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The flowers at Milwaukie City Hall

Posted on September 2, 2009 by jackieinpdx

I have previously posted photos of the beautiful hanging flower baskets downtown Milwaukie. Now I want you to see the flowers at the city hall. There is a lot of pride in the gardens here and all along the downtown Milwaukie streets.

Here is a close up of some of the above flowers

And another one

Bright, cheerful flowers

I think this flower is especially pretty

Now look closer

Wow, huh? I just finishing reading a book (The Hour I first Believed) where the main character told a couple of stories about the good luck of Praying Mantis.

Filed under: flowers, Milwaukie, Oregon, photos | Tagged: flowers, milwaukie, photos, Praying Mantis | 6 Comments »

Rolling on the river – part II

Posted on August 30, 2009 by jackieinpdx

I went down to the Willamette River Saturday to try out my new Olympus Stylus 9000. I thought that it would be a good place to try out the panoramic feature. I need some practice using that feature.

As I pulled into the parking lot the Portland Spirit was turning around for the return trip to the downtown Portland Waterfront.

Then along behind the Spirit was this thing. WTF? A redneck houseboat equipped with a barbque. A man riding a bike stopped and asked me “What the hell is that?” I said “I don’t know, I was just trying out my new camera and there it was.”

I took several photos of the “houseboat” but this has to be the funniest one because that house you see is probably valued at $3+ million or so.

Filed under: Milwaukie, Oregon, photos | Tagged: geese, interesting photos, photos, Portland Spirit, Willamette River | 3 Comments »

New camera on it’s way

Posted on August 23, 2009 by jackieinpdx

I saw this new Olympus Stylus 9000 camera on line a week or so ago and went back to look at it again yesterday. Now I really do not need a new camera but I wanted it. Best Buys said they had it at the store a couple of miles from me. I went there yesterday and they did not have it, never had according to the store employee who asked if he could help me. Then I went to Target. Target had several Olympus models but not the one I wanted. I went out to lunch, took my car in to be serviced then came home and ordered the camera online at Best Buys. It should ship Monday and hopefully I will receive it by the end of the week.

The 10x optical zoom, panoramic feature and LCD are what sold me on this camera. This will be the 4th digital camera I have owned and they all have been Olympus cameras. I like the ease of use, the slim, small size and have never had any issues what so ever with my previous cameras.

What will I do with the perfectly good Olympus Stlyus 810 that I curenlty use? Last Sunday my 11 year old great niece Maddie said she wanted a Poloroid camera because she wanted to “get in to photography”. We told her “Mad hate to say this but those have gone the way of 8 track tapes”. I did check Best Buys online and I could get a whopping $89 trade in back in gift cards online.

	Over 12 million pixels in the high-resolution CCD create superior image quality. Create poster-sized prints without losing a single detail.
	Compact lens has 10x optical zoom to get you closer while the 28mm wide-angle lens lets you capture more in your shot.
	The next generation of Olympus’ LCD technology – HyperCrystal™ III – displays twice as bright as previous versions so that you can see the details even more clearly even under direct sunlight.
	Dual Image Stabilization combines Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization with high ISO sensitivity and fast shutter speeds to capture crisp, clear images in any situation.
	Automatically identifies the scene you’re shooting and adjusts the settings to optimize results.
	Tracks up to 16 faces and automatically focuses and optimizes exposures for sharp, brilliant portrait pictures.
	Shadow Adjustment Technology brings out more details in shadows. Captures scenes exactly as you see them, even in difficult lighting situations like backlight shots.
	Captures three images and stitches them together to create one amazing panoramic picture by simply pressing the shutter button and slowly panning across a scene.
	Takes beautiful portraits by softening shadows and smoothing wrinkles and blemishes on your subject’s face. Edits can also be made inside the camera after taking the picture.
	Using a live, multi-frame window on the LCD, you can preview the effects of various settings, select and capture the perfect shot.
	Use Perfect Fix to correct shooting mistakes instantly. With the touch of a button, lighten up shadows and remove red-eye, so a less-than-perfect shot can still turn out perfect!
	Developed for the professional Digital SLR, the TruPic™ III Image Processor delivers superior images with true-to-life color, sharper detail, and less noise.
	In addition to xD-Picture Card compatibility, the STYLUS-9000 comes with an adapter for microSD memory cards, an emerging electronic storage media for mobile phones, PDAs, and HDTVs.
	Easily upload your movies and images to YouTube™ and share with the world using OLYMPUS Master™ 2 Software

Filed under: photos, shopping | Tagged: Best Buys, digital camera, Olympus, photos, shopping online | 1 Comment »

Compare and contrast – fishing boats on Isla Mujeres

Posted on June 10, 2009 by jackieinpdx

P4220094

Filed under: Isla Mujeres | Tagged: Isla Mujeres, photos | 2 Comments »

More of my mother’s beautiful flowers

Posted on June 1, 2009 by jackieinpdx

Tara and I went to St Helens to visit mom yesterday. Mom is doing remarkable well for someone who was in critical condition last Wednesday. You would never know that she had two surgeries other than the long line of stitches down her neck. She was sitting in a chair out in the yard this morning watering her plants. We actually had to order her to go in to the house and take a nap when Tara and I were leaving. It was HOT and she looked pooped.

She walked Tara around to show her some of her flowers and her corn. Then I walked around the backyard and took some more photos of her fabulous flowers.

A couple of weeks ago when I took photos of my mother’s flowers I noticed that the majority of them were pink, lavender or purple. Today I saw that she did have some other variety of colors.

When I asked my sister what I could buy my mother to put in the handowoven basket that I bougth her at the Farmers Marker for her birthday she said to buy some perranials. I decided she needed some other colors in her yard.

Mom says this peonie bush is 100 years old. Well not quite. But it was in her yard in Milwaukie for many years before she transplanted it to my sister’s yard in Bend some 7 years ago. Then again transplanted it to their yard in St Helens two years ago.