The Buena Vista ponds are a great place to spot birds at Malheur NWR in Oregon. In the middle of this picture, you can glimpse three Trumpeter Swans foraging for food.
In the distance, you can see Steens Mountain. This 50-mile long mountain rises majestically over the Sagebrush Sea in southeastern Oregon.
Hope may be bright spots in the darkness
Or at the end of a twisted and turning path
Hope may be something we wish and pray for
Lan Su Chinese Garden seating in Portland, Oregon on a rainy spring day.
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Cedar waxwing birds are one of my favorite kinds of birds. This month, I’m showing a simple pen and ink drawing I did of one.
When you first see a cedar waxwing, you might think of it as “simple” looking. They don’t have bold markings. Instead, their markings blend together smoothly.
Their tail feathers are tipped with a yellow wax-like substance and their wingtips are tipped with red.
This Mt View Orchards mural is located in Parkdale, Oregon. The plants growing around the mural make it blend into the background.
This is one of our favorite businesses to visit to buy fresh local fruit in the fall. You can pick your own fruit and flowers or buy what they’ve harvested. They also produce beer, wine, and cider. This beautiful 50+ acre site was featured on a Top Chef episode in 2021.
This business is part of the Hood River Fruit Loop. There are 28 farms open to visitors along the 35-mile route .
Here’s some of the fruit we bought last year. Yum!
Continue readingThe rocks I remember may rest on the slopes of extinct volcanoes
And show cryptic carved messages created years ago
These photographs show a winter tree near Bend, Oregon shown from 3 perspectives .
Western juniper trees are great to photograph. I show this one from a distance, looking up its trunk, and with a close up view of its rough and wrinkled bark. These trees’ unique characteristics are enhanced by a light snowfall.
While visiting Lincoln City, Oregon last week, I saw this photo op Robert’s Bookshop sight. A small mural of a comfortable room full of bookshelves adorned the wall next to something odd–an airplane nose! Apparently, this 1967 Boeing 727-100 found a nice spot for its final landing place.
In 2015, the owner of the bookstore, Bob Portwood, bought the nose section at a state surplus auction. He attached it to the building and opened the interior wall to make a small office space in the cockpit.
The store has 1.64 miles of shelves full of books. They sell used and antiquarian books, including books related to aviation.
If you’re on the Oregon coast looking for roadside attractions, consider stopping to view the photo op Robert’s Bookshop in Lincoln City.
Near the ocean’s shore, wind and water create ephemeral works of art
Ebbs and flows peel away the earth’s surface to reveal its hidden brilliance
A rough Painted Hills trail meanders ahead
Curving towards colorful hills of mystery
Cutting through foliage, shriveled and dead
Through an ancient landscape filled with history
Covered with ash spewed by Cascade volcanoes
Compacted, sculpted into hillside rainbows
Layered with varied stripes of red, green, and gold
Reminders of climates, hot, humid, and cold
Jo’s Monday Walk (JMW)
Ferment Brewing Company, in Hood River, Oregon, is a nice warm place for brews & views. I made it appear even warmer by using a warming filter in the photo below. The big tanks below are actually silver but I thought they looked great in gold! 😀
Ferment opened here in 2018. They fuse traditional farmhouse brewing techniques with a modern touch. The brewmaster, Dan Peterson, has a degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and uses his scientific knowledge to create unique brews.
The fermenting theme is also featured in some of their food offerings. If you browse the menu, you’ll find fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi, but fermentation is also in more unexpected offerings, like kombucha ketchup.
Their tasting room is decorated in a modern, industrial style, with lots of symmetry. It’s a comfortable spot to share a meal and a drink.
The Garden of Surging Waves is located in Astoria, Oregon. The city was founded in 1811 and this garden was a gift to celebrate the city’s 200th anniversary. The Chinese were an important part of Astoria’s history. At one time, 22% of the city’s population was Chinese. In the Pacific Northwest, Chinese were instrumental in the cannery, logging, mining, and railroad construction industries.
I’m starting with a circular mosaic of three sturgeon. It was my favorite artwork there.
This is part of the Pavilion of Transition, pictured below. The fish theme is repeated in the circular lantern hanging above the mosaic. Nine salmon swim around its perimeter.
The pavilion has eight columns with dragons carved into each. The squares, circles, and even and odd numbers in this garden represent elements of Yin and Yang.
Garden art may be realistic and small
Or tall and abstract, casting striking shadows
You may hear garden art bark from the shadows cast by trees
Continue readingIn the moments before dawn,
Light from a single star
Awakens the spirit
Hidden within
Slumbering winter trees
I was driving near my house early one morning when I saw this sight. It was a hawk eating breakfast on the road.
I had interrupted a Red-tailed Hawk while it was feasting on a rabbit or hare. The local Black-billed Magpies appeared out of nowhere to get the leftovers.
As you can see, if you zoom in, the magpie pictured below was moving at a speed of 0 MPH. 😉
The hawk wisely decided to move its breakfast off the road.
A colorful daylily trail in the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon.
These perennials have showy, long-lasting flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Daylilies grow well in full sun to partial shade.
Here’s a closer view of violet purple daylilies with bright yellow throats. I’m not sure what variety of daylily this is, but I loved its ruffled edges.
This handsome mule deer buck was searching for a sweetheart in my front yard.
Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day, filled with love (and chocolate)!
This osprey & fish sculpture is at the north end of the Old Mill District shopping mall in Bend. When I walked by it recently, ice covering most of the pond made it stand out.
Here’s a more distant view that includes the two flag bridges. They change the color of the flags on these bridges to celebrate holidays and events.
There’s an osprey nest just north of here, right next to the Bend Whitewater Park. I bet the local birds would love to catch two fish at once, as portrayed in this sculpture.
This dramatic mural, The Future Starts Now, is located on The Palace building in Burns, Oregon.
The artist, Matthew Miles Gutierrez, goes by the nickname of Matteo Miles. Miles has done graphic design, canvas paintings, tattoos, sculptures, and sewing projects. His personal interest in pop culture and vintage ads shows in this mural.
Miles was invited to paint murals in Burns by Forrest and Jen Keady. The Keadys were impressed by the work he’d done in Greenville, South Carolina, where he lives. They wanted murals in Burns “that would spread a positive message, bring life and energy to the spaces they occupy, and give people yet another reason to stop in our small town.”
The Keadys requested that this mural be more edgy. The woman portrayed is part 1950s pinup/ part cowgirl. Her tattoo-covered arms bring her forward to more modern times.
I visited Burns on a chilly day in April 2023 and The Future Starts Now radiated a warm feeling. It delivered exactly what the Keadys hoped it would.
Monday Murals
Today I’m showing a few pen-and-ink vine maple drawings I created. Years ago, I took a Scientific Illustration course during spring quarter at the University of Washington.
The teacher had us take a cutting from a tree or shrub and place it into a glass of water. I clipped off a piece of vine maple, Acer circinatum, growing in my yard. Each week, we drew the twig using a different technique. The twigs leafed out a little more throughout the course. I thought it was one of the most clever teaching ideas I’d ever seen.
The first drawing shows a vine maple line drawing with varying weights of line. With certain nibs, if you press down the line becomes heavier. This is a view of blooms close up.
The second drawing shows the stipple technique. It takes a steady hand to do all those tiny dots of ink.
Elk sculpture in snow at High Desert Museum, Bend, Oregon with infrared processing.
This snowy bear sculpture is located on the east side of Bend, Oregon. It’s part of our privately funded roundabout art collection. Art in Public Places has helped fund art in over 20 of our 51 traffic roundabouts.
I’ve been waiting for snow to fall here in Bend to photograph this sculpture. Can you see why I liked showing it as a snowy bear?
Grizzly was created by Montana-based artist Sherry Sander in 2001.
This sculpture is a block away from Bend High School. The mythical lava bear is their mascot.
Here’s one more photo, taken a month later, showing more snow covering the statue.
To see some of Bend’s horse-related sculptures in roundabouts and elsewhere, see my Outdoor Horse Sculptures post.
a placid ocean
embraces rocky seastacks
sculptures of the wild
Today I’m featuring quotes related to snow next to snowy pictures taken in my yard. Winter has finally arrived here in Bend, Oregon.
A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.
Susan Orlean
Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
On a recent trip to the Oregon Coast, we made a short stop at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, near Astoria. We were there early in the morning time, before the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center and Bookstore opened.
We walked the short trail to see the replica of Fort Clatsop.
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Thomas Jefferson commissioned an expedition to explore the new territory and lands farther west. At that time, little was known of the natural resources along the route. Jefferson hoped to find a water route across the U.S. and establish good relations with Indigenous residents.
In November of 1805, the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery arrived in a storm-wracked location north of the Columbia River in what is now Washington State. They voted on whether they should stay there, move upriver, or establish a camp south of the river, as the local tribes suggested. They overwhelmingly voted to move to the Fort Clatsop site, south of the river.
The group started construction on the original fort in December of 1805. Construction went slowly because of the stormy weather conditions.
Finding drama in branches haphazardly woven together
Or planted in concise rows bearing intoxicating fruit
