What {my garage} looks like. . .

What my garage looks like. . .

Together with five other Oregon photographers, I am posting the second month of a lifestyle blogging project entitled, "What ____________ looks like," an idea inspired by a group of photographers out of Montana.  On the third Monday of each month I will fill in the blank with my own word or concept, and link to the next photographer's blog until the circle is complete.  I hope you take the time to enjoy each of our monthly projects.  

What {My Garage} looks like

For most of us, there isn't a more mundane space in our lives than our garage.  We've lived in our house for ten years and when we first moved in it served as a storage facility.  We wanted to park both our cars in the garage and out of the salty coastal air so shelves were the next order of business.  The garage then became a construction workplace for building decks in the rear and in the front of the house.  After that, it was used for building cedar planters to provide a mobile garden for each of the decks.  

Now, the garage serves, once again, as a primary storage facility for our garden and excess household articles (ok, let's be honest and call it what it is. . . junk).  

When I was thinking about this month's blog, I wanted to find a different venue than my usual sand and surf infested locations and as I went out to get in Zippy the truck to search the coast for a good spot, I actually looked at the garage clutter and saw past the junk and saw color and pattern and design.  Amazing.  

So, here's my garage.  I'm starting with a black and white photo of my workbench because like most of us who are way over 40, black and white is what we started out with.  In fact, when I convert to black and white, I always think of my old friends, Tri-X film and D-76, remember those?  

Next month I'll no doubt be back blogging about the beach.

Now head on over to my daughter's site and see what she's been up to this month:

Kimberly Teichrow Photography

Road trip

After a week of joyfully hanging out with grandsons Max and Sam in the 90 degree heat of Bend, I thought a cool ride down the coast accompanied only by my camera might be a good idea.  

I always enjoy taking the loop out to the lighthouse on Yaquina Head in hopes that some sort of magic sunlight will hit it and I'll make the cover of Light House Magazine.  No magic today, just fog.  I was disappointed to see the light was in a stationary mode and I wasn't able to capture it brightly lighting up the fog.  Maybe next time.

As I was driving out, I noticed some plants that I don't recall seeing before.  I saw some of them back-lit and standing against backgrounds of dark foliage so I grabbed my camera and fired away.  Unfortunately, there was a slight mist falling and the dark foliage brought out tiny streaks of the mist droplets as they blew around the plants.  Fortunately, the lighter backgrounds didn't show the mist streaks.  

I headed for Yachats and as I approached Waldport, I thought I'd see how the Alsea Bridge looked up close and personal.  

I was impressed with the engineering components of the bridge, of course, but the really fun part of walking on the sidewalk (way out of the way of the traffic!) was looking down on the variety of birds that were flying under the bridge.  My favorite was the Pigeon Guillemot Cepphus columba, the little brown guy with the white spots on his wings and the crazy red feet.  

After walking the bridge, I went into Waldport, turned right at the stop light (the only one) and parked in a municipal lot with several signs directing visitors to the Alsea Bridge Interpretive Center located at the corner of the parking lot.  

The Interpretive Center is very nicely done and there is a volunteer docent/receptionist on duty when the Center is open.  This would be a nice stop for anyone but the grampa in me thinks it would be great for school-age kids in particular.  

"He ain't heavy. . . . .

My favorite oldest grandson in the entire universe, Max, was going in for surgery so I went to Bend to be there with him.  The night before, I took Max and his brother, Sam, my favorite red-headed grandson in the entire universe,  out to dinner.  I asked them to sit together so I could Instagram a photo to Gramma Judy and this was the result from two well-practised photo-models.  

The next morning, when we all walked into Max's post-surgery recovery room, Sam went right to the head of the bed, full of concern.  

Sam and I followed Max and his parents home and when we got there, Max was already in his room, getting ready to sleep.  Sam stood there until Max finally dozed off.

. . . he's my brother."  

Shootin' Big Bird with a B B gun!

No, no, no, no one shot any big birdies  with a B B gun!  Besides, a Heron is kinda blue and Big Bird, well, you get the idea.  The B B gun, of course, is the tiny lens on my tiny camera, which reaches out far enough to handle most of the objects I want to shoot but for photographing birds, it really is way too under millimetered!

I was on a coffee-fueled therapy run to Fogarty this morning and while looking for new fossils to bring home (JPEGS only, of course) I spotted this beautiful Heron standing relatively near the tide pools.  He/she stood there for a very long time, frozen in thought or whatever before actually moving into a better position to stand out from the floating sea weed.  I watched as the Heron nibbled on whatever it was nibbling on and finally it decided enough was enough and started to fly away.  As it lifted off, it circled back around and flew right over my head.  

The overhead shots are marginally in focus because I had set my lens on manual focus for the tide pool shots and wasn't prepared for it to come right overhead.  Ah, the joys of shooting stuff that moves; no wonder I leave moveable objects to my very best daughter in all the world!  Anyway, I'm pretty happy to have recognizable images of this Heron.