Here’s a jump back in time a couple of autumns ago. I had crawled into the greens bed to weed and when I sat down and looked up, this is what I saw… a group of tired sunflowers full of seeds, peering down from me from a late afternoon sky. I took a photo so that I could paint it
Oregon is a land of many trees, and Christmas trees are no exception! This particular tree was in Silverton, a small idyllic town on the edge of the Willamette Valley, just a little way from the base of the cascade mountains. On a normal year, people flock to the small town during Christmas to tour the massive holiday village at
Someone created a winter wonderland and it looks like somewhere Alice may have been before a time or two! This was one of my favorite places at the Oregon Garden’s holiday wonderland. We enjoyed a stroll down a lighted path filled with glowing mushrooms, flowers and tree trunks while drinking hot apple cider and listening to Christmas music. It may
An illuminated swan swims in the Christmas light water garden at the Village Green Resort holiday bazaar in Cottage Grove, Oregon. The fountain area became a lighted water garden for the holidays the last few years. (It will be going this year too, but like so many other people, we won’t be able to attend, so I’m sharing a bit
This glowing water lily was among the many wonders in the Christmas Village at the Village Green in Cottage Grove one year in the recent past when we visited. The water garden was beautiful to behold and the kids insisted on posing for photos in front of every single display. After stuffing ourselves with treats and hot chocolate, it was
This is a mesmerizing tunnel of Christmas Lights at the Village Green’s holiday village in Cottage Grove. We have visited a couple of times since it began and each year it gets more elaborate and interesting. This year there were two lighted tunnels for the kids to zoom down at full-on warp speed! While we won’t be going this year,
What wonder to discover a whole ceiling full of rainbow umbrellas surrounded by dripping icicle lights! All of the little ones around could not stop staring in disbelief! This reminds me that the wonder of the holidays does not have to surround Christmas specifically — Santa, flying reindeer, candy canes, Christmas trees and presents are all part of the popular
The kids danced out of frame for long enough for me to snap a photo of this giant Christmas tree and some huge presents! We felt like mice on the floor in the living room. (Hope the cats don’t notice us!… 😉 ) This tree was so tall that it could be seen blocks away towering over the rooftops. I
Everyone needs Christmas presents! Even cats! Last year we wrapped catnip and toys up for our crazy cats to open… of course we couldn’t set the special presents out until after the Humans opened their presents, otherwise EVERY present would have been opened by cats. (Yes, there have been years when the cats have “helped” by opening all of the
Each year I come across at least one praying mantis. It is somewhat rare, though, and every time I normally stop in my tracks and stoop down to get a closer look. The size of the critter (probably 3-4 inches from noggin to butt) is always quite intimidating and I’ve never been one to pick up bugs if I’m not
We have a kid that is too old for pin the tail on the donkey, but not too old for a good birthday party game (hope that’s everyone, honestly — don’t ever get too old for a good birthday party game!!) A couple of birthdays back (since this one in 2020 sucked eggs for any kind of in-person parties) we
About a year and a half ago from this posting, we visited Addi’s diner in Springfield, Oregon, and tried to defeat the biggest pancake that I have ever seen! We failed pretty miserably. Even though it was darn good pancake, it took two of us to eat half of it! I would liked to have seen what they cooked this
Oregon is filled with surprising magical places, like Iris Vineyards tasting room and their lovely patio perched on a hillside, tucked away between the hills in the remote Lorane Valley. I saved this image to attempt to paint some version of it some day. I like the homey-ness of the door with the two potted plants at the end of
Sometimes very curious things happen in life — this was one of them. This little brown butterfly feller flew down and landed right by me. I picked him up and he tilted his wings to the side and seemed to give me the side-eye. He made no effort to fly away so I took a picture of him and put
Occasionally I see something that just strikes me as amusing… like this crow who flaunted the parking rules. One of the last times we visited old town Florence, Oregon, this crow was parked on this 30-minute only parking sign when we arrived. We went about our business for at least an hour… visiting all of our favorite trinket shops, the
