Waterwings and a little wind

sailing from The Hatcheries rocky viewpoint

boards parked in the woods at The Hatcheries

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For more information on windsurfing and places to windsurf on the Columbia River Gorge

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Mermen in wetsuits with waterwings…

the Hatcheries

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For more information on windsurfing and places to windsurf on the Columbia River Gorge

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windsurfing Columbia Gorge

Wind-surfing the Columbia Gorge

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East to West

from east to west……
the red maple leaf is particularly appropo!

draw and shoot

Tomorrow, the first of July, we celebrate Canada Day and I was thinking about how fortunate I have been to recently travel to both the east and west coasts. It’s an expansive, diverse, and beautiful country, and I am grateful to live here.

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and if you live south of the border, happy Fourth of July!

Boundary Bay, British Columbia





A silky Cape Breton sky.

Cape Breton bog flora. Below: Pitcher plants



All images © Karen McRae

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Pamukkale

adjacent to Hieropolis and the Roman baths…the ancients loved their thermals

Third Country

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Exploring Oregon’s Coast

Oceanside, Oregon

“Thar Be Whales!”, Pacific City

Dory Cove, Pacific City, Oregon

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A couple of the towns on Oregon’s west coast are Pacific City and Oceanside. Both are small and secluded, a bit further from the standard paths to Lincoln City and Cannon Beach to the north and south on Highway 101. But they are worth the journey. Both have beautiful volcanic “haystack” rocks jutting out of the sea, providing viewpoints and shape to the landscapes. Oceanside often has hang gliders sailing off from one of its rocky headlands, and vacation homes dot the steep hillside adjacent to the flat sandy beach. Pacific City is much smaller, but its restaurant Pelican Pub, is directly on the beach. It is one of the few beaches from which boats can be launched from shore, the old time wooden fishing dories from which the town’s cove is named. Surfers can also occasionally find waves here big enough to ride, but one thing you will always find, is that wave riders have to wear wetsuits because the Oregon waters are cold!

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Oregon: the Undiscovered Country

Oregon is a unique state. It’s beauty has gotten a bum rap, nationally speaking. Portland, it’s most cosmopolitan city, known for being “stuck” in the Pacific Northwest, the part of the US between better known Seattle, to the north in Washington state, and the better known San Francisco and Los Angeles and Yosemite, to the south in California. But Oregon boasts a number of qualities and terrains that these other states don’t. We have beautiful Mt. Hood, just an hour to the east of Portland, full of pine forests and wild rivers with much to explore and hike. Many find the rolling hills, farms and wine country, of the central valleys, very similar to the terrain in England. To the east, Oregon’s high desert plateaus illustrate vulcanism similar to Craters of the Moon in Idaho, which is also better known. Our section of coastline on the Pacific waterfront, is one of the most accessible, being miles and miles of flat sandy beaches unbroken by private ownership. But stuck between two better known states, it seems much of Oregon is still “Undiscovered Country.”

Here is just a glimpse of a couple of vistas of our beautiful coastline. California may have a nice pier at Santa Barbara. And Malibu is better known because Joni Mitchell sang songs about it’s beach. But Oregon’s coastal vistas are just as beautiful if not popularized on TV and radio. Certainly we don’t have the same traffic jams, or access fees! In our state, visiting the beach is still free.

Cascade Head, Lincoln City

Bandon Headland

Bandon beach

Gold Beach, Brookings

volcanic shoreline Gold Beach

Pacific Highway 101, Manzanita

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Caldey Island Blues

Caldey Island, Tenby, Wales

I love coincidences.

By strange twist of fate, a song named for a place I visited in 1999 – Tenby, Wales.

The Caldey Island Blues. Christopher Twigg.

enjoy as much as I did!

Caldey Island Blues

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one fine day

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Banksy New Orleans stolen! Katrina tributes removed and others covered up by the ‘Gray Ghost’

via Banksy New Orleans stolen! Katrina tributes removed and others covered up by the 'Gray Ghost'.

The online dissemination of the Banksy New Orleans graffiti raised awareness of some of the issues that persist in New Orleans. The Banksy New Orleans graffiti also drew attention to aspects of the Katrina disaster that I was not aware of previously – there were powerful images, such as Abraham Lincoln in a rocking chair, and the fridge piece prompted me to investigate its relevance (the ‘Katrina fridge’ became a symbolic reminder of the hurricane.)The Banksy New Orleans graffiti may well be disappearing, but it persists virtually and continues to deliver an interesting alternative insight to Katrina and its after effects.

via Banksy New Orleans stolen! Katrina tributes removed and others covered up by the 'Gray Ghost'.

for more works by Banksy, visit his website at www.Banksy.com

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