Road Trip to Ashland

Road trips in Oregon start being fun at your first rest stop.

Daffodil time:

 

 

Classic vehicles:

 

Fancy tea a little farther on the way down:

Of course, we went for the theatre.  We saw four plays.  All were excellent.  Julius Caesar and Henry IV were done in modern clothes.

Falstaff was in a huge pink suit.

Lots of comic relief was welcome. Julius Caesar does not end well. Lots of special effects.  They know today’s viewers are used to lights and noise and choreography. We had excellent, close-up seats for everything. Don’t expect family groups to be a match, ethnically speaking. Don’t even expect characters to be the gender Will intended.  Took me a few seconds to figure that that girl in fatigues was Hotspur!

A movie turned play — Shakespeare in Love — was, I think, my fave.  It was done in “proper” costumes.

For a change of pace, we walked up the street past the Ashland Springs Hotel one night to the Cabaret Supper Theatre where we saw Noises off.  I had not laughed to much in a very long time.

Actually, we skipped the dinner option and went for dessert during the interim. An excellent decision.

Of course, it’s for the plays you go. But you must hike up Ashland Creek.  It’s really a just walk from the heart of downtown.

Where but here would you see a woman sitting in the rain playing her fiddle for her dog?

Or a little toddler’s bike momentarily abandoned with a helmet bigger than the bike?

The Episcopal Church has a beautiful garden with a labyrinth.

The main shopping street has a place for dogs to drink.  And everyone has a dog.

I missed Roxie but she was happily at 1880 with her best buddy Tita.

Driving home on St. Patrick’s Day, I was determined to have some corned beef.  We found some right off the Interstate at Seven Feathers Indian Casino, a place I’d never been before and will never visit again.  Casinos are mind boggling.

The corned beef was excellent.

A little later, Roxie greeted me at my kitchen door.  A good time was had by all.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Had such a lovely day.  Mother was the first to be in touch this morning with happy birthday wishes.  And it went on all day, including  sweet messages from my two darling un-sons-in-law.  Home from choir now and finishing off the cake left over from tea at Konditorei with Barb.  Found a beautiful branch of flowering plum waiting on the porch from Roxanne.  Then had a message from Kate that I had neglected to download an Amazon gift card she sent early today.  Fun!  Now I have to decide what I want to buy with it.  Big decision.

One of the coolest things that happened was that my wonderful yard guys insisted that Freida should be moved out of the raised bed and into her permanent location.

Not visible in this picture, a Pulaski fire axe, which John used as the primary tool for hacking out the ivy:

John volunteers at a local Audubon site every week where he employs this tool to the extent that he is known there as “Johnny Pulaski.”

He told me a funny story about when, at a much younger age, he showed up to his “tree work” job just slightly hungover and proceeded to swing his Pulaski right into his foot.  John and I always share great conversations and recommend books to read.  Not everyone is lucky enough to have a landscaper who is also a Renaissance Man.

Back to birthday thoughts:  Life is good.  On the outside, I look and feel my age.  But on the inside, I still feel like a girl.