Sunset on Horizon

Last August, a worker cleans the windows of Horizon Bank for one of the last times.

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Our sleepy hamlet of Bellingham has earned the distinction of being home to the first bank failure of 2010. Horizon Bank was shut down by federal regulators on Friday after a prolonged struggle to raise capital after being catagorized as "significantly undercapitalized".

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Founded in 1922 as the Bellingham Savings and Loan Allocation, Horizon Bank had grown to one of the largest banking establishments in Whatcom County. The bank was also at the heart of a recent controversy over the bank's plans to finance and build a housing development on a parcel of land known as the 100 acre wood in the Chuckanut mountains.

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Click HERE for the story in the Bellingham Herald.

Thistle, Field and Sky

In an empty lot, a patch of thistles wait patiently for the first warmth of spring.

Skywatch Friday: Ghostbuster Sky

A rather ominous sky boild over Bellingham. Gozer, is that you?

For more Skywatch Friday photos click HERE.

It's A-Boat Time...

...I posted another picture of the Bellingham Marina.

Oh, that's bad. My puns are so mast up.

Sorry. I'm ahoying to stop now.

Doorway to Downtown

Behind this door you'll find

wintered salty air

gulls settling in on the docks

theater-goers in hats and scarves

the sun fading at 4 o'clock

and me

going home to dinner in the crock-pot.

Rainbow Houses

There's no sun shining through the rain

to create a rainbow

These colorful houses climbing the hill

are a nice stand-in though.

White Mountain

Mount Baker, our local glacier-covered volcano. Part of the North Cascades Mountain Range, it rises 10,778 feet above sea level. According to the U.S. Forest Service, it is the second most active volcano in the Cascade Range. The first is Mount St. Helens. Mount Baker holds the world record for the most snowfall in one season-- 1140 inches (2895.6 cm) in 1999.

For Handel

For Handel

1975

sculpture by Mark di Suvero

The campus at Western Washington University, where I spent the better part of a decade, is home to an extensive collection of sculpture. Standing before the entrance to the Performing Arts Center, For Handel is perhaps the most recognizable installation on campus.

Click Here for more on For Handel and other sculpture at WWU

Bellingham Polar Bear Swim

Some of the crazier people in Bellingham celebrated the beginning of 2010 by running around Lake Padden and then running into it for the annual Polar Bear Swim. And although I'm not in this particular shot, I was one of the crazies rushing into the water. We were very lucky this year-- it's been unseasonably warm, and while the water was COLD, the air was 52 degrees... which is 20 degrees warmer than last year!

Happy New Year!

January 1 Theme Day-- Changes

My sister snapped this shot of snow softly falling on a portion of our mom's tombstone. It made me think a lot about change-- how my world is continuing to change, and how much I wish she were here to experience all the changes with me. So much has changed since she died in April-- my youngest daughter is talking up a storm, my older daughter is almost reading. I've written the first draft of a novel. I started doing this daily photo blog. We've been working on the house, and actually have walls in our dining room. How I wish she could see all these changes, and was here to see 2009 become 2010. For me, the world is changing... but her world will forever be the same.