Grandson Ian and I drove to Ashland last Monday for our annual Shakespeare vacation and met friend Ruth from California. Seeing friends there ranks high on my list as we also rendezvous with Judy and Don in Jacksonville. This year they have a house in town as they decided the big, beautiful acreage in the country was too much for them to keep up.
They love their new home. Here they all are in front of it: Don, Judy, Ruth and Ian. I didn't think to have them turn around so you could see their faces.
The former owners were stained glass artists and their beautiful stained glass is still everywhere in the house. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take photos of it, but you can sort of see one pair of panes above the dining room table.
Mostly I took photos of Rusty, their dog who is more like their baby. They adore him. He is very sweet and very lovable.
My side was hurting that day so I stretched out on the sofa. Rusty kept me company and Ian took this photo.
This year we stayed in a different AirBnb from the one where we usually stay. We had canceled our August reservation because of the smoke in southern Oregon and someone else had reserved this October week when we finally got there. Our new bnb was farther out so we had to drive to the theater. It was, however, in a lovely country setting with deer in the front yard. But then, deer are nearly everywhere in Ashland.
This abode was near the same biking/hiking trail I had walked from our usual bnb. The first morning, I walked toward town until I came to something familiar on my walks away from town from our usual bnb. And here it is...
In truth, I took this photo a few days later when walking with Ruth. She had not seen the Polar Bear statue before and I did not have my camera with me the first day I reached it. For info on the statue, go to my blog the year I first found it: https://lindafink.blogspot.com/2017/10/oregon-shakespeare-festival-beyond-plays.html
Also on that hike with Ruth, I took photos of the bizarre art work on a fence and in the yard of someone who lives beside the bike trail. The first thing you come across (walking from the north) is a fence loaded with painted padlocks. Were these contributed by lovers who want their vows to stay locked together forever, or ???
There is much more along and behind that fence... A large metal bird, crow presumably, hangs from a tree...
Many, many birds hang from that tall tree. The artist came out and talked to us after awhile and said after she started hanging birds in the tree, other artists contributed. Now there are four artists' birds hanging there.
And there is much more art in her beside-the-fence property, like this shovel garden. I laughed out loud at this and thought perhaps I should bring her my broken shovels. I suspect that's what happened after she began planting hers... others contributed. What gardener does not have a broken shovel?
An amazing metal butterfly graces the fence. Maybe next year I'll see if I can finagle an invitation inside and take a photo without the fence in the way.
Far south of the padlocks on the fence are keys... so many keys...
This is a little hard to see in my photo, but it is a flat metal horse in full gallop.
I think the artist saw me taking photos of her artwork, as she came out and talked to us, telling us about some of the pieces. She says it keeps her busy having fun. Here she is hanging some sort of stocking or something. I will be interested to see what this becomes next year!
She told us the story of the broken pottery. A potter friend sent her home with all her broken pots, knowing she would find something to do with them. They were all in a box and she set them on these stumps (obviously planted but presumably just a stump garden... until the pottery appeared) until she could figure out what to do with them. Her potter friend told her they looked great there, so she left them. We agreed they looked great there. Perhaps every potter should have a broken pottery garden.
This is, apparently, a duck in a boat.
Hard to see in the photo but obvious in person are two metal California Quail marching along the fence.
And this is a coiled branch... I guess... rolling along the top of a fence.
Of course, we went to Ashland primarily to see plays: Shakespeare and others. My favorite was Oklahoma with a difference. You can read about the difference here: https://www.osfashland.org/productions/2018-plays/oklahoma.aspx It was beautifully sung and acted and well received by the audience... which is heartening in these times.
There was no smoke in October and the colors of trees in Lithia Park were spectacular. I took lots of photos of fall colors.
The top of the Elizabethan theater is just visible above the trees in the first photo below.
Ashland Creek that runs through the park was very low this very dry year.
It looks like the grounds are well watered, though, and the fall colors were spectacular.
On Saturday, we drove home. Well, Ian drove; I rode. We stopped at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge, as I always do, but there was no water in Eagle Marsh.
Our new-to-us, 2012 Toyota Prius C got close to 50 mpg for the trip. My beloved Honda Civic hybrid, with over 200,000 miles, has more expensive repairs than we think wise to make. So we bought this used Prius. I have not yet learned how to operate all the bells and whistles but 17-year-old Ian had no trouble.
Ian is a most wonderful traveling companion and seems to really enjoy Ashland and the plays. He is hoping his college schedule next year allows him to join me for his fourth excursion to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We have already selected our plays and reserved the AirBnb for September, 2019. If wildfires and college cooperate, we will all, friend Ruth, Ian and I, be in beautiful Ashland again next fall.
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