You've been a bad cart. Go stand in the corner
I have a new camera and I was trying out some of its “creative modes”. This is high contrast black and white. Since I’ve never used this type of feature before, I was pleasantly surprised by the effect. While the stark nature of the photo is not appropriate for a lot of subjects, it does lend a certain mood to this one.
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Nature's candles
I don’t apologize for the visual pun. When I saw the evening light shine on this bundle of pine candles, the photo title popped into my head, even before I took the shot. According to the article Wikipedia on pines:
The new spring shoots are sometimes called “candles”; they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then later turn green and spread outward. These “candles” offer foresters a means to evaluate fertility of the soil and vigour of the trees.
The garden is in
Well, most of our community garden is in. Planting has to be staggered because we’ve not had much warm weather and because different plants have different growing periods.
Community gardens are a big movement in the Port Townsend area. I think there are about two dozen. These are not pea patches, where each person has a plot to plant. Rather, we share in the planting and harvesting of everything. It’s a great community building type of project and it yields fresh produce. Not a bad extra benefit.
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Early morning at Kah Tai
Dawn comes at about 5:30 this time of year. Sometimes I wake up with the light and can’t get back to sleep. This time I decided to just go with the flow. I grabbed the camera and headed down to Kah Tai Nature Lagoon to catch the first light of the sun as it popped up over Morgan Hill.
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Herd of elk?
Just east of Sequim, WA, about 30 miles from Port Townsend there is a sign: Elk X-ing. In the 20 + years I’ve lived here I’ve never seen any elk near the sign, that is until today.
I noticed what I first thought was a herd of deer, then did a double take. Roosevelt elk were grazing in a field. These animals are much larger than our local deer. They are the largest North American sub-species of elk.
I pointed the animals out to K. She said, “go back.” I made the first possible turn around on US 101 to return for a photo. I couldn’t get close and the camera was pointing into the sun, so the shot isn’t what I’d have liked. No matter.
If you look at the elk closest on the right, you’ll notice that it’s wearing a blue collar. There were at least three elk wearing collars. Apparently, that is a radio transmitter that activates the flashing lights on the Elk X-ing road sign.
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Welcome to Sirens
Pub of distinction. It’s right there on the sign board. This is a favorite, probably the favorite, local hang out. It’s up a long flight of stairs, then down a long hall. Although it isn’t the easy place to find, it is almost always busy.
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Photo of blue skies over Port Townsend
After a wet April in Port Townsend, we’re supposed to see some blue skies for the next week or so. Wednesday was beautiful – to look at. With the wind chill, it felt like 48 degrees (9 degrees C). A perfect day to look out the window and enjoy the light.
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