Netarts Bay, Oregon

The weather, for a change, became warmer and the skies cleared.  No rain!  No wind!  Temperatures from 38F to 53F.  Cool!  

Excellent dry weather for a solo walker to roam the lovely loud beaches and lush forest trails.  

I ate breakfast at the Fern Restaurant in Tillamook on 101.  Enjoyed the hot hash browns. 

Toured the new (2008-), three story, beautiful, spacious, and inviting Tillamook County Library in the downtown area next to a new large Safeway Supermarket.  There is a Fred Meyer superstore at the north end of town, many fast food restaurants on US 101, and numerous stores and services in Tillamook.  I drove around Tillamook.  Shopped at Ace hardware and the Nectar Cannabis stores.  A nice food cart court with covered courtyard in downtown.  

Drove around Netarts Bay, the village of Netarts, and stopped at the beach and at the cliffside resort village of Oceanside with its many new expensive homes facing the Three Arches Rocks.  These huge rocks in the ocean near the sandy shore are very impressive.  I drove out to Cape Meares lighthouse.  The dangerous cliffside road from Netarts to Ocenside gives me the willies.  

Hung out at various places along the east shore of Netarts Bay.  Watched people digging clams at low tide, and fishing from small boats and roadside rocks at high tide.  The tide changes rules some aspects of life here.    

Enjoyed a codfish dinner at the Schooner Restaurant.  

During my last three monthly trips to coastal Yurt campsites (i.e., Grayland Beach, Cape Disappointment, and Nehalem Bay) it was raining, drizzling, foggy, windy, and wet.  Under these weather conditions, I don't start a campfire.  In fact, I seldom start a campfire.  In the dry months, May to September, campfires in coastal State Parks are often not permitted so as to prevent forest fires.  Or, I often just don't want to tend a smoky campfire; and, don't.  

However, on this trip, I did light a campfire some evenings and some mornings.  It was cold, a little foggy at times, other Yurt campers were having campfires, and the setting at my Yurt campsite was very beautiful.  The Sitka Spruce forest was enchanting for me.

Here are some photographs by me from this Cape Lookout Trip:

My Campfire at the Yurt Campground
Cape Lookout State Park

Tillamook Valley

Thee Arch Rocks

Netarts Bay at Low Tide

Sitka Spruce Forest
Cape Lookout

Here are some aerial photographs of Netarts Bay found on the Internet:

Looking South

Looking North

Clamming and Crabbing in Netarts Bay

Looking South

Looking to the Northwest

Here is some additional information about Netarts Bay

Netarts, Oregon   Population 744   Images   Unincorporated community. 

"Netarts is a small community situated at the mouth of Netarts Bay, just south of Oceanside. Found amid lush coastal rainforest, Netarts, in the language of the local Tillamook tribe, means “near the water.”  On the shore of Netarts Bay, the town is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a long, club-shaped stretch of forested sand called Netarts Spit. This was once the earliest settlement site of the Tillamook Indians. Inside the bay, at low tide, many search for different varieties of clam, and a nearby marina offers boat and crab pot rentals. Nearby Cape Lookout State Park, on the opposite shore of Netarts Bay, has tent camping, yurts, cabins, and a rewarding hike to a great, panoramic vista for whale watching."
-  Netarts Bay Travel
 

Netarts - Cafes

Netarts Bay 

Netarts Bay Trip Advisor

Netarts Bay Travel

General History of the Netarts Bay Area, By William Hawkins, 1994  PDF 

Where to Clam and Crab in Netarts Bay  By Oregon Fish and Game Department  Includes Map

Netarts Travel

Naveen's Bayside Market and Deli in Netarts

Netarts - Tillamook Coast

The Schooner Restaurant and Lounge in Netarts

Oceanside  

 

Netarts Bay Geology

Netarts Bay, at maximum high tide, is 9 feet deep on the average. 

Beach Sand Composition Geology

Zeolites of Tillamook Seashore

Northwest Coast: A Natural History.  By Stewart T. Schultz.  Portland, Timber Press, 1990, index, bibliography, 389 pages.  VSCL. 

"Netarts Bay is an estuarine bay on the northern Oregon Coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, located about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Tillamook. The unincorporated community of Netarts is located on the north end of the bay and Netarts Bay Shellfish Preserve, managed by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is located on the south side of the bay.[1] The sand spit on the west side of Netarts bay is part of Cape Lookout State Park.  The bay is approximately 5 by 1.5 miles (8.0 by 2.4 km) and totals 2,325 acres (9.41 km2) in area, making it Oregon's seventh largest bay.[2] Of that, 812 acres (3.29 km2) are permanently submerged—the balance of 1,513 acres (6.12 km2) is intertidal land.[2] It experiences a maximum tidal range of 9 feet (3 m).  The bay is part of a watershed of 13 square miles (34 km2)[2] that is fed by at least 16 small creeks. From north to south, there is Fall Creek, Hodgdon Creek, O'Hara Creek, Rice Creek, two unnamed creeks, Yager Creek, three unnamed creeks, Whiskey Creek, an unnamed creek, Austin Creek, two unnamed creeks, and Jackson Creek."
- Netarts Bay 

"Oregon is blessed with the vision of former Governor Oswald West who legislated that all of Oregon’s coastline be accessible to everyone. This was remarkable foresight given the state’s sparse population in 1911. More than 150 years later we appreciate his commitment to beauty beholden to all."

"Another common question about our sandy beach is, “Why does sand squeak when you walk on it?” The answer is that the music is caused by friction from the sand grains rubbing against each other as we apply weight through our footsteps as we scoot our feet through the sand. However, there are certain conditions to be met. The type of sand that squeaks is usually a silicate, a feldspar, or a carbonate, the grains must be rounded (no sharp corners or edges), they should be around 300 micrometers in diameter, and they squeak best when they are dry (moisture on the grains acts as a lubricant, decreasing the friction)."
-  Jim Young, Oceanside, Oregon

Cape Lookout State Park, Oregon

I drove from Vancouver, through Portland, out west by Beaverton and Hillsboro, and out into the farmlands and vineyards near Banks, Oregon.  From Banks, on Oregon Road 26, I drove the 50 miles through the coastal mountains and the Tillamook State Forest.  The road has many small homes along its course west up along Gales Creek up to the 1,500 foot summit, and then down the rugged Wilson River Canyon to the Tillamook Valley.  There are an astounding number white trunked deciduous trees (alders, poplars) along this impressive Wilson River Canyon.  

It is 100 miles from my home in Vancouver to Cape Lookout State Park.    

I drove 6 miles west out on Bayocean Road to where it dead ends because of rock slides.  The road goes along the southwest side of Tillamook Bay.  I did not drive out on the gravel Bayocean Dike Road all the way to the south jetty of Tillamook Bay.  It was very foggy at this time.  Dramatic!!  Nobody out and about today ... deserted foggy Bay waters rising and falling twice a day.  

Very little traffic today from Banks to Cape Lookout State Park.  How pleasant a drive for sightseeing.  

The fog lifted in the afternoon over low tide at Netarts Bay.

Here are some photographs by me from this Cape Lookout Trip:

The State Park campground is 6 miles from the village of Netarts, and 11 miles from downtown Tillamook. 

In the last two decades, I have camped in a Yurt at Cape Lookout State Park twice before, and once in a tent.  There are 210 campsites and 13 Yurts here.  Check in at 4:00 pm, and checkout at 10 am.  Most of the campground was closed, only Loop C was open.  All the Yurts were used, and about 15 trailers/RVs were in the campground.  

There are many hiking trails in the Park in the Sitka Spruce forest.  Also, nice roads for bicycling and walking (especially since so few people were here).  There are many miles of sandy beach and surf to walk along because the Park is on the long sand spit that creates the west side of shallow Netarts Bay.  All the steep hills to the east of the Park are heavily forested.  

There is considerable logging in the mountains surrounding the Tillamook Valley.  As is true for all the Oregon and Washington coastal mountain ranges.  

Sand Spit of Netarts Bay
Looking North
From the Internet

Since there will be lots of darkness and probably some rain, a winter coastal solo camper needs books to read, DVDs or CDs to use on a laptop, ebooks.  There was decent smart cellphone T-Mobile access to the Internet.

I brought my Kindle ebook reader, my HP laptop computer with software such as my laptop Kindle ebook reader, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop, and the Microsoft 365 Suite.  Brought my Canon SX740 camera and cellphone.  

In the next two weeks I will be reading the two following books. 

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies. By Rob Sylvan.  VSCL, my book.  

The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Year's Residence in Washington Territory.  By James G. Swan.  Introduction by Norman H. Clark.  University of Washington, 1857, 1969, 1999.  429 pages.  FVRL library book.  

Here is some additional information about the Cape Lookout Area: Netarts Bay, Cape Lookout State Park, Tillamook, Tillamook Bay.

Cape Lookout State Park     Images   Many options for walking and hiking in this part of the rugged Oregon coastline. 

Cape Lookout State Park

Four Days in Grayland   By Michael P. Garofalo.   Camping and travel adventures in the Pacific Northwest. 

Yurt Camping in the Coastal Northwest     By Michael P. Garofalo

Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint

Clay Myers State Natural Area

Bob Straub State Park

Cape Lookout Hiking Trail

Tillamook Coast Visitors Guide

North Coast Food Trail

Munson Creek Falls State Natural Site

Sand Lake Recreation Area

Three Capes Scenic Loop

Pacific City  Population 1,000

Northwest Coastal Oregon Travel Guide: Astoria to Cape Lookout.  By Mike Garofalo.  

Netarts, Oregon   Population 744   Images   Unincorporated community.   On Oregon 131, Trees to the Sea Highway.  Off of US 101. 

"Netarts is a small community situated at the mouth of Netarts Bay, just south of Oceanside. Found amid lush coastal rainforest, Netarts, in the language of the local Tillamook tribe, means “near the water.”  On the shore of Netarts Bay, the town is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a long, club-shaped stretch of forested sand called Netarts Spit. This was once the earliest settlement site of the Tillamook Indians. Inside the bay, at low tide, many search for different varieties of clam, and a nearby marina offers boat and crab pot rentals. Nearby Cape Lookout State Park, on the opposite shore of Netarts Bay, has tent camping, yurts, cabins, and a rewarding hike to a great, panoramic vista for whale watching."
-  Netarts Bay Travel
 

Netarts - Cafes

Netarts Bay 

Netarts Bay Trip Advisor

Netarts Bay Travel

General History of the Netarts Bay Area, By William Hawkins, 1994  PDF 

Where to Clam and Crab in Netarts Bay  By Oregon Fish and Game Department  Includes Map

Netarts Travel

Naveen's Bayside Market and Deli in Netarts

Netarts - Tillamook Coast

The Schooner Restaurant and Lounge in Netarts  Very good meals!  

 

Netarts Bay Geology

Netarts Bay, at maximum high tide, is 9 feet deep on the average. 

Beach Sand Composition Geology

Three Arch Rocks

Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge

Zeolites of Tillamook Seashore

Northwest Coast: A Natural History.  By Stewart T. Schultz.  Portland, Timber Press, 1990, index, bibliography, 389 pages.  VSCL. 

"Netarts Bay is an estuarine bay on the northern Oregon Coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, located about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Tillamook. The unincorporated community of Netarts is located on the north end of the bay and Netarts Bay Shellfish Preserve, managed by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is located on the south side of the bay.[1] The sand spit on the west side of Netarts bay is part of Cape Lookout State Park.  The bay is approximately 5 by 1.5 miles (8.0 by 2.4 km) and totals 2,325 acres (9.41 km2) in area, making it Oregon's seventh largest bay.[2] Of that, 812 acres (3.29 km2) are permanently submerged—the balance of 1,513 acres (6.12 km2) is intertidal land.[2] It experiences a maximum tidal range of 9 feet (3 m).  The bay is part of a watershed of 13 square miles (34 km2)[2] that is fed by at least 16 small creeks. From north to south, there is Fall Creek, Hodgdon Creek, O'Hara Creek, Rice Creek, two unnamed creeks, Yager Creek, three unnamed creeks, Whiskey Creek, an unnamed creek, Austin Creek, two unnamed creeks, and Jackson Creek."
- Netarts Bay 

 

"Oregon is blessed with the vision of former Governor Oswald West who legislated that all of Oregon’s coastline be accessible to everyone. This was remarkable foresight given the state’s sparse population in 1911. More than 150 years later we appreciate his commitment to beauty beholden to all."

"Another common question about our sandy beach is, “Why does sand squeak when you walk on it?” The answer is that the music is caused by friction from the sand grains rubbing against each other as we apply weight through our footsteps as we scoot our feet through the sand. However, there are certain conditions to be met. The type of sand that squeaks is usually a silicate, a feldspar, or a carbonate, the grains must be rounded (no sharp corners or edges), they should be around 300 micrometers in diameter, and they squeak best when they are dry (moisture on the grains acts as a lubricant, decreasing the friction)."
-  Jim Young, Oceanside, Oregon

Pacific Coastal Mountains of the Western United States

I have lived all my life near Mountains.  

We lived in Los Angeles from 1946-1998, surrounded by the ocean to the south and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north.  I climbed to the top of Mt. Baldy (10,000 feet) a dozen times.  I swam in the Pacific at Huntington Beach, Manhattan Beach, and dozens of other beaches from Santa Barbara to San Diego.  We lived about 20 miles north to the mountains and 20 miles south to the ocean.  

We lived in Red Bluff, California, from 1998-2017, surrounded by the Northern Sierra and Southern Cascades to the east and the Yolly Bolly Mountains, part of the Coastal mountains to the west, and the great Mt. Shasta to the north.  We lived in the North Sacramento Valley, inland, 20 miles from the Sierra mountains and 158 miles to the Pacific near Ferndale.  I climbed to the top of nearby Mt. Lassen.  

The coastal mountains in Northern California can get up to 7,000 feet and they go right down to the sea.  All the towns on US Highway 101 from Fort Bragg, CA, to Moclips, WA, are small, close to the sea, and by a river or bay.  

Lined up, west to east: the Pacific Ocean, bays, small coastal plain for towns, rivers, the coastal mountains, then the Big valleys (San Joaquin, Sacramento, Grants Pass, Willamette Valley, Columbia River Valleys and Gorges, Cowlitz River Valley, and to the east the major Cascade Mountain Range or Northern Sierra Mountain Range.  

Ocean, Mountains, Big Valley

From 2017-2022 I have lived in the smaller Willamette-Columbia River Valley area in Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland.  The coastal mountains that separate us from the Pacific are somewhat higher in northwest Oregon than in southwest Washington.  The roads over the coastal ranges in Oregon have higher passes than those in southwest Washington.  

I want to drive from Vancouver to Tillamook Oregon, 90 miles southwest, on Monday.  

So, to get to Tillamook, Oregon, I must drive south into downtown Portland on Interstate 5, and then west through the Zoo hills and tunnels onto Oregon 30, and drive on a four lane freeway through the suburbs and industries for 20 miles by Beaverton and Hillsboro, then into flatlands with farms, vineyards, orchards, and dairy farms to the town of Banks.

And then, here it comes: The Coastal Range!  Onto Oregon Road 6 through the Costal Range to Tillamook: 40+ miles of driving through 2 lane roads in the coastal mountains and dense Tillamook State Forests of Oregon.  

I let traffic pass, and pull off in safe spots to let vehicles pass, and rest a little.  I am in no rush when driving.  

When I find nice spots, I pull off the road and stop my engine.  I take this "stop driving" time for some useful traveler's activity, e.g., to rest, take in a pretty view, sip some coffee and a cookie, take a short walk, stretch, urinate, take photographs, yell, play my harmonica, write, read, rearrange stuff in my car, sit-look-listen outside, think ahead, study nature, change clothes, massage my body, squat, learn something, plan ahead, listen to my MP3 music, waste time, plan ahead, look at my map, etc.  

Here is a photograph of the Coastal Mountains between Tillamook and Banks:  

An Enduring State of Satisfaction

 A Repost From September 2020:   

Yesterday, I really enjoyed reading:  Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide.  By Frederic Lenoir, Ph.D.  Melville House, 2015.  208 pages. A very readable introduction to many different theories and viewpoints about the nature of happiness.

"At the same time, as the great Scottish philosopher David Hume notes, "The great end of all human industry, is the attainment of happiness.  For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modeled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators."  The whole of history is made up of dreams or utopias drawn up by individuals and societies.  It is because human beings have sought a better life and done all in their power to achieve it that all the progress of mankind has been accomplished.  The same is true of our personal lives: it's because we want to make progress, to be happier, that our lives improve and give us ever more satisfaction.  The obsession with happiness or the quest for a too-perfect happiness can produce the opposite result.  The art of happiness consists entirely in not setting goals that are too high, unattainable and overwhelming.  It's a good idea to set more gradual goals, to reach them step by step, to persevere without getting stressed while being able sometimes to let go and accept life's failures and ups and downs.  Montaigne and the Taoist sages understood this clearly and expressed it well: we need to allow our attention to act effortlessly; never to confront a situation with the aim of forcing it; to be able to act and not to act.  In short, to hope for happiness and pursue it while being supple and patient, without any excessive expectations, without stress, with hearts and minds in a state of constant openness."
-  Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide.  By Frederic Lenoir, p. 106.  

"I would say that happiness is the awareness of an overall and enduring state of satisfaction in a meaningful existence founded on truth.   Obviously, the contents of this satisfaction vary from one individual to another, and depend on their sensibility, their aspirations and the phase of their life they are going through.  Without hiding the unpredictable and fragile nature of happiness, the aim of wisdom is to try and make it as deep and permanent as possible, irrespective of the ups and downs of existence, external events and the pleasant or unpleasant events of everyday life."
-  Frederic Lenoir, p. 35  

Hypertext Notebooks by Michael Garofalo:

Happiness: Quotes, Good Reads, Sayings   

Virtue Ethics

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons  

Walking and Thinking

 "What is it about walking, in particular, that makes it so amenable to thinking and writing? The answer begins with changes to our chemistry. When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs—including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention. Walking on a regular basis also promotes new connections between brain cells, staves off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age, increases the volume of the hippocampus (a brain region crucial for memory), and elevates levels of molecules that both stimulate the growth of new neurons and transmit messages between them.

The way we move our bodies further changes the nature of our thoughts, and vice versa. Psychologists who specialize in exercise music have quantified what many of us already know: listening to songs with high tempos motivates us to run faster, and the swifter we move, the quicker we prefer our music. Likewise, when drivers hear loud, fast music, they unconsciously step a bit harder on the gas pedal. Walking at our own pace creates an unadulterated feedback loop between the rhythm of our bodies and our mental state that we cannot experience as easily when we’re jogging at the gym, steering a car, biking, or during any other kind of locomotion. When we stroll, the pace of our feet naturally vacillates with our moods and the cadence of our inner speech; at the same time, we can actively change the pace of our thoughts by deliberately walking more briskly or by slowing down."
-  Ferris Jabr, Why Walking Helps Us Think

Walking - Quotations, Sayings, Comments

2022/2/2 Time

 

2/2/2022 – 2022/2/2 a rhyme,
a way of writing time,
for today, anyway.  
Tic-tock – Tock-Tic clicks,
while smelling the incense stick,
so many memories come so quick.
- Mike Garofalo

Time:  https://gardendigest.com/time.htm

"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."
-Emily Dickinson

 

I've Grown a Little Taller

A repost from August 2016:

"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees."
-  Karle Wilson

"I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world."
-  George Santayana

"I was never less alone than when by myself."
-  Edward Gibbon

"The walking stick serves the purpose of an advertisement that the bearer's hands are employed otherwise that in useful effort, and it therefore has utility as an evidence of leisure."
-  Thorstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class

"... the brisk exercise imparts elasticity to the muscles, fresh and healthy blood circulates through the brain, the mind works well, the eye is clear, the step is firm, and the day's exertion always make the evening's repose thoroughly enjoyable."
-  Dr. David Livingstone


Currently, I am reading the following three books:

Solar Electricity Handbook: 2016 Edition: A Simple, Practical Guide to Solar Energy - Designing and Installing Solar PV Systems.  Greenstream Publishing, 2016, Kindle Edition.  307 pages.  VSCL. 

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.  By Al Gore.  Rodale Books, 2009.  416 pages.  ISBN: 978-1594867347.  VSCL.  

Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge  By Laren Stover.  New York, Bulfinch Press, 2004.  271 pages.  ISBN: 9780821228906.  A lighthearted and free flowing discussion of the five variations of Bohemians (Nouveau, Gypsy, Beat, Zen and Dandy) and of Bohemian philosophy generally.  VSCL. 

Walking - Quotations, Sayings, Poems, Lore

Solitude - Quotations  

Traveling, Camping and Hiking in Oregon

Pleasure, Satisfaction, Desire - Quotations

Renewable Energy Options



Nearly every Sunday morning, at daybreak, I walk four miles along a quiet paved country lane.  The photograph below, taken by Karen, was on a nice Spring day.  

Tai Chi Chuan Practice

A repost from January 2014:

I have been so busy with Taoist studies, yoga practice, weightlifting, walking, gardening, teaching, reading, and working part-time that I have not been practicing my Chen Taijiquan forms each day.  Starting today, I will renew my efforts in this area of mind-body arts by the daily practice of the Chen 18 Form and Chen broadsword 23 Movement form.  

We don’t "really learn” Tai Chi by listening to, imitating, and following a live Tai chi instructor, or reading Tai Chi books, or watching Tai Chi instructional DVDs.  The “learning” comes from practicing Tai Chi, playing Tai Chi, moving by Tai chi, and feeling Tai Chi.  We move from being awkward and uncomfortable to moving gracefully, fluidly, easily, confidently, and beautifully.  Live and virtual Tai Chi instructors provide us with information and ideas about what Tai Chi has been for others and could be for us, its rich history, and provide us with a model of how a "form" might look and be realized as expressed by their body-mind.  

Our instructor's "mind" set or intention is important - depending, for example, on whether they emphasize martial applications or they are a New Age energy arts dancer.  Likewise, our own progress in "learning" will depend upon our own "mind set" of intentions, dedication, toughness, the courage to go beyond our limitations and failures, and our willpower.  

Learning Tai Chi is always a complex matrix of interactions, lived experiences, daily training, and accumulated muscle memories.  Less thinking and more practice, training, and doing will result in the greatest learning.  Repeated movements are the foundation for Tai Chi learning.  

"Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states."
-  Carol Welch 

"Knowing is not enough, we must apply.  Willing is not enough, we must do." 
-  Bruce Lee  

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.  But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.  There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
-  Alan Cohen 

 

Chen Style Taijiquan Short Hand Form, 18 Movements
Created by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei

Bibliography, Resources, List of Movements, Resources, Links, Instructions, Comments
Webpage by Michael Garofalo

 

Chen Style Taijiquan
Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's Short 18 Movements Tai Chi Hand Form
List of 18 Movements

1.     Beginning Posture of Taiji 

2.     Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds the Mortar

3.     Lazily Tying One's Coat  

4.     Six Sealing and Four Closing  

5.     Single Whip 

6.     White Crane Spreads Its Wings

7.     Walk Diagonally  

8.     Brush Knee

9.     Stepping to Both Sides   

10.   Cover Hands and Strike with Fist  

11.   High Pat on the Horse  

12.   Kick with the Left Heel  

13.   Jade Maiden Working Her Loom  

14.   Cloud Hands  

15.   Turn Body with Double Lotus Kick 

16.   Cannon Fist Over the Head  

17.   Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds the Mortar  

18.   Closing Posture of Taiji    

List of Movements in Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's Short 18 Form  (1 Page, PDF)  English Only  

List of Movements in Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's Short 18 Form  (1Page, PDF)  English and Chinese   

List of Movements in Chen Taijiquan, Old Frame, First Form, Laojia Yilu   (2 pages, PDF)  English and Chinese 

Chen Style Taijiquan

Tai Chi for Health by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei


Chen Broadsword (Saber) 23 Movement Form

 

Our Family Photography Projects for 2022

We are now working on a  Family Photographs Project.

Phase 1

This involves the tedious process of collecting together all of our digital photographs from our two desktop computers, one laptop computer, cell phones, OneDrive, tablets, CD collections, and four external hard disk drives. 

We ended up gathering together 58,000 digital photographs into 450 Folders and using up 156 GB of external hard disk drive space.  I did some rough organizing, file renaming, weeding duplicate folders, and placing them all in one Folder (named "Photographs of BKG and MPG") on one Seagate 5Tb external hard disk drive.  Then, I backed up this one Folder on all the other three external hard disk drives.  

A lifetime of our personal digital photographs-- now all safe in one place, roughly organized by year, with backups.  I am sure we will add a few stray Folders of digital photos from the past, and our family or friends might add some other older digital photos.  

Also, now there is a new storage home for all the digital photographs that we will be adding after January of 2022.  Using my Canon SX740 digital camera, I intend to compose and transfer many more thousands of photographs before I die.  

I am studying two books on this new software. First, the book by Scott Kelby titled "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 2021".  I am following his instructions.  This 'Lightroom' book is very informative and useful to me.  Second, the book by Rob Sylvan titled "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies 2019."  

I've always enjoyed working with database software and databases (manual and electronic) since 1963. I used Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel and other database software many times in my professional employment.     

My first import into Lightroom was with 10 Test Folders so as to learn how to use Lightroom for Importing and doing basic classification and cataloging markup after importing a Folder.  I am taking my time.  I imported just one Test Folder, and then learned how to do classificatory mark up on individual photos or on larger groups of photos using keywords, search terms, signature presets, special collections, presets, rating flags, etc.  Plenty more to learn about Importing and using many other Lightroom functions in the Library Mode.   

Then, one by one, I will import into Lightroom the 450 Folders in "Photographs of BKG and MPG" and do the markup for each Folder.  Gradually, during February of 2022, I will complete the importation of all the 450 Folders containing 58,000 digital photographs.  

As a former professional Librarian for over 40 years, I find Lightroom to be a very good tool for the database management of digital graphic images.  

Our digital cameras, mostly Canon, over the decades, output digital files in the .jpeg format.  Lightroom can easily handle a wide variety of digital formats.  

Phase 2

In late January of 2022, we set up two portable tables with chairs in front of the fireplace in our larger TV/Reading room.  We placed our HP laptop and the new photo scanner on the tables.  

Then, we began the slow and tedious process of gathering together all our old paper photographs, both black and white photos, as well as color photos.  The old paper photographs were found in boxes, photo albums, drawers, plastic cases, on bookshelves, and in file cabinets.  They were found inside the house, the garage, the attic, the closets.  

We scan all the paper photographs with the Plustek Photo Scanner.  We are both very satisfied with the speed and ease of use in scanning, the quality of pictures scanned, the numerous software options, and its file handling.  It can output scanned files in .jpeg and other digital formats.  

A few of the best or treasured old paper photographs are kept, some of the best are sorted out and given to family members or friends, and many are tossed into the trash can for the landfill.  All are scanned!

These paper photographic images are now all digitalized.  Later, if needed, an images or group of images can be tweaked for digitalized quality or artistic improvements using Lightroom or Photoshop.  

Folders of the scanned paper photographs are then Imported into Lightroom and roughly classified or quality rated.  

Phase 3

Gather together all our photographic slides.  
Scan all these slides into new Folders.
Import into Lightroom the digitalized images of slides in the Folders.  

We will be using the Kodak Slide and Scan hardware and software for scanning color slides.  

Hardware and Software

In our home in suburban Vancouver, Washington, we have two small bedrooms each converted into a home Office and reading room.  Sometimes, on many cold days, to reduce our electric consumption, we only heat these two Office rooms.  Each of us has their own cozy den for reading, napping, electronic connectivity, and entertainment.  And, each of these rooms have a Dell desktop and other connected electronic equipment and gear.  Mostly old equipment, but working fine.  We have Comcast XFinity for Internet and telephone and umpteen channels.  

We are both using an old "renewed" HP Desktop Elitebook 8470p Laptop, Core i5 3320 m 2.6ghz - 8GB DDR3, 128 GB SSD, DVDRW, Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit.  $260, renewed, recycled, saved, or rescued.  Basically, an  old dog of a heavy computer.  It seems to be passing all my tests of performance, e.g., checked CDRW and audio today.  My little puny ASUS laptop died two weeks ago.  I use a Seagate 4Tb external hard disk drive.

Paper photographs Scanner:  Plustek Photo Scanner.  Ephoto Z300, scan 4x6 photo in 2 seconds.  It includes three software applications: scanner mode, picture quality editing and cropping mode, and file manager mode.  $215.  We are both very satisfied with the ease of use, quality of pictures scanned, software options, file handling.  

Digital Photo Viewer Portable:  Aluratek 10" digital photo frame w/4GB built in memory, USB SD/SDHC support, $85.00.  A nice gift for somebody special - including selected photographs that you have taken of them.  

I keep my Notes About Photography in a hypertext notebook.  

I pay for using Adobe Lightroom Classic and Adobe Photoshop, $10 a month.  

Makenna

Our 55th Wedding Anniversary

Karen and I were married on January 26, 1967.  

We raised our two children together.  

We lived in Bell Gardens (14 years), Biloxi, Mississippi (4 years), Hacienda Heights (13 years), Red Bluff, California (19 years), and Vancouver, Washington (5 years).  Karen retired at age 67 and I at age 70.  

Innumerable THANK YOU's for a great life with a fine and caring wife, Karen.  Outstanding 55 Years with You!!