(no subject)

[aslant]

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.

mom & dad and the architect, inside the vacant old cabin

sink at the old cabin

funny bits of things hanging from the ceiling of the root cellar

an old shack on my parents' new property in beaver creek

the cabin on my parents' property in beaver creek

the old cabin, on the east side.

a lone glove hanging from the laundry line

the side of the old emu pen

little treasures found on the old property. not pictured: silver spoon i took for myself!

the old shed, before it was knocked over by josh and dad

josh and dad after pushing over the shed frame

kirk and josh at the beaver creek property

tree on the property we decorated for the birds

mom, kate, dad, and josh: josh going off to demolish the emu pen

the patented kissy-face photo

dad, kirk, josh, mom and kate around the fire at the property, christmas eve.

side view of the old cabin

view across to bluffs on the other side of the columbia river gorge -- kirk and i and jennie and her friend chris drove out to multnomah falls yesterday, and hiked partway up to the top of the falls -- it's only a mile up, but most of the trail is steep as stairs.

at multnomah falls, halfway up the trail

rainbow over the columbia river gorge from the multnomah falls trail