WildOats

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything here. I guess I haven’t gotten my stride back since my move out here. For the longest time the weather was just horrible. But now it’s starting to get better, so I guess I might be able to take some more pictures. I’m not sure if it’s an east coast-west coast thing, or a warm weather-cold weather thing or what. But I’m not too inspired to shoot much out here. Nothing has been grabbing my attention at all.

But I’ll try to start making more of an effort to go out and shoot more. The other day I was out walking by the water. I did notice one thing that kinda caught my attention for a bit. Over by the water there were these rocks and boulders. So I walked over there to check it out. Some rocks with moss on them. Some small rocks, then bigger ones. Nothing to spectacular. I was doing my best to get a nice composition of the rocks, but nothing was working out.

I continued on my walk. A little further down I saw this rock formation. I guess someone had piled some rocks, one on top of another. It reminded me of those formations that supposedly happened on their own. I forget what they are called. But they’re supposed to be some mystical/other wordly odd things. Anyway here’s what I saw. I caught this using my iPhone, so the quality is probably not the best.

Well, does it give you some mystical type feeling or what?

Ok ok, it’s been about a week now since my last post. No one has said anything about my ’space needle’ picture, so I guess it’s time I told ya more about it. Basically it’s not a picture of the real space needle.

While out walking, I passed by this empty plot of land. I guess they’ll building something on it soon. But anyway, in the corner of the plot, someone had put this replica of the space needle. It was just a bunch of spare parts I guess, but they did a good job of it. I thought it was a riot when I saw it. That’s when I started thinking about if someone were to take a pic of it, would people be fooled into thinking it was the real deal.

So with that I couldn’t resist. I only had access to an iPhone, so I made due with it, and took the shot. I got down low, to give it that I’m small compared to this thing view. I still had to crop the picture a bit to remove some stray parts out,  and then I posted it here.

Here’s another pic of the scene, but in this one you get a much better idea of what this thing actually looks like. So anyway, was I able to fool ya?

Well it’s finally starting to warm up here in Seattle. The past 2 weeks or so the temperature has been in the 70’s and sometimes (although very quickly fleeting) into the 80’s. All I can say is….it’s about time. It’s been so cold and so dark and so rainy for soooo long. I’m really happy that spring/summer are coming.

With the improving weather, I’ve been able to spend some time outside, and start to see some of the sights here in Seattle. Which I’m glad about, because till now, I’ve been pretty much hanging out in the apt.

The other evening I was out walking and came across something that immediately makes you think….Seattle. What’s the one thing, when you see it….makes you say Seattle? Well for me it’s probably the space needle. Seems to be a big deal here in Seattle.

So while I was out walking I saw this. Luckily I had an iPhone with me, otherwise I would have missed this shot. If the photo looks a little sub par, it’s cause it was taken with a camera phone.

Anyway, I did the best I could with what I had. It’s not as big as you’d expect from the pics you see. It also looks like it’s fallen into a bit of disrepair. But anyway, what do you think?

Living in Florida, you’re treated to beautiful sunsets almost everyday. You see them all the time, and after a while you kind of not notice it any more. Well now that I’m up here in Seattle, I do miss the pretty sunsets. Up here, it’s VERY rare to see a nice sunset. It’s either overcast, or foggy, or raining or something.

The other day believe it or not, I was treated to a nice sunset. One of the very few since I’ve been here. So I was kind of excited by it. The apartment faces west, so I was in the perfect place to see it. The sun had gone down below the top of the mountain, but it lit up the sky a nice yellow orange color. It also made the area on top of the mountain where the sun set glow. The other thing that I liked was that there were some clouds in the sky. Yea shocking ….clouds I know. Anyway, the clouds added a darkened area to the sky which was a nice contrast to the bright yellow of the sun.

There was also a boat out on the water which I put into the picture. The other thing I liked was that the water picked up some of the yellow orange color and was reflecting that back out. Here’s what I was treated to see by mother nature.

This past weekend I was in the living room of the apt, when I looked out the window. I noticed that there was a whole bunch of boats out on the water. There’s the usual ferries that scurry up and down the water way. There’s also cargo ships that go by everyday. There’s even huge cruise ships that we see most days. We also see smaller private boats. But this Saturday, when I looked out I saw a lot more than usual. A lot more private ships, and also what looked like coast guard type looking boats.

So I stopped and just looked at it for a while. It was kinda cool to see all the activity going on. It was also a nice day.  Yea I know….how unusual. (Eye rolling smilie goes here) As I stood there and looked out, I kept seeing more and more boats.  It turns out, they were having some sort of air & sea show thingy. Kinda cool since I had a great view right out my window.

After a while this helicopter flew by. It made a circular pass around the bay. Then it came around again, and just hovered in place. It just stayed there for a few mins. It was cool to just watch it stay there motionless. Then all of a sudden the door opened, and 2 people jumped out. After a few seconds, the copter takes off. It does another circular fly by. Then it comes back, and hovers over the 2 people now in the water. They lowered a line out of the copter to the water. The 2 people get strapped in, and were hoisted up and into the helicopter, and it flew away. I guess it was just for show, for the on lookers. Anyway, I grabbed a shot. Here it is.

I’ve said before that the weather here in Seattle is just odd. A typical day can go from sunny to foggy to completely cloud covered to rain. Then start the whole cycle all over again. Just odd. I’ve watched this happen over and over again from my apt.

The window in the living room of the apartment faces west, onto Elliot Bay. You can see the clouds coming in. Sometimes the clouds stay up high, other times they come in low and on the water. Sometimes the visibility is so bad, you can’t see very far at all. Sometimes you can see the mountains, sometimes you can’t. There have also been times, when the base of the mountain and ground is behind clouds, but the very top of the mountain can been seen.

The other day, the morning started out cloudy. Then the weather went through a few fog- cloudy cycles. But in the afternoon, the clouds started to break up. It was then that I noticed the sun trying to come through the clouds. The scene caught my attention. I really liked how the rays of sun light were flowing down towards Earth. I snapped a quick picture of it. Check it out.

I don’t know, maybe it’s an east coast-west coast thing. I’ve lived my whole life on the east coast, so that’s pretty much all I understand. Being out here in the west, sometimes makes me stop and go ……HUH?

A perfect example is a park. To me, a park is usually a big area. Some place where people come to enjoy beautiful scenery. Maybe play sports of some type. Walk in grassy areas. Maybe there’s a lake, or a petting type zoo in there. Something along those lines.

Here in Seattle I just have to laugh when I see something called a park. I have to stop and re-read the sign a few times and make sure I’m looking at the right thing. Usually what I’m looking at, I’d NEVER call a park.

So I know you’re thinking….ok….give me some examples. Well I’m glad you asked for some. Get ready cause here they come. Would you call any of these places a park?

The first one I can see out my window here. They call it a park, but it’s just a pier. Long and wide, with nothing on it. You can walk out over the water, but that’s it. Nothing but a flat piece of wood sticking out into the water. A pier ….yes…..a park….no.

The next example, you have to just laugh at. Image a highway, and the highway is elevated. So under the highway is just more concrete. Yup, the area under the elevated highway they call a park. It’s not a big area, just as wide as the highway above you and not too long either. Oh, and nothing but cement. A park…..lol.

The next example is similar, but a bit different. We came across this one while on a walk. We were walking, and went under an overpass. Yup the area under the overpass…..a park. But get this…..it had these cement ‘blobs’. They weren’t of any specific shape, just these blobs of cement. But wait….there’s more. The whole thing was behind chain link fence. So you couldn’t, even if you wanted to, go and enjoy this ‘park’.

Then we saw another one. We were out walking, and noticed a building. I think it was the court house or something like that. Well in front of the building was a bit of lawn. There they go, big sign with park on it. The area was about as big as an average person’s front yard. Big deal!!!

So now this have become a running joke for me. Every time I see anything about a ‘park’ I have to stop and check it out. Just to see what they are calling a park.

Anyway, I heard about this sculpture park. Yea I know another park. So I decided to check it out. I get there, and it’s not really what I’d call a park, but at least it wasn’t under some bridge. It actually had grass, and it did have art there as well. I didn’t care for the art much. A bunch of crap really. But I did manage to get a shot of some orange metal thing. What I liked about it, was the contrast of the orange-red color of it, against the sky. I also saw the moon way out in the distance, and I liked the white of it. So I tried to align it all together for the shot. Here’s what I came up with. What do ya think?

The weather here in Seattle changes very quickly. It could be all nice and sunny out one sec, and then all foggy and hazy the next. Just odd. The other day, I was looking out the window, and you could actually see the fog roll in on the water in the distance. Sure enough….. a little while later, it looked like I was in a cloud.

Then yesterday the opposite happened. I woke up, and it was all gloomy out. I went about my business. Then later on in the day I noticed that it was clearing up. Within a few mins, the haze was gone, and it was sunny. It was then that I spotted a sail boat sailing past my window.

So I got my camera and snapped a picture of it. I like how the boat is the only thing in the frame. Nothing else but water. I like the subject isolation.

I think spring might finally be coming to Seattle. Since the time I got here about 3 weeks ago or so, it’s been non stop cold and rain. But the past few days it’s actually, believe it or not been improving. The temperature has been in the 60’s and it’s been sunny. Woo Hoo!!!!!! Still crap compared to what I’m used to, but much better than 38 and rainy.

Hopefully the weather will be improving from now on. If it does I might be able to get outside finally, and get to see the city. I’d also like to be able to get some pictures. Today while I was looking out the window I noticed it was sunny again. So I took a better look around. It wasn’t as hazy or foggy as it usually is. I saw that I had a clearer view of the mountains in the distance. So I took the opportunity to take a picture of it. I stepped out onto the balcony and snapped a picture. Here’s the result of my efforts.

Ok so like I said in the last blog, I’m in Seattle. I’ve never been out here before, so I’m still just getting used to the whole deal. But no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get past the crappy weather. I think coming from Florida it’s hard to move anywhere else. It’s just not pretty here, and the weather is aweful. Just dark, gray, rain and COLD. It’s even been snowing the past few days. I haven’t seen snow in almost 11 yrs now. So you can imagine how that makes me feel when I see snow.

With all this cold weather, I haven’t been spending much time outside. I try to get out of the cold as much as possible. Back in Florida I used to turn the heat on when my apt was 74 degrees. Here it doesn’t break 74  in the summer even. How aweful is that?

One day, there was a break in the over cast sky. So I decided to shoot some pictures off the balcony of the apt here in Seattle. I then decided to create a panorama of the pictures I shot. Photoshop Elements takes the pictures you shoot, and then combines them, to give you one big shot. I think I took something like 6-7 pictures for this scene.

The apt faces the water. I think they call this the Puget Sound. You can see the different Islands is the distance, when you look out. But in this shot, it’s the little bits of land staright out from where you’re looking. In real life the objects appear bigger, but when I shot the scene I zoomed out, to allow more into the frame.

The boats all the way over to the left, are ferries, that carry people and cars over to the various Islands. The boats that are more toward the center and right are tour type boats. They all dock at the pier. The roadway you see I think is called the Alaskan Via duct. It’s a double decker set up. The upper level goes one way and the layer below goes in the other. Below that, is the local street level. The apt is 22 floors up, just to give you some sense of perspective.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pic.