Any current or former SOU student will recognize this setting. A few feet forward and you are standing under the Southern Oregon University entry arch. Walk across the street (being careful not to get hit by a car), and you will have survived the trip to Mihama’s (Case Coffee, 7-Eleven, the Electric Beach, etc.). In the distance a freshly powdered Grizzly Peak overlooks the town.

I’m frequently asked if I own Case Coffee Co. (being that my last name is Case). The answer is “no.” It turns out there are several Cases in town. The owners aren’t closely related that I know of. They seem to do a great business though. The location has been a revolving door of businesses over the years, none of them doing much business until Case Coffee Co. took things over. Now the place always seems busy. I haven’t done business there since it turned into a coffee shop though. I can’t stand the stuff. Just the smell turns my stomach. Actually drinking coffee to me would be like drinking bad breath. No thanks.

I was kind of hoping that the old Island Juice (which wasn’t very good) at this location would turn into a Jamba Juice. Alas, we are still left without a single Jamba Juice in Southern Oregon.

Posted on March 10th, 2009 under places. Tags: buildings, clouds, grizzly peak, skywatch, Southern Oregon University. Comments: 2

The other day on my way to work I slipped my camera into my pocket as I headed out the door. My wife asked, “What are you taking that for?” My response was, “Because I can.” I smiled as did she. You see, previous to my LX3 purchase I only took my old, large camera places on “special” occasions. It was simply too big and too much of a hassle to haul around. Not so anymore.

Later in the day, the clouds started going crazy so I had opportunities to take several pictures that would never have been captured in my old S3 days. The above is one of them. Omars is an Ashland landmark, but I’ve never had a reason to take a picture of Omars before. Nor have I ever had a camera on me when in the vicinity of Omars. But while waiting to cross the street, Omars looked rather marvelous with the sky doing its thing so I whipped out my LX3 for a quick picture.

Omars has been around for more than 60 years, something few restaurants/bars can say–especially on the west coast. The name is a fluke of sorts. The original owner’s name was Omer. But when he ordered this sign the company made a mistake and spelled his name Omar, and the rest is history. Have yourself a great steak, fine seafood, or just grab a beer at Omars the next time you are passing through Ashland.

Posted on March 9th, 2009 under only in ashland, places. Tags: buildings, clouds, food, lx3, skywatch. Comments: 2

While lying in bed the other morning I noticed my bedroom door glowing red. I decided to get up to investigate. One look out the window and I had to make a mad dash downstairs to get the LX3 before anything changed.

I was curious to see what Photoshop could do with this image. I loaded it into Photoshop and hit “Auto Levels.” Absolutely nothing happened. I think that is first time Photoshop did not tweak anything at all. Photoshop deemed this to be the perfect picture. 😉 I love my new LX3. When Photoshop can’t improve what it produces you can’t complain.

Posted on March 3rd, 2009 under nature. Tags: clouds, home, lx3, skywatch, sunrise. Comments: 8

I’m digging my new camera. My old S3 would not have been able to capture the entire rainbow.

Posted on March 2nd, 2009 under nature. Tags: clouds, home, lx3, mountains, rainbow, skywatch. Comments: 2

I have always thought that one of the best views in town is from the middle school looking towards Grizzly Peak. So, this past week, when I went to pick up my son and arrived a little early I pulled out the camera to take in the view.

The cow in the foreground immediately came wandering over to me as if it thought I was going to feed or milk it or something.

I’ll try to remember to take a similar picture in a month or two when things are much greener.

Posted on March 1st, 2009 under nature. Tags: clouds, grizzly peak, mountains, nature, skywatch, wildlife. Comments: 4

Posted on February 23rd, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, lake of the woods, mountains, skywatch, snow, trees, winter. Comments: 4

This is the view from my upstairs window. If you have looked at past blog entries you have seen a variation of today’s photo close to a dozen times now. My favorite thing about this view is its changing nature. Every day it is a bit different. Frequently it looks radically different on the same day. On the day last week when this was taken, not only was there a bit of snow on the mountains, but the clouds were causing some nice looking shadows on the Siskiyou Mountain Range.

Posted on February 20th, 2009 under nature. Tags: clouds, home, mountains, skywatch, snow, winter. Comments: 2

This picture has a bit of everything in it: fog, clouds, blue sky, snow. Take your pick.

Posted on February 13th, 2009 under nature. Tags: clouds, fog, home, skywatch, snow, winter. Comments: 4

Friday was one of those weird weather days photographers dream about. The wind was blowing so the air was clear, the clouds were going crazy but still leaving some blue sky and rays of sunlight, and rainbows even started springing up in places. I climbed out onto the roof to take advantage of the situation.

Posted on February 9th, 2009 under nature. Tags: clouds, mountains, rainbow, skywatch. Comments: 2