A Full-time Life

Category: Oregon homes

LOOKING FOR SUNSHINE

It was a bit rainy last week and I've been combing through old pictures. (Hasn't everybody lately?) It's a multi-purpose review — trying to weed and sort and at the same time looking for pictures suitable to put on canvas or otherwise frame.

We need decoration for a very empty white wall here in our Oregon home. My goal is to find a sunny photo. I love the one above, from the walking path near where our Colorado "kids" live. But I think it is too pink for our wall — there are a lot of reds in that living space. So I'll keep looking.

Here's a bit of sunshine on the ground …

… and here's some more.

Some of you didn't know these were California Poppies when I blogged them earlier. It is the state flower of California and appears on their State welcome signs. One time years ago we traveled to California with one of our major goals being to see the poppy fields at their peak — and they were beautiful. At that time, we really didn't see this flower in Oregon. But in the last couple of years it seems to bloom everywhere here — on roadside verges, in vacant lots, and in yards. Wiki says it grows easily from seed .. I guess migrating birds may have brought it up north of the state border. Yellow flowers always bring a smile — and the poppies are no less beautiful for being easy to see.

I mis-identified this Common White-tailed Dragonfly as a moth in last week's post. For those who missed my later correction, here's a rerun with thanks again to those whose comments furthered my education. And now that I look at it again , it is obviously a dragonfly. Look at those lacy wings — how could I ever have thought otherwise? But I would never ever have known it was a white tailed variety! I really wish it weren't called "common" — since it obviously wasn't for me! I think the same thing about birds and flowers with that word in their names. Oh well, when nothing is "common" it is much easier to be enthusiastic.

The mosaic below is going back to our shortened stay in Florida (and is a total change of subject matter) :

Less than amateur pour painting samples.

All snowbird resorts offer various classes and activities "at home." Some friends have compared the life to summer camp (for grandparents.) We've always spent a lot of time on our own — nature hiking and city exploring — and don't do even half of what is offered at our resort, but I have enjoyed taking part in some arts and craft classes. This mosaic is made from phone shots at a short series of pour-painting classes last season. The final class was the last activity sponsored by the resort before Covid regulations put a stop to anything else. I had more fun than I've ever had at any 'artsy/craftsy" resort activity and hope I have a chance to do more pour painting sometime. Really, at this point I hope we all have a chance to get together with friends to do pretty much anything.

One more sun/sky picture. It's red and it conjures up great memories of a few nights we spent camping near Everglades City. But I'm still not sure it's good enough to make the wall cut.

I'm grateful for all our sunny memories — as well as for the forecast of a few less rainy days. And always thankful to the hosts of these sharing opportunities where this post is linked:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; ; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS.

June 14, 2020
EARLY JUNE IN THE COUNTRY

These days it seems as if I only remember I have a camera about once a week.

Honeysuckle

Last week, once again, it was the day we went out to the country. While Bill worked on a project, I walked around the perimeter of the five acres. The front-yard fence has climbing honeysuckle just beginning to come into bloom. The scent is wonderful — and I'm surprised none of my pictures caught the multitude of bees who think so too.

The background of this mosaic is the very back of their property — where the mowed grass was waiting to be picked up, the field reminded me of walking a maze or labyrinth.

A hint of blue sky. It was a perfect June day.

I took a lot of pictures of Parker, the Big Dog. But it should have been a video to catch the splashing. He was having a very good time playing in his pool. I think he's outgrowing it though.

I saw this interesting Moth Dragonfly on a blackberry bush branch.

(Correcting my error — Thank you to all who commented; I appreciate learning! Here's a link that Wally provided: Common White-tail Dragonfly

When we got to their property, Cyndi and Jeff were busy with their girls (they are foster-parents) and, as for all parents of school-aged children, these days that involves more hours of hands-on care (and home-schooling) every day. Because of this, we usually try to time our visits well for a visit, but on this day Bill wanted to work in the barn/shop, so I just went along for the ride (and the walk in the country). It feels like home out there, in that we don't have to be invited formally to visit. We're grateful for that.

But after a while, (as the girls held what I think was a pogo-stick tournament in the side yard), Cyndi came outside to sit and chat … and not too much later, she and Jeff had a surprise visitor ….

(L) Our granddaughter and daughter who is holding our great-grandson. (R) Baby and his grandmother (our daughter)

Our granddaughter and her youngest dropped in for a visit. I hope they were as happy as I was that we (the great-grands) were there too! It wasn't hard to maintain safe social distancing because (nobody will be surprised to know), this active boy wasn't very interested in sitting and chatting with the grownups.

As soon as he spent two and a half minutes in his grandmother's lap, he was off running — with her following closely behind! This is the first time we've actually seen E since he started walking, so that was fun. What a busy boy.

Some nature bloggers join a "Watch a Tree" group (they post the same tree once a month or so to show how it changes over the seasons). I've always enjoyed those posts, but have never been able to even think about doing it since we don't spend a whole year in one place these days. But since we got home earlier this year, I have been able to keep an eye on C&J's black walnut tree since its Spring bloom. So this year, I too am watching a tree.

Linking our day in the country with the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; ;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

June 7, 2020
I’M NOT REALLY A POLLYANNA …

….. but I play one on this blog. I do try to stay positive and part of that is keeping this blog my "happy place." That's harder to do some weeks than in others.

One thing I can do is focus on is finding joy in the small ordinary beauty that can easily be overlooked.

We are fortunate to live where we can walk safely in our own neighborhood (which has been OK since the beginning of "lockdown") and where we can see at least some of our family at a safe distance.

But last week was one of those when maintaining my happy place really does feel very Pollyanna-ish. (Does anyone else these days even know where that term comes from?) Pollyanna was the ever-cheerful title heroine of an old book — written in 1911 (that was when my mother was a year old). She was a happy girl through all her many travails. She was meant to be someone to be admired, but because of her never-changing optimism, today the word has come to mean somebody who sees the good in everybody and everything–no matter what. That's not a good thing these days. We have to be aware of what's going on (and do whatever we can to change it for the better, including voting!) —

– but still I do want to try to see the good in this world. This picture is a screen-shot from a web-cam our oldest grandson and his wife have set up. The robins have decided the top of their garage door is a great place to live. So until the babies arrive, he says the garage door is currently off-limits for humans. It delights me that my grandchildren care.

Grateful that we are together in a safe place — that we can get out in nature and that we can keep in touch with family, if not in person then through texts, phone calls and pictures …

… especially photos of the great-grandsons who are at the age where we're really missing a lot of changes. Here is one of them texted by his mom, our older granddaughter.

Here's a picture of the Oregon coast from our younger granddaughter. She writes that they are social distancing at the beach during some time off. I was especially happy to receive this today (as I put this post together) because I didn't get any of my own pictures of the sky last week.

SHARING this week with the following: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

May 31, 2020
UNDER — AND AROUND — THE OREGON SUN

Something new under around the sun this week!

Well, new to us anyway! Bill spotted this halo around the sun while we were sitting outside talking to our daughter and son-in-law. Then we all saw it — but were careful not to stare directly.

Here's a link to the Wiki article – after we looked at the real thing, we all immediately went to our phones to learn more. (I'm old enough to still marvel at the ability to do just that!)



It was a lovely week. Light rain on and off, but lots of sun too. We had a wonderful time on the day we drove out to the country — doing nothing much but the four of us sitting outside chatting. The kind of thing that would have been an ordinary good day last year (or a few months ago, for that matter) — but the kind I don't think I'll ever take for granted again.

The main color scheme in their yard this week was centered around red. The pink dogwood I showed a couple of weeks ago is completely bare of flowers now — the petals on the ground have even disappeared.

There was at least one stunning pastel rhododendron still in perfect full bloom! Many of the rhodies around town have already lost their blossoms, making us again grateful that we got to tour Hendricks park while they were at their peak. In C & J's yard, right next to this perfect one there was a bush that had completely faded:

We once met some people who moved to this part of Oregon from Southern California in late summer. They asked us why every single yard here seemed to have these big rather ungainly bushes. We just told them to wait for next Spring! They agreed later — definitely worth the wait.

Besides strolling around the acreage out in the country, walks were in our own neighborhood.

This is actually the name of a development in the neighborhood but it's an appropriate sign because unless we get rained out before we get there all our walking paths eventually lead to the Willamette River trails.

This time of year, the walks along the trails TO the river are actually more scenic than the river itself.

But it's good to have a goal on an everyday wander and getting to the river provides a good one. I'm grateful to have these neighborhood trails close to the water. And always happy for sunny spring days.

And as always thankful to the hosts of these sharing opportunities where I'm linking this week:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS

May 24, 2020
RAINY WEEK IN OREGON

Both May showers and May flowers this week in Eugene. Walks have been in the neighborhood. Not even all the way down to the River.

Sticking to the city sidewalks is better in this weather — fewer puddles (and closer to home if — when you get caught in a shower.

Lots of purple and gold going on in our neighborhood —

Cyndi's photo

— and out in the country. The golden chain tree above is in our daughter and SIL's yard — she texted it to us; we haven't tried to visit recently because of the weather. It will be nice when it warms up (and dries out) so we can go talk to them outside and still maintain distancing.

It was so wet around our neighborhood that this Mallard pair didn't even need to stay near the water. Honestly when I saw them just off the sidewalk (top right photo) I thought they were yard ornaments. As I got closer, the male raised his head to check me out. I returned the gesture and got a portrait before walking on. Neither bird even moved.

Changing the subject completely below to a recent indoor activity:

Because of the recent press and controversy about Vote By Mail, I thought I'd share a picture of our "voting booth" for Oregon's primary election this Tuesday. Oregon has voted exclusively by mail since 1998, but since 1981 at the discretion of each county. HERE is the Wiki article with the history and a lot of other good information (it saves the state money, for one thing .) I've never heard a thing about fraud. I won't get into politics here any deeper than to say I have trouble understanding why this system should not be OK in every state especially now when it could be a choice between voting or becoming ill. Grateful to live here where we don’t have to make that choice,

VOTE!

When they were ready to go, I put our ballots under a magnet so we wouldn't forget to go to the box with them. I was suddenly struck by the juxtaposition of the magnet's message and our ballots.

Back to our usual programming for this final nature shot also from our daughter:

She sent a picture of the birdhouse, with a resident! …
(one of these days …..)

Linking this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to each of the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; SAY CHEESE; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

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May 17, 2020
SERVING LEFT-OVERS THIS WEEK

We stayed at home last week. But thankfully our photo archives have some fairly decent leftovers to fill up a post. Or maybe I could call them planned-overs. (That always sounds better when I'm talking about filling up with what remains in the refrigerator.)

Hendricks Park, earlier this month

Although City Parks are open, the Parks Department has asked families to forgo the Eugene tradition of visiting Hendricks Park on Mother's Day. They have a virtual tour on line. We didn't even know it was a Mother's Day tradition and were glad we visited during an earlier and quieter week. Since it is the height of the season, in normal times it would certainly be a perfect spot for the day however. So this turned out to be a pretty good week to serve up the rest of our rhody tour. Happy Mother's Day!

Below are some leftovers from last month — still good to go I think:

Along a Missouri highway, April 2020 Road-trip

This Road Sign seemed appropriate not only for our April road-trip, but also for the times in general.

There's actually more than just a street — Peculiar is a City in Missouri. The town motto is "Peculiar, where the 'odds' are with you." I like it — and its too bad that our peculiar circumstances didn't allow us to explore the area a little more!

Burns RV Park, Eastern Oregon

A large covey of quail kept us entertained at one of our overnight stops on our April trip. It's always nice when there are natural areas right near an RV Park. We didn't even have to walk out of the Park to visit this brambly area, where we saw (and heard) quail and songbirds. A relaxing way to end a day of driving.

Now back to earlier this month:

I thought that all the "not-rhododendron" pictures I took at Hendricks were from the Native Plant Garden, but I wonder now about the top left picture! Those look like Japanese Iris to me. They do grow wild around here though — there are some in the Pond area near our daughter's and also in their yard.

I did take a lot of pictures of yellow rhody shrubs — because I had never seen them in that color before. And because yellow flowers are always favorites for me. Like spots of sunshine!!

But who could ever grow tired of rhododendrons in their more traditional color palette:

The glory of Spring in Eugene!

A paler shade of yellow

A little blue sky peeking through behind this home in our daughter and son-in-law's neighborhood (really their backyard). These neighbors were social-distancing last time I was there because they didn't even poke their heads out. I'll try again next time!

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

May 10, 2020
TWO GREAT WALKS IN ONE WEEK!

We certainly don't take simple things for granted these days! Nature walks have always been a pleasure, but now just getting outside and away from home seems like a small miracle.

We took advantage of a couple pleasant days last week. Wednesday (or maybe Tuesday — they all kind of blend together) Bill and I drove to Hendricks Park — a City Park that is famous (at least here in Eugene) for its Rhododendron Gardens. The Park is in the City's South Hills. The picture below is looking down on the University of Oregon campus from a viewpoint in the park.

I played around a little with this picture because it was the kind of day where the hills and the sky all kind of blended together. And I wanted to highlight the way our City is surrounded by hills. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the beautiful flowers in the park — here are a couple of them:

April and May are the best months for these showy flowers. It was special to visit the Park during the peak season. (We haven't been home this early in years and couldn't remember when we last visited the Rhododendron Gardens.)

Most people in this area who garden have at least one Rhodie bush in their yard. But the Park has varieties I don't ever remember seeing — and it's beautiful to see so many of them in one place.

There is also a Native Plant Garden and I have pictures from there as well as more Rhododendrons for another post. But today I also want to remember last week's second "expedition" outside of our own neighborhood:

The close-up of pink Dogwood blossoms above and the rest of today's post are from a walk out in the country. Since we'd been self-isolating for three weeks (plus the time in the car/trailer on the way back to Oregon), our daughter said she thought it would be safe for me to go with her for a walk in the country. I wore a mask (as both Bill and I did on our walk in the park earlier in the week). And on this walk, my daughter and I practiced acceptable social distancing.

I stayed outside in their yard and snapped pictures while I waited for Cyndi to get ready to go on our walk. This is another view of their black walnut tree which, on this blog anyway, is becoming as famous as Eugene's rhododendrons.

More flowers from their yard — wisteria, white tulips, the same Dogwood tree (which is actually in the neighbor's yard at the end of the driveway, but close enough to be in theirs for picture purposes.) I think the wild growing bleeding heart and the wild iris are from later in the walk.

We walked to Kirk Pond on Fern Ridge Lake and on the paths through the wild area. Lots of Spring wildflowers …

— and when we got to the Lake I spotted Grebes, Canada Geese (not shown), and this pair of Redhead Ducks. The lower center picture is Cyndi with Parker going into what looks like a longer tunnel than it is.

It felt more natural to maintain acceptable distance while walking than it did when we talked to the kids from a distance back when we parked the trailer. And it was even easier to maintain that distance toward the end of this five-mile walk. I was lagging further behind than absolutely necessary by that time.

The last part of the walk was along the top of Fern Ridge Dam and then back to their house (and the car to go home to mine). We used to spend summers on Fern Ridge Lake but it has been a while since I took a "Dam Walk". As always I enjoyed it.

I'm so grateful that both these Parks are open — and that the few other people we saw were also being careful. And of course I'm always thankful for beautiful Spring days.

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Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities, where I'm linking this week:

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; MACRO MONDAY ;   NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

May 3, 2020
I FORGOT ABOUT OREGON RAIN

Spring rains in Oregon are different. You KNOW when it's raining in Florida — its noisy and the sky darkens dramatically. Here at home in Oregon the sky may still be light and, from inside, you might not even hear or see the rain.

So you might step outside and get halfway down the block before you realize that the gentle sprinkle has completely soaked through your light jacket and, worse, your camera is in danger of drowning.

Another difference: That dramatic rain in Florida will be over and done in a shortish time (at least during the part of the year when we're there) and the sun will come out. But — as you walk through the "Oregon Mist" you remember, from all the years you lived here, that the rain here can last for hours and hours. Maybe days. And you need the walk, so you go on.

And you remember that it's the rain that makes everything green and beautiful.

There's a unique and wonderful special Spring Rain aroma that I'd almost forgotten about.

I'd noticed the interesting blue flowering shrub above and the perfect Bleeding Heart plant below when I took quick evening walks earlier in the week — without a camera. (And when it wasn't raining — as it was on Saturday morning when I'd planned a long "photo-hunt" walk.) Reminder to self: take advantage of sunny hours whenever they arrive.

I played with various zoom positions focusing on this beautiful Bleeding Heart. It's always been one of my favorite flowers. It took a while because I was trying to shelter the camera and not leave it out for too long at a time. I wondered if the person in the house would look out and wonder about the masked person standing in the rain staring at his/her home. But nobody seemed to be there. …. well, no human anyway. Because all of a sudden, I noticed a little motion :

A Hummingbird makes everything worthwhile!

Flowering Plum Trees are out, but the bloom won't last much longer. As soon as it rains, the ground all around the trees is carpeted with the fallen blossoms.

It really was a great walk, in spite of the misty day. My camera survived (although my paper CV mask was a little worse for wear). I got some decent pictures — and I remembered that rainy days are definitely not all bad!

It's good to be home!

(Admittedly though, interesting skies were a little scarce last week. The above picture with a glimpse of blue is from our first day back — two weeks ago now — and was taken at our daughter and son-in-law's. )

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THIS POST is linked to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to all of the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

April 26, 2020
HOME

We arrived home safely early Saturday afternoon. The rest of the tiny-trailer-trip went well. We were careful and feel well and are now self-isolating in our town-house-type apartment, which feels quite large after the trip.

Internet's not hooked up at home yet, so this will be short as I'm eating up data minutes using the phone as a hot-spot.

We had this view on the last night of our trip. It is only a little over an hour from home on the McKenzie River, but we didn't want to arrive on Friday evening all tired out from too much traveling. Especially because we had to unload the trailer at home before taking it empty out to the "storage space" our son-in-law and daughter kindly let us have at the back of their place in the country.

It was good to see them as we unloaded — and to talk to them at a safe distance with our masks on. (Well, it would of course have been nicer to have been able to hug them hello, but under the circumstances I am grateful for what we got.)

Now we'll keep busy for a few days sorting out all the stuff we unloaded — and doing laundry. Wow does that pile up in a couple of weeks!

I look forward to having time to catch up with blogging soon and don't expect to be bored at all staying home – – at least for a while.

LINKING to:

OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY and MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

April 12, 2020
THE WEEK THAT WAS …

It was one of those weeks – full of the petty little annoyances that seem to come in bunches (my mother always said things come in threes.) However we word it, I hope we are finished with that run for little while. Here's an old but happy picture that cheers me up just by looking at it:

Butterfly Park, Fort Myers, from the archives
(taken in January a couple of years ago)

It would have been a great week to go for a nice long walk or two, but one of the annoyances was a bad head cold. That coupled with windy and changeable weather kept me indoors. I was going to post all archived photos this week (as the one above is). But this morning we got a taste of early Spring in a text from our daughter. She said I could share the joy.

Oregon morning

I haven't been waking up nearly as early as I used to — whether here in Florida or when we were in Oregon. So this Oregon sunrise from Cyndi was a real gift.

The first crocus in Cyndi and Jeff's backyard. We don't see early Spring flowers (or really any typical Spring flowers) here in subtropical SW Florida.

I do miss the flowers. But the frequent chilly, rainy February days, not so much.

Violets

Their violets are remnants from years ago when our "kids" first bought their home in the country and we too still lived "full-time" in Oregon. Bill and I cut our own firewood back then and after one expedition wild violet plants came home on some of our logs. Cyndi and Jeff were happy to get new plants then (as you do when you buy a home on five acres where the yard had been completely neglected by the previous owner.) We transplanted the violets, gave them several bunches and planted some in our own flower beds too. Before long, parts of both our lawns were more violet than grass.

I'm glad I had those colorful Spring pictures to share because below are the archived ones I was going to share — pretty much the only color in them is a fluke of photography. Both mosaics are from last summer's trip to Washington State.

These pictures are from the Dismal Nitch rest stop near Astoria. All three are straight out of the camera with no editing (except to put them in the mosaic of course). I almost always take too many pictures of everything and once in a great while, my camera puts some of them into different shades. I honestly have no idea how it happens, but this one time I didn't throw the fakes away, because it was kind of interesting to see some color instead of … well … the true dismal gray.

The Lewis and Clark expedition was stuck here in November 1805 by a perfect storm.

We stop at Dismal Nitch Safety Rest Area whenever we drive that route. It is always windy and cold, even in the summer. That and the excerpts from the 1805 expedition journals make you grateful for warm clothes and transportation fast enough to mean you will never have to spend a week camping out in that kind of weather.

Thank you to Cyndi for all of the cheer from Oregon! And for the memories. Grateful for my archives too. And grateful that the small glitches were solved by Bill before he caught my cold. (I'm better and sorry that I generously shared the germs.)

Thank you also to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

February 9, 2020