Archive For The “ocean” Category
The sun sets over the Dunes of Florence, Oregon, August. 1980. (Robin Rowland)
It was forty years ago, in August, 1980, that a friend and I drove from Vancouver, BC, where I was living at the time, to spend a weekend at Florence, Oregon, which inspired Frank Herbert to write the famous novel Dune.
That’s me at the beach in Florence, Oregon, in 1980.
Like many at the time, I was entranced by Dune as soon as I picked it off a drug store bookshelf probably in 1965. It was sometime later that I read someplace that it was Florence that first inspired Frank Herbert to write about ecology when he originally visited back in 1953 when he was trying to write an article about a US Forest Service project to use dune grass to keep the sand in check. After all that research, as Herbert said in the collection of his essays, Frank Herbert, the Maker of Dune (1987): “Before long I had far too much for an article and far too much for a short story.. But I had an enormous amount of data, with angles shooting off at angles to gather more.” The result, of course, was the blockbuster novel, then more novels, then spinoffs by his son, a movie concept that was never made, an awful movie that was made, a pretty good miniseries and a new movie that we hope to see this Christmas (if there are movies in theatres).
That trip has been a wonderful memory for years, so to mark the anniversary, I found some of the old slides, taken on Kodak Ectachrome, with my old Minolta SRT101 and scanned them. For a some where the colour did not survive four decades, I converted to black and white.
Sand dunes and grass at Florence, Oregon, August 1980. You can see a family building a sandcastle in the distance along the shore. (Robin Rowland)
That amazing sandcastle on the beach at Florence, Oregon, that could be out of a Dune movie or perhaps a fantasy novel. (Robin Rowland)
Sand dunes and grass at Florence, Oregon. (Robin Rowland)
Sand dunes are like waves in a large body of water; they are just slower. (Frank Herbert, “The Sparks Have Flown” in Frank Herbert The Maker of Dune).
Dunes and dune grass at Florence, Oregon, August 1980. (Robin Rowland)
Seagulls over the Pacific Ocean, the dunes and grass at Florence, Oregon, August, 1980. (Robin Rowland)
A wider view of the Oregon coast and ocean surf. (Robin Rowland)
Ocean surf on the nearby Oregon coast. (Robin Rowland)
Ocean surf. (Robin Rowland)
Photos from the annual local photographers’ walk around Minette Bay. The deepest cold passed, leaving ice everywhere. There was a heavy overcast and occasional fog.
A female bufflehead duck in the tidal flats of Minette Bay. (Robin Rowland)
Previous New Year’s walks
Bish Creek, on the west side of Douglas Channel, south of Kitimat and near the proposed Chevron Kitimat LNG terminal site, photographed on a stormy Sunday afternoon, October 5, 2014.
Sea smoke rises over the Kitimat, BC, harbour on Jan 19, 2012. (Robin Rowland)
Thursday January 19, 2012 was a frigid day in Kitimat, BC. It was -23 C with a windchill of -38. The warm fresh water from the Kitimat River, flowing into the harbour, was caught between the cold ocean water in the harbour and the frigid air, creating the sea smoke.
Sea smoke blankets Kitimat harbour on a frigid Jan, 19, 2012 (Robin Rowland)
Sea smoke usually hugs the surface of the water. On the morning of January 19, the wind caught the sea smoke, sending columns high into the air.
Columns of sea smoke rise from Kitimat harbour on a frigid January 19, 2012. (Robin Rowland)
At one point, the wind catches the sea smoke, creating a mushroom cloud over Kitimat harbour. (Robin Rowalnd)
The sea smoke drifts across Kitimat harbour.
Sea smoke hugs the Nechako dock at Kitimat, BC, surrounding the tug Smit Cecil and obscuring an empty barge anchored off the dock. (Robin Rowland)
Sea smoke almost hides the Hansa Heavy Lift Ship Venice tied up at the dock. (Robin Rowland)
Another view of sea smoke in Kitimat harbour, the Hansa Heavy Lift Ship Venice with Mt. Elizabeth in the background (Robin Rowland)
An hour ago I look out my front window. A thunderstorm is approaching over the mountains to the east, the high clouds bright orange, lit by the setting summer sun to the west, and a rainbow is arching down from the clouds over the mountains that lead to Kitamaat Village. Grabbed the camera and ran to the park and this is the result.