May 10, 2016 by RunnerDuck

TREE AND TWO HOMES – May 19, 2016

Well look at this, I’m back for a second day in a row!

It always amazes me to see things that I’ve walked by a hundred times and never noticed. Sometimes the morning light changes things enough to bring out those hidden gems.

This morning I noticed this beautiful, gnarly, old tree in font of the historic Williams House built in 1896. It now houses the Whidbey Island Conservation District office.

Here’s a closeup of the tree in the golden morning light.

Walking down Main Street I spotted this beautiful Victorian house with the blossoming rhododendron out front. It’s the Coupe-Gillespie House built in 1891. Today it’s the Blue Goose Inn.

And this just in; Marilyn took this photo of brand new fawns in our neighbors yard while I was typing. We believe that they were born in the last two days. The mother sure does seem to be bonding with her baby.

Thanks for joining me on this morning’s walk and hopefully we’ll do it again tomorrow.

January 8, 2016 by RunnerDuck

KOALA BEAR DEER – January 8, 2016

Wow, what a busy week. I’ve been off island more than I’ve been on island this week, hence no blogs 😦

I did get a walk in this morning but it was really too dark for any good photographs. But all is not lost.

My wife, Marilyn, took some pictures of these cute little deer in our front yard. The young ones have their winter fur and winter fat on and now look a lot like koala bears. Do you agree?

You just want to run out and pet or feed them but we know better. We just let them graze on our lawn and all the beautiful plants that Marilyn grows each year.

Have a great weekend and I’ll try to find some Coupeville Impressions next week.

June 22, 2015 by RunnerDuck

RACCOON AND FAWN – June 22, 2015

I trust you all had a nice Father’s Day Solstice weekend. Our weather was perfect and I’m sure many picnic baskets were emptied.

This morning I walked three and a half miles and as usual found some things from around Coupeville to share.

First I noticed this raccoon and as I was getting my camera turned on and positioned it started running at me! I snapped this photo and then looked out from behind the camera and it was gone. It just disappeared into thin air. But then I noticed the culvert running under a driveway and that’s where it disappeared.

Just up the road from the raccoon was a family of deer with this tiny fawn posing nicely for me. I just love this time of year when all the babies are out and about.

One thing we seem to have plenty of are sitting places to enjoy the wonderful views of Penn Cove. This sitting spot is in front of a house just up the road from us. They have a great view and what a fabulous place to sit watch the sun go down.

Out on Ebey Prairie I couldn’t resist taking another photo of this old Allis and Chalmers tractor that’s been retired to the front yard of Sherman’s Pioneer Farm Produce. It’s being swallowed by a rose bush but you can still envision it plowing the fields out on the prairie, back in “the day”.

With that we start a new week. I hope it’s good for you as I’m sure it will be great for me 🙂

June 17, 2015 by RunnerDuck

BAMBIES – June 17, 2015

Hey, let’s go for a walk and see what’s happening around Coupeville.

First stop, baby deer! I spotted these beautiful little fawns trying to hide behind the bushes. “I’m hiding, you can’t see me!”

A little further up the road this “Tin Man” caught my eye. It was hanging on a miniature windmill.

As I passed by I looked back and was surprised to see that it’s a birdhouse.

Coming down into Coupeville I just couldn’t help myself and had to take another beautiful photo of the Coupeville Wharf with these wild roses in front.

Down on the wharf I spent quite a bit of time chasing this Kingfisher. These little guys are very skittish and won’t let you get very close. It finally landed on the railing of one of the historic Front Street buildings and I got it! Not great but there ya go.

Thanks for walking with me on such a beautiful morning. I look forward to doing it again real soon.

April 6, 2015 by RunnerDuck

NOBODY HOME – April 6, 2015

I started the week off with a nice walk out to the Ebey Prairie and back. I saw some interesting things along the way that I’d like to share as you walk with me.

Just up the hill from our house I spotted a “herd” of deer. While I’m not sure what actually constitutes a “herd” there were six deer which I think is the most I’ve seen roaming together in one group around town.

One of them was just begging me to take his photo so I obliged.

I always get a kick out of this “knit” bicycle that’s out in front of Whidbey Isle Yarns. Someone put a lot of work into it.

One of my blog followers mentioned that they’d like to see more old houses around Coupeville so I thought I’d do just that. I’m sorry I don’t remember the person’s name.

This is the Jacob Jenne home built in 1889. I was built for Jake, as he was called, by H. B. Lovejoy who built many beautiful old Victorians around Coupeville. Jake moved to Whidbey Island in 1876 and was a farmer up until 1886 when he purchased the Central Hotel on Front Street. He died in 1908.

It currently is a Thai restaurant called “Pra Nakorn Thai Cuisine”.

Here’s a photo of it from around the time it was built. This photo came from “Images of America, Coupeville” by Judy Lynn, Kay Foss and the Island County Historical Society and Museum.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get a very good photo from that side of the building because there are too many tall and bushy trees.

And finally I saved the best for last and the reason this edition is called “Nobody Home”. I do believe the photograph is self explanatory. I really liked it and I hope you do as well.

Thanks for walking with me, I hope you have a great week ahead and come back again soon.

January 26, 2015 by RunnerDuck

I C U – January 26, 2015

We are supposed to be having sunshine and temperatures in the high 50’s F but it was socked in this morning when I awoke. By the time I got out the door it had lifted enough to block any evidence of morning light. That left very little for me to look at and photograph.

But I always find something and while these photos aren’t very good I think they are interesting. You see, when I walk in the dark I always feel like I’m being watched. With my headlight mounted to my forehead I noticed some shinning eye lurking in dark places. Here are the monsters keeping an eye on me as I walk.

This deer was out in the open but in the dark was hard to see. His eyes lit up like big reflectors.

A little further down the road I spotted these eyes peaking our from under a van. I’m pretty sure it was a cat but really couldn’t see it except for its eyes.

Then I spotted another cat but at first glance it almost looked like a small raccoon.

Toward the end of my walk it started getting lighter but no sunshine. Still I was able to get this photo of some yard art. It’s a nicely done Bird of Paradise flower.

And with that we start the last week of January 2015, my oh my where does the time go? We’ve got some rain coming this week so I’ll try to get out there as much as I can because I know you need the exercise but no promises at this point!

January 2, 2015 by RunnerDuck

DARK START Jan 2- 2015

While the first day of the new year was a stellar day with chilly clear skies and light breezes, day two was just the opposite. Heavy clouds darkened the morning making photography difficult but I mad the best of it! The good news is it was eleven degrees warmer coming in at 38 degrees F.

Here’s what it looked like at 7:15am when I left the house.

Nature photography was pretty much out of the question as I will attest to with this deer under a streetlight.

By the time I got to the wharf, about an hour later, I had a wee bit more light and captured the Christmas lights running along the railing leading to the Coupeville Wharf. William, the proprietor of Local Grown, was parked on the wharf unloading supplies for his wonderful coffee shop. If you haven’t visited Local Grown I suggest it as a nice spot to get a coffee, sweet roll and some real local flair. He’s there most mornings, except Tuesday, around 6:00am.

This will probably be the last photo of Christmas in Coupeville. I really like the way they decorated the Knead and Feed Bakery Restaurant and Aqua Gifts.

So now you can stop walking and take a break over the weekend. Have a great one!

October 16, 2014 by RunnerDuck

200 AND COUNTING

This morning makes my 200th blog. It’s hard to believe how many photos I’ve taken and how many I’ve shared. My poor hard drive is filling up 🙂 But most of all are all the wonderful people I’ve met and who have come and walked with me vicariously each morning. Thanks to each and everyone of you.

While walking is healthy for me and I love taking photos the biggest reward is the people with which I get to share it all. If you have friends that you think would enjoy walking with us and looking at all the neat things we see, please tell them about CoupevilleImpressions.com so they can join us.

I walked a couple of miles this morning but didn’t find much plus it was starting to spit and I really don’t like getting my new camera wet.

I did discover a new species of deer and I shall call him “White Nose/Flat Antlers”. This deer had an unusually white nose and it’s antlers are growing almost flat to his head, very strange.

I also spotted a Seahawks 12th man flag flying in a most unusual place, on top of some power or cable lines.

Now look really close at the shape of the wires and do you notice anything unusual? It’s the Seahawks logo!

How is that for an unusual coincidence?

And a correction from earlier in the week. I posted a photo of what I called “Sharknado” but I was wrong. Here’s a better photo of “Orcaluna” the “Werewhale”! Thanks to Sean from Island Life clothing.

I probably won’t walk and blog tomorrow as we are going to the mainland for a morning appointment. I’ll look for you to come walk with me next Monday. Have a great weekend!

October 1, 2014 by RunnerDuck

LET THE HAUNTING BEGIN

This year Coupeville will be haunted with the help of the great plans from the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce. It all starts today and you can check out all the activities HERE!

The most notable thing you’ll notice as you drive through Coupeville are all the scarecrow’s! Every year there is a contest for the best scarecrow created by NonProfits, School Classes, Clubs, Scout Troops, Church Groups, Garden Clubs, or any other organized group. I’ll be posting many of them as the month goes on. Here’s the first one I’ve seen presented by the Lions Club.

The sunflowers are done blooming and that means it’s time for the animals to start dining on the seeds. This young buck seemed to really be enjoying them this morning.

Here’s something I’ve never noticed before, crab pots on the dingy dock. I have no idea why they are there or where they came from but they did make for a nice photo of the Coupeville Wharf.

I hope you enjoyed our little walk today and will come back tomorrow. Hopefully there will be a few less clouds.

August 26, 2014 by RunnerDuck

GREAT BLUE HERON

It was another beautiful day for a walk. As I started out I just couldn’t seem to find anything to photograph, some days are like that. But as fate would have it I ended up taking 108 pictures that I sorted down to seven for you to enjoy.

Like I said, it was beautiful as evidenced by this silhouette of the Coupeville Wharf in the morning sunshine. I really tried not to take a photo of the wharf but just couldn’t resist.

For only the second time I spotted the rare “White Deer”. Unfortunately it didn’t cooperate much for a photo but here he is.

There is a beautiful house on the cliff, right at the edge of the Town Park, that was built around 1896. I believe it’s actually two smaller houses that were joined together. It was recently remodeled and it’s now a cottage for rent. It’s called the Coupeville Cliff House and should be a very nice place to stay. This is the front of the house.

It has a fantastic view of Penn Cove and Mt. Baker. This is the Cliff House taken from the wharf hidden in the woods.

If you look closely at the first picture of the wharf you’ll see a small spot on the railing just a little to the right of center. It’s a Great Blue Heron and I had a lot of fun with it. Here it is a I approached from Front Street.

Shortly after that photo it flew down to the boat dock you see in the background. I followed it down there and tried to make it fly. I wanted to try the “burst” on my new camera. It is capable of taking 12 frames a second! I’m still learning how to use it to get the best photos but I think these two are a pretty good start.

I hope you enjoyed that walk as much as I did, I really enjoy having all of you walk along with me 🙂

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