Mother’s 97th birthday and, I believe, her 155 day without visitors. Somehow, Terri was able to get in some cheese cake and balloons and these flowers came from Katherine and MM and Ari. Picture taken through the window by Joannie:
Hard to cheer up thinking about her situation, so I headed downtown to River Front Park for Roxie’s walk today. When I moved here, you couldn’t walk along the high cliff above the river for all the blackberry brambles. Now you can walk six miles in total along beautiful brick pathways if you use the two new pedestrian bridge from West Salem to Minto Brown.
Spanning the river, the old railroad bridge has been converted to a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. Looking down from there, I can see the tents of the homeless “community.”
Walking back, I could see a little red kayak putting in on the boat ramp across the river. How many times have I put in there? I am so tempted, but I have made a pact with myself not to risk life and limb until my knee is back to full strength.
On down the way, I saw that a lot of progress is being made toward the construction of a huge amphitheater, sponsored by the Rotary Club, and spearheaded by my dear friend Barry.
People who grew up here and are raising families here continue to promote such projects for the future of Salem. Old folks like me sort of like this old stage right next door.
Saw this interesting little sign on the way back to the car:
Made me think back to the years I spent collecting water samples from the river and doing a bunch of tests with the samples before sending the results off to the EPA. Then, it was learned that the EPA wasn’t using our test results for anything. Disheartening.
In case you’re wondering, the Willamette is now, relatively speaking, a very clean river. Manufacturing mills along the banks have been largely removed, with a few exceptions which are strictly regulated by the EPA. Occasionally, in the rainy winter months, you will hear about an overflow of untreated sewage which quickly disperses down stream. In the summertime, sometimes swimmers are warned about high bacteria levels in certain locations caused by bird droppings, mostly Canada geese.
I would never recommend swimming in the Willamette. Much too often I read that someone has drowned. Great for kayaking, though. Dave and I paddled the entire Willamette from its source at the MacKenzie all the way into the Columbia. In segments, of course. That was a dream of mine. Dave didn’t much care for the Willamette but indulged me.
Later, I drove out to the Indian School so Dolly could run through the unused athletic fields out there. Watered and mowed. No games scheduled.
Absolutely no information can be found on line as to when or if the school will open. I could see outside the dorms that all the mattresses — looked like all 400 of them — had been pulled outside in big piles that had toppled over. That was sort of my observation when I taught there. Big projects would start off with no end plan in place. And that is pretty much my opinion of Indian schools altogether.