My 10-year old daughter is in an after school photography class. For the next few days I’ll showcase some of her work. She took the above picture yesterday on her class field trip to Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S.A. and ninth deepest in the world. Crater Lake is the third deepest lake in the world and deepest in the Western Hemisphere if the average depth is used as the measuring criteria.

I was hoping that there would be snow along the rim, but, as you can see, it hasn’t stuck yet. Later in the day it started snowing rather heavily, and they made their exit while they still could.

Crater Lake is northeast of Ashland in Southern Oregon. The island you see in the middle is known as Wizard Island.

October 10th, 2008 | Tags: clouds, crater lake, nature, skywatch, trees, water | Category: nature, places | Comments (2)

You need no calendar in my neighborhood when October rolls around. Just drive by the above house and count the jack-o’-lanterns. If it isn’t evening yet, add one to the number and you’ve got the current date. You see, each night they carve a pumpkin and put it out front. Every night they are all lit up. My kids love going by the place daily in October to see the new carving of the day. On Halloween, 31 jack-o’-lanterns are all glowing for the trick or treaters. However, our street never gets more than just a few (because it’s up a steep hill) so not many know of this house in town.

October 9th, 2008 | Tags: autumn, halloween, houses | Category: only in ashland | Comments (3)

The sun is about to rise. The 7 a.m. flights from Medford to San Francisco have left their marks on the sky.

October 8th, 2008 | Tags: clouds, home, mountains, skywatch, sunrise | Category: nature | Comments (6)

On my short walk with my daughter this morning to her bus stop I counted 12 Obama signs. Over the same course McCain had 0. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a McCain sign in the entire town. If intrade.com is as accurate as they have been on prior elections Obama will win by a landslide, and not just in Oregon. The national polls show him with only a small lead, but in electoral votes he seems to be a sure lock.

The above photo is of my favorite Obama sign on the walk to the bus stop. I’m a big fan of bamboo.

The first time I saw one of the above signs from a distance I thought it said Osama Bin Laden. Who would have guessed 7 years ago that the 2008 ticket, about to win the White House, would be just one letter off from a slightly abbreviated version of Osama Bin Laden’s name?

October 7th, 2008 | Tags: signs | Category: only in ashland | Comments Off on Obama Bi den

Photo taken in March 2005

This was our old cherry tree in the peak of its glory. A couple of winters ago we had a huge snow storm that caused such heavy and sticky snow that every branch on this tree broke (as did many in town). It is slowly making a comeback. Perhaps I’ll show some pictures of it in the storm here in this blog this coming winter and then how it looks next March when it blooms again.

October 6th, 2008 | Tags: flowers, home, spring | Category: nature | Comments Off on Tree in bloom

Photo taken in February 2005

Mayu (on the right) was our Japanese exchange student we hosted for a month or so a while back. She is shown here with her friend Mika with the Cascade Mountain Range for a backdrop.

October 5th, 2008 | Tags: mountains, valley | Category: people | Comments (1)

Photo taken in October 2004

October 4th, 2008 | Tags: mountains, mt. shasta, skywatch, valley | Category: places | Comments (3)

Photo taken October 2004

About an hour to the south of Ashland in the Cascade Mountain Range lies, or rather rises, Mount Shasta. The above photo is from high on the mountain itself. For a more distant view of the famous mountain see these pictures.

Although my son looks to be in pain he is actually quite happy that he has made it up this far.

October 3rd, 2008 | Tags: mountains, mt. shasta, people | Category: nature, people, places | Comments Off on Mt. Shasta

Photo taken in October 2004

YMCA soccer with Grizzly Peak and the Oregon Cascade Mountain Range in the background

October 2nd, 2008 | Tags: grizzly peak, people, sports | Category: people | Comments (2)