Gresham beats South Medford, 3-0 Wednesday, October 31, 2007

South Medford senior Carli Sash goes on the attack in game 3 of the Panthers' match at Gresham Wednesday night. South Medford was eliminated from the playoffs with a 25-22, 25-17, 25-15 loss to the fourth-ranked Gophers.

The Gresham Gophers advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a win at home Wednesday night over unranked South Medford.

After falling behind 9-3 in game 1, the fourth-ranked Gophers came back to take the match 25-22, 25-17, 25-15. They play no.-7 West Salem Saturday. That team had a bye in the first round.

The officiating in the match was questionable, but balanced. The referees missed a four- or five-hit play on South Medford's side and called in some Panther hits that landed long, but also called South Medford for lifting on a clear single-arm save.


Amiee Frutchey hits for the Gophers in game 2.

Carkeek Park Monday, October 29, 2007

Kim Sinclair walks along the beach Oct. 27 at Carkeek Park in northwest Seattle.

Carkeek Park is a mid-sized hiking park in northwest Seattle overlooking Puget Sound. Most of the park is forested with trails. Walking through the woods, you'd never know you were in a major metropolis. There is also an Environmental Learning Center and, across a walkway over the main rail line from Seattle to Vancouver (B.C.), a small gravelly beach.

The beach is really the delta of Pipers Creek, which runs through the park. According to the official website, "years of hard work by neighbors and volunteers have brought salmon back to Pipers Creek," but we didn't see any.

Riding the train

This weekend I took a trip up to Seattle to visit Kim. But rather than drive, I decided to take the train. It was the first time I'd taken the train in a few years, and it reminded me of how much there is to love about riding the train.

For a single traveler, the cost of the train ($76 round-trip, + $8 parking in Portland) isn't much more than the cost of gas these days, let alone the wear and tear on the car. The seats are wider than an airplane or bus, and you can wander around the train as much as you please. They have plugs for your laptop.

You do have to travel on Amtrak's schedule instead of your own, but you can sleep or work or whatever while you ride. And for me, at least, the stations are in very convenient locations at both ends of the trip.

As I rode up on Saturday morning I spent time processing some photos from Friday's work. It was a gorgeous day, and the scenery for much of the trip is beautiful. It is particularly nice between Olympia and Tacoma as the train runs alongside Puget Sound; the fall foliage across the water was radiant in the cool autumn sunshine.

Just as I finished my work and reached for my camera, though, we arrived in Tacoma where it was somewhat foggy and we promptly headed a ways inland. Sunday, too, was nice, but I took the evening train back to Portland in the dark.

Nathan spent most of the trip to Seattle walking up and down the train with his mother.

Barlow makes the playoffs

The Bruins' Kiyomi Cook pushes past Maddie Kaufman Oct. 25 in Barlow's 3-0 win over Gresham at Stapleton Field. With the victory, Barlow qualified for the playoffs. They will travel to North Medford for their first-round match on Saturday.

Barlow's girls' soccer team squeaked into the playoffs with a 3-0 win over Gresham Oct. 25. But the team is better than their 5th-place finish in the Mt. Hood Conference would indicate.

The Bruins forfeited their first four games of the season, including two wins and a tie, because of a paperwork problem.

They shut out their opponents for the remainder of the season to put themselves back in the playoff picture.

Saturday, they will be on the road against North Medford in the first round of the playoffs. You can see the full bracket for the 6A Girls on the OSAA's website.

Otis Cafe Friday, October 26, 2007

Patrons come and go from the tiny Otis Cafe on highway 18 in Otis, Ore.

The Otis Cafe is a tiny, little restaurant in Otis, Ore., just a couple of miles off the coast north of Lincoln City. The dining room only seats about 25 patrons, and you have to walk into the kitchen to find the restrooms.

But, as the whiteboard inside says, it's "worth the weight wait."

And we didn't have to wait that long. Even though it was busy enough that Pierce and I had to sit at the counter, we had clam chowder—thick enough to walk on—in front of us within ten minutes. The restaurant is known for its breakfasts, served all day, but it was lunchtime so we had hamburgers.

Perhaps the best thing about the cafe is the decoration. Just about every inch of the walls are covered with black and white pictures of fishermen with huge fish, old logging camps, and three-dimensional sculptures of hands holding coffee cups and doughnuts. Behind the counter, hand-made personalized mugs wait for regular customers.

The Otis Cafe was featured in this story in USA Today.

Pre-season workouts Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Makenzie Blythe (right) gives Mariella Ballanto some pointers on doing squats Oct. 22.

(right) Kelsey Goodell sprints on the track.






(below, left) Harry, Mariella and Makenzie compare muscles in the weight room. (below, right) Weight room supervisor Stan Caples has challenged Kelsey, Makenzie, and Mariella to climb the rope within two weeks.

Marmot Dam no more Monday, October 22, 2007

Water runs through the natural course of the Sandy River Oct. 19 for the first time in nearly 100 years, after PGE workers allowed the river to breach the Marmot Dam. The main dam was demolished in July. The remaining coffer dam was dismantled Friday when last week's rains brought up water flows in the river.

I spent several hours out at the Marmot Dam site on Friday. The early part of the day was unexpectedly sunny and warm, but later it poured hard for about 3 hours. Fortunately it let up just before the main event.

Check out www.MarmotDam.com for more about the largest dam removal project on the West Coast in more than 40 years. Many of these photos are mine.

More from the West Linn Invitational

(left) Genevieve Leineweber drills the ball past Sprague's Brit Langley Oct. 20 as Central Catholic rolls past the Olympians 25-17, 25-15, in the Gold Division quarterfinals at the West Linn Invitational.

Here are a couple more photos from the West Linn Invitational. The event is probably the top tournament in Oregon ahead of the state finals. This year the 24 participating schools included nine ranked teams from the 6A, 5A and 4A divisions.

After the round robins were completed in the morning, the top team from each of the six pools advanced to the championship bracket, along with the two best second-place teams. All of the expected teams made it to the "Gold Division:" Jesuit, Central Catholic, West Linn, Crook County, Gresham, Southridge, Reynolds and Sprague.

Jesuit, ranked no. 1 in the 6A poll, defeated no.-2 Central Catholic in the title match.



(left) Sprague coach Katie Herber talks to her players during a timeout.

West Linn Invitational Volleyball Tournament

Gresham's Amiee Frutchey (right) picks the line past Caitlin McDonnell Oct. 20 in the Gophers' quarterfinal match against the host school at the West Linn Invitational Volleyball Tournament. Gresham came from behind to beat West Linn 14-25, 25-19, 15-8. The Gophers lost to their Mt. Hood conference rivals, Central Catholic in the semifinal round.

(left) The ball gets through Jane Moesche's block.

I shot this game and the quarterfinal match between Central Catholic and Sprague. If I have time, I'll post some more photos later.

Workout Thursday, October 18, 2007

Lincoln High School sophomore Alexis Gleason works out in the weight room Oct. 17 under the supervision of Stan Caples. Gleason saw regular playing time off the bench on last year's varsity basketball squad. Now she's training in preparation for the upcoming season.

The girls at Lincoln High School have high hopes for this year's basketball team. They only lost one member of last year's state-tournament team to graduation, and most of the girls have been playing together for four years now.

I spent some time in the sweaty depths of Lincoln High School this afternoon photographing Lexi's workout. You can see more of my photos on my SportsShooter page, www.SportsShooter.com/matthewginn.

Central Catholic (2) defeats Barlow Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Central Catholic's Lily Wygal gets up over the ball Oct. 16 in the Rams' 25-12, 25-17, 25-17 win at Barlow.

Last night, the second-ranked Rams traveled to Barlow for a meeting with the Bruins. Not surprisingly, Central Catholic cruised past their opponents 25-12, 25-17, 25-17.

After a sloppy first game, Barlow showed moments of competence in the remainder of the match. Combined with a few lapses of concentration on the part of the Rams, the Bruins stayed close for much of games two and three.
But despite an enthusiastic home crowd, Barlow didn't have the depth to really threaten Central Catholic.







(left) The Bruins celebrate a point in game one. (below) Barlow's Taylor Canoso sets the ball for Kaitlyn Maddams in game two.
















(left) Cheyne Corrado, left, watches Barlow's Brianna Leenders and Sydne Sloy try to deal with a hit that fell inside their block. (below, right) Although Barlow never really threatened to win, Rams coach Rick Lorenz found something to bite his nails about. (below, left) Barlow's Nichole Rex, no. 12, and Jaydee Baxter both miss a shot in game three.

Wienermobile spotted in Portland! Monday, October 15, 2007

Wienermobile driver Dan Olson talks with a passerby Oct. 15 in downtown Portland.

This afternoon as I was walking home from a quick trip to Lincoln High School, I spotted the Wienermobile parked beside PGE Park. Naturally, I had to investigate.

Today and tomorrow are days off for the Hotdoggers (yes, that's their official job title). They just rolled into town today, and stopped by a Kinko's to fax some reports back to the home office. But a vehicle like that attracts attention, says driver Dan Olson, so anywhere they stop becomes an event.

About half a dozen people stopped by while I was there, including one irritable senior with a walker. He asked if they had any samples on board, which they don't. He wasn't satisfied with a wiener whistle, or even a coupon. He then proceeded to berate Dan for not knowing former Portland radio host Steve "Dream" Weaver who, apparently, regularly had the Wienermobile crew on his show. Eventually he got tired of ranting and left.

Standing just within earshot of the rant was the next visitor, none other than Steve "Dream" Weaver himself. No kidding, it was a true coincidence. Weaver was wandering around downtown Portland with his daughter, Jacqueline, who was in town for a surprise visit with her dad. Like me, they spotted the Wienermobile and had to check it out.

Hotdogger Dan Olson, left, talks to former radio talk show host Steve "Dream" Weaver and his daughter Jacqueline from the cab of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Oct. 15 near PGE Park in downtown Portland.

Olson, who hails from Minneapolis, has been driving the vehicle since June. In the past four months they have driven about 17,000 miles, mostly in the Midwest. Recently they have been in Washington and now the vehicle is making a trip down the west coast. It will be in the Portland area until Thursday.

David Douglas 41, Sandy 13 Sunday, October 14, 2007

Michael Waters (no. 25, right) takes advantage of Petr Novozhennikov's block to move past Eric Anderson (no. 75) Thursday night in the Scots' game against Sandy. After a scoreless first quarter, David Douglas dominated en route to a 41-13 win.

A slippery field caused by intermittent light rain couldn't stop David Douglas' running game last week in Sandy. Led by running back Michael Waters, the Scots spoiled the Pioneers' homecoming game with a 41-13 win.

David Douglas (3-1) is tied with Central Catholic for second in the Mt. Hood Conference. Sandy slipped to 0-4.

Last week's game was played on Thursday because there was no school on Friday.



(right) Members of Sandy's football team wore number 7 on their helmets in honor of team mate Traven Lutz, who broke his jaw Oct. 5 in Sandy's game against Centennial.






(left) The grandstand was full Thursday night for the annual homecoming game. Jordan Elliott and Annalisa Peterson were announced as King and Queen in a halftime ceremony.






(right) Scots' running back Michael Waters (no. 25, center) breaks into the end zone Thursday night in the third quarter of David Douglas' game in Sandy.

People, coming and going Friday, October 12, 2007

Anne and Alberto head to the departures level at Pearson International's new Terminal 1 Sunday to catch a flight back to Mexico.

Any event that brings a large, mature family together these days means a lot of people coming and going from various parts of the world.

Ken and Magda Davey's 60th wedding anniversary celebrations brought 24 family members to Toronto from England, the United States, and Mexico, as well as other parts of Canada.

Listen to Magda describe all the people expected for the event:



Of course, people arriving means people leaving again. Of the out-of-town guests, Anne and Alberto were the first to depart at lunchtime on Sunday. Some of the English guests left Sunday evening. My parents left Monday morning, as did Stuart and Sue. Gillian left Monday night, I think, and I came back here Wednesday evening. Stanley, Ann, and Pat should have left today.

(left) Anne hams it up for the camera as she hugs her mother goodbye.

Miscellaneous photos Wednesday, October 10, 2007

A magnet reading "growing old is NOT for sissies" sits on Peter and Anne Ginn's fridge among photos of their grandchildren and other relatives.

I don't have a lot to say about these photos, but I thought I'd post them anyway. For the record, none of the photos you see on the fridge are me.

Here I am (left) interviewing my grandmother as she makes dinner. My dad took the photo.

A couple of Kenogami photos

"Grandmum's cottage" sticks out among the trees on Kenogami Lake. The main cottage is hidden by the trees behind the white building.

It is hard to get a good picture of the main Ginn cottage at Kenogami because it is tucked among the spruce and pines. They keep the cabin cool and private, but there are still selected views of the lake.

Peter Ginn stands among footprints painted on the kitchen floor. Years ago, my grandmother had all of the grandchildren dip their feet in paint and step on the floor. She and my grandfather also added their own footprints. Later, when they had to repaint the floor, she made stencils of them so that the feet could be re-applied. The footprints move from time to time. In their current configuration they depict people working in different parts of the kitchen.

Fall chores Tuesday, October 09, 2007

(left) Peter Ginn, right looks up at a birdhouse that needs cleaning out as his father, A. Peter, hands him a screwdriver to open it. (below) Peter consults his father before installing a storm window on the upper floor of his father's home in Matheson, Ontario.









While we were up in Matheson, my father and I helped his dad with some of the fall chores, like changing the screens for storm windows on the upper floor windows and cleaning out a couple of birdhouses in their back yard.

Mum helped my grandmother with the cooking and cleaning.

Anne Ginn pours "elevenses" Oct. 3 at her home in Matheson, Ontario. Life in the Ginn household seems to revolve around meals and tea: elevenses and afternoon tea time fill the gaps between breakfast, lunch and dinner.






A. Peter Ginn checks the Toronto Stock Exchange results every afternoon.

On the way to Matheson

Peter Ginn drives north on Highway 11 Oct. 4 en route to his home town of Matheson, Ontario.

I finally have a bit of time to start posting some of the pictures from my trip.

The trip started off fairly routinely, with me getting up at 3:55 a.m. to drive to the Hollywood MAX station and from there take the train out to PDX in time for a 6:45 flight to Toronto via Seattle. I expected to arrive about 3:45 p.m. Eastern time.

In Portland things went very smoothly. After getting my bag full of camera and audio gear through security without any hassle, I bought a scone for breakfast. We were in the air on time, and I was starting to think about what I had to do once I arrived in Toronto.

But just as we cleared 10,000 feet the pilot came over the intercom to announce that there was a problem with the fuel pressure guage. Though there were no other indications of a problem, he said, and even though we were about a third of the way to our destination (he didn't add), we would have to return to Portland.

Since I only had 45 minutes to make my connection in Seattle, I knew that any delay would preclude my being on the second airplane before takeoff. Fortunately the United Airlines ground staff reached the same conclusion and called me off the plane when we returned to the gate.

Having missed my intended ride from Seattle to Toronto, the quickest way they could get me there was through Vancouver, just 3 hours late. Though the gate staff in Portland were swamped with trying to board passengers on two other flights and simultaneously dealing with an increasing number of passengers switching off my flight, they managed to transfer my ticket to an already delayed, half-full Air Canada flight to Vancouver.

Having entered Canada, I had to clear immigration before proceeding to the next flight. A large, international airport, Vancouver has a massive customs and immigration facility with booths for about 30 officers. There were, however, only about six on duty when we arrived, which would have been more than adequate for the two dozen people arriving on our flight. But we had to wait behind full planeloads from Shanghai, Osaka, and Hong Kong before we could be processed, and that took about an hour.

I didn't have anything to declare in Customs, so that was quick, but I did have to retrieve my luggage, walk about a mile, and go through security again.

Though I had cleared Airport Security in Portland without any hassle, the folks in Vancouver were much more interested in me. Though I had no metal on my person whatsoever I managed to set off the walk-through detector, and had to be inspected by hand. And something in the vast array of electronic gear I was carrying with me caught the attention of the inspectors in Vancouver, who pulled me aside for a visual inspection and an explosives swab.

Meanwhile, I hadn't had anything to eat or visited a washroom since Portland. And the boarding time for my next flight was fast approaching. With a quick stop at a men's room about midway on the mile-long sprint to the next gate, I made it just in time to hear the pre-boarding announcement.

Knowing that I wouldn't get any decent food until I arrived in Toronto four or five hours later, I was desperate to find something quick to keep me going through the rest of the afternoon. Fortunately, there was a Tim Hortons outlet right beside the gate, and better yet, there was only one person in line. Great, I thought, I'll just pop over there for a muffin or something.

But the cashier there was chatty. As I waited, anxiously checking my watch and trying to catch her eye, she talked with the only other person there—a pilot—about the weather, how her kids were doing, how long she'd worked at the airport, and what was good about it. The PA system announced boarding for the rear section of my airplane. The cashier asked the pilot what he wanted to order, and when he had she told him about the other types of beverages they used to have, the new ones that would be coming soon, and each permutation and combination of creams, sugars, flavourings, and such that could be added.

I put on my most anxious face and looked back and forth between the pilot and the cashier as the PA announce boarding for the middle section of my flight.

Finally the cashier rang up the pilot's order (a coffee, black), and turned to me. I bought a muffin with no options, paid in exact change, made no small talk, didn't leave a tip, and walked straight onto the plane.

The fall leaves were at their peak Oct. 4 as we drove up to Northern Ontario.

From there, the trip was smoother. I arrived in Toronto at about 7 p.m., called my grandparents, found my luggage (which surprisingly made it all the way from Portland in spite of the changes in itinerary), and went to my grandparents' place where they fed me a large dinner.

Tuesday morning, my parents drove up from Kingston, stopped for a quick cup of tea, and we all headed up to my other grandparents' place in Matheson. I'll write more about that in the future, but for now, here are some pictures.

(left) Peter Ginn lights a fire. (above) Anne Ginn talks on the telephone.

Long time, no post Monday, October 08, 2007

Howdy, all. I am still alive, but I've been up in Canada for the past week and haven't had time to post anything. I should have a few minutes tomorrow to give you a better update of my activities here in Ontario. I've been in Toronto and Matheson, and seen about 3/4 of my family between the two places.

And apologies for not posting a "Street Talk" this week. I had planned to record something in the airport on the way here, but due to some messed up connections and such, I barely had time to use the washroom between flights, let alone talk to anyone. Maybe on the way home.

I guess that's it for now.