This evening we headed to downtown Olympia to check out an event that will be the subject of tomorrow's post. On the way back to the car we spotted this kid zig-zagging his way through the gauntlet of water jets at the Heritage Park Fountain.

Well, here we are, the end of another week. Since neither my wife or I felt like cooking tonight we decided to go out to dinner. So, Applebee's here we come. Parmesan steak and shrimp for the wife, and chicken fried steak for me. When we were done we waddled out to the truck to head for home. Looking across the parking lot we decided to capture some of the last rays of the day for our SkyWatch Friday photo. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

I work near a rock quarry. Every once in a while a little rock needs to be moved. That's when they put on a show for us. I had noticed them working on the hillside for about the last week or so, but at first I wasn't sure what they were doing. It all became clear today. They called our business this morning to give us a half hour window of when it would be happening. I made sure I was situated where I could get a pretty clear shot then waited. Flagmen stopped traffic about a quarter mile down the road in each direction, the employees of the quarry took their vehicles and moved them a safe distance away. All was quiet for a couple of minutes until a horn sounded about five times, then silence again. We all heard those famous words "Fire in the hole!" The charges had been set pretty deep in order to minimize flying debris. The ground shook under our feet, then a second later the rock started flying and the dust rose. I left for lunch with my wife. When I returned the dust had settled so I took an "after" photo. I hope you enjoy the series.

In yesterday's post I mentioned that I found the Digital Collections section of The University of Washington's Library website to have an extensive gathering of historic old photos of the pacific northwest. In looking further into that collection I ran across a number of them depicting the Olympia/Tumwater area. Above is a photo I took in October 2007. Obviously I originally was looking at the reflection of beautiful fall colors across Capitol Lake. Also pictured is the dome of The Legislative Building and the power house for The Capitol Campus. If you click here you'll see a slightly older version of the power house.

First of all, if this building looks somewhat familiar it's because I have posted it before from another angle here. It's the original Washington State Capitol Building in downtown Olympia. Why post it again? Well, this past Saturday evening my wife and I went to her grandmother's birthday party. It seems I am always the one at these functions taking the photos. At one point she called me inside the house to show me something. It was a book of photography , "From Tacoma to Paradise Park" by A.H. Barnes, Parkland Washington published in 1905. She told me that the book was a gift from her father, a tugboat captain for Foss Maratime. She treasured the book and carried it with her for years as it has strong sentimental value. She explained that it was time to pass it along to someone who truly had a love for photography and history. In searching for information about Barnes and the book, I found a wonderful website of digital photos courtesy of The University of Washington. For more information about A.H. Barnes click here. To see a slightly older photo of the old State Capitol Building taken by A.H. Barnes click here.

For those of you who are kind enough to follow along on this blog you may remember this recent post. Yep July 28th, 101 degrees. We had a streak of warm dry days like we seldom see around here. So when I went out tonight after dinner in search of a photo I didn't have to go far. The quality isn't the greatest I fully admit, but I think you get the general idea of what's happening around here tonight.

Some time back my wife and I took a drive up to Pt Defiance Park in Tacoma. The gardens there are beautiful and well kept. They are filled with roses, dahlias, hydrangea and much more. You might remember this previous post from there. As much as I love posting my photos, tonight I have to give the credit to my wife for capturing this lily.