Home Of The Eagles

Earlier this month, I posted a photo of the front doors to the public high school. I also took a picture of the front of the gym, so you're getting that, too. :)

The high school is indeed the home of the Eagles, the name of the sports teams for the school. Not that I need to point that out... after all, it would be rather silly of the school to put the eagle and the text if the school were, say, home of the Badgers. So I'll just shut up now.

Well, except to say if you click on the image and then click 'all sizes' you can see a bigger version, if you're interested in seeing the artwork a bit better.

Early Morning

I took this very early one morning (before 6am) just as it was starting to get light prior to the sun making its first appearance for the day. It looks out over a farm on E. Santiam St.

I am anything but a morning person, so I want you to fully appreciate the sacrifice I made to be out at that time of day. ;)

A Visit To Cartwright's Music & Repair

Cartwright's Music & Repair Shop will be closing its retail doors in a few weeks time. This is a major bummer. So I stopped by on Saturday during the SummerFest to get a few shots in while I was in the neighborhood.

There were a lot of folks in the shop taking advantage of the major sale, so I didn't get many photos taken. I'm hoping to go back before the store closes.

In the photo above, Ken was explaining to a customer the merits of various types of bows. It all sounded perfectly reasonable to me, not that I recall now what was said. But you can be darned sure Ken knew what he was taking about.

Click here to view more photos I took at the shop.

Thanks to Ken for letting me come in and take pictures from time to time. I really appreciate it.

Santiam SummerFest Car Show

As promised yesterday, today's post is of the car show at the Santiam SummerFest street fair held Saturday here in town.

The car show was held in Neitling Park, and there were a ton of cars. I couldn't even begin to get to all of them, but I did get shot of about 40 cars. And as an added bonus, I actually have most them accurately labeled, with year, manufacturer, and model! Thank goodness for the ID cards in the windows of the cars.

In case you were wondering, the car in the photo above is a 1965 Ford Cobra. I love Cobras.

Check out the Flickr photoset of the event for several more car show photos.

Tomorrow I'll be posting some photos from Cartwright's Music Shop, which will (unfortunately) be closing in a few weeks.

Santiam SummerFest

Yesterday, I attended the annual Santiam SummerFest in historic downtown Stayton.

There were a lot of people, a lot of interesting booths, a lot of awesome food, and other great stuff. I've created a Flickr photoset of the event showcasing some of the sights. Visit, view, be entertained.

In related news, the photos from the Santiam Gallery of Photography photo contest were on display in the YMCA lobby. There were some great entries, and I enjoyed viewing the various photos. And thank you to the judges for choosing some of mine as winners. I very much appreciate it.

Below are photos of my photos (how very meta) on display at the YMCA. Thanks to StaytonEvents.com for sponsoring the contest, and to Dave (creator of Stayton Events) for dropping off my photos and ribbons after the SummerFest was over. You rock, Dave.

   
Tomorrow I'll post photos from the car show at the SummerFest, and the day after I'll have a few photos from Cartwright's Music, which will be going out of business next month.

All I Have

Flower photo time. I had to do it... it's too pretty to not post. I found it in a flower pot in front of the City Hall.

In other news, today is the SummerFest here in town. If you go, please stop by the YMCA to see the entrants and winners of the Santiam Gallery of Photography contest sponsored by StaytonEvents.com. I might be biased, since I entered and apparently won a ribbon or two. :) Really, check it out and support it and hopefully the contest will be back next year.

Expect some photos from the SummerFest tomorrow and probably the day after that.

Joni Harms In Concert

Last night I attended the first concert in the brand new Mill Creek Concert Series, a series of free concerts put together by Ken Cartwright.

Last night's performer was renowned western music singer Joni Harms from Canby, Oregon. She put on a great show, and was very kind and accommodating to her fans (including a certain someone with a camera - thanks for putting up with me, Ms. Harms. :) ).

There was a great turn out for the event, and the local Moose lodge provided hot dogs and hamburgers. It was a fun time.

You can view photos from the concert via my Flickr photoset of the event (including Ms. Harms' talented and absolutely adorable children, Olivia and Luke), can read more about the concert series at StaytonEvents.com, and can visit Ms. Harms' web site at joniharms.com.

Thanks to Ken Cartwright and the sponsors of the event. I look forward to attending more concerts this year, and in future years.

A note about the photos: I kinda had my camera set to 800 ISO without realizing it, so forgive the noise reduction (a.k.a smoothing) I had to do on the images. And I need a better telephoto lens. And I'm whining, so I'll shut up now. ;)

Torn

This bit of sunset two nights ago was situated between clouds and the ground, looking like it was being torn from the sky. This was taken at the corner of 3rd Ave. and Fern Ridge Rd.

Police Department

I'm not sure when it happened, but I noticed the other day the police department on 3rd Ave. had a bit of a face lift. It used to be one could only see a vague outline of the words 'police department'... it was so faint, in fact, I didn't even realize it was actually there until I took a photo of it once and noticed it when I viewed the photo later on my computer.

So it's all snazzy now. As snazzy as a box-shaped building like this can be without some serious renovation, that is. :)

Golden Stairway

The stairway leads to the second floor above either Jensen-Kreitzer on 3rd Ave., or one of the buildings next to it. It happened to be open when I passed by it.

Note: I played with the colors in the image... the original had a golden tone to it, so I played it up some.

Center Of Attention

This little flower was sitting in a flower pot outside of City Hall yesterday. It's a little past its prime, but it's still adorable. There is beauty in imperfection.

By the way, I saw "The Dark Night" yesterday. It rocks. :)

America, Encapsulated

I took the image above during the town parade on the 4th of July. There were a lot of flags in the parade, both big and small.

I'm aware some folks outside of the United States are curious as to why we Americans are so fond of our flag. Each part of the flag means something -- the 50 stars represent the 50 states in our country, the thirteen stripes represent the original thirteen colonies, and so on -- but what's more, it's a symbol of our national pride. It's not an easy thing to explain, and it's not based on conceit or elitism or ego (it may not seem like it at present, but it is true). It's just a very basic part of who we are as a nation.

The U.S. isn't perfect, and we have things in our country's history of which to be ashamed, but overall, I think we do pretty well. And I am proud to be an American.

Thus concludes my random tangent into patriotism. We now resume your regularly scheduled photo blog. ;)

The Brown House Under Construction

I passed by the Charles and Martha Brown House a few days ago, and noticed it was being worked on so I thought I'd take a picture. It's great to see it making progress, as a like of volunteer man hours have gone into restoring it. See the Brown House web site for more information on what they're doing and why.

I attended an open house at the Brown House a few months ago, if you'd like to see some of the inside.

Another Stro's Wednesday Nite Cruse-In

As I threat... um, promised yesterday, here are some shots I took at the latest Stro's Wednesday Nite Cruise-In.

The car in the above photo is a 1959 Edsel convertible. The car at right is something else entirely. What that something else is, I haven't a clue. As usual. I only knew the first one because there was a helpful sign in the window of the car.

I've uploaded more photos to my Flickr photoset of the event, though I still have more to process. I'll add them to the set tomorrow, and possibly the next day.

Stro's Wednesday Nite Cruise-In

I attended another classic car cruise-in (see the event's web site) last night at the A&W. I haven't processed most of the photos yet, but I did get a photo of the ring leader, Russ Strohmeyer (left -- didn't get the name of his assistant). He emcees each event, and raffles off donated prizes to raise money for the Brent Strohmeyer Memorial Foundation, which gives college scholarships to area students.

I had a bit of a winning streak during the raffle. I bought six tickets, and ended up winning three times. I gave two of the winning tickets to a couple of kids, as did other multiple winners.

As a point of interest, Russ is also an extremely talented professional portrait photographer.

Tomorrow I'll post more photos of the cars at the show, but for now, please visit the handful I have up in a Flickr photoset.

A Welcome Change

I took the above two nights ago. We've had rather warm summer weather recently, so the clouds (and accompanying breeze) were a welcome change.

I would also like to point out the picture is flipped horizontally, which I just noticed. I can't replace it on the server it's presently hosted, so just pretend it's flipped the other way. :)

Walk Through Summer

I posted a photo of these trees in Neitling Park in May, when they were showing off their spring colors. I thought it might be nice to revisit the park in a different season. I'm hoping to remember to do this this autumn and winter, as well.

Triple The Fun

This lovely trio of Harley-Davidson motorcycles was parked just off of 3rd Ave. on my way home from the library foundation party I attended on Saturday. I, of course, am inexplicably attracted to such creatures, so it was physically impossible for me to not stop and take a picture.

Stayton Public Library Expansion Birthday Party

Yesterday was the first birthday party of the expansion to the Stayton Public Library. They had cake (yum), ice cream (more yum), face painting, and a bouncy castle thing for the kids.

Visit my Flickr photoset of the event for pictures of some of the Library Foundation members, Dave from StaytonEvents.com, various party-goers, balloons, face painting of adorable children, and more.

Note to Greg: the photos of your incredibly cute grandkids are available in original size on Flickr, if you want to download them. :)

Stayton Public Library

Today between 2 and 4pm, the Stayton Public Library Foundation is hosting a 1st birthday party of the expansion which was completed last year. The photo above was used on a postcard the Foundation sent out to folks to promote the party.

I'll be at the party for at least a few minutes (gotta take some photos, of course), if the heat doesn't kill me off first. Hope to see you there.

Saint Mary Elementary

It occurred to me I've never posted a photo of Saint Mary Elementary School. I honestly thought I had, but I just did a search and turned up nothing.

I went by to take a photo yesterday, and discovered they were doing a bunch of construction work to the building. So the photo is only of the main entrance, since there were trucks and workers in front of the rest.

Counting Blue Cars

I like to take pictures of cars and other vehicles (see the vehicles section of this blog). I'm not sure why, exactly. I've never actually driven a car, truck, or motorcycle (just a little scooter), so maybe it's a fascination with something I can't have. Dunno.

What I do know is if I see a nifty looking vehicle, I take its picture. As usual, I don't know what kind of car this is, except it has a Chevrolet emblem on the hood. I spotted it on 3rd Ave., near the elementary school.

It was also in the 4th of July parade, but my photos of it didn't come out very well. Imagine it with American flags stuck on it in various locations.

Trees On The Hill

It's time once again to visit my favorite trees in town -- the twin oak trees off of 10th Ave., near the hospital. The last time I posted a shot of them was in April (and you can find a list of other previous posts of the trees here).

This shot of the trees is totally different because I took it from the opposite side I normally do. I know, a wild and wacky change up.

Softly She Whispers

I had been waiting for some time for some lilies in my yard to bloom, so you'll have to forgive me for posting a shot or two of them. I also bought a water mister thing which creates very nifty little water droplets, so I kinda couldn't help myself on that front, too.

A word of warning -- if anyone sees some lady spraying a water mister on random things around town and then taking pictures, do not be alarmed. I'm sure my new found obsession will pass. Eventually.

Stayton High School

This is the main entrance to the public high school on Locust St. I've never taken a picture of the front entrance that I can remember. It kinda figures it didn't occur to me to do it until now -- when school's out for the summer.

Fireworks On The 4th Of July

(See more fireworks photos!)

As promised yesterday, today I'm posting the fireworks photos I took of the town fireworks display on the 4th of July. The display moved locations this year, from the high school to the middle school, which turned out to be a great place to view the fireworks. I was feet from where the fireworks were launched, and I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

The bumps at the bottom of the photo above are people's heads. There were a lot of said heads at the show, along with the rest of their bodies.

I also created a collage (click on the thumbnail at left to see it large) of several of the fireworks. It's part of the Flickr photoset I've created for the event.

Hugo over at My Left Nut has posted a great video of the fireworks, plus a video slideshow. He also posted a video slideshow of the town parade. Very cool stuff.

2008 4th Of July Parade

(See more photos!)

I hope those in the United States had a great holiday yesterday. I celebrated by attending the town parade in the afternoon (see above) and fireworks show in the evening. I'll have photos of the fireworks tomorrow.

The theme for the parade was "Freedom Is Not Free." There were a lot of service members and veterans, plus a wide assortment of floats, animals, etc. I've created a Flickr photoset of the event, and I hope you'll stroll through to see some of the sights.

Happy Independence Day!

For those of you in the United States, I hope you have a very happy and safe day, celebrating our country's birthday. To those of you in other parts of the world, I hope you also have a happy and safe day, doing whatever it is you're doing today. :)

I plan on attending the town parade today, and possibly the fireworks display tonight. The display will be held in a new location this year, so I'm not entirely sure where the best place to view it from will be. I may just watch the Portland fireworks stuff on TV and call it a night. :)

The Highest Point In Town

This is Stayton's water tower. I've posted a couple of photos of it before. And now I'm doing it again. Gosh, friends, this is such exciting stuff. Or not.

Have I mentioned recently how very much I appreciate user submissions (see the guest photographers section for previous submissions), and would love it if you have a Stayton area photo you'd like to share? And that you can find the submission info under the heading 'To Contribute'? And that I would be forever thankful if you did submit something and you'd get full credit and retain your copyright of the image?

Scatterbrained

Yes, friends, it is time once again for a flower macro. The above is a St. John's Wort flower. Or a Hypericum Calycinum, if you want to be technical. It has a variety of names, actually, but I won't bore you with all of them.

You should be impressed I know this, because I usually don't. I didn't even have to go searching for the name. Nope. Not this year, at least. I did look it up last year when I first found them, but that was so 2007.

DP Theme Day: "No . . ." Signs

It's city daily photo theme day time again. Today's theme is "no" signs which can be found around town. I have to say I had trouble finding them, which was a bit of a surprise to me. A happy surprise, in fact, which means I had to go in search of the negative and didn't come up with much. That's rather cool.

The 'no skateboarding' signs where in parking lots, on sidewalks, or on the covered bridge in town, the private property sign was on a fence near a house, the no dumping sign was above a dumpster behind a business, the no solicitors sign was on a bed and breakfast, and the no swimming sign was over a water canal where it simply isn't safe to swim. All in all, pretty reasonable stuff.

A whole bunch of other city daily photo blogs are participating in today's theme, so give 'em a look see by following the links below:

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Ararat, Australia by freefalling, Arradon, France by Alice, Ashton under Lyne, UK by Pennine, Aspen (CO), USA by IamMBB, Athens, Greece by Debbie, Auckland, New Zealand by Lachezar, Austin (TX), USA by LB, Avignon, France by Nathalie, Bandung, Indonesia by Harry Makertia, Barrow-in-Furness, UK by Enitharmon, Barton (VT), USA by Andree, Belgrade, Serbia by Bibi, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Bicheno, Australia by Greg, Birmingham (AL), USA by VJ, Bogor, Indonesia by Gagah, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Brantford (ON), Canada by Nancy, Brighton, UK by Harvey, Brookville (OH), USA by Abraham, Bucaramanga, Colombia by Fernando, Bucharest, Romania by Malpraxis, Budapest, Hungary by agrajag, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Canterbury, UK by Rose, Cavite, Philippines by Steven Que, Chandler (AZ), USA by Melindaduff, Château-Gontier, France by Laurent, Cheltenham, UK by Marley, Chennai, India by Ram N, Chennai, India by Shantaram, Chesapeake (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Christchurch, New Zealand by Michelle, Cincinnati, USA by Erik Laursen, Cleveland (OH), USA by iBlowfish, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Corsicana (TX), USA by Lake Lady, Delta (CO), USA by Bill, Duluth (MN), USA by Sun Dog Press, Durban, South Africa by CrazyCow, East Gwillimbury, Canada by Your EG Tour Guide, Edinburgh, UK by Dido, Folkestone, UK by Piskie, Forks (WA), USA by Corinne, Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA by Gigi, Gaia, Portugal by m+p, Geneva (IL), USA by Kelly, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Gun Barrel City (TX), USA by Lake Lady, Hampton (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Haninge, Sweden by Steffe, Hanoi, Vietnam by Jérôme, Helsinki, Finland by Kaa, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Hyde, UK by Gerald, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Jerusalem, Israel by Esther, Katonah (NY), USA by Inkster1, Knoxville (TN), USA by Knoxville Girl, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Edwin, Kyoto, Japan by Tadamine, Lakewood (OH), USA by mouse, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Las Vegas (NV), USA by Mo, Lisbon, Portugal by Maria João, London, UK by Ham, London, UK by Mo, Lynchburg (VA), USA by Timothy, Mainz, Germany by JB, Melbourne, Australia by John, Menton, France by Jilly, Mexico City, Mexico by Carraol, Mexico City, Mexico by Poly, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Mitch, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Greg, Misawa, Japan by misawa mama, Monroe (GA), USA by Tanya, Monrovia (CA), USA by Keith, Monte Carlo, Monaco by Jilly, Monterrey, Mexico by rafa, Mumbai, India by MumbaiiteAnu, Munich, Germany by Troy, Nashville (TN), USA by Chris, Nelson, New Zealand by Meg and Ben, New Delhi, India by Delhi Photo Diary, New Orleans (LA), USA by steve buser, New York City (NY), USA by • Eliane •, Newcastle, Australia by Julia, Newport News (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Norfolk (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Norwich, UK by Goddess888, Ocean Township (NJ), USA by Josy, Oklahoma City (OK), USA by ananda.tashie, Orlando (FL), USA by OrlFla, Palos Verdes (CA), USA by tash, Paris, France by Eric, Pasadena (CA), USA by Petrea, Pasadena (CA), USA by Can8ianben, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by Murphy_jay, Petoskey (MI), USA by Christie, Phoenix (AZ), USA by Cheryl, Poplar Bluff (MO), USA by Tricia, Port Angeles (WA), USA by Jelvistar, Portland (ME), USA by Corey, Portsmouth (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Posadas, Argentina by Lega, Pretoria, South Africa by Sam Ruth, Quincy (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Ramsey, Isle of Man by babooshka, Reykjavik, Iceland by Vírgíll, Riga, Latvia by Riga Photos, Rotterdam, Netherlands by Ineke, Rouen, France by Bbsato, Saarbrücken, Germany by LadyDemeter, Saigon, Vietnam by Simon, Saint Louis (MO), USA by Strangetastes, Salem (OR), USA by jill, Salt Lake City (UT), USA by Eric, Salt Lake City (UT), USA by atc, San Antonio (TX), USA by Kramer, San Diego (CA), USA by Felicia, San Francisco (CA), USA by PFranson, Santa Fe (NM), USA by Randem, Seattle (WA), USA by Kim, Seattle (WA), USA by Chuck, Selma (AL), USA by RamblingRound, Sequim (WA), USA by Norma, Sesimbra, Portugal by Aldeia, Setúbal, Portugal by Maria Elisa, Sharon (CT), USA by Jenny, Silver Spring (MD), USA by John, Singapore, Singapore by Keropok, Sofia, Bulgaria by Antonia, Springfield (IL), USA by Aubrey, Stanwood (WA), USA by MaryBeth, Stavanger, Norway by Tanty, Stayton (OR), USA by Celine, Stockholm, Sweden by Stromsjo, Stouffville, Canada by Ken, Stratford, Canada by Barb, Subang Jaya, Malaysia by JC, Suffolk (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Sunshine Coast, Australia by bitingmidge, Sydney, Australia by Julie, Sydney, Australia by Ann, Székesfehérvár, Hungary by Teomo, Tamarindo, Costa Rica by David, Tel-Aviv, Israel by Olga, Tempe (AZ), USA by angie, Terrell (TX), USA by Jim K, Terrell (TX), USA by Bstexas, The Hague, Netherlands by Lezard, Tokyo, Japan by Tadamine, Torun, Poland by Glenn, Toulouse, France by Julia, Trujillo, Peru by Giulianna, Turin, Italy by Livio, Twin Cities (MN), USA by Slinger, Victoria, Canada by Benjamin Madison, Vienna, Austria by G_mirage2, Virginia Beach (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Wailea (HI), USA by Kuanyin, Washington (DC), USA by D.C. Confidential, Wellington, New Zealand by Jeremyb, West Paris (ME), USA by crittoria, West Sacramento (CA), USA by Barbara, Weston (FL), USA by WestonDailyPhoto, Williamsburg (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Willits (CA), USA by Elaine,

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