Come into my chamber

Summer

A picture that speaks for itself.

Twin beauties

Waterlilies, Goodale Park, Columbus, Ohio

I'm cheating -- took this last week while on vacation and am posting it because I don't have very many Olympia area photos organized right now. Pretty, though, aren't they?

Back to the fair

Highlander

The "O" in . . . .

Seltzer Park, after the flood

In this case the "O" is for Ohio rather than Olympia. I've been gone about 10 days to visit relatives all around the state of Ohio. My hometown was flooded badly on Tuesday, August 21. The river that runs through town actually cut it in two and several people were evacuated by helicopter. I visited on Friday when many aspects of town life were seemingly back to normal, though some Main Street businesses had clearly been badly impacted.

As I walked through the park on Friday afternoon, the community pool was full of kids, the cicadas were singing their hearts out, and the Black Fork flowed peacefully through the hot and humid summer afternoon.

Tomorrow, I shall return to regularly scheduled, Olympia-based photoblogging!

What's going on here?

Going out of town for 10 days beginning Friday, August 17. Since I didn't make other arrangements, my notion is to post a photo each day (whether from Olympia or my contemporary surroundings) using my camera phone. Bear with me on that....

I'll be eager to catch up and comment on others' photos when I return!

Bayside

Doorway

Lace

Placeholder

This is a re-post from last month. I'm having trouble with mobile blogging -- I was successful for a few posts, but haven't been able to post from my camera phone for a couple of days. So, while I have access to a computer, I'm putting this up just to keep Olympia Daily Photo active.

I'll try a phone post again tomorrow. Once again, bear with me -- and thanks for all the visits and great comments!

Farmers Market, Olympia

Market Garden

Photoblogging from afar

Writing Inrtrument

Another object-in-tree story

Elm near Sylvester Park

When I first saw this I thought it was a gypsy moth trap, but its placement doesn't seem consistent with what I could find about current eradication efforts, so I'm stumped. Now I wish I had inspected more closely.

Crazy/Beautiful

Salmon returning to the Deschutes River to spawn, milling in Puget Sound at the Fourth Avenue Bridge

Ground Cover

Landscaping detail from my office building.

This is a test post from my camera phone, which I plan to post from while I'm on vacation next week.

Sometimes a camera phone will do

The view from my office.

Tidewater

McAlister Creek in the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge

Open for business

Darby's Cafe, downtown Olympia

A quiet Sunday morning, sidewalk tables and the newspaper to hand. Maybe it was just a little too cool yet for customers to sit outside.

Like sunrise

The Dahlia Garden at Tumwater City Hall

Higgledy-piggledy

Piglets

More cuteness from the Thurston County Fair.

Burgeoning

Zucchini plants at the county fair

Floating

Westlake Mall, Seattle

I happened to be in downtown Seattle last week (hope Kim will forgive me for poaching on her territory). The bicyclist isn't really levitating, but those manhole covers look like shadows and he seems to float.

Howdy!

Goat playing host at the Thurston County Fair

I really had no idea goats were so gregarious. They were the first animals I saw at the fairgrounds, which is great placement because they are so friendly and welcoming.

Hmmmmm

Lavender and (I think) a happy bee.

The Real Blades of Glory

Detail, World War II Memorial, West Capitol Campus


The bronze blades that form this part of the memorial feature ghostlike images of servicemen, which are actually formed using the etched names of Washington State’s war casualties.






Source: Department of General Administration

What am I?

Detail, Old Capitol Building, Olympia

I'm thinking it's a stylized gryphon, but I'm open to suggestion.

A Bastion of Learning

Old State Capitol Building, Olympia

The Old Capitol started life as a courthouse in 1892 and became the official Capitol in 1906 when the county commissioners decided it was too expensive. Following construction of the current Capitol in the 1920s, it became a state office building and is now home to Washington's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
I particularly wanted to "blog" this because it bears some striking similarities to the museum and former city hall recently featured on WichitaKsDailyPhoto. A little googling revealed that both buildings share a style known as Richardson Romanesque, which was named for the architect Henry Hobson Richardson. These two buildings each seem to have had other architects, but were completed at almost exactly the same time.

Like the Wichita building, the Old Capitol once had a clock tower, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1928 and never replaced. The state undertook a considerable renovation in 1983 and the interior is lovely.

Theme Day -- A Typical Breakfast

The Spar, Fourth Avenue
Where to find a typical breakfast in Olympia, historical edition

The Spar is legendary. Recently reopened in a new incarnation by McMenamins, this tile-fronted cafe has operated seven days a week since the year dot. It's served more breakfasts to hard-working, up-and-coming or down-and-out lumbermen, secretaries, legislators, lobbyists, lawyers, students and just plain folks than you could hope to shake a stick at.

There was a bar and a card room in the back with a discreet light over the after-hours entrance off the alley. (And the light, at least, is still there.) It had an open-flame cigar lighter, toast made from homemade bread, and waitresses resembling your grandma (if your grandma had red hair and a tattoo) who were famous for never writing down an order and never screwing one up, either. Breakfast here was not for the dieter or the faint of heart: Gallons of caffeinated coffee, eggs any style, waffles or pancakes, bacon or ham, biscuits and gravy, Joe's Special, crab omelet, eggs Benedict, you name it. If it was a heart attack on a plate, the Spar served it up with a flourish but very little style.

If you came back for lunch you could have a burger and a milkshake made with real ice cream, served in a glass full to the brim. Right beside it, the waitress plonked down the metal mixing container holding the cold, delicious rest of your shake. You might get a tummy ache if you finished the whole thing, but why not? It's not like you had one every day.

Bless McMenamins for keeping a bit of history alive, but sad to say, it's not the same.

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