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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

66/365 Romantic thriller

Saw this house on a bluff above the beach.  It was so romantic in a creepy kind of way.  The weathered gray siding, the tower, the worn stairs to the beach, and the winter landscape....oooh, shouldn't there be a ghost in the window, an innocent young maiden, and a mysterious sea captain somewhere lurking near by?

65/365 Lollipop!

Another rainy day at the beach, so we headed to Depoe Bay to browse the shops.  We stopped at our favorite candy shop to get caramel corn where they had this irresitable display of lollipops....these are the kind of all day suckers my daughter Sara used to beg for as a child.  I usually gave in and got her one...she usually threw up about an hour later.

64/365 Just south of South Beach

The rain stopped for a few moments so we grabbed the opportunity to get some more beach time..it was windy and brrrrrr cold!

The rain made such an interesting pattern in the sand around this rock.

63/365 Dogs love the beach!

Peanut and Liberty love it when we take them to the beach.  We let them off leash and they run and chase each other.  Peanut being the elder of the couple, kind of poops out after about 10 minutes of running around, and then just prefers to walk along beside us.  But not Liberty, she'll run and bark, and play in the water for hours.

Peanut, looking quite stately, don't you think?

It's hard to photograph Liberty on the beach....she's so excited she won't be still.

Liberty dive bombing Peanut from above...trying to get him to play some more.

62/365 Stormy day at Otter Crest

Storm brewing over Gull Rock.  We made it back to the house just as the skies opened up and pelted the beach with big ol' drops of rain.

61/365 Why?

About 5 blocks from my house is a purple house...not a pleasant eggplant, no, we're talking Barney Purple.  For the past several years, the homeowners have had jungle animal statues as their yard ornaments.  They move them around, putting them in different spots and for the holidays they usually will throw on a Santa hat or bunny ears.  Vancouver has been called "Van-tucky", but in this case, it's "Van-tacky".


Gorilla in the front yard.  Also notice the lovely red fire hydrant by the front door.

And in the back, we have an alligator and tiger on the roof.

60/365 Leaving Las Vegas

8:00 am, sitting at an empty slot machine, waiting to check out of our hotel and head home.  This photo sums up how I usually feel after a trip to Vegas, burned out, and a little crumpled.

59/365 Cheese! um, er, or Carrot!

For some reason I was fascinated watching tourists taking pictures of each other while I was in Vegas.  I found myself horning in on shots, getting photos of people taking photos.  These two Japanese couples took each other's photos in front of this rather large bunny in one of the shopping malls.  I had to smile at the guy's t-shirt with the Statue of Liberty and "true colors"...I wondered if he knew his souvenir USA t-shirt was a gay pride design.

58/365 Grab a breast

Ahh...back to Vegas.  Self-love statue in front of Caesar's Palace.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

57/365 Lent

It's Lent.  It's Friday. It's time for Red Lobster.

56/365 Down on luck showgirls

Showgirls posing with tourists for a buck in front of the Flamingo.

55/365 Children don't belong in Vegas

I walked the strip one morning about 9:30 am.  Things were still quiet and calm.  But by about 11 am, things start reving up.  The billboards for prostitutes start driving up and down the strip, the hoardes of young bachelor and bacholerettes stumble out of their hotels with beer bottles in hand, and the guys handing out prostitute trading cards with naked women on them begin hounding every guy who walks by.  It was a hot morning and I walked by a woman and two young children sitting on the dirty sidewalk.  She had a sign saying she had four children, no husband, was far from home and needed money for rent and food.  I sat down next to her on the sidewalk to try and talk with her, but she really didn't want a human connection...she just kept asking me for money. I felt so bad for the kids, they were dirty, hot, tired and bored.  The littlest, a boy of about four, kept pointing to my camera and then hiding behind his mom.  I thought he didn't want his picture taken, but the mom told me he wanted me to take his picture.  So I pointed my camera at him and he came in close and looked right in it.  I took the photo and then showed it to him.  He smiled shyly and hid behind his mom again.  I gave mom some money and then walked on. I saw them three more times that morning as they moved from spot to spot, and my heart ached for them, each time I saw them.  Kids belong in parks, and playgrounds, and ice cream shops and zoos...not sitting on a sidewalk littered with cigarette butts, broken beer bottles, and pornography.


54/365 Beautiful Venetian

The Venetian is probably my most favorite hotel in Las Vegas.  I spent a morning wandering through it... if you squint a little, the casino fades into the background, and the beauty of the hotel shines through.  You can almost (well if it weren't for the stale cigarette smoke and drunk people) imagine you were in Italy.

Chiluly glass sculpture on the ceiling of the lobby.

Stone (or maybe resin) bannister railing.

This artist was recreating the painting in the foreground out of flowers in the hotel's botanical garden.

Butterfly in the botanical garden.

These poor blue butterflies were trying so despartely to escape their glass enclosure...it's how I feel after being in Las Vegas for more than three days....I need to escape the artifical paradise and get back to my fresh, clean part of the world.

53/365 Tao

The entry hall to the nightclub Tao in Las Vegas is lined with 6 of these stone bathtubs with floating candles and rose petals.  On Saturday nights there are (almost) naked women in them...what an odd job that would be.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

52/365 Window shopping

While Eric was in conference, I did a little window shopping at Cystals, the new high end shopping mall next to our hotel.  With names like Versace, Tom Ford, Gucci and Prada...all I could do was look.  The windows were so beautifully dressed, it was like looking at art.  Ahhh....sigh....maybe someday.

I don't remember which designer this was, but the store was gorgeous.

This guy meticulously washed the Hermes windows for at least an hour. 

Tom Ford had uniformed butlers just inside the door holding silver trays with champagne for shoppers.  I so wanted to go in, grab a glass and browse around...but I was too chicken.

Versace window seen through a  water sculpture in the mall.

The bra and panty set cost more than I make in a week....who buys this stuff?

51/365 Photo op

I saw this group in the lobby of Casear's Palace, in Vegas, posing and taking photos.  One of the couples was there to get married.  The group had just arrived and were full of anticipation and excitement.  I loved how they laughed and kidded each other.  They were the most fun group I saw on my trip to Vegas and I wanted to invite myself along to hang with them for a couple of hours....but, that would have been weird.

50/365 Tangled vines

Winter barren vines at The Academy at the Historic Reserve, Vancouver.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

49/365 Jessica and Jesse

Spent a morning taking anniversary photos of Jessica and Jesse at the Historic Reserve in Vancouver.  Jesse, used to serve in the Army, and Jessica loves all things historical, so the two felt right at home at this beautifully restored historic Army base.




48/365 Portland airport

47/365 Kiggins Theater doors

46/365 Ice wine

Put a bottle of wine in the freezer...it froze...kind of cool.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

45/365 Sauvie Island Bridge






44/365 Parking garage view

Was downtown today to run a few errands.  I parked in a garage by Pioneer Place, and as usual, I took the stairs instead of the smelly elevator.  Was a pretty good view from the 5th floor.


Street drummer couning his tips.







43/365 Rot

A guy at work brought in Rot, his new 8-week old daschund puppy.  The little guy was so excited running all over, jumping, barking.  Was hard to get photos since the lighting in the lobby is very dim, and I didn't have a flash with me (and no way in hell was I going to use the pop-up flash), so let's call the blur...artistic, shall we.



Kissing Natalie.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

42/365 Rainy day

Walked down to Starbuck's for lunch today. When I came out, it was pouring rain, and of course, I didn't have an umbrella.  I stood huddled underneath the awning watching the rain soak Esther Short Park across the street. I don't often just watch the rain....it's peaceful and soothing...no wonder I like living here.



41/365 Pug in waiting

Sweet little pug waiting longingly for his owners to return.  Dogs have to wait for us humans a lot. They must be more patient than I am.


40/365 Cupcake

The folks at Fred Meyer's weren't too happy with me taking pictures in the store, but these cupcakes are works of art, so I took the photo first and then apologized later.