Tulip Festival

The annual Skagit Tulip Festival is underway in the Pacific Northwest. Last Sunday (April 22, 2012) we drove up to snap a few pictures. The weather was just perfect and we were impressed with the flowers. Please click on the photos for the larger view. As always, we appreciate your comments and thank you for stopping by John's Island.

We found the random red among the yellow to be a curious fascination. A close-up is shown further below.

Space Needle Lunch - 50 Years Ago

Hello followers and visitors. Tomorrow, April 21, 2012, will be the 50th Anniversary -- Opening Day of the Seattle World's Fair, aka Century 21 Exposition. I'm celebrating with some memories of my own trip to Seattle in 1962. My mother and I traveled by train from Texas to attend the Fair. We had lunch at the Space Needle and a photographer snapped our picture. When we arrived back home we received the little memory folder shown below.

Opening up the folder shows us dining in "the eye of the needle" restaurant. (Be sure to click on photo for a larger view.) And take a look at that photo of downtown Seattle in 1962!

The postmark on the back of the mailer is dated July 19, 1962, and postage was only 4 cents! The Space Needle even had their own postmark.

Wow, time sure flies! Fifty years already. Thanks for stopping by John's Island.

Moonset and Sunrise in the Emerald City

Welcome followers and visitors! Earlier this morning we looked out our little window on the world to find clear skies and the full moon setting. We were lucky to catch the sight as the moon was getting near the horizon and slipping down between the skyscrapers. Below, a couple of photos show the scene. Then, a while later, the rising sun is nicely reflected in Two Union Tower. Thankfully, Two Union's exterior is largely like a mirror that shows us what's going on in the eastern sky, which is not part of our window's view. Most of you probably live in areas where clear skies are common, but not so much so here in the Emerald City. So, the combination of sun, moon, and sky conditions made it all pretty special.

As always, thank you for stopping by John's Island.

The "Narrows"

Hello followers and visitors! We recently had an opportunity to visit Portland, Oregon, and decided to go via the train. Along a portion of the route near Tacoma, Washington, the rails are located right along the edge of Puget Sound. At one point we slipped under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and snapped these pics with the iPhone.**  The Narrows Bridge is truly a beautiful landmark that really doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves. It's very similar in design to the Golden Gate.

From the same trip, here are a few more "trackside" photos ...

Puget Sound ...

Typical countryside away from cities ...

Couldn't resist including this one.  Although completely out-of-focus, we like the composition and red barn out in such a green field beyond the trees.

Thank you for stopping by John's Island.

** For more iPhoneography see our previous posts.

Sunset on 2nd Day of Spring

A glowing sunset, March 21, 2012, Seattle, Washington

Thanks for stopping by John's Island.

Springtime

Hello followers and visitors. Those of you who have been with us for a while know the story:  It's time to celebrate the start of another season.  We started last summer with S S Porter's classic postcard series from 1906. Porter used his artistic skills to illustrate the seasons with some friendly-looking bears. Today is the first day of Spring and so we feature the bears under the umbrella. Here at Island Headquarters we could have used that umbrella almost any day for the last long while! We wish all of you a joyful Spring.

Those of you who are into vintage cards will want to see the reverse. (Click on pictures to see a larger view.)  In this instance we can see that the card was never mailed, but the postage was sure right:  one cent in the US, two cents Foreign.

Now, if you're curious to see the other cards in the series once again, here are some handy links ...

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring Forward and iPhoneography II

Hello followers and visitors!  For those of you in affected areas (and you will know who you are), this weekend is the time to spring forward.  John's Island is happy to provide this reminder for your pillow Saturday night ...

Now that we have taken care of saving time, let's move on to some more iPhoneography! For those of you stopping by here for the first time, our last post was all about using the iPhone to snap convenient photos. Digging back in the archives, here are a few more to share, all taken with the iPhone, and all from 2009 ...

iPhoneography II

People seem to like to share photos of what they are eating.  I remember this meal well ... it was lunch at Geraldine's Counter in the Columbia City area of Seattle.  It was my first time to enjoy their famous corn beef sandwich and it was so delicious.  I've returned often for repeats!

On the same day I went down to Geraldine's, while walking through that neighborhood, I passed a simple, but gorgeous, front yard garden.  Some people really know how to make an ordinary spot into something special.

Catching a chopper above downtown created this photo.  I know those rotor blades are not really curved like they look.  So, what is the phenomena that makes them appear this way?

I've been fascinated with fire trucks since I was a kid. One of the good things about living in the city is knowing they are nearby. On this day, Ladder 10 was parked right outside our garage.  Glad I had the iPhone to snap this pic.  Note the "No Parking" sign ... I think the "Parking Enforcement" officer will give them a pass.

Happened to be up in Vancouver, BC, Canada, at Canada Place the day Sapphire Princess arrived with a whale trapped by the bulbous bow of the ship.  This is an excellent example of the need to always have a camera along. I snapped this just as they were pulling the whale away. For perspective be sure to notice the man on deck of the tug in the center. This was a BIG whale.  It is extremely rare for ships to strike whales, but it does happen.

I like this shot of the Space Needle with a bit of lens flare.

Two sunset shots I like ... and the pictures only happened because I had the phone along ...

This reminds me of a very pleasant summer morning ... ah, yes, summers in the Northwest ...

And I do recall this beautiful flower arrangement that caught my eye at one of the garden shops ... but I just now noticed the price tag ... dang, that was pricey!

I recall snapping this little pic off another device, in the summer of '09, but I don't recall the name of the storm.  Just a little reminder that some places have some serious summer weather!

Light rail, or heavy, I enjoy riding trains.  And the scenery around them ...

And this seems like a good one to close with. Looking out the back window of the Sounder Commuter train en route to Tacoma early one morning.  This was just a gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier and it really turned out to be one of my favorite pictures.

As always, thank you for stopping by John's Island.