GHOULISH FESTIVITIES

Ashland is the epitome of hometown USA. From the tree lined streets, the bloom filled gardens and the unending flow of people walking or riding bikes through out town, it truly is a slice of mom’s apple pie--à la mode of course.

Individuality is fully embraced, respected and expressed to its fullest over and over again, much to my delight

One of the many cool things about Ashland is the resident’s love of Halloween. They seem to pull out all the stops. When you walk or drive through town you will observe that most, if not all, Craftsman, Bungalow and Victorian homes are completely wrapped in Webs, giant spiders and ghouls and things that--well, I don’t know quite what they are.

At 3 p.m. on Sunday a parade will be held with young and old walking Main Street in full regalia. It is for this reason that the post for today is a tad late. I wanted to share pictures with all of you. So I hope I am forgiven.

A cycle of rain began two days ago, a welcome change to the constant sunshine. I do enjoy watching the black clouds roll in in all their power, and seeing everything take on richer tones. As an extra bonus, there is snow on the surrounding mountains. Now I get to enjoy the beauty of the snow, but not have to endure the headaches of dealing with it up close and personal. I can go visit it, play in it and then leave it. Hurray!

I thought everyone would be happy to know that I will be shifting to a new spot in town. It’s temporary, but I can stay for 5 months. The spot is a beautiful Victorian house that was converted to a guest house called Delaunay House. You can see pictures at www.delaunayhouse.com. I will be staying in the Pilgrim. It is very lovely and has everything I could possibly need. It will be great to give the car a rest and walk to where ever I need to go, one of the many benefits of being so close to everything. People actually talk to each other here, so it is a nice way to get to know others as you are on walkabout.

This move came none too soon. As you know, I have been residing in a rented room outside of town on a beautiful small farm. In all honesty its views are spectacular and just being able to enjoy watching the horses, wildlife and hummingbirds has made the inconvenience of being so far out and having no privacy seem insignificant.

There is a family of deer, a few doe and their fawns, that have been hanging around and on occasion I have had the pleasure of just sitting and watching them. Yesterday afternoon, not 20 feet from my parked vehicle, I noticed one of the fawns dead by the side of the road that leads to the back of the property. I was heart broken.
Later that afternoon a big ruckus ensued when a large truck came down our street with a large Blood Hound in the back sounding off. The neighborhood dogs began barking and the horses in our pasture stopped in mid-chew, lifting their heads to see what was happening. This noisy vehicle pulled in our driveway, stopped and out stepped a Mountain Man and he was a mountain of a man. He met with my landlady and they both walked over to the fawn’s body, where a deep conversation accompanied by hushed tones and serious expressions began. It didn’t look good. . After finishing their conversation, the Mountain Man removed the fawn’s body. I asked my landlady if they determined what killed the fawn. She said that it was a cougar or bobcat. OMG!!!!

None too soon, is what I say.