Abandoned Footwear

The title of this post is in honour of a friend of mine who has a photo album of this name on his Facebook account. He takes pictures of various shoes he finds lying around cities, parks, roads, or wherever, without an obvious owner, and often without a match. I spotted these boots stuck in the rain outside La Casita, a delicious Mexican restaurant on 9th Street in Walla Walla.

The Sentinal

This large tree stands at a corner I pass by every morning on my way to work. It towers over the house and the telephone pole next to it, and I think it looks even more regal with the snow on its branches, don't you?

Christmas Morning

Image taken by my friend, Charley,
at our church's living nativity program, 2009

Luke, Chapter 2
New International Version
The Bible

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas!

Hip

This is another shot from my salon, Bella, where my friend Rachel does my hair. I love how modern and comfortable they have the place decorated. It's also quite festive with the red and green being quite appropriate for this time of year. Happy Christmas Eve!

Baked Potato Soup

A warming image for a chilly day. This was my lunch at a local cafe the other day: Baked potato soup with foccacia bread. Mmmm! Perfect for a cold, snowy day.

On the Way to Work

This was the view I had this morning as I left my house for work. The sky was beautiful; for the last several days we've had nothing but fog, so to see the sky was amazing enough, but the cloud formations and lovely colours were a nice bonus. Good morning!

Congregational Church

As promised, a better view of the church at the "end" of Alder Street. This is the Congregational Church of Walla Walla and it really is a beautiful building. My sister-in-law got married there, and her father-in-law directs the music there (or did...not sure if he still does). You can see that this is where Alder jogs to the right (south) and dumps drivers onto Palouse, but you only have to go half a block before turning left to get back onto Alder. Sometimes streets don't make any sense, and this is one of those times.

Crosswalk

While stopped at an intersection on Alder street (one block south of Main Street) in Walla Walla, I snapped this picture through my rainy windshield. I also took a shot of the church you see at the end of the street once we got a bit closer. (No, I was not driving.) As you can see, Alder Street appears to run straight into that church. In fact, Alder Street jogs to the south (right) at the church and continues one block over, effectively ending Poplar Street, which runs parallel to Alder until the street in front of that church, which is called Palouse. Tomorrow, a closer view of that lovely church. (By the way, do you think that guy crossing the street noticed he was having his picture taken?)

Public Christmas Trees 2

This lovely tree is quite a bit larger than the first Christmas tree I posted. It's probably about 30 feet tall and decorated beautifully. It resides in front of the firehouse in the 8,000-person city of College Place, and is highly visible from the main drag, College Avenue.

Try the Pumpkin Pancakes

Welcome to Clarette's, one of the most popular - well, perhaps THE most popular, according to the sign on the wall there - breakfast restaurants in the valley. Granted, we're a small town, so it's not like Clarette's has much competition, but there are a few others. The restaurant is located on the edge of the Whitman College campus in Walla Walla, which means it is often haunted by college students. My favourite meals there: Pumpkin pancakes and butternut squash ravioli with a creamy pesto sauce. Delicious! And the best part: They serve breakfast all day.

Shopping at the Movies

This is the corner of Colville and Main Streets in downtown Walla Walla. As you can see, the dominant building is Macy's, a well-known high-end department store. I don't shop there much (due to the "high-end" part of that last sentence), but occasionally I like to browse. The store is kind of neat inside, since it used to be a movie theatre. Some of the floors are sloped, the walls are rounded and decorated, and the doors are wider than most store doors. While most of the inside really does resemble a department store, the youth section is very much still in the theatre shape, with a ramp into the section and a step down into the shopping area, with very high ceilings and angled walls instead of just a large square or rectangular room.

Red Shoes

This is only my second "shoes" post; the first was a black and white shot of a young girl's "I'm a woman now" shoes. These are actually MY shoes; I performed in two Christmas concerts on Friday evening and though the apparel requirement for women was "all black" I made my uniform a little more festive with these. I spent two years hunting for the "perfect" pair of red shoes and finally found them a few months ago. In this shot I was sitting backstage, waiting for my part to come.

Public Christmas Trees 1

I'm going to try and take a picture of all the area outdoor Christmas trees this year, but I make no promises! This is the first of the series, and it is a tree located outside of a church in Milton-Freewater. I really love the colour of the sky in this shot.

Mill Creek Brew Pub

This charming edifice is one side of the Mill Creek Brew Pub in downtown Walla Walla. A down-to-earth, casual dining place, the Brew Pub (as it is commonly called in town) is not only a restaurant but a microbrewery as well. They also serve sweet potato fries year-round. It is called Mill Creek Brew Pub because it is situated on top of one part of Mill Creek, a mostly underground waterway that makes its way throughout the valley and empties into the Columbia River.

Bella

I like colour. That's why I like these shelves of hair products in my salon of choice, Bella. My friend Rachel does hair there and she's amazing...so is the atmosphere of the place. Located at the east end of Main Street in downtown Walla Walla, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Here Comes the Sun Again

Not an amazing picture, but the reason I took it is amazing: SUNSHINE! The valley hasn't seen this for over two weeks, and this was a brief glimpse, but definitely enough to make a lot of people smile, if only for a few moments. This shot was taken on my cell phone as I crossed Main Street after getting a haircut at my favourite salon, Bella. I have a couple of pictures of the salon to show you, too, but wanted to post the sunshine picture first.

Beautiful Disaster

So many books I don't even know where to start! This is another shot of the inside of Earthlight Books, a new and used book shop located near the east end of Main Street in Walla Walla. I particularly like the random origami art hanging from the ceiling here. Another picture taken just for my friend, Ciel, from Versailles Daily Photo. Bonjour, mon amie!

Just for Cieldequimper

This may look like a mess to you, but to a local Walla Walla bookworm, this is heaven on earth. Welcome to Earthlight Books, a favourite haunting place for people like cieldequimper, author of Versailles Daily Photo, who visits the valley from time to time and adores this little book shop near the end of Main Street in downtown Walla Walla. This shot is for you, Ciel...and there's more to come tomorrow!

Typical

This is a typical scene out my office window in the winter. Well, when there's snow. Really I'm just getting at the fact that it's quite dark and grey for a majority of the colder months here in the WW Valley. A lot of people strongly dislike this fact, but I suppose those same people are appeased when June, July and August roll around with its 100-degree (F) weather every summer. They can have their summer...I'll enjoy wearing scarves and hats, thank you!

Cugini

This little shop is on the edge of town in College Place, and is one place I've yet to visit. It can be quite handy to have a place like this in a small town where, sadly, no Italian eateries exist. If you can't go to a restaurant, learn to make it yourself!

U-Church

The biggest church in the valley, the Walla Walla U. Church, stands tall and regal, surrounded by the first snow of the season and given a backdrop of blue sky - some of the only glimpses we've seen for over a week! A couple thousand people attend this church every weekend, many of them university students. The university is part of the Seventh-day Adventist school system, which has over a dozen colleges and universities in North America alone, with dozens more around the world, including locations such as India, England, France, Australia, Philippines, Spain, Austria, Argentina and more.