Columbia River Gorge in Autumn

The Columbia River Gorge in northwestern Oregon is especially beautiful in the Fall.

The Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range.
It's 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep with the north canyon walls in Washington State and the south canyon walls in Oregon State.

On any given night, more than 1,400 sleep on Portland's streets. Homeless people can be adults, young people, couples or families with children. They are living on the streets, either temporarily or long-term, for a variety of reasons.

They may be homeless because of an untreated mental illness, a physical disability, domestic violence, the loss of a job, or an addiction. Some may be experiencing a financial crisis and have been evicted from their home. Others may have cycled in and out of homelessness or are chronically homeless, having lived on the streets for many months or even years.

Portland After Dark

A visit to Portland Oregon, the Willamette Valley and the Columbia River Gorge would not be complete without a photograph of the Portland skyline at night. I shot this on Friday evening just past dark from the Eastbank Esplanade. Flanking the Willamette River and between the Steel Bridge and the Hawthorne Bridge was a ideal spot to shoot from. Tripod mounted 2.5 sec at f/16.

The Willamette Valley is protected from Pacific storms on the west by the Coast Range. On the east the Cascade Range draws the boundary between the Willamette Valley’s misty, cool climate and the drier, more extreme climate of eastern Oregon. The often pernickety Willamette Valley climate is truly the Promised Land for my favorite Pinot Noir’s in America.

As autumn commences in the Columbia River Gorge, the colors are in fact quite impressive. The landscape is fast changing and the beautiful trees of green, yellow and red are everywhere. It’s somewhat like in the Judy Garland film, Wizard of Oz, when everything changes from black and white to vivid color.

Sunset

Watching an Eternal Autumn Sunset (by Dan Mathews)

There is damp grass underneath
Broad strokes of Red and Orange overhead
Ever fading into pale blue
against blackened pines and wilted oaks
whose most noble purpose
is now to latch onto my memory

The sun neither dips nor rises
The chilled breeze pierces
it etches it's will into me
I am translucent against the backdrop of it's
Majesty

The contours of my face
are lit with a poor reflection
that even though poor creates me again
my skin and hair, eyes and soul become
as one portrait
It is dark where I am
And so I look to the light

You unmake me
as I am caught gazing into eternity
Watching an Eternal Autumn Sunset

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Dale Chihuly Tree

I really cannot identify the type of this beautiful Dale Chihuly tree, But I want several in my yard.

Creative Thought

"I roamed the countryside searching for answers to things I did not understand. Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with the imprints of coral and plants and seaweed usually found in the sea. Why the thunder lasts a longer time than which causes it and why immediately on its creation the lightning becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life." ~Leonardo Da Vinci~

Flowers

I thought that I would show you something that I have been working on. I have been collaborating with Yvonne Gaudet a graduate of the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She is an accomplished artist and teacher. I combine my photography with her paint. I start with photographs of flowers that I shot at Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach. After manipulating my photograph in Adobe Photoshop, I print it on Epson velvet fine art paper. I had to purchase a professional wide format printer that uses pigment dye ink. After printing, it is painted with acrylics. I am so much better with a paint roller than a brush or palette knife, but I am really passionate about it and hopefully someday will paint.

JOB 12: 7-9

“Ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?”

Yvonne

blah blah blah

I really do question what this gull is trying to communicate. What I got out of this one sided banter is Nag, Nag, Nag, but I'm sure that it is more profound than that. This poor and unfortunate guy justly doesn't merit the tongue lashing he’s getting.

Spiritual Sunsets

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. ~Wayne Dyer~

Crown of Thorns

Photographed in the gardens at Swami's in Encinitas, Ca. (the Self Realization Fellowship retreat)

The beautiful Crown of Thorns plant is a woody, spiny, climbing succulent shrub with shoots reaching a height of 6 feet. Leaves are found primarily on young growth,and the plant may defoliate completely if put under moisture or temperature stress. This plant flowers nearly all year, and especially in the winter. The flowers are small and inconspicuous, but the brightly colored modified leaves (bracts) found just beneath the flowers are quite attractive.

My web site

Please visit my web site, My Life in Pictures and in Thought

Lesser Goldfinch

Each time I go outside, there are new things to hear and see. My raucous friends are the hummingbirds, whose behavior is almost like a game. My alpha male Rufous is back from his winter migration to Mexico. With his rich bronze plumage, iridescent scarlet throat, and the determination of a football linebacker, this guy thinks he owns the hummingbird feeder and quickly chases away all rivals. The large feisty Crows caw incessantly (beginning at the crack of dawn) and perch in the tall trees as well as use my bird bath as a means to soften food that he has probably acquired from the neighbors trash. Always one can hear the calm and soothing cooing of the Mourning dove. The Goldfinches have a most beautiful song and I guess that after so much singing, a drink of water from my fountain is in order.