And so it goes...

Soon after the last pictures were taken (that Saturday, as a matter of fact), I went on an outing to take a look at some local motor sport garages with the BMW Club. As luck is what it is, I didn't have any that day, and put a small wrinkle in the nose of my car. Very sad, very sad indeed. But, I shall have it fixed, and everything shall be hunky-dory. Enough about the car troubles, though.

Today, those of us in the Puget Sound woke up to a beautifully morning of 1 or more inches of snow on the ground. Isn't that great? All this white stuff just laying around, causing havoc for every one that needed to drive to work today. Thankfully, today I did not need to be in that mess.

In other news, Microsoft is cutting costs. Yes, I am taking a 10% pay cut effective March 1st. It really sucks, but there's not a whole lot one can do about it if one doesn't want to risk one's own tiny little arse. So, we will get by with yet a little less than before.

Here's hoping that you are doing well, aren't sick, and have work that keeps you busy.

Cool sunset, light traffic

Tonight the traffic coming home from work seemed very light. No idea why, but it was nice. We ended up back in West Seattle just after 5:30pm, and had a magnificent sunset to watch on the way over.

The first picture is looking across the lake from the beginning of the 520 floating bridge:

As we got closer, and were crossing the short draw-span, I had a moments regret at not having a high-end camera, and the ability to stop right there on the bridge, as the sunset was directly behind a church that sits on the hill. Quite the scene.

When we reached I-5 to head through town, I was able to get a couple more fairly interesting shots. I know, the clarity isn't great, but for a nearly 2-year old phone, I won't complain much. :)

This last shot is my favorite, and again, wishing I could have had a better camera and the ability to have been there, watching and taking pictures, as the scene changed...

Another wintery morning in Seattle

This morning, everyone in Seattle woke up to some of that dreaded white stuff. There was very little of it in West Seattle, and just a little more in Redmond. However it was enough to cause panic in the streets, and a couple of accidents in the middle of one of our two bridges across Lake Washington, resulting in a very slow commute...

When I arrived at work, I took a few pictures of the scenery here with my phone, and thought you all might enjoy the nice scenery...

This is what the "Red West" campus looks like when it snows just a little. The first two are in the courtyard outside the cafeteria, and the last two are from Building A's third floor east facing lounge. :)

More news (or What I did on Sunday...)

Wendy has been playing in a Bell Choir organized by one of the players/conductor from Bells of the Sound for about a year now. The group occasionally plays during Sunday sermons at the Tibbets United Methodist Church here in West Seattle. Today was to be one of those days. When The forecast began calling for snow, I volunteered to get Wendy to church on time, and also get her home afterwards.

While the sermon was going on, I went and had a cup of coffee a few blocks away at Hotwire (see previous post). One of the Baristas there was working on a Holiday Project of making artistic lattes, and after taking a picture offered it up to the people that were in the shop at the time. It was delicious... here are Before and After pics from my phone's camera (not great for close-up work) - I was very careful about drinking it...

 

I then headed back to the church after toodling around the neighborhoods seeing just how poor traction was and to have just a little fun swinging the tail around corners where there was enough room and visibility to do so... Drifting just a little, and at extremely slow speed...

When I got back to the church, I stashed the laptop under the seat, and as I was standing up, my lower back twinged in a not very pleasant way... It was kind of scary, to tell you the truth,  but I was able to stand up, and walk into the church lobby without pain, so I wasn't to worried about it then. Just a little, and it made me much more cautious there rest of the trip home. We stopped at the Farmers Market which was fairly short on vendors today (I can't imaging why, really...) and got some veggies and a little bacon for the week.

When we got home I carefully extracted the laptop from under the seat, and then as I was trying to stand up again, another twinge... this one a little bigger... Since then (about noon, or a little later) I've been sitting on ice & heat, and trying to ignore the pain in my lower back.

So, I'll be making a trip to the Doctor tomorrow if I can get in, and not doing much of anything else for a little while.

:`(

More wildlife

Here are some more wildlife pictures, since the deck is hopping with little Juncos and the hummingbird was visiting... And one or two shots from earlier this month of a Chickadee.

First off, a series of shots of the hummingbird. I didn't have the motor running, so the motion isn't quite as smooth as I would have liked, but it still gives you an idea of the movement the hummingbirds wings go through. Click the image to see the movie.

A couple still shots of the hummingbird...

The Chickadee I captured earlier:

An Oregon Junco in the snow with a sunflower seed

West Seattle Winters

Well, over here in the little part of Seattle called "West Seattle" the snow has fallen, and then the temperature dropped into the 20's. So we have a great deal of ice on the roadways making navigation a tricky business. There are some drivers that know what they are doing, and others that have no clue what to do.

Having dedicated snow tires is a definite plus. Traction exists as long as I can keep tires on stuff that isn't wet-topped sheet ice. If there's any roughness to it, and it isn't in the sun, then navigating it hasn't been to much of a problem yet. There are areas where you have to be REALLY gentle, and use the brakes rather than back-pressure to slow down, otherwise the tail tries to overtake the nose.

I've heard that there were supposed to be plows out, but I haven't seen signs of any plows yet. There was one lane of the downhill run on 35th that was sanded, but it didn't look like the uphill run had been sanded. Hopefully it will be better by the time we are heading uphill after Wendy is done with her bell choir this morning. If not, I'll be putting the chains on the car to get home. I think we should go to the Farmers Market first though. Since a bunch of the vendors have shown up, then we should do our best to make it worthwhile for them.

That's all for this morning, I'm just relaxing at a little coffee-house called "Hotwire" here on California Avenue north of the Alaska Junction. The West Seattle Blog had a coupon book, so I got a free coffee to enjoy while Wendy was busy with bells.

4pm Update - here are a few photos from our evening walk in the snow. These were all from the first few minutes, as it started to come down quite heavy, and I packed the camera into my coat to keep it dry.

Wendy & Sophia, ready for the walk:

A few neighbors porches:

A couple of snow-laden bushes:

Late Autumn Images

Here are a few more images from around the neighborhood this Autumn.

The clouds kissed by the setting sun.

 

A couple of last leaves on neighborhood trees.

Flowers in the pot outside our front door.

As always, click on the images to see high-res versions. Use the browser "Back" button to return to this page.

Waning Gibbous

These two shots are kind of for my dad. Both are very similar, but with the minor exception of being shot with two different lens combinations.

The first shot was taken with a 100-300mm Zoom with 2x extender. The extender caused the lens to not be able to accurately auto-focus, and does not have image stabilization capabilty. Manual focus was used to the best of my ability for the subject at hand... The second was taken with a 70-200 Zoom with 2x extender and image stabilization, where the extender is designed specifically for the lens and the autofocus worked flawlessly.

And now for the images... click to see full size (cropped so that they are actually viewable), and use the back button to return to this page.

Crisp skies, light clouds...

Last night, the clouds were blowing through, and allowing the moon to show its face, so grabbed the big lens, its doubler, and the tripod, and ran outside for a couple quick snapshots. The first one through a bigger hole in the clouds than the second.


This one has a nice, ethereal feel to it. :)

It's definitely Fall...

Last night the mercury dipped, and most of the Puget Sound region saw freezing temperatures over night, so this must really be Autumn... That and all the trees are making the change from green to yellow and red, and starting to drop leaves all over the place.

Here's a picture from the middle of last month, the harvest moon from September 16th:

Late February Mornings

These days there are many mornings where the fog rolls through different parts of the city. This morning was no exception. I had hoped it would be a clear morning so that I could take some good sunrise shots, but that didn't work out as I'd hope. This is what the morning started out like from our home in Highpoint.

Last night the sunset was nice. My 318iS is now sitting on it's not-frozen-weather wheels & tires, but is a little dirty. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to clean up both the cars...

Another cold morning in Seattle

This morning is just another cold cold morning in Seattle. This last weekend I put my summer wheels back on, as it was getting warm enough that the snow tires were going to start wearing much to fast.

The sun is now coming up early enough that in order to get the first hint I'm going to have to get up even earlier. However, it makes it easier to catch the sun on things, like the Downtown Seattle Skyline. Click on the image for a better view.

Sunrise, Sunset, Repeat...

It's been a while since I wrote anything here... I've been working on finally filling up a notebook that I've been working on, off and on, for over twenty years. That, and I received a really nice Waterman roller ball for Christmas that made trying to fill that notebook even more enjoyable.

I've been shooting a lot of pictures over the last couple months, mostly of weather. It is that time of year after all. That time when you are on your way to work as the sun rises, and on your way home after it sets... now that sunrise is coming earlier and sunset a little later, photo ops change a little.

Here's a few items for your enjoyment... as usual, clicking on an images will take you to a larger version.

This first set was taken December 11th, 2007 at Green Lake near the Bath House Theatre. The colors were very nice, and the weatther was actually quite mild that morning.






Another morning, after several extremely cold days, I returned for similar colors, but over a lake covered in a thin layer of ice. I found it fairly magical, and tried to capture some of the essence of the feeling in a few pictures.






A week or so later we ended up with a little snow. As I headed north on my normal commute it got thicker and thicker, until the freeway came to a sudden stop a few miles south of my normal exit. I ended up on side roads having fun in deep powder and packed snow. Many vehicles on summer tires were having difficulty with the conditions, but the little 318 on studless snow tires was easy to drive.

These images start from West Seattle, looking out from our deck, and then continue back to Green Lake again.





Now, as the time shifts back towards longer days, I was able to capture a few sunset shots on my way home a few night ago.

A couple while in the car, and a stop at the top of Queen Anne hill.






Finally, this morning's commute yielded another great sunrise, this one from West Seattle above the golf course, looking out over the plume of steam from the cement plant south of Spokane Street.



All images copyright 2008 Stephen Hughes-Jelen. Please ask for permission to reproduce in any capacity.

Sunrise in December

Taken from the north side of Greenlake at about 7:35 am this morning.