Breathless in Washington...

Breathe of Spring

by klr

Sun, rain, storms and hail

scent of spring everywhere

 Glum is not the word

Fair days are ahead

Engage in every sense

 her regalia

* Just this morning, I typed the 100th post of this blog!!  
It is about the World's Fair in 1962 in Seattle. 
Amazing to me... 
* Also, it was last July when I stepped out of my comfort zone and became a blogger.  
In the blog description it says I am 64, but that is about to change as I turn 65 at the end of the month.  And beginning tomorrow, March 21, I will be taking a brief hiatus, a breather, from blogging, and will return right after Easter.  In the interim I will have minor surgery and read, photograph, write,  and observe as spring indeed arrives in her splendor.  It is a pleasure meeting, exchanging, and having each one of you visit The Eyrie Road and I look forward to more visits in the future..

My, time does fly, doesn't it?

A 1957 Pink Buick Station Wagon and A Kid's View...Seattle's Worlds Fair 50th Anniversary 1962-2012

Soon this summer we here will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 1962 World's Fair held in Seattle.  Never did we imagine it possible we would ever go to one.  But Seattle was chosen that year and we lived in a small town just hours southeast of it.....and we were going!!!  How Exciting!!  How futuristic!!

Gee, we were going to see the touted Space Needle!  Our parents packed all four of us into the 
back of the 1957 Buick station wagon.  We had one minor hindrance and that was that our sister, Paula, was in a cast with crutches from a broken leg (fell off a horse).  She was 11 and I was the oldest at 15.  My other sister, Shelley, was 9 and my, brother, Alan, 13.  The speed limit was 50 mph so it was a long restless road trip for all.  With pit stops we made it in 6 hours.  Elvis was going to be there!!!

Two short slide shows will give you highlights of the fair.  You will see the old and the new, 
the Bubbleator, the restaurant on the top of the space needle that rotates slowly while one eats (in the slide show it look as if it's very speedy, but it is not).  You will see some of the sights and hopefully get a feel for the era and huge event, as people came from all over the world.

                                               

We were enthralled with everything and loved the trip to the big City, and we had lots of memories
 to keep.  It deserves a big write up and it began with a pictorial last weekend in The Seattle Times Sunday newspaper, with more about upcoming events all year. I still love to go there.  I lived most of my adult life in Seattle and the Seattle Center, as it is now called, provides acres of entertainment all year long.  Labor Day weekend is the Bumbershoot Festival, in the summer is the food extravaganza, The Bite of Seattle, with every type of food found in the area, representing many fine restaurants.  There is opera, theater, the Pacific Science Center, rides, art and animal shows, concerts, a
mime or two, dancing, cultural fairs and seminars. 
If you go don't forget your umbrella!!

                                                           

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 3/18/12...

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Today's words for the photo search for the week are vintage, word or quote, nature's own, people, and photographer's choice.  I spent a lot of time going over photo's that I took recently so I wouldn't have to delve into old stored photos.  I thought incorrectly that the challenge for the word 'quote' would be fun and easy, but it proved to be hard to produce, but the rest I had and are fairly representative of my tastes as well:

Vintage...old dark green drinking fountain in Balboa Park. San Diego..I had a lot of options for this one, but I like the setting and colors here..

Word or quote...

Someone carved his name and a heart on a wooden swing in a park nearby overlooking the water.  Often I see two people sitting and swinging slowly; it is old, has many other initials on it, and creaks loudly. I should have taken a picture of the entire swing which has two seats...the grass is beneath.  I enhanced this photo with textures..

Nature's own...

Many of us have bulbs sprouting up, some blossoming, and I do have  photos of hyacinths, crocus and snow drops, but I couldn't resist this snap of the nearby silver dollar plant with it's waxen seed pods taking in the sun..I don't know the scientific name for it.

People:..no one new in my camera this week.... I suppose if I had taken it to one of several places I went this week I would have more to offer...I saw many interesting faces and characters at the store, library and doctor offices..but this is a kaleidoscope featured effect on picnik.com and I was delighted to see my granddaughter's face,  and her friend's, mirrored a hundred times in the final saved version..it was fun playing.

Photographer's choice...

Last, but my no means least, is the close up or Macro shot I took of my friend's Spanish wall pocket planter containing this plant that looks like a string of peas, but it is called a?? vine...right on the tip of my tongue...it may get entered in Macro Monday tomorrow..the composition isn't quite what I want, though.  But I love the colorful little pot.

Thanks for stopping by the Eyrie Road.;)

Photo Art Friday Hidden picture..

This week, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, Photo Art Friday posted a challenge to create an image within an image using a hidden element with a green highlight....since Bonnie developed the "kkkkaty inspired clock texture" at my suggestion, which I appreciate very much, I used it as the background.  Then, I used the ocean photo as the next layer.  There is a another hidden element, plus the green text...it's a wee bit hard to see...

Photo Art Friday

Photo Art Friday

Haiku Wednesday ...3/14/12...Excite

     Haiku Wednesday

Haiku is habit forming.. Today's prompt is the word "excite".

Main floor, there I stood,

feeling the mad excitement

Crowds flocking to front

No burden was I,

my brown eyes met Keith's and Mick's

They began to rock

Photo sharing...Rolling on...

Today is the last day Lisa at  The Creative Exchange will have her Monday showcase
of photo art and many people are going to miss her.  Thank you, Lisa, for giving us the
opportunity to experiment and dare to break new ground individually via your web site.  Still a beginner and perhaps always the amateur, I am glad I discovered it when I
did and was able to participate for awhile. 
 Good luck, Lisa.
 *** The errors from yesterday ought to have been corrected now...

  During a sun break between hail storms yesterday, I snapped these photos of the swelling, drifting 
creek in my back yard which is full of debris still from the ice storm.. much of it coasted 
downstream, but what remains would be a great location for an ingenious beaver to build a 
dam, but I've never seen one here. The ducks and geese and occasional heron like to feed from the
 landing that the branches provide to the middle of the stream.

I wanted to share the broader view 
of the creek in one direction, two closer views at the "island", and then the final shot of a fallen twig being bashed by the continual little waves, careening and bouncing themselves westwardly into nearby Gravelly Lake. I simply adjusted the contrast and exposure of the top three photos.















I took the liberty of enhancing he
 last shot with picnik.com; you can clearly see all colors of the rainbow, as is true everywhere in nature. However, I really think I should have filmed a short clip of the small branch's fight, splashes all around, creating an enjoyable  babbling melody...
why didn't I think of that?

Photo Art Friday...Combining photos...

Sharing today with Bonnie's..

 

I am still thinking about the nice trip to meet two old friends in San Diego.  This will be 

a reminder of that time for many years.  Embarrassingly I did find that one could overlay photos on picnik.com ...the process was right there in front of me all the time..I was doing things the hard way! 

 I had a little trouble figuring out the fade qualities because I am new at this.  There you see us on the ferry  

(Laura, Bonnie, and myself) from Coronado in the second layer used over the photo taken on the way

 back when it was getting dark..then I add the flower by photographer Nancy Claeys...you may see something else hidden.  Any suggestions? Anyway, now that the site will be closing soon, I'm sure I'll find another I like, 

maybe even better.  

         Today was full of sunshine - tomorrow holds rain and cold, our typical fickle March weather ;)

Seattle's Underground Tour...

 Shared for the first time today with: http:One Single Impression

Past years tumble forth

buildings beneath sea level

History unclothed
Guides lead you down stairs
through tunnels lit by lamp light
A bygone era
Treasures were unearthed
ornately carved oak wood saved
Buried tools of life


Stable horses stomped
past dank stores, bars and hotels
 Place of ill repute
Men labored in mills
some sought the elusive gold
Smiling girls milked cows
Women slaved and taught
Long dresses once swept dust from
wide planked wooden floors


The first families
built a city on mud flats
at the water's edge
One can hear murmurs
of rough card games and fist fights
drinking heavy ale
Saturdays they danced
dipping to jumping music
till the first daylight


Indigenous shared
bountiful water, wildlife
Undisturbed mountains
flourishing meadows
Environment so pristine
But progress stepped in
Sad we did not know
Back then we had no vision
Should have let it be


by klr


The Seattle fire destroyed the original town in 1889.  With the subsequent flooding it was wise to rebuild the city with brick and mortar.  Having stood on shifting tideland originally, the old businesses roofs became the new stores' floors and commerce carried on.  The first buildings got new sidewalks below that permitted the use of wooden structures that remained and that became part of the new level.

Read more from  Trip Adviser Bill Speidels Underground Tour-Seattle Washington.html

Haiku Wednesday 3/7/12...

For today the word prompt for writing a haiku over at Jenn's web-site is Nature...Haiku Wednesday

Nature's own wind chime

Angel hair falls from above

whistles a C sharp


Brushed by merry breeze
Tender divine rendezvous
blissful harmony








by klr 

Tuan Nguyen Sculpture in San Diego...

 You can see more of Tuan Nguyen's art  and his biography here...

Linking to The Creative Exchange today...

Try as I might I have not been able to google and find the name of this artful statue, or the artist, near the Embarcadero in San Diego where I snapped the shot with my camera last week.  I did not write it down at the time.  But it has been fun to play with the effects on picnik.com until I reached the point in experimenting of having the "look" I was trying to achieve.  I used multiple fades and exposure adjustments but no texture so to speak yet...the original is below this one...

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ..3/04/12

     
  Prompts this week at Ashley's site are routine, music, technology, show me your style, and mismatch..

          Scavenger Hunt Sunday                           

Routine...
These days I am especially conscious of care of my feet and these are some of the tools used to keep them healthy, plus at night it's good to hydrate them by applying lotion and wearing socks to bed.

                                                                                                                                                                 

Music...

Whenever my granddaughter is here she likes to play the piano.

                                                                                                                                                           

                                                         

Technology...

CDs and DVDs are soon going to be obsolete, no doubt.

Show me your style...
Antique pitcher, mirror, lace and pearls.

                         Mismatched paisley and striped scarves.

                                      

Beachcombers...

Shown at:  http://pixeldustphotoart.blogspot.com/ 

The above photo is a poor shot.  My two friends had gone down to the water while I waited, somewhat fatigued and wearing the boot the podiatrist told me to wear until my heel is healed.  But I don't know why I did not move closer for a better shot??

When I arrived home I decided I wanted to still capture that moment with what I had, so I used all the effects I found on picnik.com to come up with something worth saving as a memoir of our visit.  I'm trying to decide which of the various results is my favorite and I think I've found it.

Which is yours?

Click to enlarge.

Mine is the last one or the one with 

sepia and sun...does it

 deserve a frame I wonder...

Last but not least I went back today and used the hypnotic effect and lo and behold, a clam shell!