The Asian Celebtation at the Eugene Fairgrounds

This weekend was the Asian Celebration at the Eugene Fairgrounds. The morning was Spring like and we just had to get out for the day.


In front of the fairgrounds pavilion was one of Eugene's great street musicians singing and playing a very nice song. I have to add Eugene, Oregon is a festive and festival town. There are fairs happening every weekend and all kinds of cultural activities.


Inside the pavilion there were stage presentations of all kinds. This was one on traditional dress.


This was a Aikido demonstration put on by one of the local martial arts schools.

"Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury.

Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical energy, as the aikidōka (aikido practitioner) "leads" the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks. Aikido can be categorized under the general umbrella of grappling arts."

There was a great Orchid table showing some beautiful examples of floral gems.


They were all magnificent ...


... and all shapes and colors ...


I'm not an expert on flowers but I thought these were very photogenic.


This was my personal favorite and a combination of lines and dots.



We were both craving Dim Sum and lo and behold we found Tom's Dim Sum. I really enjoyed the food and could have eaten a second dish.


While ordering the food I got a photograph with my Sony of a photographer taking a picture with his Canon.


These two ladies were putting on a cooking demonstration for a crowd of about 30 people seated in a makeshift Iron Chef set.


Ted Cox was there with his book "The Toledo Incident of 1925" subtitled "Three Days that Made History in Toledo, Oregon." To buy the book [Click Here] for information from the publisher. I didn't talk with Ted but Sharyn took a big interest in the story about how an angry mob expelled Japanese resident workers from an Oregon mill town in 1925 and the precedent setting civil rights trial brought by the Japanese resident workers.


While Sharyn was talking to Ted I took some pictures of this really nice gourd vase by Lei McCornack whose work I had seen at a Maude Kearns exhibit.


This clay work by Hiroshi Ogawa is simply titled "Peach"


Great rug/wall hanging behind the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon table.


Of course, there were several Bonsai Trees, this one is a Juniper.


I kind of liked these glass beads decorated with Origami Figures. They were colorful and creative.

"Origami only uses a small number of different folds, but they can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The most well known form is probably the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints. Contrary to most popular belief, traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo era (1603–1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper during the creation of the design."

I really liked the 3-dimensional puzzle booth with this colorful rooster/dragon/whatever ...


... and this Tyrannosaurus Rex climbing the Seattle Sky Tower/Space Needle.

"The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington, and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over 2.3 million visitors in all for the World Fair. The Space Needle is 605 feet high and 138 feet wide at its widest point and weighs 9,550 tons. When it was completed it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. It is built to withstand winds of up to 200 mph and earthquakes up to 9.5 magnitude (which would protect the structure against an earthquake as powerful as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake). The tower has 25 lightning rods on its roof to prevent lightning damage."

Sharyn and I both liked this metal sculpture of a little copper duck on a very large egg.


Finally fed and having seen the Asian Celebration we left to go home and digest all the great food and food for thought.

Scrabble Score - No Game Today

Quote of the Day ~

"Now comes the days of brown leaves. They fall from the trees. They flutter on the ground. When the leaves flutter, they are saying little things. I hear them tell of their borning days when they did come into the world as leaves...

Today they told me how they were a part Of the earth and air before their tree borning days. And now, they are going back. In gray days of winter they go back to the earth. But they do not die." ~ Opal Whiteley (see picture below of Opal at 17 years old)