Venersborg Schoolhouse

We're getting some record rain here in the Portland area...a taste of things to come during our "rainy season!"  I decided I better just get used to it, and headed out this morning with my camera.  I got kind of interested in the smeary scene created through the windshield when the wipers have been turned off for a little while;  I was trying to put a dreamy spin on this dismal weather.  I'm pretty happy with how the photo turned out, although it received mixed reviews at my house. I suppose it does look a little too blurry.  I was playing around with just how much water to have on the windshield, and probably need to work on that a little more.  As a warning, "through my windshield" will probably be a theme I work on this winter.

Pictured here is the Venersborg Schoolhouse in Battleground.  The schoolhouse has been well maintained, and serves as a community club.  It was built in 1912 to service what was mainly a Swedish community.   

Dahlia Farm

This animated little barn sure looks content to watch over the Dahlia farm here in Ridgefield. 

As far as barn duty goes, looks like he's got it pretty good!

Multnomah Falls

This is the classic view of the falls, mentioned in my post yesterday.  And yesterday's photo was taken from the bridge pictured here.  You can see part of the boulder sitting in the opening under the bridge.  The trail heads up and across the bridge, then continues up to the top of the falls.  The bridge was build in 1914, and a beautiful stone lodge sitting at the base of the falls looks to have been built about the same time.  It currently houses a restaurant, gift shop, and small museum.  In the museum I learned a little of the geology of these falls.  The Columbia River Gorge was formed at the end of the ice age.  According to signs in the museum, the river flooded to carry six times the water in rivers worldwide.  I could have this statistic slightly wrong, but I will say that it was an unfathomable statistic for me.  This massive flood carved through the volcanic rock of the Cascade Range, and the gorge extends the entire 80 mile width of the range. Little tributaries like the Multnomah Creek were left high above the river.  Multnomah Falls is one of 53 falls along the Columbia River Gorge. 

Seeing Green

For a nice change of pace, today we headed over to Multnomah Falls about a half hour east of Portland along the Columbia River.  I'll post the classic view tomorrow; today I like this more Zen shot of the pool midway up the falls.  And I especially like that mossy boulder in the front.  I would hate to have been here when that thing fell!  To get to this spot, we had to climb up a series of switchbacks with cable netting along the cliff wall.  Based on its shape, it looked like the netting had already caught lots of rock slides, although thankfully today it was just catching leaves.  Anyway, it's another green post for me...and I can see that the trick around here will be photographing "not green."  Just like the trick in the Central Valley was photographing "not brown."  I"ll work on that in the future, but tomorrow's photo of the falls will most definitely be green!

Sandbar

Posting another of my Lake Michigan photos, just because it's still pretty busy around here.  Things are mostly unpacked, but not that organized...hopefully by the end of the weekend we'll be almost done!  As for the photo, the sandbar is one of several that were right near the shoreline this year.  We went out early on a few mornings to do some crinoid-hunting.  This gravelly rock is usually kicked up onto the beach after a big storm, and that's the perfect time to find crinoids.  I probably found around 30 or so during this visit.

Cedar Creek

Just upstream from the Cedar Creek Grist Mill we visited today.  I'm a big fan of grist mills.  I like the freshly ground flour for making pancakes and cornbread...so pancakes at our house this week.  And I'll post a photo of the grist mill in the near-ish future; I need to photograph it at a different time of day, I think.  A part of the mill is visible in the photo though.  On the left side of the photo, the bridge-looking structure is the channel that carries water to the mill. 

Back in the PNW

...and no idea how to take a photo!  But that was how I felt when I moved to California too.  Like a fish out of water.  The light is completely different here, and I'll just have to get used to it.  Eric and I took Clover for a walk on a nearby horse trail yesterday after it rained.  We walked through a thick forest, and I was wondering why I even bothered to bring my camera, because it was so dark.  Sort of a take Snow White into the forest and leave her dark.  And I didn't think there would be a shot possible without my tripod, which I hadn't bothered to bring.  But I found this one (you can always shoot up into the sky without a tripod!)   I'm not sure what has caused these spots, but I didn't see them on any other tree, so I guess this one has some disease?  It gave the scene an interesting starry effect.  And next time I walk this trail, I'll be sure to bring my tripod!

The Maestro

Eric directing the sunset over Lake Michigan, just because...he's a ham.  :]

Kemil Road, Summer Version

Well, we moved in this week, and I have internet again.  I haven't been out with my camera yet, but I have a few more photos from my trip to Indiana and Michigan.  This one is Kemil Rd. which leads to one of the beaches at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  I photographed this road when I was here last winter.  Here's a link to my blog post with the winter version, just to compare.