Happy New Year!!!

 I can't believe it's 2015!!! 2014 seems like a blur after the big move to Oregon. Setting up a new life is a challenge but exciting. I'm looking forward to settling into my country life and taking more pictures of the beautiful valleys and hills I now call home. I also have big writing plans for 2015. I hope to complete several short stories and another book! 

I want to wish my faithful blog folowers a productive and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays from Oregon!

Moving from the city to the country really has been fun. At Christmas time the contrasts are pretty obvious. In LA things were bigger and brighter but the holidays just didn't feel as personal as they do in the country. People that are already very friendly go into hyper-drive in the country. Total strangers stop and wish you a wonderful holiday with huge smiles on their faces. Talk about holiday spirit! The historic downtown of Grants Pass is decked out with a huge 40 foot tree, Santa's workshop and quaint lighted hisoric buildings. Strolling the streets is like going back in time. 

Now that's a big Christmas tree!

 Historic downtown is all decked out!

 In neighboring Jacksonville it's even more old-fashioned.

 A Christmas horse drawn wagon!

A country girl at heart, I love every minute of it of small time holiday fun. But I don't have to totally miss out on some of the high-tech lighting displays I used to see in the city. I stumbled on one that can rival anything Los Angeles has to offer and it's right here in little old Grants Pass. 

The display changes as music plays. Check it out! 

I hope you've been enjoying the season as much as I am. With a big county smile, I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holidays! 

My First Oregon Fall!

I've really been enjoying my first fall in Oregon. Yes, it's cold for a former Southern California girl like me, but it also brings back memories of my childhood growing up back East and in Colorado. The artist side of me is thrilled to see the kaleidoscope of colors the trees change as the weather grows colder.

An added bonus is my collection of vintage sweaters and coats can finally come out of storage. Now I can wear them all the time instead of only on an occasional chilly night in LA. Plus I get to take long rides around the countryside and enjoy the fall color just like I did back East.

 Nothing says country road trip more than a covered bridge

Of course I can't resist popping out of the car and capturing a particularly amazing example of falls finest colors.

Love this deep red orange tree. 

Look at this grand golden beauty.

I'm not the only one enjoying a pretty fall day. 

The fall in Oregon is quickly becoming my favorite time of the year. After living in Southern California, which really doesn't have much of a fall, it's fun to experience something new every day. Nature puts on quite a show. After living so long in the same place you forget the joys a new home can bring. The fall colors in Oregon have put a very big smile on my face : )  

Halloween is Here Bring out the Clowns!

One of my favorite holidays is here---Halloween!

On Halloween I love to decorate my house ultra spooky and dress up as a vampire to hand out candy to the kids. My Victorian in Pasadena was the perfect place to do it.

Nothing scarier than a leg hanging off the mantel!

Ghouls in the library 

That's one way to play a pump organ! 

Now that I'm living in a lodge out in the country, I won't be getting any knocks on the door with kids screaming trick or treat. Usually we have a big Halloween party every other year, but because of the move, this year is off the table. Instead, we decided to get our dose of Halloween fun at the Circus of Screams. Boy was it scary!      

This is what greeted me as I stood in line!  

 

 

This was just inside the door!

Not your usual doll collection!  

I had a blast walking through the haunted house filled with blood covered clowns and guys chancing me with chain saws. Can't think of a better way to celebrate such a spooky holiday. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Nature's Paint Brush

I was at a book club meeting where many of the group talked about how they have recently moved to Southern Oregon. We talked about all the things we love about our new home but one thing stood out — sunsets. One of the woman commented that her phone is full of endless pictures of the amazing sunsets she's seen. I of course had to show off my latest amazing sunset picture taken while at my neighbor's house which has an unobstructed view of the Rouge Valley. 

I have to say that the beauty of the sunsets in Southern Oregon took me by surprise. I have a friend who lives in New Mexico which is known for it's breathtaking sunsets. Whenever I visit her, I always comment on how gorgeous the sunsets are and of course I have to take lots of pictures. 

One of my favorite New Mexico sunsets is the one I saw at the Balloon Festival

There's something about sunsets that begs me to try and capture their beauty. Maybe it's my artistic side. I get so excited when I see a particularly nice sunset it can turn an ordinary day into something really special. I've been posting a lot of my sunset pictures on Facebook and many of my friends have asked what photo filters I use. What kind of editing do I use in Photoshop to make the sunsets looks so awesome. They have a hard time believing that I've done nothing. Mother nature gets all the credit. She welds an awesome paint brush. 

Sometimes the colors are so striking they don't seem real.

A spring pastel sunset.

A pretty sunset can make a winters day look like spring is just around the corner.

I have endless pictures of sunsets on my phone and I love scrolling through my camera roll so I can enjoy them over and over. There's something so inspiring about beautiful colors and patterns high up in the sky. They always give my creativity a big push. All I can say is Mother Nature rocks! 

Oregon Mystery House Adventure

I've finished decorating the lodge and had the first batch of house guests visit, so I thought it was time 
to do a little site seeing of my own. I've always enjoyed strange phenomena, and what better place to visit than the Oregon Mystery House.

The house is situated on a vortex and the things that happen there are pretty cool. Are they real or fake? I can say for myself a lot of it is fun optical illusions, but you definitely get a feeling something is off in the vortex. When I stood on the spot where magnetic north and south converge I tried to keep myself from swaying but couldn't. Even some of the myth busters can't explain all the phenomena that happens there. Animals don’t want to enter the vortex. They tried riding horses onto the property and the horses stopped and turned around. Their compass didn't work right, as if giant magnets where buried underground. I'm a huge fan of roadside attractions, so I was more then happy to find out for myself.

As you can see the mystery house is pretty darn crooked. Whether it fell down a hill as the guide said, or they built it that way, it's still a fun experience. 
  

 
  The inside is crooked too. The handrails definitely come in handy.  

  
Look at the way you have to stand so that you feel upright. He's leaning to the left big time!

This side of the house is enough to make you seasick! See how the pendulum is hanging. That's how off plum the house is. 

Because of the angles of the house it looks like the water is running uphill. It's not. It's actually following gravity and running downhill, but it's still a fun illusion. Then there is the broom illusion. The broom seems to balance all by itself in the crooked house. 

 

Check the angle of the bristles. I think this is what makes it stand so straight and not fall. But again, a cool illusion. 

 Then there is the height change demonstration. The person who stands to the left, magnetic north, looks shorter than the person on the right, which is magnetic south. In this case the girl on the left is actually shorter than the girl on the right so when they switch places the difference is really impressive. 

Look how much taller she looks! Pretty cool! The myth busters couldn't explain how this works either.

I had a really great time at the Oregon Mystery House. I'm glad I stopped in. Visitng fun attractions like the mystery house brings out the kid in me. Who cares if it's real or fake? I enjoyed the ride! 

   

Bear Crazy

I'm finally settled into the lodge and had a chance to explore my new home town. On the drive into town I began to see signs of a major invasion. Bears! Whimsical painted bears had taken over Grants Pass. Eighty in fact. Starting in May the bears roll in to town and stick around until late summer. Thankfully I have plenty time to see them all. 

Turns out there are some very talented artists in Grants Pass. The bears range from farmers to Egyptian Pharaohs. Here's a few of the ones I've seen so far. 

 Farmer bear waiting for a ride

 

Backpacking Bears

Kung Fu Fighting Bear

Portrait Artist Bear

Sphinx Bear 

King Tut Bear Cub

I can't wait to discover more bears in the coming weeks. Makes going to the grocery store an adventure. Just another thing I love about my new home town.