The historic Columbia River Highway is a gorgeous scenic drive anytime of the year, but mid-October can be an especially wonderful time to make the trip.
The Columbia River Gorge is the place to catch the shows put on by maple, ash and cottonwood trees in Oregon. The picture shown is from my visit one September, when everything was still mostly green. I’d love to go back to catch the numerous waterfalls alongside beautiful fall leaves. You’ll see signs for the waterfalls, including Multnomah Falls – the longest, Wahkeena Falls, Latourell Falls and more.

To begin your drive, go to Troutdale, Oregon, …read more

The Oregon wine country is getting ready to open its first luxury resort, with The Allison Inn & Spa.  The 35-acre hillside location is in Newberg, about a 45 minute drive from downtown Portland.  The ground are full of flower and herb gardens, groves of trees, and a working Pinot Noir vineyard.  You can stroll the ground by way of connecting paths.
The resort will have 85 well appointed guest rooms and suites on four levels, and all rooms will feature either a private terrace or balcony. Other special room features include a window seat (I can see myself lounging there, …read more

Recently I read, in the McKenzie River Reflections (Oregon) about 5th grade students, who raised $1,300 with a Sunflower quilt they made to benefit the McKenzie Outdoor School.
Although the photo wasn’t in color, the sunflower designs looked lovely and very individual.
Sunflowers seem to be a theme in other schools this year.  In New Hampshire, students planted sunflowers on the front lawn to beautify their school and to promote its “green” theme.
In browsing through my quilting books, I’ve come across three patterns with the sunflower’s name.  Do you know of any more?

Kansas Sunflower
Sunflower
Basket of Sunflowers

Do you ever use a sunflower theme in your …read more

You may remember my winter dream home… If not here it is again:

The Delta Shelter is from Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects – actually I keep meaning to do an update on this house. But first let’s look at a new project from Tom Kundig.
Eleven Eleven East Pike is the first condo building from designer Kundig and will be offering a nice high end look and feel but not at a completely unreachable high end price. Here’s a first look at what’s planned for the exterior. Not a bad slice of color for a Seattle structure. It looks great …read more

I thought after our treehouse adventure that maybe we should move on to something a bit less rugged and a lot more round.
When I was about nine years old my mom took me to meet some friends of hers. They had this huge dome home sitting on a cliff, in in the woods, in Oregon, overlooking a lake, with a huge deck and hot tub. The sun actually set while we were there – it was like nothing I’d ever seen. I was amazed, and as you can imagine, completely smitten. I’ve had a thing for any round home …read more

Try underpinning a castle.
This is the Canterbury Castle. The Canterbury was built in 1931 and is meant to resemble the original Canterbury Castle in England. The castle is located in Portland, Oregon and the latest I hear it’s a privately owned residence. It’s about a 20 minute drive from my house, so I may head up there soon to see if it’s still standing. I’d think so, since it was added to the historic register of historic places in 1987 — folks usually frown on tearing down local historic treasures.
Here’s a picture of the castle back in the day.

I’ve lived …read more