SNC - My new favorite holiday tradition!

I heard these guys on the radio driving to Portland on Friday.  Had to remember the name for about 15 miles but got it.  They are really incredible Straight No Chaser

Winter Concert

The winter concert was nice - wish William had been in a little better lighting.  I tried very hard to get some better pictures but didn't want to be the geek mm with the major lens walking around taking loads of pictures.  This one captures the feel of the concert.  It was a nice setting as the Nutcracker backdrops were up and gave the concert the extra holiday feel.

Photoshop Class

I re-commited myself to getting a couple of the Photoshop lessons under my belt.  I really felt this photo could be a good one, but was disappointed with the low light results when I downloaded the photo.

The result after making some corrections was a nice surprise.

Messing with the camera

I still find that the indoor shots are the toughest for me.  Of course the dog and my son never really cooperate.  If I keep practicing, maybe I'll get better at the settings.

Here are a couple of shots that I was practicing the basics with (once again):

focus on the first shot is the checkbook, second shot on the Easy Button and final shot is the white door.

Shots are still a bit dark but not too bad on manual.  Can't get my shutter speed this weekend.  Need to work through my lessons again, seem to have forgotten a basic component somewhere along the line.  I'm going to refresh my memory.

Elton John Rescheduled??

So, I found a post today that at least 3 of the cancelled tour dates have been rescheduled for February. Portland has been rescheduled for 2/10/10. I'm a bit ticked that I had to google to find it and that the Rose Garden hasn't found fit to notify ticket holders. I just sent them an e-mail voicing my concern that they have not contacted ticket holders but they have posted the revised date on their site without a banner to highlight this development.

It is a Wednesday night now. I'm hoping it is a real date, now a bit hesitant. I'm glad they aren't trying to shove the concert into December (as was previously communicated through the media).

More Aquarium Shots

This was at the interactive pool. I love the bright colors of the anemones and starfish. The boys were cooperating - Nice!

One of my favorite shots of the day. William was watching the fish and the scuba dudes cleaning the tank. Eventually one of the scuba folks came over to the glass - I took too long to get the proper manual focus and Bill said - "just put it on automatic" - the following is the photo on auto (I got used to not having the flash bounce off the glass). I think my manual shot is much better - shows the tank instead of the black abyss)!

Newport Aquarium Visit

We went to see Jeff Dunham in Portland Friday night - hilarious! We then drove to Lincoln City (at night, in the rain - yeck) and visited the aquarium in Newport on Saturday. Here are a couple shots (straight out of the camera). I drove the guys nuts taking photos but was so excited to actually get some good shots - lots of futzing with the controls for the manual shots (lighting changes constantly between exhibits - but I'm faster than I was a few months ago).

We saw Charlie Daniels Band at the Chinook Winds Casino on Saturday night. Probably one of the best concerts I have ever attended. The musicians were just awesome, the songs great and wow that fiddling! Bill was able to name one of the pieces they played - An American Footprint and he gave Mr. Daniels An American Footprint jacket! We all enjoyed our weekend. William drove most of the time and made the drive from Lincoln City back to Astoria (rain and all those curves) - he did an excellent job. His full color learner's permit arrived in the mail last night - he is quite happy!

It's Official . . .

4 missed questions (that's an 89% out of 80% needed) and $ 30 later . . . William has his learners permit. His color, permanent license will arrive via mail in about a week.

We went out driving for 1.5 hours tonight. He did very well in the rain and dealt with the lighting changes very well. He is calm, the jury is still out on mom . . .

I took this picture with my new 50mm lens to get the depth of field - there really is no missing the smile (on the license or his face in the background!).

Will's 15th Birthday

Yep - had to be cool, no blowing out candles for this young man. He is wearing the jacket grammy and papa sent him. Made him take off the sunglasses that his dad gave him because he looked like the unabomber

I edited the first picture. Still working on manual mode but now I can use the photoshop lessons I have completed to pop up the pictures and make them clear and bright.

New Lens shot

Got the new lens Wednesday but didn't get to play with it until this weekend. Here is a shot of Paul Lee asleep on the faucet in the kitchen.

And in December, it will probably snow . . . . . .

Singer Elton John was forced to postpone his gigs in the United States due to illness.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Elton John was treated in a London hospital for an e-coli bacterial infection. The musician is "absolutely fine," his spokesman Gary Farrow said Shows in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, will be postponed. These Pacific Northwest gigs are likely to be rescheduled for December.

(People.com) -- The flu may be on everyone's minds, but it happens to be in Elton John's system -- prompting the British musician, who is said to be in a London hospital for treatment of E. coli bacterial infection and influenza, to postpone the Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, dates on his current tour, costarring Billy Joel, the BBC reported.
Monday morning, John's spokesman Gary Farrow told Reuters that, despite the hospitalization, Sir Elton, 62, was "absolutely fine" and hoped to return to entertaining soon.
According to his official Web site, Sir Elton postponed a Dublin performance on Thursday after earlier shelving concerts in London, Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle.
The American leg of the tour was also put on hold in July, when Joel, 60, was ordered to rest after suffering "flu-like symptoms" and "extreme fatigue."
The Pacific Northwest gigs are likely to be rescheduled for December, according to promoters.

I wish Elton speedy recovery. It figures the one concert I've been planning to see since April (but really since I was say 13 or so!)!

Jeff Dunham will have to be really great on the 13th to make up for not being able to bask in Elton John and Billy Joel songs!

Deer in the Hood

I love when they just hang out and pose! I'm still practicing with my camera but now I can add some photoshop knowledge to the learning curve. Didn't need to do much with this photo except lighten it a little. Got a great histogram on it just lightened it to see the deer a little better - they blen so well.

Cannon Beach

Didn't I promise those new jeans would be bright!



Will and Hy went to Cannon Beach with me today. They let me indulge in taking pictures. I was able to get a few that I was happy with (and it didn't take me hundreds of shots! Yeah, I may actually be learning something from my class!).


Here is what I posted for my final assignment:


Feels good to get a nice shot without it having to be "fixed" in photoshop first!

Astoria weather . . .

Yesterday we had this beautiful sunrise. I took a photo (on auto so I could figure out the settings) and when I went to switch to manual, the sunrays were gone. The sky was still beautiful but not nearly so striking as when the rays peaked through the clouds. Honest, I didn't touch the colors on this at all!

Trying to get my final assignment done for class. It has been challenging with the rain. The fog has been cool but getting the picture just right has been a challenge for me. The next photo, I like but I did need to pop the color up in photoshop. At least the instructor told me that fog was challenging and that you probably would have to pop the color up in photoediting!

Week 5 - already!

This week will be the last week of my online photography class! I am happy with the progress I've made. The class has been awesome. I even got up the nerve to buy a new lens. it should be here by Friday! I'm very excited to play with it. You will probably see a flurry of posts next week!

Harvest Moon over Astoria

More practice last night with the camera - results far exceeded my expectations. All prior moon shots were a blur of glowing light - This has a certain serenity to it.

1976 Chevy Shorty

Well, it is official . . . Bill is the "coolest" kid on the block. He has amassed the Pea Picker bike, the orange shorty Van and has a boat.
The only toy missing at this point is the Harley (been there, done that!).


Bill has the blue van in for adjustments, again! He was getting nervous with upcoming shows in Portland and Seattle, so went looking for another van. His fleet has been born. It actually is very nice inside (although I was skeptical of the orange and red shag carpeting), all original items inside and in very good shape. Evidently drives nice and I could actually carry on a conversation with Bill while he was driving (the blue van isn't that forgiving on conversations).

Update on Photo Class

I'm loving it! Well, here are a few lesson shots from the last couple weeks. They aren't the best photos and I have not adjusted them in photoshop (yet!) but they are meant to show that I am getting the grasp of shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings.

This is of the North Coast Orchestra - concert at a retirement home in town. This is a mixture of youth and adults who met every Saturday during the summer. Recognize the violinist on the left?

Paul waiting for dad! This is playing with the depth (aperture).

Here is a full manual shot - had to set it all! Love the darkness and focused on the rim of the bird bath rather than the gargoyle.

Here is the tough Hy! Our neighbor's son-in-law and 3 friends had their Harleys parked out front - Hy was on patrol and this is his serious "What do you want - I'm working here" face!

... and here is a chopper Hy was watching so diligently

Topsy Turvey Shangheid

Billamina - dressed for Shanghied Topsy Turvy! I bought him some purple and black striped tights to match the hair but they didn't fit - I think he was garish enough without the extra color!

More Photos!

I never really go to the mooring basin but the sea lions make taking photos easy.

This guy just was fun to photograph!

The Cannery Pier Hotel from Riverwalk

Finally taking a digital photography class!

I've started an on-line digital photography class this week. My first lesson was Shutter Speeds - nothing like diving into the deep end. I took 89 photos and was happy with about 5 of them! Thank goodness for digital, because practicing with prints would get expensive quickly.

Here are my retouched photos of fast (freezes action) shutter speedand slow (blurs action )shutter speed But . . . here is my favorite photo of the day!

Can you tell it was sunny and in the 80's today?

What a week!

The week started slow but got a real bang on Wednesday . . .

William took the dog to Tapiola and lost his razor phone along the way. He quickly turned around and started searching for the phone but to no avail. Bill and Liz helped search once they heard the news, but no razor to be found. Off to AT&T store to freeze the acount.

William ended that day by stepping off the side of his ankle a bit and dropping off his skateboard, thereby hurting his foot and wrist when he fell. 2 days on the couch with that problem - and without texting!

Thursday came home to a wheezy dog who was drooling goop out of the right side of his mouth. Couldn't figure out what the problem was but he was drinking but didn't eat lunch. By about 10pm, dog was obviously not well, so stayed up all night while Hy restlessly tried to sleep and breath normally. Bill took Hy in to see Dr. Goza this morning and found that Hy had to have a surgery for an abcess (what we originally thought would be a tooth). By noon, our youngest boy was out of the hospital and feeling much better. The abcess was under his tongue and the swelling caused his tongue to press against his windpipe - thereby his trouble breathing normally. He will be on antibiotics for a couple weeks and pain medicine for a couple days. You can tell he feels much better tonight.

Ending on a positive note - there are good folks out there! Bill received a call from Radio Shack in Warrenton, someone found William's phone and brought it there to see if they could determine who's it was. Bill went to retrieve and reactivate the phone. It may have been run over but still works fine. Our faith is restored that there are still honest folks out there that do the right thing. Bill brought the phone home and told William that he would have to call him after the game tonight - to which you could see William's fallen look as he realized he didn't have his phone - mean dad! The Bill handed Will the razor and said "you better make sure this thing is fully charged - I'm not accepting that the battery is dead as an excuse!" Will was extremely happy! Test messages are flooding in (I can't even imagine after 2 days what the backlog must look like!)

Hope you week ended as well as ours did!

I'm testing

I recently found out that you can time your post date. So I am testing this out since I am part of a blog hop that starts at 12:01 Sept 1st. Since I will not be staying up to post, I want to use the option.

Enjoy this pic from Regatta Parade!

Blackberry Cobbler Tonight!

Will and I spent all of 10 minutes picking these beauties. Blackberries are in season and plentiful this year. The early rain and lasting warm dry weather are the perfect combination for the large lush blackberries near our house.

Will just pulled the cobbler out and we are looking forward to this summer treat tonight.

Burke's and Bighorn sheep

I think it is pretty amazing how close mom and dad are to the nature in
Boysen State Park along the Big Horn River in the Wind River Range, Wyoming
There are several of these guys outside and close by where the Burke's are Rv'ing. Mom even caught the youth testing their oats and ramming.

Check out the information at this site!
http://www.wyomingtourism.org/overview/Wind-River-Canyon-Scenic-Byway/31254

90 degrees is just too hot!

It is 90 degrees in Astoria, minimal breeze and muggy. Not the combo we like here. I'm hunkering down for the night trying not to puddle.

William went to the fair with the Hansen's and is then spending the night. Adding fair dirt to heat and muggy is just not happening for this girlie!

http://www.wunderground.com/US/OR/001.html#REC but it is near 110 degrees in parts of Portland!

http://www.crmm.org/wx/popup.htm check out the Columbia River Maritime Museum webcam! Many different live shots of the city!

YEAH! I passed my Team Oregon tests!

I have my Team Oregon card in hand so now I can obtain my motorcycle endorsement! What a fun class! I really feel that I improved my riding skills by at least 300%. Today we showed up at 7am to drizzle, thunder and lightening. So we had to postpone our riding by an hour. When the lightening finally stopped, we mounted up - in the pouring rain - and went through our lessons. I loved it! Chances are, I won't be riding in that extreme of weather, but the fact that I was able to get through the course and drills without missing a beat sent my riding confidence to all-time highs. So, although it is a year later than I planned - I am now ready to hit the road on my Buddy!

Happy 4th of July

William hit LongBeach, WA with Martin, Liz and boys. They are having a blast, enjoying the sun (yes, we have had sun all week long!).

Maybe too much fun?! Will was chillin' and forgot that pranksters are always lurking, pushed over on the beach (pretty easy feat given the sand).

Happy 4th from our house to yours!