Monday, May 22, 2017

Rhododendron Festival



Florence bridge
Sunday I went on the Ya Po Ah bus trip to the Rhododendron Festival in the coastal town of Florence. The road to the coast passes through hills following the river. Rhododendrons, witches’ broom, wild iris, lupin, and dogwood can be seen along the roadside. The beautiful bridge is in Florence. Crafts, food vendors and a small Carnival are set up along the boardwalk and the downtown shops and restaurant are close by on the Bay. There is an exhibition of rhododendrons, an amazing variety of colors and shapes from very small to large clusters of blossoms. Hundreds of families come in to watch the parade and they stake out there places with their chairs. They were there long before the parade started.  The parade is a community event, with high school bands, clowns, dressed up dogs, horses, and floats. I am not a parade fan but this one was fun and reminded me of the 4th of July parades in Roundpond ME. Along with the many children there were many dogs and even a pig. It is a tradition the bikers come to the festival and there are hundreds of bikes parked side by side down down. For those that like bikes they were awesome. It was a beautiful day and just the right temperature. We all, ten of us on the bus,  had a good time and most came home with a small treasure bought in one of the shops or craft tents.
along the river

witches's broom
I love stones so I bought these pendants. Each one about 2 in big.



















carnival 

motorcycles parked downtown


along the board walk


biker's




this horse was performing that special walk. It was beautiful to watch.



Sunday, May 14, 2017

Mother's Day


Happy Mother's Day to all Moms. Hope you all can be with your children and have a nice day together.
Despite the persistent rain and cool weather the gardens are growing well as seen in the painting below, cabbages in one of the raised beds. Just had a rainbow yesterday, windy day as the flag on Skinners Butte is blowing strait out, great clouds. The Rhododendrons are blooming, so many kinds and colors. The roses also are starting to blossom. I went to the outside farmers market this morning, bought vegetables,( beets below) and some vegetable starts for my garden. Lot of people buy the cut flowers


gardens at Ya Po Ah



flowers at the market


from my window






beautiful peony

rhododendron

rhododendon