Early in the season, only a single boat was at the moorage in St. Helens on this late afternoon. Mt Hood peeks out from beyond the trees on the Washington side of the Columbia River. All is calm. Photo: Taken from Columbia View Park in St Helens on 24 March 2010.
A city is many things — it’s homes, it’s businesses, and it’s industries. It is difficult to get all the layers into one picture, despite the thousand-words thing. Not that this is the picture of all of Portland by any means. But it does include the industry of the Albina Rail Yards in the foreground, [...]
This chimney, now emblazoned with the name of current-owner Union Pacific Railroad, was part of the original buildings at the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company’s Albina Yard when it was built in 1883. At that time, Albina was a town north of what was then Portland, and became part of Portland when it merged with [...]
A long walk. A short pier. I’m sure I could make something poetic out of those phrases, but nothing comes to mind right now. Anyway, this particular short pier juts out into Lake Washington from Seattle’s Madison Park. Directly out from the pier, on the far side of the lake, is the east end of [...]
There is that old story about three blind men who are trying to describe an elephant, and since one is touching a leg, another the side and the third it’s trunk, they come away with vastly different ideas of what an elephant looks like. That story came to mind when I saw the above elephant [...]
It was a clear day in June when I caught this Alaska Airlines plane landing at Portland International Airport, with Mount St Helens looking on from afar. In the foreground, I-205 cuts through Government Island as it crosses the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington. And, it would be horrible if I didn’t mention the [...]
Well, no, I’m not really sure what my obsession is the last few days with fluffy clouds. I will offer another one anyway, though. On this day, the clouds looked gray and menacing over Bainbridge Island, in this photo of Eagle Harbor. Eagle Harbor is the location of Washington State Ferries base for maintenance operations, [...]
When compared to the seats of government in places like Seattle or Portland, it is tempting to look at buildings in places like St Helens and say something like,”Look at how cute that building is!” But, at a deeper level, there is something about this building that says “small town”, that says “What an example [...]
I found this other picture showing off the fluffy clouds of springtime. This scene, taken from the top of Portland’s Rocky Butte, is the same scene as an autumn scene that I highlighted, well, last autumn. The world is the same, but the world is a greener place now. Photo: Taken from atop Rocky Butte [...]
I was looking up today, and realized that springtime in Cascadia is not so much about sunshine as it is about the fluffy clouds in the sky. We tend to dwell on the rain, or on the sunshine, but the norm is the fluffy clouds. It is a constant in the springtime of our lives. [...]
