A Weekend Excursion

We took a drive on Sunday across the mountain pass to the fake Bavarian village that is Leavenworth - and then decided to go a little further east on Highway 2 toward Wenatchee, mostly because Mark likes to say the name, but also because we thought there might be apple trees blooming in the area, this being apple country. We were right - there were apple trees blooming in abundance. Very satisfying.

And since we were in the area, we decided to also check out a 'garden' that we had read about in Wenatchee that was on the bluffs overlooking the mighty Columbia River. Ohme Gardens were developed by the Ohme family in the 30s - and I really mean 'developed.' There was nothing there to start with but the view and the rocks. The family hauled in paving stones and built paths and steps, planted native trees, flowers and shrubbery, put in a watering system, some ponds, some waterfalls and some little 'lookout' buildings, all in the name of creating a backdrop for a future house that never actually got built. They didn't have professional help - they didn't even really have mechanical help. They just plugged away at their dream, year after year, a path here and a lawn there, until word got around that they had created something really special that people wanted to see. So it eventually became a county park. It is full of native plants, not cultivated gardens, and winds around a bluff to take advantage of the slope and the rocks and the views. An amazing place under the circumstances. And actually rather amazing even without the circumstances.

This is the neighboring hill, to give you some idea of what they started with:

And this is what the 'garden' is like today - although individual pictures can't really capture it. It is revealed in small sections, as you walk around a boulder or reach the rise of a hill or look out of one of the viewpoints or sit by a little pond and waterfall.

Investors and the News

There was a poll by one of the news media organizations recently that asked if people thought Wall Street was stacked against them and didn't serve 'the little guy' well. At the time I read the article the result was that 89% of respondents said yes, Wall Street is definitely stacked against them. I think I might agree.

We have been watching the price of Microsoft stock, with an eye to unloading some ourselves, and had high hopes for this week. The company announced, Thursday, a record-breaking quarter with earnings up significantly and a bright prospect for the near future. Oh boy, we thought. Maybe this is the time.

Not so much. The stock price dropped like lead in after-hours trading. According to the analysis reports, it seemed like 'investors' expected more and were disappointed.

So here's what I want to know: Who are these investors? And what are they smoking?

The Mystery Art

A mystery artist has appeared in our area. Or at least that's what the local weekly papers and TV stations are claiming. By now, though, I guess it isn't so much a mystery as a treasure hunt. It seems that this local resident found an artistic opportunity in the wake of the terrific wind storm we had here some years ago that blew down so many trees and left cut logs exposed to the roadways. Our artist has been busy making decorative 'ends' for the cut logs and nailing them on, hoping they will be noticed and appreciated by passersby. Somehow they keep popping out at us as we mosey along our little neighborhood country roads and now we can't seem to help finding them. We've taken pictures of nearly a dozen of them, although whizzing by with cars behind us while we snapped the shutter - or trying to take a quick picture in the relatively dark woods - has left us with mostly blurry, unpublishable pictures. Alas. But we are nothing if not determined. So we managed some of them - we are told there are 12 to look for, and likely more coming - and thought we'd share...