Ashland, Oregon - PhotoBlog
Pictures and comments from March, 2005

I left my apartment. It was a beautiful spring day. As I rounded the corner a young girl in a Batman costume raced down the sidewalk in hot pursuit of a naked toddler, who seemed to greatly enjoy the chase. Batwoman grabbed this fugitive around the waist, wrestled him down and then wrangled him back into his diaper. The miniature villian was soon imprisoned back behind the picket fence, but quickly made another bold & daring escape. Mom came out wearing a kitchen apron and warned both SuperHeroes and Villains to settle down. Cookies were soon to come out of the oven and rambunctious children need not apply!
	Young Zeta invites all passers-by to come view the two-family yard sale on B street. She talks to everybody while eagerly leading Rudy the Dachshund around on a leash. Rudy can't match Zeta's energy and stops to lie down at every chance. It's a warm spring day and the hyacinths and shrubs are in bloom. Our future public-relations expert is dressed to match the day in a summer dress, sun hat, flip-flops and accesory lap dog.
Looking down B Street in the Railroad District of Ashland, Oregon. It is all flowering trees, Craftsman & Victorian cottages, picket fences and fresh mountain air. Local residents sit outside on their front porches, within talking distance of the sidewalk. Children play outside. There is a sense of neighborhood & community here, something that is absent in the newer subdivisions and developments that have popped up only a mile away. Modern planning & construction has an impossible time duplicating the sense of place that was built into the older neighborhoods by default.
	Somebody's a big fan of SpongeBob SquarePants. But why not? If you have a yellow car that is roughly the shape and color of a giant sponge, you might as well go with it and accessorize to the hilt. Even the evil Plankton & cranky neighbor Squidward are represented inside this theme car!
Picket fences, lawns, real front porches and verandas. Everything is built on a human scale in the Historic District of Ashland. Flowering bushes are like the punctuation marks between houses in this neighborhood.
	The Magnolia trees are in full bloom. Their branches droop under the weight of elegant flowers.
Evo's Cafe' is undergoing a series of improvements and upgrades under the new ownership. Last month colorful artwork was hung. This month it's fresh paint, lighting fixtures and one elaborate hand-made lamp in the corner. All that and great coffee too!
	Rick enjoys the healing vibrations from a giant tuning fork that is struck and then held to his spine. This tuning fork emanates a curiously deep and powerful hum. I was told that it is calibrated to the same frequency as the Earth's elliptical orbit, or something. Alternative lifestyles and beliefs thrive here. There is a sense of tolerance, progressiveness and community values in Ashland.
I'm sure many men can relate to the sentiments expressed here, but I don't feel this way in the slightest. Then again, my car was recently washed!