Fuzzy lupine blossoms on Glass Buttes last spring.
Friday Flowers
Oregon
Seasons – Glimpses of Oregon: LAPC
Holiday Lights Winter Paddle Parade in Bend
Last night we had a front row seat to watch the paddle parade go by on the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. This event has taken place for many years, rain or shine. It was kind of blustery weather last night but there were still a lot of people participating in the parade.
The event is hosted by Tumalo Creek Kayak and Canoe in the Old Mill district. Participants dress up their watercraft and themselves with colorful lights. The parade takes place from about 4:00 to 6:00 pm. After it’s over, everyone gets together for nice warm drinks.
Colorful Border on Fall’s Eve: Friday Flowers
A colorful border full of flowers on the last day of summer at Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon.
Friday Flowers
Reaching for the Sky: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
The Story Who Came to Visit: RDP
Last month, The Darkness of Hills, The Lightness of Wings came to visit me for 25 days. Yes, that was a long visit. She spoke a little bit to me each day until she was 50,129 words long.
I started her as part of the NaNoWriMo challenge. That’s short for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words in a month. It’s a commitment I wasn’t sure I could make, but I did it.
I knew I wanted the story to take place in the late 1800s and I wanted to include a Chinese girl who moves to Oregon to work with her grandfather. He’s a doctor and she knows how to make herbal cures. That’s all I knew when I started writing.
I found my inspirations to build a story from several sources.
A dusting of snow: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Corn Flowers: Friday Flowers
“A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.”
Anne Bronte
Friday Flowers
Saddle Shop: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Making a Splash: LAPC
As you wade through the waters of your life you often end up making a splash. Sometimes you make a big loud splash and other times you need to make a quieter one. Maybe only a ripple. Here are photos of quieter splashes I have seen in Oregon.
Common merganser pair on the Deschutes River
Quote on the Cosmos: Friday Flowers
Other times, you’re doing some piece of work and suddenly you get feedback that tells you that you have touched something that is very alive in the cosmos.
Leonard Nimoy
Friday Flowers
Popcorn Factory: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Viewpoints of Oregon: Photo Challenge
The challenge on Travel with Intent today is Viewpoint.
Here a few viewpoints of Oregon from places I’ve visited. Some are from places labeled as a viewpoint; others are taken where people stop to see a special view.
The Painted Hills in eastern Oregon
The view of a great horned owl nest south of Burns
The view of Mt. Hood from Highway 26
Purple Crocus Vignette: Friday Flowers
Friday Flowers
Blue Basin Bridge: Wordless Wednesday
Warner Valley: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Visiting Sunriver Nature Center
Learn about the natural world by visiting Sunriver Nature Center
Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory is a great place to learn more about the natural world. This small interpretive center is on the west side of Sunriver, Oregon. It’s in an area that includes pine forests, meadows, and the meandering Deschutes River. The “edges” between these habitats are good places to see wildlife.
You can observe local wildlife by walking the trails on your own or going out with a guide. The Sam Osgood Nature Trail winds around the property. In the spring and summer keep an eye out for trumpeter swans. Guided bird walks take place every Saturday morning in the spring, summer, and fall. I have been on several of the walks. You’ll see waterfowl in the pond, raptors flying overhead, and songbirds along the walk. Great gray owls have been spotted in the area occasionally. You never know what you might spot on one of these walks.
There are also programs for families and kids. There are Kids Nature Camps for kids 4-10 years of age at certain times of the year. Family programs might include offerings such as Family Birding, Aquatic Explorations, and Eco Bike Tours. During the school year, staff travel to nearby schools to give presentations.
Blacksmith’s Shop: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Purple polka dot pansies: Friday Flowers
Pretty purple pansies.
Friday Flowers
High Desert Sunrise: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Looking up at Fort Rock: LAPC
Looking up while looking back
These images from Fort Rock, Oregon focus on looking up. In this photo you see what a town from the early 1900’s may have looked like. Buildings were moved to this site to create the Fort Rock Valley Historical Society Homestead Village Museum. Each building is decorated with artifacts so it’s easy to imagine yourself stepping back in time.
Pioneers were promised rich and fertile land. That was not the reality in this arid high desert. Many settlers moved away after unsuccessfully trying to cultivate the land.
Oakleaf Hydrangea: Friday Flowers & FOTD
Unusual hydrangea
This type of hydrangea has interesting flowers and foliage. This shrub blooms over a long period of time in the summer. The white flowers fade to pink in the fall. The large leaves turn maroon, orange-bronze, or red in autumn.
Flower of the Day – Pink hydrangea
Friday Flowers
Favorite Tree: Wordless Wednesday, CB&W
Desert Path to Chimney Rock: LAPC
Ancient trees direct
An ensemble of moist clouds
Over the desert
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Path
Antelope bitterbrush in bloom: Friday Flowers
Bitterbrush blossoms
The antelope bitterbrush appears to be reaching for the sky in this photograph. This plant gets its common name due to the fact that it is so important to wildlife. Deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, and pronghorn (antelope) browse on its small three-toothed leaves and use its dense growth for cover. It’s also important for deer mice, kangaroo rats, sage grouse, and Lewis’ woodpecker.
I have seen plants over twelve feet tall but in my yard, they only reach a height of about three feet. My “landscapers” love to prune them. In certain parts of this plant’s range, bitterbrush can comprise up to 91% of mule deer’s diet in September.
Friday Flowers
Outdoor Bonsai: Artful Miniatures LAPC
A sculpted garden of outdoor bonsai plants
I saw these outdoor bonsai trees on the High Desert Garden Tour in Bend, Oregon this summer. I marveled at the artistry that went into sculpting these plants. Though I’ve seen bonsai trees in the past, I was pleasantly surprised to see tree species that grow locally sculpted into small replicas of full size trees. You can see why they are referred to as “living art.”
Cotoneaster
Maple
Larch
Juniper
Juniper
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Small is beautiful
Motor’s brakes: My broken cat
Sorry, that’s the brakes
My cat, Motor, has to put the brakes on for a while. He was outside a few days ago and when he came in, something was not quite right with one of his front legs. The vet x-rayed him and we were told he had a broken leg.
We don’t know how he did it, but he is not a happy cat right now. Dogs sometimes get to wear the “cone of shame” for a while but cats just have to learn to deal with it.
Summer & Winter Prickly Pear Cactus: Friday Flowers
Prickly pear cactus in my garden
The prickly pear cactus in my garden are highlighted in the summer with bright yellow flowers and in the winter with layers of snow. The sharp needles make their presence known throughout the year.
Friday Flowers
High Desert Garden Tour: Colorful
Colorful Flowers on the High Desert Garden Tour
Here are some pictures from the High Desert Garden Tour located in Bend, Oregon. Lots of colorful gardens out there!
There were gardens with winding paths and comfortable places to sit to take in the scenery.
Ice plant in my garden: Friday Flowers
These colorful ice plant blossoms brighten up my garden in the spring and summer months. This a drought resistant plant that the bees love. The small succulent leaves are interesting too. Ice plants are a low-maintenance ground cover plant that does well in areas with hot, dry summers.
Fence King: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
The Toad Queen: FOWC
Emerging from the earth
The Spadefoot Toad Queen
The ground trembled beneath a stunted sagebrush shrub. The Toad Queen emerged from her burrow to a changed world. Clouds of smoke hung over the land from a wildfire. The spadefoot toad gazed at this new world through golden slitted eyes. Sand tumbled down her spotted back.
A purple larkspur plant stood near her burrow. Its head of flowers tilted toward the earth, wilted from the blistering heat.
The Toad Queen heard a meadowlark singing nearby. The song stopped abruptly, interrupted by a fit of coughing.
“What happened while I slept in my burrow?” She glanced around at the desert landscape.
Winter Ridge from Summer Lake: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Apple blossoms: Friday Flowers
McCoin Orchard apple blossoms
I saw these apple blossoms in the McCoin Orchard near the trailhead for the Gray Butte trail. This orchard, near Terrebonne, Oregon, was originally planted in the late 1880s and it was rescued by range specialists 100 years later.
There’s a nice hike here with some spectacular views of the country. The close up views of spring flowers are great as well.
Tatarian honeysuckle blossoms: Friday Flowers
Pretty but invasive
These honeysuckle blossoms are pretty but they are on an introduced plant that has been so successful it’s considered invasive in some parts of the country. These tall shrubs are growing along the Deschutes River and they produce a lot of berries later in the summer.
Friday Flowers
Moo-ving on up: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Red Hot Poker: Friday Flowers
Red Hot plants in the garden
Sometimes the common name of a plant really fits. Here is one of those plants. The red hot poker plant is native to Africa and it grows well in the high desert of Oregon. It is a drought tolerant perennial that has both herbaceous and evergreen species. They are also known as torch lilies.
Red hot plants can grow to a height of five feet and their colorful flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Orioles are also attracted to the nectar. Here’s a post from Mountain Valley Growers showing orioles busy sipping nectar. This plant is deer and rabbit resistant.
The Better Homes and Garden site refers to this plant as “an eye-catching burst of color that is both whimsical and architectural.” Yes, that description fits the red hot poker well. 🙂
All spruced up and nowhere to go: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Visiting the ghost of a town – Shaniko, Oregon
Stopping at Shaniko
I visited the ghost town of Shaniko, Oregon this spring. The town is right on U.S. Route 97 and I’ve driven by it many times but didn’t really know much about it. The 1910 census showed its population at its peak level of 600 people. By 1911, the population plummeted. It’s called a ghost town today but according to the 2010 census, 36 people still call it home. They originally named the town Cross Hollows.
The first thing I wanted to know was where the current name came from. In 1867 Oregon received a grant to build a military road from The Dalles to Fort Boise, Idaho. They discovered gold in Canyon City and thousands of miners relied on small towns nearby for supplies. Settlers traveled to areas that had previously been hard to access. They grabbed up large parcels of land under the Homestead Act of 1862. One of the settlers was August Scherneckau, and he established a post office in the area. Members of the local Wasco tribe pronounced his name SHAN-i-koh, and the name stuck. As someone with an unusual name, I can relate to that!
New About page on Bend Branches
About page story
Yes, that pronghorn is kind of bossy, but I hope you’ll take a minute to look at my “new and improved” About page. Thanks for visiting!
Bend Branches About page