Happy Turkey Day 2022 everyone! We love & miss you guys so much. I just wanted to post a little update here as it’s easier than calling everyone. ❤️ 😘 Maybe I’ll just keep doing this and it can serve as a snapshot of life over the years. I’m posting this on my blog but in private mode.
Be sure and eat a deviled egg or two for me. You can never have enough. Crystal made 50 last night, but I’ve got 12 stuck back just for me.
We’re having a “Friendsgiving” this evening with some of our local friends. They found out that we spent last year by ourselves and said they simply couldn’t allow it.
Honestly, we just prefer a quiet day and a good sci-fi movie. But, it is being hosted by our best friends here, an ex-Mormon couple that moved here from Utah, and some of their currently-Mormon family are attending today, so you know I can’t pass up some lively, but very friendly, debates about everything you are supposed to avoid discussing on days like this! 😂 #maybe-i-am-the-drama
Today is the start of the first King Tide of the Winter here on the Oregon coast. We’ll have another set of them at Christmas. That means 9-10ft tides here in our lovely little sea village where the average daily tide is anywhere from 1ft to 5ft. Sometimes we get amazing negative tides if the moon is just right and we can explore the tide pools.
There is a town just north of here, Depoe Bay, that has a really tall sea wall with jagged rocks at the base of it. When the King Tide comes in it crashes against the sea wall and sprays across Hwy 101. They call this “spouting” and people come from all over the world to see it. I hope to get some videos and photos of it happening this year. Here are some pictures of the past years (not by me).
Crystal recently started her new job in the apparel department at Walmart in the “big city” of Newport. It’s the nearest town with a good amount of stores and fast food. It’s about 15 miles up the coast and has a population of 10k.
She is really liking it so far. No drama as of yet and you get a “tourism hazard pay” bump from April to October. I guess because you have to deal with impatient tourists in the store during the Summer. It can get a little chaotic at times. She’s worked three full shifts and they have already started begging her to let them promote her to management. Until she is sure she is 100% health-wise, she is going to stay where she is and get comfortable with the place.
The chronic vertigo she has been dealing with since 2020 got much worse this Summer. It was to the point that she was stuck in bed for 2-3hrs in the mornings. It is getting better and now she is able to drive and work again. They think she is having vestibular migraines that give her vertigo and she is taking supplements to help prevent them. We still suspect it is related to her neck muscles in some way, but we will see if this current treatment works.
As for me, I’ve really gotten into photography again, which has been really nice lately to dive into when I have a few free minutes here and there since we have been working 60-70hrs a week for several months at Library Market. We inadvertently overbooked a little too much. But, now we have thoroughly tested our production system. It works extremely well and we added a few more employees to the team, but we know what our limits are now for sure. The big push will be over in a few weeks for me. In the last three months, I have designed 20+ websites and well over 100 logos. It’s been a slog at times, but we are helping libraries that really need all the help they can get right now with the current attacks on public institutions and right-wing book banning.
I have been shooting on a “35mm equivalent” digital camera from about 10 years ago that has this lovely film-like feel to it once you get the hang of it. Now that I am comfortable shooting manually again, I am on the hunt for some old film cameras so that I can try shooting on actual 35mm film for the first time in 20 years or so. I’ve checked out local thrift shops as well, but you never know if they are going to work.
If you know anybody that has a vintage film camera they don’t mind passing onto a fellow photographer, I’d gladly pay for the shipping to try some different cameras out.
My long-term goal is to sell prints, postcards, and eventually a photo book of the PNW, in the local gift shops on the coast.
Here are a few of my favorites from the last few months. I post batches of my photos to this blog from time to time, as well as on Facebook.
I think that’s all I have to report at this time. We miss everyone so much! I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday break. And remember, we have a guest room and the most beautiful scenery in the continental US!
With love,
Steven (& Crystal!)
