(no subject)

my time in oregon is nearly done -- we catch a flight tomorrow at 5:30am. such a short visit! i hate staying less than nine days, just yesterday i adjusted to the time difference and now i'll be thrown back into east coast time again.

christmas eve we all drove up to my parents' property in beaver creek, to decorate a tree for the birds and build a fire. this is the several-acre parcel they are building their dream house on; it was previously occupied by a family who had lived there since the pioneer days -- there was an old cabin with a hand-dug root cellar, a double-wide trailer (now demolished), a second cabin, a shed (further demolished by my dad & brother), and an emu pen. the old cabin is rather depressing inside, so much evidence of elder neglect. handwritten signs in the den begging her relatives not to smoke in the house, notes in the bathroom begging them not to turn the taps too tight, etc. some of it seems more like backwoods ingenuity (cords slung across the ceilings to pull a light chain from across a room), but the rest of it was just sad.

( many, many pictures. )