Happy New Year

Posted 10 years ago today on my YouTube channel.

Happy New Year to All.

John

Visit Yellowstone 140 Years Ago

Through Yellowstone National Park

Published 1883

> Click on images for larger view <

Can you imagine travel 140 years ago?

Merry Christmas

Holiday Greetings to all of you. I thought the decorations on some of the boats in the marina worth sharing.

 And a winter sunset I enjoyed ...

Have a great day. Comments are off for this post ... will return on the next.

Oregon Coast

Cannon Beach, Oregon

I spent most of last week at The Stephanie Inn in Cannon Beach, Oregon. From Seattle, it's about a 4 hour drive south. Reservations must be made well in advance, so we didn't know what kind of weather we would encounter. As it turned out, an "atmospheric river" blessed us with more rain and wind than we expected. Although walks on the beach were limited, it was still a fascinating time to be on the ocean's edge.

The Stephanie Inn is located very close to Haystack Rock.  Haystack is a 235 ft-tall (72 m) sea stack. It is the third-tallest such intertidal structure in the world. A popular tourist destination on the Oregon Coast, the monolithic rock is adjacent to the beach and accessible by foot at low tide. The Haystack Rock tide pools are home to many intertidal animals, including starfish, sea anemone, crabs, chitons, limpets, and sea slugs. The rock is also a nesting site for many sea birds, including terns and puffins.

My walks on the beach leave me with so many questions and concerns about how our human activities are affecting our environment. The image below illustrates my concerns. Every wave brings a new deposit of flotsam and jetsam to the beach. 

Flotsam and jetsam are terms that describe two types of marine debris associated with vessels. Flotsam is defined as debris in the water that was not deliberately thrown overboard, often as a result from a shipwreck or accident. Jetsam describes debris that was deliberately thrown overboard by a crew of a ship in distress, most often to lighten the ship's load. The word flotsam derives from the French word flotter, to float. Jetsam is a shortened word for jettison.

In the image above, notice all the little bits of plastic. On one walk, I collected a handful of these bits of debris, brought them inside, cleaned them up, and staged them for the picture below. I've often heard that beach walkers like to keep an eye out for a bottle with a message in it. At first, I was amused to find the mini liquor bottle, even though, no message was inside. In truth, it's a sad comment on human behavior. Amongst all the bits on the sand there are also some from nature like the tiny plant parts and driftwood.

My favorite visitor was the gull below. Is it a HE or a SHE? 😊 When you try to look it up, you'll find this:  It can be difficult to tell the difference between male and female seagulls. In most species, they have similar physical characteristics and plumage. Keep reading and you'll find details that lead me to believe it is a SHE. If you think otherwise, please let me know why you think so!

See more critters at Saturday's Critters.

How about some roasted marshmallows while watching the waves roll in? Yes, the Inn provides a couple of sticks and marshmallows.

Closing thought ...

Dinner in the Diner 100 Years Ago

Chairman's Special - Western Trip - October, 1923

Heaven's Peak from Granite Park
Glacier National Park

Dinner Menu - Friday, October 12, 1923
Great Northern Railway
Chairman's Special - Western Trip
> Grape Sherbet <

History Lesson:  Louis W. Hill was Chairman of the Board of the Great Northern Railway in 1923. One of Louis’ greatest legacies was his enthusiastic promotion of tourism and the national park system. He maintained an interest in the American Indian tribes of Montana and became a collector of Blackfoot material, now housed in the Science Museum of Minnesota.

New Art

Fun with A I

I spotted an image I like on the web and made a screenshot. I uploaded the screenshot to ChatGPT and asked it to turn the image into a drawing. The result is below ...

I found the result interesting. So, next, I uploaded one of my own photos showing the scene from Seattle across Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains. Again, I asked for a drawing ...

Here are the results, including some variations ...

Interesting the way it put the flag on a boat.

Requesting no boats.
But there are some ... moored to piers.

Put the mountains more in the distance.

The pencil sketch is really nice!

What are your thoughts on this? 😊

November Skies

Unusually Dry November

November 16, 2023   4:26PM
My view is looking west from Seattle,
across Puget Sound, to Bainbridge Island,
and, in the distance, the Olympic Mountains.

November 24  5:07PM
In the view is Elliott Bay Marina,
where more than 1000 sailboats are moored. 

November 24  3:18PM
In this view a cross-Sound ferry crosses
the sun's reflection.

Space Needle Webcam
November 24 early morning screenshot

Note - November 28:  The last 6 days have been exceptionally unusual for Seattle. We've had 6 days of mostly sunny skies, dry and cool. This is only the 3rd time this kind of weather has occurred, for this time in November, since official records started in 1870.

I know ... it's not a sky photo. 😊
But, I just had to include it.
While on one of my walks, I spotted this leaf.
It impressed me that the leaf was still attached to
its "petiole" ... I didn't even know what to call it
until I got home and Googled it.
Have you ever seen a petiole that long?  😊

Western Adventure - 97 Years Ago

Riding the Ridge of the Rockies - 1926

Click on images for larger view.