My old hometown through travellers' eye

The Willamette River was a major transportation route before roads.  The local First Nation people burned the oak forest that was indigenous to the valley.  When the European-American immigrants showed up, towns formed along the river, timber was run down it and steamboats plied the water until the road system was built up.

This is a picture of the interior of one of the local hardware store remaining, and they have a facebook page!  Corvallis is a great town to support local business but I think that may also be because it's a pretty well-to-do community.  Since Home Depot arrived, I know that at least one hardware store that was in business since 1928 closed it's doors.  For Robnett's Hardware, it's been in business since 1893 and surviving the economic depressions/recessions because it's a great store and local residents are willing to shop local to prevent the slow death of Americana.

Now is the perfect time to be in Oregon, when the spring has sprung and the rain and sunshine makes rainbows everyday.  The old barns still stand despite the mold, cause they were made out of old growth timber that doesn't exist anymore.  except in small island reserves.  If Oregonians were smart a moratorium on old growth cutting would be initiated similar to what New Zealand citizens did for the Kauri trees and habitats.

Can't have springtime without Daffodils and Tulips

and slugs

and Rufous Hummingbirds

I found a 1948 scrabble game at the thrift store and we used the most amazing words thanks to the modern use of the internet.  Scrabble leads to a better command of the English language.  Who would have known!


Squib n. - Firework consisting of a tube filled with powder (as a broken firecracker) that burns with a fizzing noise

Pseud n. - A person who makes deceitful pretenses
Halcyon –

n. - (Greek mythology) a woman who was turned into a kingfisher

n. - A large kingfisher widely distributed in warmer parts of the Old World

n. - A mythical bird said to breed at the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea and to have the power of calming the winds and waves

adj. - Idyllically calm and peaceful; suggesting happy tranquillity

adj. - Marked by peace and prosperity

Sere – adj. - (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture