Mobile ... so graceful as it moves!



05-12-2011



Patterns ... you know what I mean? iPhone



05-11-2011



Gorgeous, Misty Sunset



Day 100 ... Wow!

And so it continues ... no camera today, but took some shots with my iPhone. Within a month I'll be in the dusty, arid Western Slope of Colorado, so I'm soaking up all of the mossy, lichen, moisture Pacific Northwest stuff that I can.

Here are today's selections. I've cropped them just a bit and they don't like to be messed with too much  ...

05-10-2011

Day 99 of 365

What a beautiful day! Spring! Finally! Even though it is spring, it is still chilly at night and early morning, so firewood is still available at the local markets. Now that I think about it, one can buy firewood just about all year around because people buy them for fires out on the beach in the summer, too. Which brings me to today's photograph, that of a bundle of firewood.

05-09-2011

Mothers Day 2011 And Still At It ...

Happy Mothers Day all who be of a maternal persuasion!

I feel like the postal service! Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this photographer from completing her mission of a photo a day for a year!

So, here's today's offering:

05/08/2011

Same o' Project 365

It rained this morning, but the sun came out this afternoon and it's lovely enough to take Suki out for a walk on the tideflats. Hooray!

I spoke with my elder son this morning, speaking of photographs. I came across a soccer photo of Paul when he was about 5. It was so cute. I had forgotten how adorable he was at that age. I'm going to mail it off to him so his son, Cole, can see what his dad looked like at almost the same age. Cole is 3. Photographs are such fun!

Today's photograph is fun, too, even though it isn't of anyone's son. I have a chronic fascination with things in the road, and have a most enjoyable series of "Street Art" to which I keep adding images. I like the little bit of blue offsetting the white and gray/black of the asphalt street.

05/07/2011


Street Art: Asterisk



Day 96 of 365 and 26 Days Left Until ...

I have loved living by the water from Day 1; all of these days in the life. Each day the water seems to take on a different appearance. A sunset is not a sunset and a sunset and a sunset. Nor is a rainstorm a storm and a storm and a storm. Are you still with me?

Today's photograph is of a curtain of rain out in the Strait. It never looks exactly the same; fascinating. I love how the wind, or lack thereof, make lines in the water!

05-06-2011

I ordered my Triptik today; pick it up in Bellingham on 16th. Oh my! What marvelous things will I encounter to photograph on my journey to Grand Junction? I can hardly wait! I won't have the equipment to upload my photo du jour while traveling. But I'll make up for those days I miss, you can be certain. 

I'm also certain I won't have many water photographs. I'll miss my kinship with the tide ebb and flow, and sunsets and squalls, and kayaks and sailboats and crab boats ... oh, and DUNGENESS CRAB!

Day 95 of 365 and Palominos and Smiley Faces ...

The last couple of days I've had to doff my photographer hat and don my Realtor chapeau. That's not to say that photographs weren't taken. Another agent in my office needed photographs of her new listing ... I do GREAT real estate photos.

But on the way back to the office, I drove through a construction site. Man, oh man! I love construction sites! I found a beat up tractor shovel kind of implement, for scooping up dirt and rocks, boulders from the looks of it, etc., etc. I found all manner of cool scratches and markings and lettering peeling off.

So, making up for yesterday and today:

05/04/2011

05/05/2011