After looking at this a little closer maybe I should have called this one Beauty and the Beast. The year must have been 1974 or 1975. I would have been a senior in high school, and since I was taking photography at the time I don't think I left the house without my trusty Yashica TL Electro X. What was my other hand holding onto? Why my absolutely adorable niece, that's who. I can tell you that this shot was taken in Olympia at the Legislative Building. Why walk down the steps when you can be a kid and go down the ramp instead? It would have been my Mom or Dad taking this shot. We were on the way to see my niece's daddy who at the time worked for The Department of Transportation in Olympia. Oh, and my niece.....she's married and has kids of her own now.

For more chances to "Remember Whensday" click the link below.

With spring already here (wet as it is), and summer on the way this is one place that is going to be seeing some business. They keep a pretty good supply of bark and other yard improvement supplies. When the wind is blowing you can get a whiff of this place from quite a ways away. Boy I'd like to climb in that thing and play for an hour or so.

Always keeping our eye peeled for classic VW's, this baby caught our eye about half a block after meeting up with these fellows. I figured the sepia would help take us all back in time.

P.S. I wish I would have taken a shot of the inside. There was just enough room for the driver to sit and that was it. The rest of the van was piled to the roof with stuff.

Now before anybody takes offense over the title, let me tell you what led up to this photo. My wife, our oldest daughter and I went out to dinner Saturday evening. We headed downtown to McMenamin's Spar Cafe, an Olympia landmark. The atmosphere is comfortable, the food just as comfortable and delicious. After dinner we decided to walk off our full stomachs. We headed down one of the main drags for a few blocks, then crossed the street and started coming back toward our car. As we walked past this group one of them asked us if we had any spare change. I told them I didn't have any and asked if they could take a debit card. We all had a pretty good chuckle, then the fellow with the brown and white dog noticed the camera I was carrying. He said "Hey, do you want to take our picture?" I said sure, everybody get together and grab the dogs too. They all bunched up, struck a pose and this is the result. The same guy I mentioned earlier looked at the photo in the camera then said "You can call this The Rif-Raf of Olympia." A couple of handshakes and laughs later we were on our way. Thanks guys, today's post is all yours.

Here's one more shot of the "fountain froggies" at the Washington State Department of Health. You'd better watch out ladies......this one's blowing a kiss your way. He may be a prince in disguise you know.

My wife spotted this cute as heck fountain quite some time back, but I just today managed to photograph it. It's sort of tucked in between a couple of buildings in a small courtyard at the Washington State Department of Health. There are three of these handsome fellows hanging around the pool.

For more Watery Wednesday shots click the link below.

Okay, part two of our visit to The Evergreen State College in Olympia. While checking out the campus Saturday I came across this area just outside an art building. Evidently this is where they have been doing some metal work. If you look through the mesh above the concrete wall, you might be able to see a bit of a large winged creature that must have been made there.

Tomorrow I'll show you another area on campus.

After work today I took the short drive to The Evergreen State College, a public liberal arts and sciences college. Since it opened in 1971 it has worked extremely hard at being as self-sufficient and energy conscious as possible. The EPA recognized TESC as the top green power purchaser for 2008-2009 purchasing more green power than any other college in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. I'll be showing you more over the next couple of days but if you'd like to read more about this college you can visit their website here.

Can anyone help identify these interesting trees?

Flowers weren't all we found last weekend at the conservatory in Tacoma. We never did see the little fellow that was supposed to be guarding the pot o' gold. He left in such a hurry that he lost his hat.

A big Happy St Patrick's Day to you all. I have an even better reason to celebrate. My wife and I were married two years ago today. I love you Krise!