Another Lunchtime Walk

Birdhouse on the Daycare Playground

I saw these cute little birdhouses on my tuesday walk, but there were kids out there playing and I didn't want to be the weirdo with the camera.

Here's another tiny little birdhouse.

Here's the Slideshow for Agnes and anyone who might prefer it.

Straw Bale building with Greenroof.

This is a demonstration straw bale building that was built by some high school students a few years ago in a program called "Framing Student Success"

I did help put a fresh coat of limewash on the building two years ago.

Unfortunately the greenroof on this building is looking pretty sad. Not sure what's wrong with it.

Cute Little Lambs

The're amazingly cute, and they run and jump like little puppies.

Mother & Child

There were maybe a dozen little white sheep and only this one black one. He wasn't as playful as the others and stayed close to his mom.

American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos

This one's for Eric.

Back in January he asked, "Do you take pictures of crows or anything crude looking?"

I said "Of course", but I probably do have far more pictures of mallards and other more colorful birds.

Maple flowers - Acer sp.

People think Maple trees don't have flowers. But they do, and they're quite pretty. Just a bit small.

Walk Around Campus

The "Bloodmobile"

The Red Cross was on campus today. I tried to stop by and donate some blood, but the wait was over an hour.

I'm not sure why they don't just use the conference hall or some larger area. This isn't the first time I've been turned away because they were too busy.

Rhododendron

These are very popular plants in Oregon. They are everywhere.

Sami and I have a game. I say "Sami, what's that plant?" He says, "Rhododendron" and he's right, 70% of the time.

Another Rhododendron

I also put these pictures into a slideshow on Photobucket. Hopefully Agnes can see them there since Flickr is banned in the UAE.

Pear Tree and North Fields

Interesting Grass

Last Year's Flowers

Witch-Hazel - Hamamelis sp.

What an appropriate name for such a freaky flowering tree.

Cool Bark

Not sure what the tree was - it didn't have any leaves on it.

At first I thought it was a weeping willow (Salix × sepulcralis). Then I thought the catkins looked more like a weeping birch (Betula pendula) but the bark doesn't seem right for that either.

I guess I'll have to wait until it gets some leaves to figure it out.

Winter Jasmine - Jasmin nudiflorum

First Bee of Spring

Bumblebee - Bombus sp.

I was surprised to see this one out so early in the year. It's good news for our fruit trees.

Irises for Aaron

Irises in front of hangar 2

Aaron loves irises. He tells me this every time I post pictures of flowers on my blog.

It's so beautiful and sunny today that I couldn't resist going outside and walking around on my lunch break. I started to take the trail though the woods on the northwest side of campus, but it was closed.

So I walked over towards the woods on the east side of campus... before I got there I saw these stunning irises. They looked so nice next to the rocks and little spruce cones on the ground.

There is a native Oregon Iris (Iris tenax), although I have no idea if any of these are that particular species.

Click to see purple, white and blue ones.

Loop-de-loop

Someone from the Aviation department was having fun this morning.

I didn't do my usual walk today, but I did manage to find this fun photo-op on my way from the parking lot to the library.

Lunar Eclipse at Bald Peak

5.24pm

Looking Westward from Bald Peak

Our friend Eric had to work, but he suggested Bald Peak State Park as a good site to view the eclipse.

We'd never been there before add we decided to give it a try. We weren't disappointed.

5.28 pm

Mount Hood, OR

As we were setting up our cameras and tripods (I borrowed one from work so Sami could use mine), clouds started rising and covering up the mountains. We started to fear that we'd completely miss the eclipse.

5.29pm

Mount St Helens, WA

I'd been naively hoping that we could have eclipse pictures with the mountains and the moon in them. Unfortunately, by the time the moon came out of the clouds, the mountain was almost completely covered. I only got one bad shot of Mt Hood and the moon.

5:58 pm

The beginning of the eclipse started before the moon was completely out of the clouds. A man with a fancy camera and a giant lens packed up and left, but we decided to stay and hope for the best.

We saw quite a few bats at this time, but they were way too fast to get a photo of them.

6:03 pm

Finally, a clear shot of the moon!

We had set up our folding chairs down near the road because there were some powerlines we didn't want in the pictures.

Around this time our friend Aaron arrived. He didn't have a tripod, but he did take a couple pictures of Sami and I .

6:15 pm

The shadow advances.

Aaron had invited Isil to join us, but he gave her bad directions so it was very dark by the time she got there.

At work, Aaron laughed when I told I would take my ski pants and extra blankets, but it was cold and windy up on the mountain and I was glad I had them.

6:18 pm

Seeing the earth's shadow.

I think I tried every single setting on my camera. There are so many options to choose from and I haven't learned how to use them all. Prior to this event, I had only once used this camera to take pictures of the moon.

Christmas Eve Moon Halo.

6:21 pm

Halfway there.

I had a surprising amount of trouble keeping the moon in the center of the picture. Between the moon rising, the wind and the 18x+ zoom, it kept disappearing from the frame.

My fingers got numb too, and I couldn't see or feel the camera buttons. At one point my camera asked me if I wanted to "delete all" and I almost freaked out.

6.34pm

Another view of the earth's shadow.

When I was searching online for information about the eclipse I found an entertaining story about the eclipse that saved Christopher Columbus.

6.40pm

Three quarters eclipsed.

Around this time Sami pointed out that my pictures didn't look so much like an eclipse, but rather like a partial moon on a regular night. I decided he was right and that's why I posted the series of photos along with the times I took them.

6:45 pm

Close to Totality

Although I know I've seen lunar eclipses before, I think the was the first time I watched one from start to full eclipse. It's certainly the first time I've sought out a good viewing location and photographed one.

Mark your calendars - December 21st 2010 is the next full lunar eclipse.

7.05pm

Full Lunar Eclipse

We stayed a while longer after the full eclipse, but didn't have much luck taking pictures because it was so dark and the exposure times had to be so long.

We tried moving up the hill and taking pictures of the moon though the trees, but they were taking over 2 minutes each and the wind made things really difficult. After a few unsuccessful attempts to take pictures of various constellations, we headed home.

8.23pm

Saturn and Regulus as the elipse is ending.

I took these last two photos from our front yard. By this time, the moon was high in the sky.

The article I read in the morning, when I first learned about the eclipse, described this as the "total triangle".

8.26pm

The moon as it moves out of the earth's shadow.

I must have accidentally set the camera to take a black and white shot. Luckily, it works well for this subject.

If you would like to use one of these pictures as your computer desktop or you want to make a print, feel free to email me and I'll send you a full resolution jpg.

The Sun is Shining and I'm Getting Ready

Daffodil on Deerfield Way

The sun is shining and I'm hoping it stays clear tonight. I just learned this morning that there will be a total lunar eclipse this evening. (See my sidebar for details). So, I'm charging up the camera batteries and hoping Sami can get off from work a little early. I can't wait!

Pretty and Pink on Deerfield Way

Crocus Beneath the Pear Tree

'Pickwick' Crocus in our Herb Garden

Overnight at Melissa & Erica's House

Melissa & Erica's House

I had my SBAP class all day Friday and Saturday. Because the course is taught through Mount Hood Community College, it usually meets on the far east side of town. I decided that I would spend Friday night with Melissa and Erica at their new place on the river so that I wouldn't spend so much time driving back and forth to class.

Anyway, I was hoping for a beautiful sunset and maybe a nice moonrise like the one from my Great Views, No Photos post. It didn't happen.

Oh well, it was nice to see the girls, even if I was too tired to be good company.

BTW: If you're feeling sorry for Sami being home alone, you don't have to worry. He went to a concert.

Houseboats on the Columbia River

another view

the un-sunset

And a cool reflection on the hood of Melissa's truck.

I didn't take any pictures on Saturday morning. It was so foggy I missed several turns and added 4 miles onto my drive to class.

New Birds

Northern Flickers - Colaptes auratus

Ok, these birds aren't actually new... just new to me. I saw one in our backyard a month or two ago, but it was too dark to see clearly and I couldn't get a picture. Flickers are related to woodpeckers, but they prefer to eat ants off the ground.

Finally, on my walk from work to Bethany though the powerline park, I saw one. (There are two in this picture, but I only saw one when I took it.) Hopefully I'll see them again on a clear day. This picture was so dark that I had to use the computer to increase the contrast and make this picture clearer.

Winter Farmer's Market

Sami at the Beaverton-Hillsdale Winter Market

Our closest market, the Beaverton Farmer's Market closes for the winter, but the Beaverton-Hillsdale one a few miles east of us is open every second Sunday during the winter.

We bought leeks and potatoes, and a beautiful 2 lb piece of salmon tail caught just that morning by the nice Native American guys. Sami ended up baking the salmon with an herb-pecan crust. It was excellent.

Pittock Mansion

Pittock Mansion

Earlier this week I starting thinking that it had been a long time since we'd gone anywhere on the weekend. I looked in the Oregonian's event section to see what was going on this weekend, and discovered that there was a special Valentine's event going on at the Pittock Mansion.

The Library - Jacobean style

Normally it costs 7$ per person to get into the house, but I knew that the local public library has cultural passes that you can reserve and check out for various area attractions. It's great because you can get two adults and two kids into a garden or museum for free.

Chandelier in the Music Room

The ceiling is silver leaf under a bronze glazing. It's hard to see in the photo, but in real life, it's quite spectacular.



OK... I'm going to write more later, but I'm tired now....


Sorry.

Music Room

Turkish Smoking Room

Dining Room - Edwardian

Butler's Pantry

Kitchen

Kitchen Storeroom

(Formerly) Refrigerated Room

Breakfast Room

Staircase

Writing Room

South Sleeping Porch

Nieces' Room

Master Bedroom

Shower in Master Bath

Sewing Room

North Bedroom

West Bedroom - Federal style

West Sleeping Porch

Puppet Theater

Child's Bedroom

Upstairs Hallway

Rear View of Mansion

View of Portland and Mt. Hood

Cooper Mountain Winery

There was another Valentine's chocolate and wine tasting event at the Jenkin's Estate. The parks district website really does not do the place justice. Anyway, I had the date of the event wrong but didn't realize it until we were in the parking lot. So, we visited this nearby winery instead.