The lull before the storm

A large storm system is forecast to roll ashore and pound us in a day or two. What a difference a day makes!

Today we walked out on the south jetty in Yaquina Bay and were amazed to see how calm the inlet was, as well as the Pacific Ocean. These shots include the inlet (to the west), Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, and the Yaquina Bay Bridge (to the east) which has just celebrated it's 75th birthday.

On shared birthdays

As a child, I often shared a birthday party with my older sister. Usually, it fell on the Saturday between our birthdays (she was born 51 weeks prior to me).

This year, I celebrated my birthday with my grandchild. Our exact birth dates are one day and several decades apart. So why not celebrate a birthday with a grandkid? First of all, the activities might kill you. Seriously, I may have been the oldest person on the skating floor, but I didn't break anything. We had 2 days of parties, lots of chocolate cake, and lots of fun.

Happy Birthday to all.

Eating close to the earth

October is a great time to "shop" in the Oregon woods. Today was a lovely day, so I went for a walk and a little gathering. I came home with 2 cups of wild huckleberries, a nice king bolete mushroom and half a pound of chanterelles.

When life gives you rocks ...

Not all of our coastline is sandy. Many basalt headlands and outcroppings interface with the ocean. And when sand castles are out of the question, people engineer the materials at hand into charming installations of rock art.

Rock on!

The cloudy season

After a few remarkably warm and lovely days, the sun is abandoning us, and hiding behind several layers of clouds. This time of year, we are always happy to catch a glimpse of the golden orb, especially as it winks goodbye at sunset.

When the fish aren't biting

We spent the afternoon on the Yaquina River, fishing for salmon. Although we saw many small coho salmon jumping out of the water, none was interested in our bait.

All along the river, we encountered several bird species that also fish. Many of them were resting, but we saw pelicans and loons catching fish, and egrets and herons fishing. Gulls were flying high, chasing aero-plankton (probably swarming carpenter ants).

The photos show cormorants, brown pelicans, and gulls hanging out around the oyster house and it's nursery piers.

A walk in the fog

Saturday the sun was out, and our temperature hit 75 degrees. However, on Sunday, we didn't see much of the sun, and the temperature didn't get above the low 60's. What a difference a day makes.

I walked to town around and across Alsea Bay in the fog. First I encountered a great blue heron that was fishing. Then as I was crossing the bridge, I stopped to view the harbor seals that were resting on a sand bar. A few steps later, the sun came out for a couple of minutes, for a better view of the seals.