Another Sunday wine tasting in Willamette Valley. Today was Dragon Vineyard and Wine Company, a beautiful, artisan winery a mile or so out of Monroe, Oregon. I sampled a flight and enjoyed each. I must say though, the dragon motif rated higher on my scorecard than the wine! Check out the bar… Amazing!

Another Sunday wine tasting in Willamette Valley. Today was Dragon Vineyard and Wine Company, a beautiful, artisan winery a mile or so out of Monroe, Oregon. I sampled a flight and enjoyed each. I must say though, the dragon motif rated higher on my scorecard than the wine! Check out the bar… Amazing!

Eugene Textile Center offered a wet felting class that I participated in today… So much fun! Three students, myself included, and our facilitators made for a lovely morning at ETC. I learned quite a few new techniques for felting wool. It is such a meditative craft. The morning flew by!

Artesian Wine Tastings on Sunday afternoons in the Monroe, Oregon area are a wonderful way to indulge one’s self. A beautiful drive up Alsea Falls Road, Bluebird Hill Cellars wine tasting is really a treat. Sitting outside on the patio, the view of the vineyard, the hills and mountains,’s and the lush green landscape add a luscious note to the wine. Conversation with others at the table was really nice. It is fun meeting people and hearing their stories. I enjoyed browsing the hand made Saucy Jewelry and visiting with the silversmith. Very tempted to purchase! Maybe next time.

I’m currently helping my daughter recover from surgery. She lives in Monroe, Oregon, which has a population of 680 +1– me! This little town has a big sized art association…a new building and a lovely group of people that have come together to build their art community. The new complex was constructed over the winter.

I took a needle felting class on Sunday at the MAA and it was so enjoyable. Anne Marie from sevensmallstones on I nstagram facilitated the class. What a fabulous teacher! A professional felter, Waldorf educator with a fine arts degree from Boston, Anne Marie shared her knowledge and energized our group to help guide us in making some lovely felted pieces. All the photos below are of her pieces except for my beet turned radish piece😂. Ann Marie was generous with supplies, I brought back enough wool to create a felted carrot, and hopefully some other vegetable. It must be spring, gardens and Oregon that is inspiring this vegetable kick.
Oregon spring is magical!

"You can say anything you want, yes sir, but it’s the words that sing, they soar and they descend ….. I bow to them . . . I cling to them, I run them down, I bite into them . . I love words so much … The ones I wait for greedily … they glitter like colored stones, they leap like silver fish… They are foam, thread, metal, dew … I stalk certain words… They are so beautiful that I want to fit them all into my poem… I catch them in mid-flight, as they buzz past, I trap them, clean them, peel them, I set myself in front of the dish, they have a crystalline texture to me, vibrant, ivory, vegetable, oily, like fruit, like algae, like agates, like olives… And I stir them, I shake them, I drink them, I gulp them down, I mash them, I garnish them …. I leave them in my poem like stalactites, like slivers of polished wood, like coals, like pickings from a shipwreck, gifts from the waves … Everything exists in the word."

- Pablo Neruda