We have a clump of Madrona trees in our yard, and the peeling bark is so unusual. The bright green of the inner bark really stood out today, so I tried different exposures and focus to see what the new camera would do.

With the manual focus I was able to get within an inch - pretty amazing! Of course, if you didn't know that it was tree bark, you wouldn't know what it was, but it's an interesting photo as an abstract, too.

And this is another of the trunks, showing how the bark begins to peel at the branches.

Wow - a picture perfect postcard day! This is Holmes Harbor, where I stopped for lunch today. The smooth water reflects the clouds and sailboats as the tide recedes.

The crows were chasing the seagulls around and stealing their clams, then telling any who would listen all about it from the tops of the trees.

I tried out the zoom on the new camera, taking this shot of Buzz from across the room. It looks great, but you can sure see how he's aging - mostly around the muzzle. A bit of grey on his chin. . . . Of course, the nose is just dirty from digging in the dust.

As I write, the coyotes are really howling and yipping it up out there, and it's not even a full moon. Buzz is adding his chorus to the cacophony.

MMy new camera came yesterday, but I haven't had time to get out and play with it! Boo-hoo! But, I'm sure I'll put it to work soon enough. It's a Canon A710-IS, and it's got a couple more pixels and double the zoom of my last camera, the Canon A85, which David has claimed. I've been really happy with the Canons, and look forward to many, many wonderful photos.

My friend Deb and I went shopping in Anacortes today. We get together a couple of times a year and go somewhere to visit the antique shops, and other fun stores. We always have a fun time, and today was no exception. On the drive there, we stopped at a little county park called Sharpe Park. It had a delightful trail through the woods, past a large wetland replete with cattails, bulrush, open water and ducks. The trail went on out to high, rocky bluffs overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the San Juan Islands. It was pretty, and we passed this log full of colorful bracket fungi along the way.

Coming home, we stopped at West Beach in Oak Harbor, where the waves were breaking against this quite beautiful graffiti breakwater wall. There had been something quite large here in the past, but only remnants remained to defy the elements. It was fun trying to catch the spray from the waves, with an added bonus when the seagulls flew right at me.

Cloudy and cool today - it's going to be cooler than normal all week. This summer has been very different - we had one week of abnormally hot weather, one week of abnormally cold and wet, one week of normal sun, but mostly cooler than normal. I hope it gets back to normal soon!

We went down to the beach tonight to fish for salmon again, but no luck. A couple of guys caught some small ones, but only one keeper. The sea lion was there again, and it looked like he caught one - there was a lot of splashing and carrying-on out there! The water was calm and clear, washing over the stones.

And then this giant container ship went out - sure makes the Puget Sound look small.

The Alpacas at the Greenbank Farm have recently been sheared, and they look so silly with their big fluffy heads and feet! But they are very sweet, and when I stopped to take their photos, they came over to see if I had anything to eat. They had to lift their heads up to see out from under all that fluff!

There are quite a few Alpacas pastured here, but these three guys were separated from the rest. Probably the Bad Boys! The Greenbank Farm is a community farm, and has some businesses in it's buildings, and hosts many events over the year. In the past, it was the largest loganberry farm in the country, and while there are still some loganberry fields, and there's the annual Loganberry Festival, they aren't grown commercially any more. They rent out the fields now, and the alpacas are in some of them.

Suze & I went to the Anacortes Arts & Crafts show today - weather was perfect, there were lots of great booths, and we had a fun time. Here she is trying on hats - we each got one to wear, and she got some extras for Jon and herself. They are really lightweight and have wide brims and a long back to cover your neck, and are SPF 50 or so. Comfortable to wear, even if they aren't the height of fashion!

I found some good Christmas gifts - it's always nice to get some early shopping in!