It had been a couple of weeks since I had posted an old photo so I thought it was time. This is one of my favorite of the old color photos I have. This is my sister, who is eight years older than I am standing by Dad's prize possession back then. His 1953 Packard. While he served in the Korean War Dad sent money home to his parents as he could to save up for a new car when he came home. This is what he bought. Also if you're doing the math while your reading this I would guess my sister was about six or seven in this photo. Yep, a little before I came along in 1957.

For more nostalgic photos check out Remember Whensday by clicking the link below.

I just had to post this photo for a couple of reasons. First of all, this little guy caught our attention this past weekend when we went to the Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma. Secondly I thought the vivid red in the leaves of this caladium would be a fitting shot for Ruby Tuesday.

For more Ruby Tuesday contributions from all over the world click the link below.

After leaving the conservatory in Tacoma yesterday where we took a couple hundred photos, we happened to drive by The Manila Diner. As soon as we spotted it my wife and I looked at each other and said "We have to photograph this." Of course we were thinking of Hilda over at My Manila. Hilda has one of the best blogs on the web as far as we are concerned. Always informative and educational she does a wonderful job of showing us "her Manila." She has shown us cultural events and restaurants that make your mouth water. We turned the car around, went back and took a couple of photos, then went on with our day. Today I thought I would see if they had a website to find out more about this diner, and there it was. Take a look at their menu. It looks like they have a wonderful variety of dishes to please just about anyone. This diner is right in the heart of an industrial area so they get a lot of local workers I'm sure. I decided to make this shot our contribution to Monochrome Weekly.

For more monochrome shots click the link below.

For more variations of what Scenic Sunday means to other photographers click the link below.

For more magnificent Floral Friday photos click the link below.

Yesterday as I was walking my wife to her vehicle after work she noticed a couple of "beetle like" creatures hanging around her truck. The one pictured here was actually waiting for her right by the door handle. He had beady little eyes. I knew right away this guy was stalking her. We brushed him away as well as his buddy, then headed for home. After doing a little research this evening my wife found out his true identity. It's a Western Conifer Seed Bug, also known as a Stink Bug. I found this sort of interesting. Just the other day Abe at My Canon Photography Blog posted a stink bug that looks completely different. I guess "stink" does come in all shapes and sizes.

A close up view of the Pacific Ocean waves coming in at Westport taken this past weekend. We are so fortunate for the extended summer we're having. These suds are our contribution to Watery Wednesday.

I know there are several wonderful blogs that have posted the magnificent glass of Dale Chihuly. Among them are Julie at Scottsdale Daily Photo and Meri at Photo a Day: Tacoma. Both have shown great examples of his work in various settings. One of Chihuly's favorite places to show his work is at the W.W. Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma. You may remember I showed you the conservatory in this previous post. Well, on that same visit I caught these colorful fish admiring one of his fine glass sculptures. This I present as my first contribution to Ruby Tuesday.

For other colorful Ruby Tuesday photos click here.

In yesterday's post I showed you not only a beautiful sunset to witness, but our youngest daughter taking time for "Just one more time pleeeeease." Well, usually it's the younger sister wanting to know why big sis gets to do things or go places she doesn't. Not this time. When our oldest daughter saw yesterday's photo I think the green monster started to rear it's ugly head. So, here she is in her blogging debut, and in all her glory, the star of my Monochrome Weekly.

For more amazing monochrome shots click the link below.

My wife and I both work on Saturdays so that leaves Sunday for family day. We decided to head over to the coast and let the kids fly kites and the dogs run on the beach. We stopped at Fred Meyer first and searched the shelves until my wife came up with the last two kites in existence. We ended up taking the hour or so drive to Westport. The weather was perfect. A comfortable temperature and just enough wind for the kites. We played at the beach for a couple of hours or so, then headed a few miles south to Grayland to our favorite restaurant Bennett's. After dinner we went back to the beach to catch the sunset. Knowing I was going to grab my camera and that I'd be there for a while our youngest decided to bring her kite back out. That provided me with the scenic Sunday shot I needed. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

For more Scenic Sunday photos click the link below.

Remember Chloe? That cute little dumplin' at the playground? The one you thought was so adorable? Well, Chloe's mom and my wife had some running around to do this afternoon, which they do from time to time so I watched Chloe. After the girls got back we decided to go out to dinner. Where should we go? Hmmm.......teriyaki sounds good. I went and changed my out of my work shirt and into a clean one and off we went, and that's where the real story begins. Trying to be the helpful guy I carried Chloe inside the restaraunt and held here while the six of us ordered our meals. Once that was done we headed to the big booth in the corner, my wife, our two daughters, Chloe situated on my right hip, and Chloe's mom. We get to the booth where our daughters and Chloe's mom sit down. As I'm taking Chloe off my hip to set her in the booth I feel something. Then I look down. Yep, the lower right side of my shirt is soaked. I look at Chloe, she looks at me and smiles. My wife says "Honey do you want to run home and change real quick? We don't live that far." "No, that's okay I don't mind if you don't" I said. So I slid on into the booth with Chloe situated on my left between myself and her mom. Things went pretty well for a while. They brought our food to the table and we all started to eat. Evidently Chloe thought I needed a bite of her orange. The trouble was it didn't make it into my mouth, it sort of bounced off my forehead and hair. Okay, fine. No problem. Back to eating again. Gee, she sure is concerned with feeding me her food tonight. Next she offers me a tempura fried something or other. I didn't want any of that so I said "no thank you". A second after I turned the other way to talk to my wife the tempura fried thing flew by my eyes and right into my Pepsi. Yum. Anyway, you get the picture. Peed on shirt, sticky orange forehead, food particles in the Pepsi and I ended up finding rice stuck in the hair on my arm. Don't get me wrong, I'm not whining or complaining. Once in a while that's just the way it's going to go with kids. She's a real cutie and she can sit by me anytime. That is unless my own daughters get jealous. That will probably be a story for another day.

Even though this shot wasn't taken today I thought it would make a nice first contribution to my wonderful wife Krise's newest venture and blog, Floral Friday. This was taken at the W.W. Seymour Conservatory at Wright Park in Tacoma. So good luck honey, I love you and this orchid's for you.

For more beautiful Floral Friday photos click on the link below.

For more refreshing Watery Wednesday photos click the link below.

This nighttime shot (handheld) taken from the Capitol Boulevard overpass. Come to think of it I think I'll shoot a daytime shot from the same location for your comparison.

For a look at what the rest of the Monochrome Maniacs have to offer click the link below.

In the southwest region of Olympia is the town of Rochester. It's not much more than a wide spot in the road, but it is home to one of the oddest unexplained phenomenon around, the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve, home to a series of mysterious, regularly spaced six to eight foot mounds. There has been much study and even more speculation about them, but no concrete answer. When you pull off the main road you drive through a heavily wooded area on a nicely paved road to a parking area where you can get out and walk from there. The facilities include a 1/2 mile paved wheel chair friendly trail, an interpretive shelter with a rooftop platform where you can view the area or take photos. Along the trail there are signs which not only map out the path but help you identify the many flowers and wildlife that inhabit the Preserve. Come to find out we are not the only ones that have these mounds in our neighborhood. In fact they can be found in several areas in the U.S. as well as in Kenya and Mexico. For even more interesting info click here or here.

I had to hit the rewind button on this one. My wife reminded me of our trip to Pt Defiance Park a couple of weeks ago. Remember this waterfall? Well just around the corner lie these turtles, sunning themselves on a nice warm rock. They were so relaxed, so comfortable that they hardly made a move. In fact it took my wife, older daughter and I about fifteen minutes of standing there watching them with our non believing seven year old for her to agree they were real. You know, it would have only taken a second or two for us to say that they weren't, but something makes us parents just keep working at it.

Well here I go again, sticking my neck out for the world to hack at. Besides the fact that I want to start scanning and posting some of my old photos on here, I've been wanting to post a photo that I could also contribute to Remember Whensday. This photo wasn't one that had a date one it but I would have to say it was taken in the spring or summer of 1974. I would have been 16 or 17 at the time. This photo was taken at Spanaway Park and I was proudly posing by my first car. A 1955 Chevy Belair two door hardtop. I got it when I was 14. My dad and I spent the next 2 or 3 years doing body and paint, interior, changing all the running gear, everything. Of course being a dumb kid, (I can say that) I got a wild hair after I turned 18 and had that title in my hands. I sold it for less than it was worth just to get the next car I wanted. (Banging head against desk right now.) Anyway I wanted to share this shot today. There'll be more to come in the near future.

If you get a chance hop on over to Remember Whensday and check it out by clicking below.

Recently I showed you what happens when you over fertilize the fruits and vegetables. Evidently someone down at the Olympia Farmers Market got hold of the same magic potion. You think you grow some nice radishes? Check out these babies!

In yesterday's post I told you about Harbor Days in downtown Olympia this weekend. A yearly maritime celebration of tugboats, various crafts, etc. One of those vendors selling their talents is Harold W Johnson. He's been painting full time for forty five years. He's a member of The International Society of Marine Painters, as well as The Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. At first we started to walk by his tent, then something caught our eyes so we went in. There were various paintings hanging inside the tent and a table full of his work. The more we looked, the more we appreciated how very talented this man really is. I looked up and just outside the back of the tent there he was working on a painting. I thought this would be a great photo to show you all so I went back and asked him if he minded if I took his picture. He smiled and said "Sure go right ahead." I tried not to resize this photo down too much so you get a better look at his work. His paintings of the boats and their reflections across the water are amazing. I have to say though, one our favorites was his self-portrait.

Every Labor Day weekend Olympia holds "Harbor Days", a three day maritime celebration. The coolest tugboats are cleaned up and brought out on display, vendors set up tents selling their crafts, people stand in mile long lines to get an elephant ear smothered in the topping of their choice and it's just a good time for all. The sky was pretty dark when we showed up this afternoon. It sprinkled a little here and a little there, but waited to really rain on us until we all had our food in our hands and were standing out in the open eating. We quickly found shelter under the awning of one of the vendors where we stayed pretty dry. A half hour later the clouds moved on and the sun came back out. We made our way along the crowded docks checking out the goodies for sale. It looked to us like the turnout was good today. For more info on Harbor Days click here.

For more colorful and sometimes wet SkyWatch Friday photos click the link below.

Somehow I don't think Grey Poupon was the first thing on their minds. Recently while we were driving through the "Five Mile Drive" in Pt Defiance Park in Tacoma we noticed two or three different raccoon families. They were not shy either. The first group came right up to the truck expecting us to hand over whatever it was they thought we had. A little farther along we ran into this "hold up gang" eyeballing us as we slowly drove by. The one on the left wasn't standing up until we got right beside her and stopped. Look at her front paws. I'm positive she was motioning us to "Stop the car, right there!" Look closely, her back up is in the brush to the right. We didn't stick around and negotiate.

As sort of a follow up to my previous posts about Watershed Park here and here, this peaceful scene is also from our recent walk through that same park and our contribution to Watery Wednesday.

For more great Watery Wednesday photos click the link below.

Tonight we decided to go out for dinner. Afterward my wife happened to look over at Albertson's. From what we can tell they've cornered the market on the best produce on the planet. Apples the size of Volkswagens, Oranges with wrinkles you could hide in, lemons that could sour the entire Olympia water system. I'm not even sure they could fit any shoppers inside the store. I thought about going in and buying some but our truck is a short bed so what was I going to do, go buy one apple?

This dose of fruitiness is our contribution to the CDP September Theme - "BIG"

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants