Winchester 4th of July and Elaine's Birthday Gold Beach

Painting by EBV
"The Birthday Girl"

Matt, Diana, Sierra and Ansley arrived in Creswell and after a long sleep we took off for the 4th of July celebration in Winchester Bay and parked right next to Salmon Harbor. We had a great dinner of fried chicken and settled in to wait for the fireworks.


Sierra and Ansley have both grown and are becoming very smart young girls. Sierra is very much matured and easy to smile and help us all when asked.


Ansley is a real treat and a bundle of energy who just loves to find adventure in every waking minute.


It was fun to watch this retriever chase down tennis balls hit into the harbor.


...and he got every one.


The Winchester Bay fireworks are really an audience participation event. There we large displays 360 degrees in preparation of the commercial display at 9:52pm. This guy used a remote controlled boat to pull a small barge of fireworks into the harbor and give a wonderful reflective display on the Harbor.


As it got darker the view was very surrealistically serene,


Then came the big guns (all are a little wavy because the camera was hand held) and for 20 minutes it was one after the other often giving me pictures of multiple explosions of color.


It was like flowers on fire in a thunderstorm.


Beautiful power let loose to remind us we are alive.


Wavy streaks of light filled the sky.


The next day we drove to Brookings and stopped on the way for lunch at Gold Beach in the Port Hole Cafe


I should have gotten the name of this 1880's boat still awaiting repairs.


The food and conversation was great and the cafe was very nice.


I took this picture of the harbor, some boats and plenty of seals looking like rocks on the beach across the way.


Further down the coast we stopped for some pictures of the ocean complete with seastacks.


Matt was the great father with the girls telling Sierra about the ocean and ...


...how the land is always trying to break off and fall into the sea.


I know Oregon must lead the country in weird espresso stand names. Brookings proved it really is a state-wide thing.


As I started this blog Matt called me to come take a picture of the lighthouse just above our camping spot.


Oh! Yes speaking of Elaine's Birthday I'll dust off this old poem I wrote

Sisters

They were always there well one was
The other came later - was a Keene painting
Fought and played - grew up learning
Sisters for a boy are a gift of unknown awareness

I learned about women from those girls
That their lives were as full of aspiration
Their joys were the same as mine
People in different bodies is all

I learned how to take myself less seriously with them
And forgot it along the way - they knew me too well
But I am afraid they no longer do - I am not the same
Nor are they these beautiful women full of new hues
I see them now and still the bright colors are there
But they are too confusing to me - a parallax view
Multi-dimensioned and faceted - there but not there
I will always love their smiles and miss their proximity

No Scrabble (lucky to have time to breathe)

Quote of the Day ~

"“I do this real moron thing, it's called thinking, and I'm not a very good Amercian because I like to form my own opionions."” ~ George Carlin quotes (American stand-up Comedian, Actor and Author. b.1937)