Not the Muppets

This is the last day for the Arts Walk series. Right now Don is making dinner. So I had to sneak on the Mac to post for him. Surprise! I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures from this week. I am sure you will enjoy his next series. I 'll give you a little hint "green".

-Krise

Art at the Bike Shop

As part of my continuing series of photos from "Arts Walk" this past weekend, I thought I'd show you that not all art is from us wacky grown ups. These examples of fine art were proudly on display in the front windows of Old Town Bicycle. Great work kids!

PS: If you're just tuning in look back at the past three days posts.

Bo

Over the past few days I've been sharing with you some of what "Arts Walk" is all about. Celebrating art in all it's forms. Now I don't want to bore you to death staying on the same subject for days on end but I did want to share this with you. Meet "Bo", an acrylic on canvas. One more thing that made us go "Wow".

Okay, This is art...if you say so.

Now before you say anything, remember I'm trying to give you a little variety of what was on display this past weekend at "Arts Walk" in downtown Olympia. Maybe I should have taken the time to get the names of the artists who's work I am showing you but there was just too much to see and so many people. Many of the shops were so crowded we only viewed that art from outside. When my wife and I walked up to this particular business and took a closer look at these figures we just looked at each other. I could tell she was thinking what I was just about to say. I'll let you guess what that was. More tomorrow.

Arts Walk - Day One

Yep, "Arts Walk", that's what they call it. A two day celebration of art in all it's forms followed up by "The Procession of the Species. I'll do my best to show you a few different forms over the next few days. Tonight, "The Human Easel." Had I backed up a few steps and showed you the entire front of this building you would have seen another girl seated and displaying another painting. Both were doing a pretty good job of not changing their expression, even as I was snapping photos. As you saw in last night's post there were several streets that were closed to cars. All along the streets shops were open past their normal hours displaying various forms of artwork. Believe me, it ranged from the beautiful to the very strange too. Just wait, I'll show you in a day or two.

A Downtown Event

This sign wasn't the only one of it's kind yesterday and today in downtown Olympia. Last night my wife and I headed downtown, camera in hand, and went to a yearly happening. What was it? I'll tell you tomorrow.

Sepia Scenes - The Tacoma Narrows Bridge

This will be the last in my series of shots from the town of Steilacoom. It seems as though when you are down at the water here it doesn't really matter which way you turn. There's a beautiful view in all directions. This particular one is looking north to The Tacoma Narrows Bridge. (Or bridges to be more precise.)

To view other Sepia Scenes click the link below.

Darrell & Darrell

The past couple of days I've shown you a couple of views of the town of Steilacoom, which is about half an hour north of Olympia. While we were there this past Monday I spotted these two characters just takin' it easy. I'm guessing they're paid lookouts for the seagulls. Notice the train tracks running along the water and the young fellow sitting on the rocks relaxing. This is a popular spot to do just that and our contribution to Watery Wednesday.

For more Watery Wednesday shots click the link below.

Shift Change

As I mentioned in yesterday's post my wife, my mother and I visited the town of Steilacoom on Monday. After stopping by an old style ice cream shop we headed down the hill to the ferry dock. There's a nice foot traffic dock that stretches out over the water. That is where I took this shot. There's also a nice paved walking path that runs along the water. The shot I chose today is of The Neil Henley, a ferry that runs between McNeil Island Corrections Center (seen in the distance) and Steilacoom. By the looks of it there were both employees and visitors aboard. There were an equal amount of people waiting to get on the ferry to head back to McNeil.

I would been happier if this shot was a little more clear, but it was grey and overcast.

Steilacoom Waterfront

Today my wife and I picked up my Mom as we do most Mondays. After going out to breakfast and taking care of some running around we took a drive to the nearby town of Steilacoom. It's an older town situated on a hill above Puget Sound. There are some quaint old shops, numerous historic homes, and down at the water a ferry terminal. One of the ferries runs from Steilacoom to McNeil Island Penitentiary. These railroad tracks run along the waterfront and carry both freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains. I'll post more shots from Steilacoom over the next couple of days.

Doggie Focal Point

A slightly different view of a downtown Olympia street corner through our dog's eye.

SkyWatch Friday - At the Mall

We took our oldest daughter to the mall tonight. She had a fifty dollar gift card to one of her favorite clothing stores, American Eagle. Needless to say fifty dollars does not go far in there, but she is very happy with the dress and shorts she managed to pick out. The weather was beautiful today, and it looks as if it's going to be a pretty pleasant weekend too. At the time this shot was taken it was still a comfortable temperature. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Click the link below to enjoy Skywatch Friday photos from around the world.

Donation Station

Sitting in a local grocery store parking lot waiting for all kind of items to be donated.

Watery Wednesday - Going, Going,

A quick stop at Capitol Lake on the way home. My wife and I stepped out onto the dock and thought this view was worth capturing.

For more Watery Wednesday shots click the link below.

Ruby Tuesday - Turbo or not Turbo...

That is the question. Okay, I know that yesterday was supposed to be the last VW post, but then I remembered today was Ruby Tuesday. My wife suggested I post this hot red bug taking it's turn on the dyno. Even though this car didn't win "King of the Hill" in the horsepower wars it was a pretty impressive vehicle. Besides the beautiful red paint, the Porsche wheels and fat tires all tucked under the fenders you really should have heard the engine. For those of you that aren't familiar with turbochargers that's what you see at the upper end of that pipe in the engine compartment. Turbochargers, when installed on a properly built engine can really "boost" the horsepower. This car definitely sounded as nice as it looked.

For more Ruby Tuesday shots click the link below.

Short Bus

Again, as promised here's one last shot from this weekend's Capital City Spring Fling, and all VW car show/swap meet. If you're just tuning in check out the past two day's posts for a couple of other shots from this event. Today's shot was hand picked by my wife. This one really caught her eye. I'm sure some of you (now come on....let's go back a few years) remember when it was pretty popular to build these "shorty" vans, busses and other classic cars. This one though has got to be one of the shortest wheelbases I've ever seen. It looks to me like about the time you turn a corner your rear end is trying to pass you! Cool daddy-o!

P.S. Flower power frame picked by our youngest daughter. Fitting, I'd say.

Dubs on the Dyno

As I promised in yesterday's post, here's another shot from the Capital City Spring Fling, an all VW car show/swap meet held this past Saturday at the Thurston County Fairgrounds. One of the local performance shops brought a portable dyno. You could put your car on it and see what kind of horsepower you were stretching out of your engine. There were all kinds going for it from turbocharged to bone stock 36 horse busses. There were prizes for highest and lowest horsepowers too. This clean Karmann Ghia was just one of the cars that went for it.

V-Dubs Galore

In a recent post here I showed you the Volkswagen Squareback that my wife and I are restoring. Being somewhat new to the VW world we know we need to suck up as much info as we can as we move through this project. Today we went to the 2nd annual Capital City Spring Fling, a local VW car show and swap meet. It was held at The Thurston County Fairgrounds. The weather cooperated pretty well. Lots of sun and no rain whatsoever, but it was pretty windy most of the day. There were all models on display, bugs, busses, double cabs, Karmen Ghias squarebacks, fastbacks & more. Air cooled and water cooled were both welcome. I'll show you a couple more shots from the show over the next day or two. We had a great time and just going keeps us excited about our project.

180 Degrees

If you were standing where yesterday's photo was taken, turned around and walked to the other side of the overpass, this would be your view. Note the fish ladder on the left which was featured in a previous post here. See the walking trail on the right? You can walk from the bridge in yesterday's post down this way, then cross over at the lower falls and walk back up the other side.

Watery Wednesday - The Falls

You might remember these past photos of Tumwater Falls here and here. Tonight my wife thought I should show you a different view of the falls.

To see even more views of Watery Wednesday click the link below.

Step Right Up

On the heels of yesterday's post, I thought I'd show you one more shot from a local carnival. Due to the rain there wasn't much going on but we thought it still provided a pretty good photo op.

Training Day

This afternoon my wife and I were on our way home when we spotted a carnival at one of the local malls. In half a second my pregnant wife connected the dots. Carnival equals elephant ears. Yep, the craving had kicked in. I took the next exit off the freeway and circled around, then found a place to park. We really felt sorry for the workers. It was raining pretty good and besides us there were probably only around three or four other people there. I guess some were taking advantage of slow times. It appeared in this shot as if one worker was training the other on how to operate this particular ride. After walking around the whole place we figured out there were no elephant ears, (which equals unhappy pregnant wife) so off we went.