Pure Frivolity

For about a month now I have been lacking the ability to concentrate on anything serious. It probably has to do with the time of year, the fact that summer heat seems to want to stick around, plus all the everyday stress I have been dealing with lately. So when labor day weekend came around I took the opportunity to get out of dodge. A little canning with my mom (tomato base for the winter months), some early morning beach time, a little haunted house mystery and some good company left me feeling very refreshed. Though it also left with me a new obsession which is in no way health related.

I forced my friends with the promise of coffee and breakfast to get up at 5am and drive out to my favorite beach spot. Despite sleepy eyes and bad hair it was a grand decision. The beach was beutiful and cool, the parking lot empty and the tide low. We poked around the beach a bit and then when appieties overtook we headed out from food.

{looking south at India Head Beach}

{Seaguls at Sunrise}

{My Toms}

I bought my Toms in North Carolina earlier in the summer, Boyfriend calls them my ninja shoes. He wasn’t far off, these things are amazing on slippery beach rocks.

{Terrible Tilly - decomission light house}

{Sea Anenome}

{Surfers at Dawn}

{Ecola}

{Low Tide}

After we were all properly fed we went down to Haystack Rock, it was after breakfast at this point so the tourists were aplenty. In fact we got to see the police bust some unruly visitors for climbing around on protected land. Good times!

{Best Friend and Girlfriend}

{Cloraphyta}

{Starfish}

{Muscels and Barnicles}

The other major event of the weekend was a visit to my favorite house of all time. An abandoned mansion in Astoria with a long and confusing history. With the help of my dear friends, the obsession has grown in to full on research. Which in turn has fueled my curiosity further considering how public the family was and how little information we can find. Hopefully a trip to the historical society will cure to curiosity.

 The house is located on 15th and Franklin Ave in Astoria, it house three generations of the Flavel family, Astoria's first millionaire family. In fact, the family settled in Astoria before Oregon was even a state. This particular house was built for the son of Captain George Flavel in 1901. The current owner is on the run for various things, but currently back taxes and a good deal of money owned to some other families in town. So the house sits and rots into the ground. While nearly the entire town waits for it to go up for auction so it can be restored.

{Maid's Room, top story dormer}

{Under the Eves}

{siding with no paint}

{front entrance glass}

In going through my pictures, I realize and cannot believe I have never gotten a picture of the full house. This particular picture was taken by a woman who lives in Astoria and is equally enthralled by the house. The owners of the house a brother and sister by the names of  Harry and Mary Louise Flavel. Harry was charged with assault in 1983 and which time the pair abandoned the house so he could evade jail time. When Harry died last May rumors swirled that Mary Louise had returned to the house. The black bunting appeared on the railing but the house appears to remain uninhabited.



Back to my regularly schedualed day. Comming soon....some information about soaps and why a person should take great care in selecting body products.