As I mentioned earlier, we has a wonderful spring with an abundance of flowers and flowering trees.
This is a large Dogwood tree, one of several on the street, they are native to this part of the world. It is also interesting that the "flower" is actually a set of bracts surrounding the blossom which creates the splendid sight that we see.
Here is a close-up of pink dogwood, also plentiful in the neighborhood.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was able to build some raised beds to grow a few vegetables. These went well and we are beginning to get some fresh produce. The lettuce has finished, (does not do well in hot weather) but soon we are going to have lots of tomatoes.
We have a lot of space in the formal landscaping, so we took advantage of this and planted squash, this is one of several spaghetti squash, that are flourishing.
We added bulbs for some color!
Since moving to Ashland I have joined a group that plays Bocce three mornings a week, we are mostly old geezers, but is a lot of fun. Now that the weather has turned warm we begin the games at 8am so that we can finish three games before the sun becomes unbearable. I find the game quite challenging as the court varies every time we play and is very hard to read.
Since I belong to two photography groups, we occasionally organize photography outings. A favourite area is on the N California coast about 2 plus hours from home. We go to photograph among the redwood trees and hope for fog and rhododendron blooms. This year we missed the blooms and much of the fog despite getting to the location by 8am.
Looking straight up among the trees.
This is Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, California, which is on the way home from the redwoods. Unfortunately we get to this area in the middle of the day which is not ideal for taking photographs.
There are days however, when the fog makes for great opportunities to photograph the ocean.
A friend of ours is co-authoring a book about a local Buddhist temple and asked if I would be willing to take some photographs that could be included, The location is very special with many colorful buildings scattered throughout the grounds.
One of Diane's list of things she wanted to do, after many years, was to pay a visit to Disneyland in LA where she used to visit as a young girl. Since two of our grandchildren were taking a vacation there this year, we invited ourselves for a day to meet them there and to surprise them! They were surprised and we spent a long day with them, right through the fireworks and the parade of lights.
Quite difficult to take photos of moving light shows, it was a lot of fun, especially for the grand children.
Ashland is a town with a large and active arts community above and beyond that encompassed by the Shakespeare festival, As a consequence there are many workshops and classes that are provided and they cater to a large range of interests. I had a very interesting experience when I had the opportunity to be a model in an oil painting class.
The experience of witnessing artists capturing your likeness from a variety of angle is a bit unnerving. The artists were arrayed in a semicircle such that the view they get and capture is a side of you that you do not normally see in the mirror. This image is of the demo portrait that the workshop leader, Gabriel Lippert painted.
Well this post is a small portion of our summer so far and will set myself a goal of posting once a month. That may not be often enough for me to make this a regular habit, but it is a place to get back to.
Stay tuned.
