Nehalem Falls Park

Today we took a little trip up to Nehalem Falls Park. It's about 22 miles from where we are camping. There is a beautiful forested campground, more for tenters than RV's but beautiful. We took a hike along the river about a mile. Somehow, Flight and I lost Dave and Zoe along the way and Dave had to come find me.

We had a picnic along the river and then Dave climbed down the rocks and took these pictures of the falls. It looked pretty precarious and he scared me spitless. I was so afraid he was going to fall in, hit his head on a rock and drown, my knees were weak. I was considering whether I would jump in and try to save him, or run up to the road and scream for help from all the twenty something campers there. I always have a plan... I am a product of my mother's vivid imagination, and I am always having to fight expecting the worst, but all was well in the end and I guess it was worth my worry.

We speculated there there must have been a dam there are one time, as you can still see the fish ladder to the right. All that concrete sort of mars the beauty of the falls, but it's still pretty.

Tomorrow we head home, I'm ready, I'm missing the kids. I'll post the new print tomorrow when we get home.

Astoria and Gearhart, Oregon

Shrimp Louie ala Pacific Way Cafe

It's so cute inside, but I was chicken to walk around and take more pictures of all the rooms.

I think this says that Astoria was founded in 1811. That Lewis and Clark, they got around...

The Blue Scorcher

Yesterday, we went to Astoria and had coffee at the Blue Scorcher. I love that place, but it

seems to be some sort of stomach jinx for me, because I always get sick. I think it's because I can't resist their organic baked goodies.
Anyway, while my tummy recovered we drove up to the Columbia River Estuary, saw a bald eagle, and some poor guy in an ancient motorhome that had somehow torn a hole in his gas tank. There was some action from the fire department over that, let me tell you.
Then for lunch we went to Pacific Way Cafe in Gearhart, one of my favorite places to eat in the world. I had the shrimp louie and it was as good as last time.
Tooday we went to Newhalem Falls, more pics later, Dave took them, so I have to wait for him to wake up from his nap so he can correct them.
When you get pics from me, it's WYSIWYG, but his must be PErFECT. Ahem.

Manzanita Redux, But With Pictures

A cool chair I saw in a gallery there, artist Debbie Harmon



Where we should have eaten lunch. Obviously, the dogs knew something we didn't. This cute place with an octopus waiter is called Bread and Ocean.

The beach at Manzanita

More beach.

Another place we should have eaten lunch, despite the terrifying giant crab on the roof.

A place called Salt and Paper.

Hunger struck later in Rockaway Beach and we ate at a dicey place I am trying to forget. I fully expected to get food poisoning, but the clam chowder and shrimp cocktail was good, it was just really a gross place to eat. I did not take a picture. I. Don't. Want. To. Think. About. It. ugh. Later we had giant waffle cones, mine with blackberry ice cream that I have been craving all summer. All I talk about on this blog, if I'm not talking about paintings, is food. Sheesh.

Foxglove at Oswald West State Park

Author's note** Evidently, I uploaded the uncorrected photos this morning, and the photographer was horrified. So I put the right ones on now, and added a few more.

This park is between Cannon Beach and Manzanita. My family can attest to the whining I have done this spring about having a foxglove photoshoot. I thought it was too late, but here they are at least 2 weeks behind Tacoma in flower bloom. So, we were able to find a pretty place to do it yesterday. Do you see the little creek behind the stand of foxglove? My husband is awesome, he found this place and I held the shiny thing for him. (some big shiny thing that makes a reflection on what he is focusing on)

Today I took photos of Manzanita, they won't be as good as the photographer's, but you will get to see how cute it is.

Anyway, back to the photographer's photos:

To get that stream one, he took off his shoes and socks and stood in icy cold water. brrr!

There's a snail on that mossy branch. Salmonberries, and the red ones are elderberries, ferns, and a mossy path. I need to go look up elderberries, I think the red ones are poison, and the blue ones come later that you can make wine and jelly with. If the red ones were edible, they could make a killing on them here, there are millions of them. Now I will probably have to come back and fix this. I'm probably wrong.

We are off to do some more exploring today.

In Manzanita, Oregon

A cool place we found today: http://www.coastcabins.com/
They have private hot tubs in each cabin area, but it looks pretty expensive. I really like the intro to the website, it really shows how pretty it is here.
It's in Manzanita, a cute little town about 13 miles from us that we had never been to before.
We also bought crabs from Brighton Marina in Wheeler. http://neahkahnie.net/wheelermarina/They pick fresh ones from a cage in the dock and cook them for you. We had cracked crab, rib eye steaks and baked potatoes for dinner. Sorry no pictures, I have been terribly lazy.
I did make my blueberry muffins this morning, but we burnt them to a crisp. Dave made a valiant effort to eat them, but we had to throw them away. I am used to making them with frozen blueberries and then the oven in the trailer was much hotter than I am used to at home. Be glad I don't have pictures, the smoke alarm in here went off.
Flight and Zoe ran on the beach in Manzanita and terrorized a poor family trying to build a castle. Actually, they think everyone loves them, so they go up to everybody. Sadly, the flopping around they did hoping for a pet ended in the walls of the castle being damaged.
Tomorrow Dave has promised a foxglove photo session, I've been wanting to take foxglove pictures for weeks, and I was so happy to discover that they are a couple weeks behind us in flower blooms, so there are still pretty foxgloves everywhere here.

Week 12 52 week print project "The HOPELESS BATHER" 5x7

Here is my new print for this week, "the hopeless bather", posted early because I will be gone on Sunday. As usual, click on my pic to be taken to etsy, or you can use the etsy ad in the sidebar to the right. The print will be $2 for a limited time, free shipping.

I am at the beach (Cannon Beach, Oregon) for a week, but I am bringing the prints with me to mail while I am on vacation. I'm awesome that way.

Selma Weissman

Check out her photostream here for some

dama do circo (detalhe)
Originally uploaded by Selma Weissmann

inspiring work!

Where The Fillos Pose With Jazz Hands

Family photos were taken last week. Very informal, and oh how hate that painting behind us. Must. Paint. Over. That.

** Edit- More Fillo photos here

Week 11- 52 Week Project "Mourning Michael"

Here is this weeks print, click on the picture to buy the 5x7 print for $2 for a limited time.

I will be gone the next couple of weeks** on vacation, but I will still be posting the new prints and will take them to mail when orders come in.

**Actually not leaving until Sunday the 6th, but will be super busy this week, not much time for blogging.

Camping at Westport with Skylar + 8x10 winner!

We took our grandson, Sky, camping over the weekend. It was his first time camping with us and his first time crabbing. Dave thought he was a pirate (notice knife in his mouth). They ended up buying crabs at the seafood store as the Westport docks just produced undersized crabs. It was his elevendy seventh batch of s'mores. We had fun.

The winner of the 8x10 is Jess4002@gmail.com!

Also, thanks to everyone that commented, there will be another giveaway next month.

week 10 52 week print project and giveaway winner

Here is my print for this week, it's a line drawing of a girl in a 'house dress'

You can buy the 5x7 print on etsy for $2 for a few days, just click on the pic to be taken to the etsy store listing.

We took our 11 year old grandson camping this weekend, so I am so tired! I did ask him to pick a number for the free five prints and he picked number 25, and through a complicated system, I figured out that would be Jeanne, Femminisimo! I'm to tired to figure out who won the 8x10 yet, I'll try to do that tomorrow.

The 5 prints I will give away this week

These are the 5 prints I am giving away this month. Usually I only give away 4 per month, but this month there were 5. I am also giving away one free 8x10 of the prints in my etsy shop. Please leave a comment on this post or the one below to be entered in both drawings.

If you've had trouble getting to my blog, I think we have figured out why, I had changed my website to the blogger address, and it worked for awhile, but today it stopped working. So if you have used http://www.juliefillo.com/ to find me here, that will not work for now. My sweet SIL is fixing it, or figuring out a solution.

100th post! week 9 print and a giveaway!

Wow, big doings in the art life blog, it's my hundreth post and I am posting week 8 print, which is a Hopeful Ballerina, again in honor of Renee. You can buy a print on etsy for 2 dollars if you click on the picture.

Also, if you leave a comment on my blog in the next week, you could win 4 of the 5x7's from my print project.

In honor of my 100th post, I am also giving away a free 8x10. You can pick from any of the prints in my etsy shop.

So leave a comment and win something!

Homemade in the Microwave Granola

I totally stole this recipe off the web somewhere, a year or two ago, but I have changed it a lot, so hopefully I won't get sued. I make it every week, for Dave. He eats it with vanilla yogurt. The other day he said, "we were out of yogurt, so I tried the granola with milk and it was really good!" I did not have the heart to tell him that he did not invent this idea.

I buy the nuts and things at the bulk foods section in the grocery store. I've never worked out if it saves any money, but it's gotta be healthy, with all those nuts and the flax seeds, right? I've tried lowering the oil amount, and the sugar, and it still works, but this is the combo that tastes the best to the grouch.

Microwave Granola

4 cups oatmeal

1 cup walnuts, broken or cut into small pieces

1 cup pecans, broken or cut

1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup flax seed

1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds

1 cup olive oil

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

sea salt

You can change the amounts of the nuts and things, and it can be approximate, it's not critical.

Anyway, put it all in a glass bowl, give it a stir and pop it into the microwave for 3 minutes. Take out and stir. Do this 2 more times, for a total of 9 minutes, and then finish off with 2 minutes and 20 seconds. So 11 minutes and 20 seconds total. I have a new microwave, so your time my vary, but just make sure it's browned some, but not burnt. It browns in the middle, so stirring is important. I made it for months without really browning it, undercooked we liked it, but it's really better now that I am cooking it longer.

After it is golden brown, turn onto a pammed cookie sheet, sprinkle with sea salt and let cool. When it is cool, put it in a pretty glass canister so you can look all earth maidenish in your kitchen.

It tastes exactly like the kind you make in the oven, but I find it so much easier to do this way.

One of my most scathing comments I've made about people you see driving around in a flowered volkswagen bus is "they look like they make their own granola" And I make my own granola. But I drive an old lady car.

Teitur Lassen

This in one of my all time favorite songs. It reminds me of being in Georgia with Kelsi going to the factory stores.

Red Eye Guy

I found the artist that paints the eyes out in red. Click on the picture to be taken to his photostream. I am so in love with him... but in a platonic artsy way. :)

**just found his blog

Work in Progress Photos

This is not finished, it's a painting, one of three that I did for my bedroom, heavily inspired by Ford Smith. The colors are more vibrant, I took this with flash and if I wasn't so lazy and taking care of a 9 week old baby, I'd take a new one.

This shows red underpainting and charcoal sketch. also upside down, but I'm too lazy to flip it, you get the idea though, right?

The beginning of leaves, literally hundreds of leaves. This is the painting I was working on Memorial Day weekend, I've meant to post the WIP photos before this, but you know how it is.

Ok, the process is, red underpainting, sketch with charcoal, then paint leaves, and then background, then wipe away charcoal and hope...

Did you all see that I have figured out how to post under my photos? !!! I have been trying to figure out how for months, all I did was look in blogger help. Go figure.
Also, I have removed the blocks on commenting, people keep telling me they try to comment and can't so I'm going to try this for awhile, before I got spam, but we'll see, I love hearing what you all think. Hopefully, posting these paintings will make me finish them.

I also added a playlist widget, but it's not all there for some reason, but you can still play the music and see my awesome musical genuis. I also disabled the thing where it turns on automatically because I hate being assaulted by other musical taste when I try to read their blog, in fact as generous at I am at flogging others blogs, I delete ones with annoying music. That's how I roll.
Asher fussing, must go. Love you all.

Caption Bubbles

I found this website where you can put a caption bubble on a picture.

**authors note: I hadn't, really, I just look like it, because I was trying to be cute.