This is spoil Roxie rotten day

We grabbed the cameras and headed out for the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farms today. It was chilly (53F, 12C) and breezy with occasional spits of rain. Just perfect conditions to keep the casual gawkers away. The farm has dealt with tulip season before. They had strong young men directing traffic, and lads collecting parking fees, and grannies handing out catalogs with ordersheets enclosed, and grandpas driving tractors pulling carriages shaped like cows or wooden shoes,

and everyone in the neighborhood who wanted to earn a few bucks out in the raw, windy cold, bundled up and running cash registers.

The very first to greet us as we stepped out of the car was this robin who flew in and posed on the fence post. I threw myself down in the gravel, and DH kept other drivers from crushing me while I got the robin's photo. Then I stood and said, "Got it! Thanks for the pose." And he chirped a cheerful, "You're welcome." and flew off.

There were acres of tulips.

Acres and acres of all possible colors.


And acres more.

There were a lot of tulips. The eye was dazzled by all the color at a distance, then you walked up close and saw each variety in it's special beauty and got lost in the particular wonder.

Then you glance up an instance, and the eye is led far afield again.

And then back to a different particular.

And off . . .

At the far end of the fields was a collection of old steam tractors. Imagine running one of these on a hot August day? Oh, but the noise and the clatter and the movements of all the wheels and gears and parts just drew the males like fuschias draw hummingbirds.

There were several Indian families out in the fields too, the ladies braving the wind in their saris and other pretty clothes. The rosey-cheeked kids with their huge dark eyes and silky black hair looked gorgeous amidst the blossoms!

DH, bless his generous heart, asked if there were any tulips I especially liked, because he was going to buy the Random Mix bag and I should add my favorites to the order. So we bought 25 Random surprises, 10 Beauty of Appledoorn (golden with orange veins,) and 10 Fandcy Frills (Pink with withe fringed edges) and since we placed our orders right there, we also got a free bouquet of tulips to take home. Pictures of them later. This is a very photo-heavy post!

We made our way back to the car and out to the freeway through the lush Oregon April scenery. There are lambs jumping around in fields, and pink dogwoods and white dogwoods and cherry and apple and pear trees in full bloom and maples and chestnut trees leafing out in chartreuse newness, and the grass is juicy and thick and green, green, greengreengreengreen GREEN!

And since we were right there at the outlet mall (Which is, to my shame, the biggest tourist attraction in Oregon, such a well-developed and extensive mall that it is) we stopped there as well. At the Columbia clothing outlet, if you signed up for their club, for free, you could get a pair of zip-leg, elastic waist, extra-long cargo pants for $19 instead of $59. Yeah, I did it. I Like the versatility. And they also threw in a free t-shirt as well, so I got one in mature burgundy with a small silhouette of a travel trailor and the caption, "Travel Queen."

We stopped in the Nike store. I am such an old fuddyduddy. I looked at the long, baggy satiny athletic shorts, and I looked at my darling husband and I tried to envision him wearing them - in all American red, white and blue no less, and I severely sprained my imagination. I just don't have those pigments in my mental palette. Please don't ask me to paint that picture.

And now I am happily home,sorting through my 60 some photos, and there is one more I want to share with you. Here is yet another cocksock, with Andrew Jackson for perspective. A $20 bill is six inches long. (well, any denomination is. I learned this useful fact back during my wild college days - one night when we were measuring things.)