Above the Horizon

 Sunset, last Wednesday

New Self-Portrait

It's been a while since I attempted a self-portrait.

I tried several new things while editing. I likey! Count this as a success.

Eugene Park Tour - Bethel Community Park, Part Five

The Flowers

The crocus that arrive in the park's parking lot islands are my first sign of spring. Perennials pop up to grace the park in an ever changing landscape through the months. Here's what revealed themselves in the last month.

#flowersforfriday

Eugene Park Tour - Bethel Community Park, Part Four

The Wetlands

My neighborhood is built on wetlands. Our home is even in a flood zone. When the neighborhood was built, a designated portion of the development was to be maintained as wetlands. So a large part of Bethel Community Park remains in its natural state. We can hear frogs singing at night. Garter snakes visit my neighbor's gardens in our common area. And occasionally I see herons out in the fields.

Adjacent to the baseball stadiums and the skate park, and between the playground and track, there is ample parking. But when games are underway, it's not quite enough parking. So a portion of the wetlands near the stadium is used for overflow parking. In this photo, you can see the stadium in the background.

In the evenings, this dirt lot is often used by teenagers, hopped up in big trucks, learning to spin doughnuts in the dirt. They get pretty loud. Seems like they're having fun.

The entire wetlands is surrounded by a sidewalk and curbing, so it makes for a very pleasant morning walk.  This is a view of the wetlands looking east, with the baseball stadium in the background.

The weeds grow tall on the west side. There are lots of wild blackberry bushes. Last year at this spot, a bee was busy doing his business in a blackberry patch. He decided he didn't like me picking a berry, so he stung me in the arm. I got two weeks' worth of itching and swelling. He lost his life. He should have left me alone. I wasn't bothering him.

Take note of that copse of tall trees. They stand in the center of this big patch of wetlands. I've seen kids walking in that direction after school. I followed a path into the trees once to see what's there. Not much, really. There are signs that people hang out there ... trash and whatnot. Some logs that look good for sitting in a circle for a chat. The day I was there, the ground truly was a wetlands. Nice and muddy.

This is the view on the east side of the wetlands with the tall trees on the left, the baseball stadium straight ahead, and the rest of the park to the right.

These Sunday morning photos don't do it justice. I find the wetlands a calming place, and they look so pretty at sunset. Here's a photo I took last year that nearly catches the beauty.

Come visit me and we can walk around the wetlands together.

Eugene Park Tour - Bethel Community Park, Part Three

The Ball Fields

This little outdoor basketball court stands close to the children's playground. It's more for shooting hoops and games of HORSE than for tournaments. 

What you see behind this court, over that rise, are the gorgeous baseball fields. Bethel Community Park is west Eugene's primary outdoor athletic facility. Many school and adult teams use the fields. The Ted Norman complex holds three full baseball diamonds. 

Interestingly, there are no viewer stands in the facility (that I can see). Onlookers bring lawn chairs and pop-up tents and stake a claim on that rise behind the basketball hoops. Or they take their chairs to the perimeter fence and watch their young athletes' baseball games by looking through the fence. At least ... this is how there was spectator engagement during the pandemic.

As you can see, the fields are gorgeous. There's an electronic scoreboard. There's even an official-looking line of banners from team sponsors.

The other ballfield contains a full paved track for runners (and walkers like me). The track and the field are surrounded by fencing. Because this sits directly behind an elementary school, the track is open to the public before and after school during the school year. It's open during daylight hours during the summer and school vacations.

The ball field is fully lighted ... and boy are they bright! We have the "benefit" of that light every night that there's an official scheduled game.

The field is a high-quality Astroturf. It has lines painted for football and soccer. It gets a lot of use by sport leagues and school teams. On the weekends, I'll often see men in pick-up games. Folks come out to throw frisbees and fly kites, too. 

Sometimes after dark, we hear sounds of teens who have jumped the fence and are enjoying sport of a different kind!

Here's a panorama I stitched together from three photos that I took from my bedroom window.

Click for a larger image

Directly behind this track and ballfield, you can see the elementary school. I'm sure it looks familiar from the many sunset photos I've posted here on my blog.

Eugene Park Tour - Bethel Community Park, Part Two

The Skate Park

A short way from the playground you'll find the concrete wonderland that is the skate park. This is where the tweens and teens hang out. 

There's plenty of parking for their bicycles

and a roving landscape of ramps, moguls, decks, rails, and quarter pipes for bikes, skateboarders, scooters and inline skaters to have a field day.

I so enjoy watching these mostly-young-men test their mettle. Some of them can do amazing stunts, especially on their bicycles.

One day I hope to get their permission to grab my camera and get some action shots. Funnily enough, teenage boys still have a way of intimidating me.

On my next post I hope to talk about the various ballfields. 

Eugene Park Tour - Bethel Community Park, Part One

The Playground

This is the Eugene park I'm most familiar with because it's right around the corner from our home. It's a beauty! It's large, too, so I plan to share the various amenities over the following week.

Let's start with the playground. I visited on an early Sunday morning to take the photos. It's nearly the only time there aren't swarms of kids playing here. The playground has a huge sand pit, play structures for kids of all ages, a swing set that accommodates toddlers and school-age kids, a jungle gym and all manner of equipment that help kids learn balance, or twirl to allow them to get dizzy.

The enormous sandpit includes gadgets to pour sand into that helps kids learn the mechanics of how sand moves.

The toddler play structure is located in the sand pit so that little ones won't get too scuffed up when they fall.

The larger play structure for big kids is on the other end of the playground. There's a huge bed of bark beneath the equipment on this side.

There are all kinds of climbing structures on the bark like this jungle gym and monkey bars. To the left you can see the swings. Straight ahead is a teeter-totter.

This large structure has steps and bars the help kids learn balance.

There's even a sturdy hammock in the shade of a tree for a place to rest in between activities.

Surrounding the playground are plenty of benches so parents can keep an eye on their little ones. This picnic pavilion is a short way away and can be used for larger gatherings. I've seen groups from after-school programs gather here.

This part of the park has lots of trees giving a shady place to rest. This park is quite lovely ... and lively!

Christmas in July

A peek back to 2021

The family ornaments

Our mantel decked in blue and silver with lots of sparkle

Our 2021 decoration addition

Greeters in the entryway

Our eldest, Jeanne, helped me transform the pillar on the front porch into a gnome. We used tablecloths for the hat and beard, a small rubber ball for the nose, and a ton of red and black duck tape.

A cozy vignette by the front door

A cheerful, welcoming front porch

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night

In July, I Wonder

#foranaudienceofone

Calla Lily

I took a new route on my morning walk this week. This neighbor has a corner lot that's teeming with flowers. I paused to take a couple photos.

The depth of color on this calla lily is scrumptious! 

#flowersforfriday