Skywatch Friday: Gold Coast

I went to Boulevard Park last night to give the new camera a try. The sun was'just setting as I got there, but I had time to play around with it a little. We're heading out camping this weekend so we'll give it a proper breaking in!

For more Skywatch Friday images click HERE.

New Camera!!!

My new camera, the Fujifilm Finepix HS10, was due to arrive yesterday, so I shirked all my other duties and hovered by the door most of the day, waiting for the UPS man. I jumped at every car door slam and perceived knock, but of course it didn't arrive until 6:00 PM, when I had guests over for dinner. We ate dinner and watched a movie, and then I unceremoniously dumped the children in bed and literally ran out the door to try to catch the sunset with my new camera. EJVig, the good parent, stayed home with the girls.

So, I barely got to the water in time to catch the color in the sky, but I did get a few pictures out of it. I want to post two today, because I'm pretty impressed with the range of this camera. The first picture is zoomed out as far as it will go, which is 30x, and the second is all the way back. I thought the image quality on the first wasn't half bad, since I was zoomed all the way out in near darkness with no tripod and an unsteady hand. A very unsteady hand, given that I was jumping up and down in excitement!

Blossoms

Everything--

sidewalks, gutters, cars--

are graced by the pink

of springtime.

Happy Birthday, Melanie!

Okay, I have to do two posts today, because it's my big sis' birthday. Hope you have a great one, Mel! I'll always be grateful to have a wonderful sister and best friend like you.

Trestle at Whatcom Falls Park

This is the abandoned train trestle over Whatcom Falls Creek. At first glance, you might not notice them, but there are long white pipes dangling over the creek for a stretch. I don't know what their purpose is, but my best guess is measuring water level. Any other ideas? A not very pretty art installation?

Trickle

Water streams out of a rusted pipe at Little Squalicum Beach.

April Brew's Day

Last night was April Brew's Day, a fundraiser for the Max Higbee Center. $20 got me a tasting glass, a bowl of pretzels and some excellent beer. These people understand the proper way to organize a fundraiser!

The Place to Read

An innovative seating solution at Micheal's Books.

Skywatch Friday: Farewell

Sony Cybershot DSC-W55

9/5/2007 - 4/18/2010

Rest in Peace

Last Friday I packed up the girls and went to Birch Bay State Park for an evening of camping and playing on the beach. Unfortunately this evening would mark the final day of our trusty (actually not so trusty) Sony Cybershot. A wayward grain of sand jammed up the lens mechanism beyond repair. No amount of disassembly, compressed air or encouragement from by pliers would repair the situation.

Although it's not a particularly stunning sunset, I'm posting the Sony's final photograph in memory of its life and service to us.

And now a question for all of you: We are looking at getting a good extended zoom point and shoot such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35. Does anybody have any experience with this camera or something similar? We'd love to hear your thoughts and recommendations.

For more Skywatch images click HERE.

Happiness

Tucked away

at the end of the path--

happiness incarnate.

A man...

and the sports page.

After I posted this, I remembered that it was Earth Day, and I'd meant to do an Earth Day post. Oh well, this picture takes place on earth, doesn't it?

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Petalsoft

Here is one more picture from my very talented friend Chad. These are my daughter's hands cupping the pink tulip.

Escape

My friend Chad took this picture of a pink tulip trying to stand out from the crowd. Everyone wants to be an individual... even tulips.

She Gazes Out the Window

at the statue of Dirty Dan Harris, founder of Fairhaven. He looks lonely... and a little hungry. Maybe he'd like some of her grilled cheese sandwich.

This was taken inside the Colophon Cafe, a cozy little restaurant inside Village Books. I can never resist their Mexican corn-and-bean soup... or their peanut-butter pie! Yum.

The Gamwell House

The Gamwell House

1892

Fairhaven's South Hill was home to many of Bellingham's wealthiest citizens at the turn of the century. This victorian beauty was designed by Longstaff and Black for Roland G. Gamwell and his new bride. The Gamwell family lived in the house until 1956.

Bear with me...

...while I share another picture from Northwest Trek.

Skywatch Friday: Boardwalk

There was a festive energy on the boardwalk last night as Bellinghamsters got out and enjoyed one of the first spring-like evenings of the year.

For more Skywatch Friday images click HERE.

Another Colorful Picture

basket stacks

no color lacks

no grays and blacks

no sad sacks

colorful packs

color to the max

Gotcha!

My littlest one, frolicking in the fields of flowers.

Orange Creamsicles

These tulips are so richly vibrant, they look positively decadent! Somehow, though, I don't think they'd taste as good as they look. And people might look at me strangely if I started licking tulips. Don't they look good enough to eat, though? Um... maybe it's just me.

Anyway, these tulips were at Roozengarde in Skagit Valley. Roozengarde is the largest grower of tulip, daffodil, and iris bulbs in the world. I wish I could find an actual statistic, but I know a vast majority of tulips and daffodils in the country come from Skagit Valley, so chances are good if you're buying tulips in Florida or New Hampshire or Ohio, they were grown in Skagit Valley.

If you're ever in the Pacific Northwest in the spring, I highly recommend visiting the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. There's no experience quite like being surrounded by acres and acres of brilliant, alive color.

"She's mine, dammit!"

One of the few places you can witness a butting joust between male bighorn sheep, outside of the mountain passes, is Northwest Trek, near Tacoma. The kids go with Dad and Grandpa about once a year, and see plenty of local wildlife; black bears, grizzly bears, moose, bison, caribou, badgers, porcupines, otters, lynxes, cougars, and many more.

Always a worthy message, even in a grocery store parking lot.

Admiring "Bloom: The Elephant Bed"

Today is the last day of one of my favorite art installations ever: "Bloom: The Elephant Bed," at our local art museum. I did a previous post on it here.

They will be taking it down today and parading the sculptures around downtown. They were going to toss them in the bay, where they would dissolve, until they were told not to at the last minute by the state's Department of Ecology, who said it was against the law. Guess someone should have checked on that. Oops.

This picture is from December-- as is probably evident, given the girls' attire!

I'll miss the beauty and peace of this installation, but I'm looking forward to seeing the new exhibits at the Lightcatcher Museum.

4:05

I saw this jet stream as I was leaving work and wished I had a camera with me to snap a shot. When I got home Lizziviggi showed me shots of the same jet stream she had captured while on a walk with the girls.

For more Skywatch Friday images click HERE.

April Puddles

April showers bring rain to our raised vegetable garden, and puddles on the bench surrounding it.

Another Sebastian Sculpture

This is another of artist Sebastian's sculptures. We did a post on one of his works, Libra, in February. I didn't get the name of this piece of art, but I like how Bellingham's inoffical little motto, "The City of Subdued Excitement," is partially in view behind it.

All Bundled Up for Opening Day

Saturday, April 2, was opening day for the Bellingham Farmers Market. Alas, since mid-March our weather has been closer akin to winter than spring! I guess we got our spring weather in December and our winter weather in March and April. We 'Hamsters don't let the weather slow us down, though, so we bundled up, ignored the hailstorm and rain, and had a good time anyway.

Easter Aftermath

The kitchen sink, post-Easter-Egg-dyeing.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

Salmonberry Blossom

Salmonberry blossoms dotted the edge of the path on a recent hike I took with a friend and my youngest daughter around Lake Whatcom. They line many of the low lying hiking trails in the area and although they are not a particularly sweet berry, they are juicy and make a fantastic snack while hiking.

Skywatch Friday: Samish Bay

This past Valentine's day we celebrated by taking our girls for a cruise up Chuckanut Drive when we snapped this shot of the sun setting over Anacortes and Guemes Island. Although not visible in this picture, two refineries lie just beyond the low island to the left.

We awoke this morning to reports that an explosion has killed three workers and seriously injured four at one of the refineries.

Bellingham Daily Photo's thoughts are with the families, friends and co-workers of those whose loved ones were lost or injured this morning.

For more skywatch photos click HERE.

Climbing "For Handel"

April's Theme Day is "Red."

One of the Bellingham childhood rites of passage is climbing this enormous red metal sculpture on the Western Washington University campus. Called "For Handel" by Mark Di Suvero, it looks more like a piece of playground equipment than a piece of art to the ten-and-under set. To see our previous post on it, click here.

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