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For this edition of SKYWATCH FRIDAY, come along with us and watch the sun as it sets on....
The end of a perfect day.
Thank you to Sandy and Sylvia @ Skywatch Friday.
For SIGNS SIGNS (thank you Lesley)
Sign seen in a gift shop on the Oregon Coast. The picture of the old docks below was taken across the canal from our Florida "cottage" on a rare foggy day last spring.
(At this point, we're not worried about our ship coming in. Or even about whether our dock is rotting. We are just happy that the dock -- and the Canal Cottage -- didn't blow away in the hurricane.)
And of course our real hope and wish is that all who are in Isaac's path are safe.
FOR NATURE NOTES. (Thank you to Michelle whose website is worth a visit any day.)
Newport Oregon is a summer destination for many male California Sea Lions. The females and babies stay in California near the Channel Islands. They don't want the males around until it's breeding season again. (And I am not even going to try to make a comment about that!)
They can easily be seen sunning on offshore rocks:
But besides that, the City is well-known for its "sea-lion docks" in the old-town area. Because the docks have been sitting in the salt water (and under all that weight) for years, they are disintegrating and there is a fund drive on to save this "tourist attraction." I have mixed feelings. The sea lions seem happy to be there, but they also seem really crowded as compared to the way they look out on the more natural setting (but it is their choice -- nobody feeds them or entices them to the docks in any way).
One good thing about the city sea lion docks is that they give more people a chance to get to know the animals up close and personal. (And they make great photo opportunities.)
Signs are posted near the docks telling about their life cycle and the dangers from environmental pollution.
Plastic bags are the most dangerous thing -- sea lions mistake floating bags for jelly fish (their favorite food). They will die if they ingest plastic.
Isn't this face worth using a cloth grocery bag?
There are several other things that people can actually do quite easily to help save the sea lions (and other marine mammals and birds). Plastic rings (like six-packs come in) or rubber bands are great dangers....birds and mammals can get entangled in them. Even if you throw them in the trash cans (and you certainly should), cut them first in case they accidentally make their way into the water.
So.... mixed feelings about saving Newport's sea lion docks, but no mixed feelings at all about saving the sea lions! Do what you can!
For WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY. (Thank you Stuart.)
Just gray gulls, but their behavior was interesting to watch.
The ocean was so calm during our visit last week that the birds had to use their feet to stir up dinner.
You can see the little whirlpools undeneath the two on the left and the one on the lower right grabbing what he found down there.
Here are some sandpipers (I think) also enjoying the low-tide salad bar. It was fun to watch these little guys too.
Whenever somebody walked by -- or if they got spooked for whatever reason, they flew all at once as if they were one large bird instead of gazillions (there really were hundreds -- the picture below is still only a small part of the group).
I wonder what signals them and how they all know to fly at the exact same second. There was never even one single straggler. They moved as one.
FOR OUR WORLD TUESDAY and NATURE FOOTSTEPS WATERS on Wednesday. (Thank you to the hosts of both wonderful sharing sites!)
We stayed on the Oregon Coast for a few days last week. The days were blue and sunny -- certainly not always the case even in the summer. Although not the most picturesque place on the coast, our long beach was great for walking and meditating.
One of the things I thought about was how lucky Oregon is to have public access to all of its beautiful beaches. Nearly all of them are also off-limits to vehicles.
Most Oregonians (and people who used to be Oregonians) know that Oswald West, Oregon's 14th Governor (serving from 1911-1915) was responsible for this.
This information is from The online OREGON ENCYCLOPEDIA.
In his 1913 biennial message to the legislature, West declared that Oregon's beaches should be declared public domain. There was no formal action at that time, but it was understood that the Oregon coastline was public property. The State "Beach Bill" passed in 1967 made public access to the shoreline permanent, but only because the doctrine created by West had delayed private and commercial development of the beaches for more than a half century. After he left office, West continued to advocate for environmental causes. He wrote "No selfish interest should be permitted, through politics or otherwise, to destroy or even impair this great birthright of our people."
These are the stairs at the edge of the beach going up to the lawn of the motel where we stayed. When I took this picture, I was standing at the edge of the ocean, about 20 feet from the stairs. We could see the ocean from our room and easily walk to the public beach.
A perfect mid-week getaway.
For: MOSAIC MONDAY (thanks to Mary at Little Red House) and RUBY TUESDAY (thanks to Magical Mystery Teacher)
Kite fliers on the beach wrap the sky with red ribbons.
FOR MOSAIC MONDAY (Thank you!)
We are running away to the Oregon Coast for a few days.
These are photos from another year, another trip. I hope we'll get some good pictures this time too -- I know we'll see some beautiful scenery.
See ya' next week.
For CAMERA CRITTERS
Black-tail deer pretty much own Jeans Road. ...
... Or at least they think they do.
The neighbors need to remember to drive carefully!
The deer eat whatever and wherever they want -- not just weeds and trees, but also gardens -- both flower and vegetable. So gardeners in the neighborhood must devise various methods to try to enjoy the wildlife and still have some plants left.
Most of us just enjoy watching them and sharing our space.
FOR SKYWATCH FRIDAY
Haze in the air made for dream-like skies earlier this week.
Unfortunately, the haze was due to a forest fire burning in the Willamette National Forest about an hour east of us -- near the town of Oakridge.
This fire is mostly contained now -- crews are in the mop-up stage. Forest fires in other places in the West continue to rage. It is too dry almost everywhere.
for SIGNS SIGNS (thank you Lesley).
Not a lovely sign at all -- in fact an example of everybody's most unfavorite kind, a "NO" sign . But .....
... I do like the crows, one trying to read the sign upside down and the other looking like he's been hired to watch for anyone who might be disobeying the rules.
Warm weather is here at last and the neighborhood is abloom with gladiolus.
for FRIDAY FLORAL FOTOS and NATURE FOOTSTEP BLO-MA and TODAY'S FLOWERS
We're GLAD to be here, enjoying all the neighbors' beautiful flowers.
We're grateful too .
We don't garden any more, but we used to -- and we know how much work it takes.
Nowadays, the camera is my only garden tool.
FOR OUR WORLD TUESDAY (this lovely meme is nearly ready to celebrate an anniversary! Thanks to the hosting team: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, and Sandy.)
(It was also meant for for Sunday Stills, and Mosaic Monday but those sites were both down this week.).
This week's challenge on Sunday Stills was to show in photos what summer means to us.
For us summer means spending time with family and old friends in the area where we lived before we retired and started our traveling life. That's the most important, but it is also most difficult to show. So my pictures are what we see out our window or near where we have our RV this time of year.
For over a dozen years, we've spent most Winters in warmer climates and then returned to the Pacific Northwest in the summer. So we actually often have cooler days in the summer than we do in the winter. Summer here is more likely to be blue jeans and sweatshirt weather than Florida is the middle of January. It can be a bit confusing, but we like it that way.
In some ways, summer has really just gotten started here at the Lake. The wild blackberries are finally ripe and, until this week we were still picking the Spring blueberries in our daugher and son-in-law's garden. Corn and tomatoes are yet to reach their peak.
This flowering trees is near the blueberry patch in Jeff and Cyndi's yard. There hasn't been much rain, but most people's yards are still looking great.
We love having our RV Park out in the country! It's a great place to spend the summer.
Magic on high -- from the first of this month.
This post is linked with SKYWATCH FRIDAY (Thank you to the hosting team) and STRAIGHT-OUT-OF-THE CAMERA. (thanks to the host).
Early in the morning we watched the sun try its hardest to emerge through the cloud cover over the Lake -- a pale globe in the sky:
Then that same evening, we watched August's first full moon rise and -- in what must have been some kind of magic -- it was brighter than the morning's sun. (The moon doesn't often win this contest.)
This is a colorful moon month. One name for the full moon we always get in August is FULL RED MOON. This year there will be another one on the 31st. The second one in the same month is always called a BLUE MOON.
For SIGNS SIGNS hosted by Lesley -- Thanks!
Some people are fanatically loyal to a certain brand of vehicle. (Personally, we're loyal to whatever vehicle will get us safely where we need to go for the least amount of money possible.)
The brand loyalists often have signs or bumper stickers that let everybody know how much they love their favorite. I guess it's a harmless obsession.
This sign on the left shows the slogan for one particular truck brand.
And the person who has that sign in his yard has taken his truck love to this extreme:
(Both topiary rams look as if they have a lamp-post growing out of their heads, but I didn't quite have the nerve to knock on the door and ask this guy if he'd come out and move his planters for me.)
For good reasons and routine reasons, we've been sticking pretty close to the Lake lately .... but even though we're not going anywhere new just now, our view changes daily (or oftener).
- FOR NATURE PHOTOS - WATER.
Fern Ridge Shores, Summer 2012
for OUR WORLD TUESDAY. (Click to share great places and great times. Thanks to the hosting team.)
Our granddaughter and her boys are visiting in Oregon -- escaping the South Carolina heat and enjoying good times with the grandparents (our daughter and son-in-law). As the great-grandparents, we get in on some of the fun. (All these generations are a little confusing to the boys -- heck, they're even kind of confusing to me.)
We love to spend time with family when we're in the Northwest, but I'm not usually very good about taking people pictures.
However, the great-grandsons are at an age when pictures practically take themselves -- you just can't snap a bad one ... and they love to pose.
Their grandma and grandpa (our daughter and son-in-law) have five acres for them to run around on. The perfect place to learn to climb trees. And a perfect place for a visiting great-grandmother (me) to get some great pictures (and to wish she had some of that energy.)
For MOSAIC MONDAY at Dear Little Red House. (Thank you Mary) and for Stuart's WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (thank you!)
Near Sarasota Florida, May 2012
Fern Ridge Lake Oregon, June/July 2012
A FLORIDA FLASHBACK FOR CAMERA CRITTERS (hosted by Misty Dawn).
This contented cow was chomping on some palm fronds -- he was in a pasture just a little ways further up the Caloosahatchie River from the Canal Cottage. It's next door to a marina where we have some boat work done. So while Bill was talking boat stuff I was wandering around the farm.
Most people don't think of Florida as farm country (at least I didn't used to) but there is actually quite a lot of rural acreage in the part of it where we live.
FOR SKYWATCH FRIDAY and STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA SUNDAY. Thank you to the hosts.
We were only out on the Lake for a couple of hours, but it was at just the right time to see pretty much every color of blue the sky could possibly be.
It's just like taking drive-by shots from the car -- I'm always glad I'm not driving.
These two pictures were while we were eating supper -- for a few minutes, it really looked like it was going to storm -- and we were hoping not because we really don't have a boat for that kind of weather.
It was a false alarm though --- the sun came back out from behind the clouds for the end of the day. And whether we looked up at the sky or down at its reflection, we enjoyed it all the way home.
This bouquet is offered for FLORAL FRIDAY FOTO (hosted by Nick) and for SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY (hosted today by Magical Mystery Teacher). Thanks to both.
Our neighborhood lilies are more colorful than I remember from past years.
The lacy shadows are an extra gift -- better seen when the photos are downloaded than on first sight -- when the lily's showy beauty overwhelms the delicate patterns.
"X" marks the spot where we spent a lovely evening last week . We tied our boat to a tree stump on Amazon Creek -- one of several creeks that flow into Fern Ridge Reservoir (Lake) . It was the perfect spot for a quiet supper and some watery reflections.
(Sharing this post at NATURE FOOTSTEPS where you will find watery pictures from all over the world.)
Here's a map of the Lake, courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. We are staying at Fern Ridge Shores. Our daughter and son-in-law live on the other side of the Lake, less than a mile from Orchard Park (but a little further by road).
