Views of Commencement Bay

Josie is looking out over Commencement Bay, which is off Puget Sound, Washington.

The lighthouse (above) is the Browns Point Light, which I've also pictured previously. We were there on a cloudy day in March.

Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage

Browns Point Cottage, near Tacoma

The home of the lighthouse keeper is available as a vacation rental. It is open to visitors once a week.

An interpretative sign tells about the first light keeper to live there.

Oscar and Annie Brown arrived at Browns Point on a United States Government boat October 26, 1903 with their personal belongings, furniture, an upright piano, and a cow lowered to the beach by a sling. For 36 years Oscar and Annie tended the light and developed and nurtured a landscape that originally consisted of a tideland and a lagoon.

Link: Points Northeast Historical Society

The Browns Point Light Keepers Cottage

Beachcombing at Commencement Bay

Here we have some additional pictures I took at Browns Point near Tacoma.

Josie and Ryley are blessed with parents who provide plenty of educational experiences and chances to explore nature.

Exploring Browns Point

Josie and Ryley

Marker for Browns Point Lighthouse

Sue reads an interpretive marker for the Browns Point Lighthouse. It starts out: "The United States Lighthouse Service hung an acetylene, white light, lens lantern from a post on this site December 12, 1887. A light keeper rowed out to Browns Point from Tacoma once a week to change the wick and clean and polish the lantern. The light guided ships and boats coming into Commencement Bay until the two-story wood frame lighthouse was built in 1903. The first light keeper Oscar Brown began his first day of duty on October 26, 1903."

Looking Around at Puget Sound

"Do Not Feed or Harass Seals or Sea Lions" In spite of what the sign says, we did not see any seals or sea lions at Browns Point. Since we arrived before the lighthouse keeper's cottage opened for tours, we had time to look around.

Doug and Ryley

Jo and Sue

Browns Point Light, Puget Sound

Susan and Frank

Susan and Doug took us to the Browns Point Light and adjoining park. The lighthouse itself is small and not particularly exciting, but the surrounding park and keeper's cottage are very nice to visit.

The light is still in service. It's near Tacoma, Washington.

View of the Boyles's Fish Tank

If you give a kid a label maker, you just might get warning labels on the fish tank, such as "Fishy Crossing" and "Warning ~ man-eating fish inside tank!!!!"

The Skating Lesson

Josie is a pretty good skater. She loaned her skates to Rain and helped her learn to skate.

Ryley at the Playground

Ryley spent time playing ball with the dog and even spent a little time on the play equipment. He also went bike riding with a friend.

Frank and Sue at the Playground

Grandpa and Mom Watch the Kids Play

March 2011,  Puyallup, WA

At Home With Sue

Josie Makes a Dog Toy

Ryley Practices

Susan and Bones

Bones Likes to Play Ball

At the Neighborhood Playground

Sue's dog likes being held but he likes playing ball even more. He's good at Catch and Keep-Away.

Frank and the Grands

Ryley and Josie show Grandpa a game.

March 2011

Award Winners

Ryley and Josie posed with awards they earned at school.

We Went to Tacoma to See...

Doug and Susan

and

Ryley and Josie

and as a bonus, we got to play with Bones!

Hope You Had a Nice Easter Day

I took the above 9-second video on Easter as a greeting for family and friends.

As you can see, the dogwood trees are starting to bloom, adding bright spots in the foreground of our pretty view.

Pictures Taken from a Plane

Before and After Using Layers

I wrote about removing the hazy look from an aerial picture back in 2008. I still use the same basic process, even though I'm using an updated version of Photoshop and a newer computer. For this image, I also adjusted the colors. I tried a more dramatic change but it seemed to look fake.

I think we're looking at the Olympic Mountains here. We were on our way to the Seattle/Tacoma airport.

A View from the Window Seat

Personally, I enjoy sitting next to a window on a plane. However, my husband likes sitting next to the aisle because that gives him a little extra elbow room. If we are to sit together, one of us ends up in the undesirable middle seat.

In spite of my love for having a view, I've learned that the window seat comes with a disadvantage on long flights: you can't get up and move around without inconveniencing a stranger. If that stranger happens to be asleep when you need to make a trip to the restroom, you have to either bother him by waking him or bother yourself by waiting for an indefinite period of time.

So on our flights in March, I only reserved the window seat on the short flight from Long Beach to Seattle. On the long flights, I compressed myself into the middle seat and let Frank enjoy the extra inches of being on the aisle. It worked out okay.

Happy Birthday to Marie!

Marie is celebrating her birthday by staying at a nice hotel in Limbe, Cameroon, a seaside city on the west coast of Africa. I hope this will be a pleasant break from her sometimes arduous journey through Africa. She just left Nigeria, which sounded like an uncomfortable visit although she managed to stay hundreds of miles away from the riots surrounding the recent election.

I hope she doesn't mind my resurrecting an old photo from her high school years.

Links:   Limbe in Wikipedia
Marie's World Tour
Books by Marie Javins