What in Sam Hill Is That?

I didn't have a blog yesterday because the RV Park we stayed in had no Internet connection so today I'll include yesterday and part of today.

The RV park was a Washington State Park right on the Columbia River nestled between the river and a Cherry Orchard.


There were windsurfers on the river having a great time. It reminded me of the dust=up over John Kerry windsurfing on the Columbia as if windsurfing were akin to hit and run.


There were some pretty blue flowers on the short trail to the river so I got a picture for the blog.


Then we had a great fried chicken and asparagus and grilled potato picnic.


I looked out and I could see Biggs, Oregon from the park in Maryhill, Washington.


The cliffs across the river afforded a great view.


Then we played Scrabble (see score below) where I got a bingo with "F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G" and Scrabble Queen got a triple for "K-N-U-R" whatever that is.


I walked back down to the river in the morning only to see Mount Hood beyond the Sam Hill bridge.


Then we left the park and headed up the hill past the orchard and a cute little church in Maryhill to ...

... Stonehenge - wow!

The project began when Sam Hill, road builder, was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site. He thus constructed his replica as a reminder that “humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war.

An almost identical copy, made of concrete, of the more famous English Stonehenge as a memorial to those who died in World War I. Dedicated in 1918, the memorial wasn’t completed until 1930. Hill passed away soon after he finally saw his masterpiece completed.

The dedication plaque on this American Stonehenge reads:

"In memory of the soldiers of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country. This monument is erected in the hope that others inspired by the example of their valor and their heroism may share in that love of liberty and burn with that fire of patriotism which death can alone quench."

There was even a diagram of the layout of Stonehenge...


... and a drawing of the original. Admission is free and it is well worth visiting if you are ever in the area.


Just outside the circle of Stonehenge is a tall monolith...


... but inside is the interesting part of this structure where it is almost like a maze of rock.

"Samuel Hill (1857–1931) was a businessman, lawyer, railroad executive and advocate of good roads in the Pacific Northwest. He said highways were his religion. He had a substantial impact on the economic development of the Pacific Northwest in the early 20th century.

Some of his more notable projects include the Peace Arch, a monument to 100 years of peace between the United States and Canada, on the border between Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia; the Maryhill Museum of Art, a building originally conceived as a residence; and a replica of Stonehenge in Maryhill, a memorial to fallen World War I soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington."

When you are in the center it seems to have plenty of openings but no clear view of the outside world.


There are circles of stone (concrete here and stone in England) within other circles. This Stonehenge was the first War Memorial in the U.S. after WWI.


Yes that's Mount Hood again through one of the openings.

There is Mt. Hood again and the RV park and Cherry Orchard in the lower left corner of this picture.

I walked around the structure and got another shot of the Monolith on the walk.


This shot was taken from the eastern side of Stonehenge from a slightly lower view.


I decided if I ever wanted to get Winnebago to sponsor my cross country trip I'd better show off the Musemobile this blog.

An interesting part of Stonehenge and it's ancient look is the Windmills generating power on the hills in the same shot.

The Horizontal Slab is the "Alter" that Sam Hill believed was used for human sacrifice to the God's of war and that's Sharyn exploring.


Big wow looking at this thing from the base of the alter.


I'm not the only photo nut on the planet.

The original structure is now thought to be a huge calendar tracking the sun with shadow positions much like a sundial.

This place is amazing...


...and incredibly interesting...


... not to mention beautiful.


Some people have said "What in Sam Hill is that?" others say "Thank you Sam Hill for your capturing a dream.


There is also a war memorial for more recent wars on the property for the fallen of this area.

Hill also constructed the Peace Arch, where today's Interstate 5 highway crosses the U.S.–Canada border, celebrates peaceful relations and the open border between the two nations.

Scrabble Score ~ Scrabble Queen 309 - The Contender 297

Quote of the Day ~

"Some archeologists believe that Stonehenge - the mysterious arrangement of enormous elongated stones in England - is actually a crude effort by the Druids to build a computing device." ~ Dave Barry (American Writer and Humorist)

First Friday Art Walk - Cole, Valdes and Gonzalez

Its June already and first Friday so here I am parking in the same parking space downtown Eugene that I parked in for Jury Duty. Yup that's the courthouse and Channel 13the local CBS station that I cannot get on Dish Satellite due to some argument between Dish Satellite and Fisher Communications about cost. Grow up you two and serve your customers.

This outage has been going on for a long time and I missed one of the few golf tournaments I have watched The Masters every year since 1966 when was first broadcast in color. Jack Nicklaus became the first Champion to successfully defend his title. that year and Sharyn and I were married four months and 9 days later. I'm telling Dish Satellite they better now they get KVAL to my satellite before our anniversary in August or I'm jumping ship for Direct.

After a short walk I arrived at La Follette Gallery and saw Bets Cole the Artist of the evening talking to Our Town Pottery artists Jeani Holder Michael Baines. Bets was perky and wonderful as ever to talk with about her art on display.I had met Michael and Jeani last year a the studio tour.

There was a huge crowd there and I snapped away towards Bets art and had a great visit with Jeani. We talked about her wonderful pottery, the depressed market for artists and the joys of marketing in lean times. I've decided most artists love creating their art and showing their art but marketing is a pain.

Sharyn often asks "when was it men stopped wearing hats, not caps but hats?" I wish she had come along because there he was and there was another gentleman I missed. By the way these two paintings of Bets' were my favorites tonight.

Bets talks with her hands and it's easy to see her passion for her creations and the process blank canvas to the sale. There's that man with a hat again.

The photographer in this shot is Dennis Galloway a local photographer I met a couple of years ago at the Saturday market and have run into a few times since. His work is great click on his name to see some of his photographs

Why there is a feather in the hatband and a Boutonniere in his lapel too cool. Bets looks like she is really enjoying the conversation. I bet you didn't know it was Napoleon Bonaparte who said "A picture is worth a thousand words." I'm guessing it was after losing his map of Waterloo.

Off I trudged toward Willamette and another gallery snapping as I walked...


... and got a couple of buildings along Broadway...


... then when I got to Broadway Plaza (I call it Keasey Square) there was a concert going on. It was the Camas Ridge Marimba Band. The band is made up of 4th and 5th graders at Eugene's Camas Ridge Community School and they were very good musicians.

I stopped in Fenario Gallery and said hi to Hank the Photoprinter who had printed two of my pictures for the Maude Kerns show. While there I got a quick shot of this really unique painting titled "Love Light" by David H.

I finally made it to the Karin Clarke Gallery and loved the color inside. These five paintings and other inside we created by ...

Yolanda Valdes a very charming artist who told me the stories of the paintings and the tiny villages shown. The painting behind her was my favorite and made me think of a Van Gogh with an outdoor cafe.

Her works were full of life and color so true of the culture in Mexico. I think often of trips to Puerto Vallarta and day trips when we lived in San Diego to Ensenada, Puerto Nuevo and Rosarita Beach. Thanks Yolanda for reminding me of those times.

Humberto Gonzalez was also showing at Karin's gallery. Humberto Gonzales is an engaging artist not just with his work but as a person. It's no surprising Humberto and Yolanda both managed to make me feel like I'd known them since childhood. So it didn't surprise me that Humberto had lived part of his life in Texas. What did surprise me is the Lebanon connection. While my mother and grandparents were from Lebanon, Humberto lived a long while in Lebanon. Well his Lebanon was Lebanon, Oregon.

Humberto is well known in Eugene as an artists artist teaching and giving art presentations often. Above all his work is emotionally exciting taking the mind and soul to places we have never been.

His style is unique and diverse at the same time and his ability to do more with less can make a simple image seem complex and textured with color or lack thereof.

Just outside the Clarke gallery a street painter had set up shop with a backpack, markers and cardboard...

... and two masterpieces of sarcastic parody.

Walking over to Zenon Cafe (newly re-opened) I passed an event being held to Art Show and Auction to for "Skaters for Eugene Skate Parks." ...

... and I couldn't help but think about Peter's art and all our boys love of skateboarding in California.

Renee had finished work and walked with me over to Zenon Cafe and noticed the reflection of the buildings and flowers in the City park where the Saturday market is held so I got this shot.

Most nostalgic was this piece of art just outside Zenon cafe. It reminded me of my old Volvo that died of electrical system meltdown. It also reminded me of the art job Isaac did on it. Painting and chopping the top off making it a convertible useful only for planter for flowers.

We finally arrived at Zenon Cafe and there was the crowd. Bets Cole and her family along with Yolanda and Humberto. I actually felt a bit like being part of an artists colony. Well I felt a little like that. Great people and fine art made for a wonderful evening.

No Scrabble

Quote of the Day

An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world. ~ George Santayana

Stormy Weather

For thre straight days we had storms roll in from the south.

After a rather nice day the sky turned an ominous dark color...

And filled the sky with lightning and thunder much like I remember growing up in Houston


...the rain fell hard as the wind picked up to a small squall.

I slowed down the exposure time and if you look at the top of the red tree you can see it's being blown back and forth causing a blur effect.


It was very black out and the thunder was almost constant for about 45 minutes. If you look to the right of the tall tree you can see a reflection on the window. That's the TV telling me we lost contact with the satellite because of the strength of wind altering the direction our dish is pointing. This has never happened before at home.


I tried some things to show the ripples in the clouds ...


...near the center top I saw what looked like a tornado ...


...but this was my favorite. I had enhanced the color slightly and the red, white and blue look very nice in these bubbly clouds. I think they are Mammatus clouds.


Each day we had storms they left soon after arriving (an hour or two) showing us why our valley is called Emerald Valley


I saw this butterfly on my driveway and thought it was just relaxing till I looked underneath it and saw the white spider with a red dot attached to the underside of the butterfly. I can't find a picture to identify the spider.

Oh and then there is our project. we decided to replace the black rock on the Eastern side of the house with concrete pavers, 160 pavers. We got the sand and spread much of it before the pavers arrived.


Later Home Depot did arrive and we have started the job. * More to come


We did finally buy a Wisteria vine for the back patio and it's blooming.


Sharyn loves Wisteria and I do as well so it's a nice addition.


The gold finches (yellow) and house finches (red) are back since the Coopers Hawk that had been after them has taken off for the wide open spaces.


We just love the gold finches that can show up in groups up to thirty occasionally...


... and we love the hummingbirds that come every day to eat and fight for their territory.


Those first Friday Art walks are a lot of fun and after taking this picture of out yellow iris blooms I realize how much our St. Francis garden statue reminds me of ...


...my Art Walk buddy Vern.


More bugs, this time without an attached spider. It's a green Dragonfly that posed for about fifteen minutes giving me enough time to fetch my camera.


Just for fun I took a shot of Sharyn's sun hat on the patio table still strewn with rocks from our fossil dig.


Our cactus is getting reasy to bloom with early red buds and ...

... other large pink bloom ready to open at any time.


I found this wheat under the bird feeder and stuck it in the planter with the cactus.

Scrabble Score - No scrabble we watched Benjamin Button thanks to Netflix and both enjoyed it and thought it much better than our expectations.

Quote of the Day

Lee Trevino was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open when asked what he would do in storms in the future replied "In case of a thunderstorm, stand in the middle of the fairway and hold up a one iron. Not even God can hit a one iron." ~ Lee Trevino