samantha roddy

Making Margaritas

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:57:00 +0000

First, make the salt.

A rainy walk during a dry winter

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:22:00 +0000

A walk down Eagle Creek, experimenting with the camera on my phone.

A little out of focus.

Some of these almost look like paintings.

A lot out of focus, but I sort of like it.

Humbolt county

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:37:00 +0000

A hike through the Redwoods

Yep, the trees are really, really big. They get over 30% of their water from the fog in the air.

Then on to the beach. This elk showed up right as I bit into my lunch. Instead of jumping up and grabbing a shot as he sat 30 feet behind Kevin, I calmly finished my sandwich and took a few as he ambled away. A missed opportunity for sure...but dang...I was freaking hungry.

The fog ebbs and flows all day long.

Then off to Fern Canyon. The walls of this box canyon are lined with a gazillion ferns waving too and fro in the ocean breeze.

They are saying hello! Be sure to wave back. Go ahead! No one is watching!

And then to Trinidad, where the fog flows even more deliriously. As the day clicked on, this little bay would cover and uncover it self madly and coyly. Blink and it's gone. Blink and it's back. In the winter, this calm little spot hosts 20 foot waves and sometimes the the larger outcropping in the distance is covered. The community was in the process of removing all the boats you see in the water. Nothing survives a winter in the water in Trinidad.

Walking a River

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:43:00 +0000

While the rest of the gang when for a paddle down the Deschutes, I took my camera and my wrecked knee on a stroll along the same.

A visit to a sometimes Island

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:55:00 +0000

I feel so wonderful when I get away from my city obligations. Packing the essentials into a small boat and paddling away for a day or two feels like washing my face after a long, hot week.

These are oyster beds.

The tides come and go.

Do you see him?

The tides were particularly dramatic. But we did have water in which to paddle.

My brain is the hare

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:49:00 +0000

Mom and Dad came over for dinner last night. While Mom and I were inside prepping for dinner, Dad sat outside, on the front deck watching the boats go up and down the river. After a few minutes, he calls out to Mom. "Mary! Come look at this!"

Mom goes outside. Dad is pointing down hill, a little to the left, at a spot in a neighbor's backyard. They are both squinting and moving their heads back and forth like people do when they need reading glasses. It is clear that they can't quite see what they are looking at.

Mom comes in and asks for binoculars. I tell her where they are.

A few seconds later, she calls out to me. "Sam, you need to come and look at this!"

I casually dry off my hands from cleaning up some dishes and wander out there.

They both have the most confused looks on their faces. Mom says "Is that a giant turtle down there in that yard?"

I look over and notice the same. There is indeed a GIANT turtle meandering around the empty lot below us!

I immediately grab my camera and race down there, the whole time panicked about this poor turtle. How the hell does a giant sea turtle end up in Portland? All these crazy notions are flying around in my head, of random waterways connecting down to the tropics sweeping this lonely turtle away from its community up the California coast line, down the Columbia river and somehow this adventurous thing climbs into a pipe up from the Willamette and ends up in our little neighborhood of Linnton. I'm thinking "Wow!" as I tear down the front stairs of our house "That is amazing. Sort of unbelievable. Kinda like a movie. Hum. Actually is a movie." Which then makes me think of Dorie and poor little Nemo. And then I think of Ellen. And then I think of Portia. And then I think of how they love animals and that they do a lot of fundraising to save animals. And then I'm think of how to save this one. Who do I call? Does the Audubon Society work with turtles? Should I call the Humane Society? The turtle would eat all the gerbils. Do turtles eat gerbils? What do we feed turtles? This dude will need a lot of lettuce. But even if I can find someone to come, how will I corral it until the help arrives? And what if it disappears before I can save it and gets smashed on HWY30. Or what if it eats the little kittens that live next door. I do not want to the be the one who tells Dorene, Janelle and Bridget that a giant turtle from Africa is loose in the neighborhood and ate all their kitties. I'm in a total tizzy about this situation. A situation that clearly needs management because I will not be able to sleep if I don't ward off the catastrophe that is so clearly about to happen.

And then...a guy walks out of the back door of the house next to the lot, marches over and picks him up and carries him over to what apparently is his dinner plate, because the turtle immediately disappears into the big, big bucket without any coaxing at all.

I'm completely flabbergasted.

So flabbergasted that I almost didn't notice the four foot lizard sitting on the guy's shoulder.

Meet one of my new neighbors!

Mid-night, moon-lit cave diving

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:34:00 +0000

The biggest moon in years means a snowshoe trip to go underground.

We hiked underground for several miles and had dinner. On our way out, we rescued a blind mouse from confusion. Then we blinked in the glow of the a very, very big moon. I was too tipsy to get a decent shot of it.

Sunday Morning Paddle, Willamette to Cathedral

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:51:00 +0000

Bay to Buffet

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:59:00 +0000

A group of islands

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Morning day one. The Broken Group Islands were created by the god of the people who lived here many centuries ago, in retaliation for their warring. This used to be a big river with tall banks. The god broke it up and allowed the earth to shift and move around the sound until it settled here, as what we know as The Broken Group Islands.

The jagged mountains in the background are the south west bank of Vancouver island.

From where do those jet streams come and go? Who are the people on the planes? What are they thinking about right now?

Dolphin or porpoise; Incredible how the color changes so fast out there.

Hello seal. We didn't go to the outer edges of the Pacific side islands (not enough time), but one guy said the sea lions out there are the size of small vans.

Cormants.

There is so much going on under water. I wish I had a polarizing filter for my camera! Kev's sun glasses revealed even more detail than I was able to capture here.

This tranquil water is the ocean!

We saw tens of thousands of starfish. There are 2k different kinds in the world and 118 are represented at these islands. They are not so nice. They eat almost everything out there, sometimes by injecting their stomach into the shell of whatever they have crawled on top of and immobilized. And...not very many things eat them. Starfish are going to take over the world.

It almost looks tropical. Except for a close examination of the vegetation and the multiple layers of fleece I was wearing.

Changing light.

The interior of Benson Island. The island range from ones big enough to hike about on and small enough for a single birds claw.

Mussels and clams, clap your hands.

Kev is back there at 2:00. See him?

We lucked out with beautiful weather, but with a flash...the wind picks up and the water gets choppy.

Blue Heron, see his nest at 10:00?

Afternoon day one, waiting out the wind in a protected cove. We were the only canoers out there.

Choppy water in a second.

Dusk light show later that night.

The cloud formations were a delight to watch. This funny patch is called stratus praecipitatio. (okay, i just made that up. i admit it.)

Sunset night one. I didn't color enhance this photo at all.

Black and white in color on morning day two. Facing east.

Then south a few minutes later. The light is constantly shifting.

And again, a few minutes later, as we turn a bend. The wind picks up, fog rolls in.

I wanted to ask for Grey Poupon, but Kev said we were having peanut butter sandwiches instead.

Out beyond this little cove, is Effington island. It is the biggest, tallest island in the broken group. The fog is so heavy you can't even see it.

Hermit crabs tucked into seaweed beds.

Rock climber.

A protected cove beach on the east side of Dempsey Island. Almost tropical in its crushed shell beach and warmed water. Right as I took this picture, Kev was crawling around on some driftwood behind me. He pulled a Three Stooges all by himself...stepped on a old tree trunk that swung up and hit him square in the forehead. He hardly remembers being here.

Still life, emphasis on life. Can you spot the live creatures?

A garden of ghosts.

Count the starfish.

So you see the seaweed crab?

And then, sitting in our little boat, floating on two foot swells, waiting for our taxi back to the main island, a visitor comes to say hello. We saw this fellow a few miles off and watched as he came closer and closer. He was about 100 feet off the bow of our little canoe. Stayed for a bit...and then gone.

A few photos of San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:44:00 +0000