Fall Comes with Covered Bridges and a Christmas Dahlia

We took a drive today with our neighbor Serena A.K.A. Gail and started at one of the
Willamalane parks where the fall colors were coming out in force.


I liked the curve of these blue pipes


....and the overhang of these Cedar trees.


On the drive we drove south east of Eugene and Springfield on Marcola Road to Wendling Road and 3.5 miles later we came to the Wendling covered bridge.


It's a smallish covered bridge with no windows but well kept and used often although not one car came by in the 20 minutes we were there.


We reversed tracks on Wendling and came across the staple of the rural landscape - the falling down barn - so I stopped the mini-Musemobile and took a picture.


We to a road we had passed on the way to the bridge called Paschelke Road and followed it aways past the Paschelke homestead a nice rural home and came to Paul road where a sign pointed to a Dahlia farm. We followed the winding road to the farm and no one was home so I snapped a few pictures of some of the Dahlias most in late bloom. This one was called a Santa Clause Dahlia.



This beautiful bloom had fallen to the ground but it was nice so I got this picture also.


We backtracked again t Paschelke Road and a little further came across the J Bar C (J-C) Ranch. I loved the entrance.


Finally we got to the Paschelke Road Covered Bridge more commonly called Earnest bridge. It must have been Earnest Paschelke it was named after. I managed to get a picture of a school bus exiting the bridge.


And finally the river that runs under both bridges, the Mohawk River, and created the Mohawk Valley of Oregon (pronounced in parts of OHIO as OR-E-GONE)


Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen lost by 2 points to the Contender.....

Quote of the Day

A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that. ~ King Baldwin IV, the Leper King of Jerusalem from the Movie "Kingdom of Heaven"

Picking some of the best

I'm starting to take stock of the thousands of photographs and possibly entering them in a contest or working at getting them seen. I've been very lucky to have a very good camera given to me for my birthday by Sharyn and the time to go places and take pictures.

The first one here is actually in my front yard at the entrance to the house. It's a Tulip that was nearing the end of the blooming cycle and one of the petals had fallen in the winds a bit earlier. I was fascinated by the glimpse inside the flower.



This one was also taken in the front yard looking west at the sunset. I took this picture at almost the exact spot of the tulip.


Sunset Bay and the island at the inlet to the cove. This was taken with my older camera on our first RV adventure to the State Parks of Oregon.


Along the Siuslaw River at Florence, Oregon you can still see the docks where lumber was floated and where the salmon still run.


The Kennedy Library was a remarkable place with an amazingly creative space for this huge US Flag. This glass and scaffolding area is at least six stories tall giving you an idea of the size of the flag. I took the picture laying flat on my back on a marble bench.


Sunset in Gettysburg. This was in the travel blog in July but it's worth a second look.


On a trip to San Diego we took longer route this time and went along the Pacific Coast through Oregon. As we cut over through northern California we passed an over flowing lake and I stopped to take a picture. While there I got this picture I call "Road to Nowhere."


Awhile back we visited San Diego to see family and Matt and the girls were with us as we drove to Mt. Solidad for a look at the city. I got this one of Matt tying Sierra's shoes at the base of the War Memorial this the US flag and the controversial cross at the peak of Mt. Solidad.


Along the Oregon Coast Highway near Bandon/Gold Beach.


Sunset at Beverly beach another great Oregon State Park.


Scrabble Score from last night - today's game was cancelled to watch a movie. SQ 327 TC 332

Quote of the day -

"The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas quotes (Scholastic philosopher and theologian, 1225-1274)

On the Coast Again

We went for a drive the first day out and went to Bandon for some cheese curds, fudge and a seafood lunch on Coquille Bay. I like this area for the view and the goodies and taking pictures of the area around the bay. People relaxing


.... and writing letter home to England like Allison and Michael. Wonderful people on their way to Idaho. They were taking off from Eugene so I suggested, if they had time to visit the Eugene Saturday Market (the last Episode) and that seemed excited about going there for vegies and tie-dye tees.



others on the bay were crabbing...



...even others had been kayaking



but there is always that beautiful Coquille lighthouse overlooking all that happens in Bandon, Oregon



Day Two Shore Acres

One of our favorite places to visit Shore Acres Botanical Gardens is a demi-Eden. Nestled into the Oregon coast between Cape Arago and the sleepy town of Charleston


Aside from the formal gardens there is a Japanes Water Garden


This day was a day for Daliahs of many colors

Red

Yellow

Pink


Red AND Pink


Purple


and even Black


and even one called Zorro


There was even some orchids


...and some other flowers of all kinds. I call these organic sunshine



and back at our RV space, in the weeds, behind the picnic table, on the hill, was a beautiful, single

California poppy


Scrabble Score Scrabble Queen 347 - the Contender 320

Quote of the day

We are Stardust
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden ~ Joni Mitchel from Woodstock

The Eugene Saturday Market

The Eugene Saturday Market takes up three blocks in downtown Eugene on Saturdays from Spring to Fall. We drove the mini-Musemobile (the Honda Odyssey) to downtown Eugene and found a great parking place just in front of this Prowler in Willamette street. One half block and down an alley from the market.


At the end of the alley looking down the street there were flower and veggie booths on both sides of the street. The very first booth had some great cut flowers and as you can see the turnout was great.


We got some of the green beans seen in this picture. This one block was all the organic edible and floral booths. On the other side of 7th street were two full blocks with the clothes, food-ready-to-eat, psychics, trinket makers, tie-dyed and hemp clothing type places. We stuck to the veggies and flowers side of the street today


As you can see there is a great variety and almost if not all of the veggies were organically grown and on local farms and gardens.


There were some wonderful flower stands with everything from the common to the unusual flower varieties.


I love the displays, they are very old world orderly but still creatively gorgeous.


I still look across 7th street to see what's happening in the right brain part of the world and liked this backing on a stand that sold clothes and may even tell your fortune if you asked.


Across the street to the East is City Hall and a gathering place for free spirits and tired shoppers . There was even a band playing raggae music.


...and there are more wonderful veggies, some long and leafy...


....some round and marbled...


... and all are neatly stacked and very fresh...


...even the flowers look so fresh you have to believe they were growing here in the market until two minutes before you arrived and cut just for you as you approached.


As I said the market was crowded as usual and it was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky or doubt in my mind this was fresh veggie and flower heaven.


We bought some veggies like I said green beans, tomatoes, fennel, onion and even some Cherry Chocolate bread. We did however stop at PC Market (Grocery Store) on the way home and I got this picture of an Eugene city bus passing while waiting in the car.


Scrabble Score = Scrabble Queen 329 - the very very close Contender 328

Quote of the Day

"Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale." ~ Elsa Schiaparelli (Italian born French Fashion designer whose use of accessories and dramatic colours enlivened the fashion scene for 40 years. 1896-1973)