Month: October 2013

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This morning’s walk was only about four miles, wet and dark. None of that is very conducive to great photographs. So I decided to take Halloween pictures for you to enjoy.

This old house had some great looking spiders and spider webs.

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This house not so many.

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How about a raven and albino pumpkin?

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Front Street, which is the main street along the waterfront, has hay bails, pumpkins and cornstalks decorating the whole street.

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Knead and Feed, a really good bakery and restaurant, had hay bails, pumpkins and cornstalks as well.

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This decorated house is just half a block away from our house.

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This is our offering.

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And finally, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! and Trick or Treat!

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Have a fun Halloween and be nice to the kids.

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NOTHING BUT SUNRISE

When I left the house at 7:00 this morning it was “Dark”! Not very conducive to taking pictures. About a half hour into my walk I got my first peek of the sunrise and it looked like it would be spectacular and it did not disappoint.

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From there on just got better and better until the sky was literally “On Fire”, enjoy.

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This next photo intrigued me as it is a reflection in the window of the Perkins Farmhouse built in 1890. The old wavy window glass gave it an eerie look like a Halloween pumpkin for orange monster. It’s grainy because it was still pretty dark.

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For those of you who work it’s “Hump Day”, for us retired folks it just another beautiful day.

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PASTEL SKIES

We have another stellar morning. On walks like today it’s hard to stop taking photos. I generally take around thirty photos a day that I edit down to the few that I share in my blog. This morning I took over fifty photos and they were difficult to whittle down. So you get to see nine of those in today’s blog.

The sky was very pastel this morning and it started with this sunrise.

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It’s pretty rare that you can see Mt. Rainier from Ebey Prairie, it’s 104 miles away. But I got lucky this morning and took this shot.

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And I also got to see Mt. Baker which is about sixty miles away.

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Over to Ebey’s Landing looking northwest I still had pastel skies.

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On Ebey Prairie I saw the largest flock of Canada Geese ever. The just kept coming in waves.

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For all the times I’ve walked around the prairie this is the first time I really noticed this farmhouse. I don’t know who originally built it so will have to do a little research.

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Back over on Penn Cove I saw this seagull with a reflection. People love mussels from Penn Cove but so do the seagulls. This one is setting on a pile of mussels.

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And finally a wonderful shot of the Wharf. I don’t know how many photos I’ve take of the Wharf but this one really stands out as far as I’m concerned.

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That’s a warp! I hope you enjoyed my blog and come back soon. Oh yeah, invite your friends to join in as well, thanks.

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STRANGE CROPS

It was a crystal clear morning for my walk today. Unfortunately I spent most of it looking at the ground, let me explain. Yesterday while riding my new bike I lost my “FitBit”. It was only a four mile ride but when you’re looking for a needle in a haystack, that’s a lot of looking down. I walked a total of six miles and did not find it, darn.

What I did salvage from my walk was a nice photo and some silly ones. I’ll start with the silly ones first.

Here on the Ebey Prairie they grow some very strange crops. To being with did you know that they grow “marshmallows”? Well they do here.

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We have another farmer that grows “Seagulls”. I don’t believe  I’ve ever eaten a farm grown Seagull 🙂

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This is the story of the “Hard Workin’ Guy and The Slacker”.

The first guy, the “Slacker” was responsible for sweeping the edge of the road for the line painter.

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The whistle blew and he stopped for the day.

The “Hard Workin’ Guy”, a “Line Painter”, only had a mile to go to finish the road so he kept right on working to finish the job even though the whistle blew.

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What a dedicated guy 🙂

And finally a really nice photo of a farm with the Olympic Mountains in the background basking in the beautiful morning sun.

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Have a great week ahead and thanks for visiting my Photoblog.

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THE LAST ROSE

This morning I had high clouds but not much fog for a change. It made for a nice six mile walk.

I crossed paths with Deborah, a fellow walker who walks around Coupeville a lot. She told me about “The Last Rose” beside the Seaside Spa and Salon. I searched it out and she was spot on, it is a beautiful rose and the last one. I think you’ll agree.

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Out on the Ebey Prairie Reserve I spotted this large group of geese flying high overhead which is a good thing since there is hunting near where I took this photograph.

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I love this house and for some reason it reminds me of homes in Nebraska where I grew up. We always had a beautiful fall and this photo seems to bring it all together.

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There are more and more people getting into the spirit of Halloween by decorating their homes. This first one is one of my favorite heritage homes. It was built by Dr. W. L. White in 1894. I like the cemetery in the front yard.

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And finally this house just up the street from where I live. I do believe they have gone overboard, it’s hard to take it all in.

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Have a great weekend. We’re going to go watch the grandkids play soccer.

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‘SHROOMS

Yet another foggy walk this morning. While I’m complaining about the fog, this time of year if we don’t have fog we have rain. I think I’ll take the fog.

Because of the fog it’s difficult to take photographs of anything very far away so what you get are mostly close-ups and I find mushrooms very fascinating. I hope you enjoy these ‘Shrooms.

Here’s a “flock” of “Shrooms”.

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This one was almost as big as a dinner plate.

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I love the gills along the edge.

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These last two photos are just some nice pictures I was able to snap.

This row of trees is intermixed with three Aborviate evergreens between every colorful tree.

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Lastly, the ferns are starting to turn as well.

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Enjoy your day, make it a good one!

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PEA SOUP

I had a busy day and didn’t get this posted until late in the afternoon, sorry.

I walked 6 1/2 miles in  “Pea Soup” fog, I couldn’t see any further than about 1/8 mile. I still managed to find a few interesting photos for you.

Here’s a good photo of the fog as I walked on the Kettle Trail alongside highway 520.

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The Sherman Pioneer Produce Farm is open for selling pumpkins. This trailer is parked on the corner of their farm. What caught my eye on the sign is that Sherman Pioneer Farm Produce was started in 1852, the town of Coupeville wasn’t  founded until 1853.

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I spotted this log and it looked like a “Laughing Horse”. What do you think?

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I do believe that this boat has seen better days as far as a watercraft goes but it makes a better photo now.

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Coupeville in the fog.

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The weather forecast if for more of the same, the photo-ops are getting slim.

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OH NOT COUPEVILLE

I took my car into the repair shop at 8:00 this morning to have some electrical issues fixed. That meant no walking around Coupeville but it did give me an opportunity to walk around Oak Harbor a little bit. I managed to put in 4 3//4 miles and get some different kinds of photo, I hope you enjoy them.

The first thing I ran into was a bunch of mushrooms. I don’t know what kind they all are but they were quite interesting.

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The next thing I spotted, which I never expected to see in Oak Harbor, a mule.

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Then at the opposite end of the spectrum a wing tank from a fighter jet, at least I think that’s what it is.

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I had breakfast at Frank’s Place. I’ve never enjoyed their food but I though, “How could the screw up breakfast?” Well I guess in a place that’s proud that they serve Spam I shouldn’t have ordered “Eggs Benedict”! It’s an interesting place that caters to the military folks from  NAS Whidbey.

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On the way back to the repair shop I spotted this “Monster Wagon”. It’s kind of cool but not very practical.

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Tomorrow, with any luck, I’ll be back to walking Coupeville.

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TOO DAK, USE FRASH

Our contractor was coming at 8:00 this morning so I left early for my walk and it was dark. “Dark” does not do much for photography especially when my little camera doesn’t do flash very well.

It brought to mind an early 35mm camera I had. It was in the early days of voice synthesis. One feature on the camera was it talked only it spoke with a Japanese accent. One of my favorite commands was when it was too dark to take a picture, it would way “Too dak, use frash”. For those concerned that is not a raciest remark.

So that was the majority of my walk and here’s proof.

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Toward the end of my walk I had enough light for some scarecrow photos. This first one is by the recreation hall but I’m not sure who sponsored it.

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This one is at Coupe’s Park and is sponsored by the Coupeville Garden Club.

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Just down the block from my house I spied this huge mushroom. We don’t usually see them this big. Too bad it’s not a portabella.

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Have a great week ahead!

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MORE FOG

Sorry I haven’t posted in a couple of days but I’ve had things going on in the mornings so never got “Round Tuit”.

This morning’s walk was foggier than previous days so even “Phog Fotos” were difficult. Here’s a photo of one of the farms on Ebey Prairie which gives you a good idea of the degree of fog.

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The people with the “Tin Family” have them made up for Halloween, cute.

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They say a photo should tell a story all on it’s own. Well if you’ve ever been to Toby’s Tavern in Coupeville you’d know that they have some of the best mussels and clams around. This picture sums up why the are so good. The Penn Cove Mussel Farm is about one mile west of town. This truck is delivering mussels and clams right from the water to the tavern. To be fair to other eateries in town they all get fresh daily deliveries of shellfish from Penn Cove Shellfish.

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A comment from one of my new subscribers suggested a “Characters I Encounter” section in my blog. I like the idea and I’ll start with this “character”. It’s my friend Al who walks ten miles each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He’s a lot of fun and great guy. Nice picture Al 🙂

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Have a great weekend filled with fun and joy.