Flower Friday : : Ashland

Being convinced that Ozzie's panting was caused by being overheated, and despite the fact that we and I were freezing most of the day with the AC in the car running full blast,  OilMan cranked up the air conditioning to Arctic in our hotel room last night. That may have something to do with why we were up early and headed for Noble Coffee in time for them to open at 7am.

I couldn't help but enjoy the juxtaposition of the luxuriant, overflowing flower baskets, which are found all up and down the Main Street of  Ashland, hanging above the garbage bins behind a building facing the Main Street. The garbage truck is parked next to the bins.

Ashland is an appealing small town  which has a lot of tourists because of the repertory theatre and a lot of students because of the university in its midst. It is full of well kept, tidy bungalows dogs and friendly people. The house in the extras was close to Nobel Coffee where we sat outside in the sun and drank our excellent coffee.  Ozzie was definitely limping this morning so now all we have to do is figure out  why....

We put Ozzie in the back seat and he finally laid down after about two hours. It was an easy drive to Corvallis despite huge convoys of trucks. After a scrum of dogs upon arrival at Anne and Harold's house and an escape attempt by Simon, their latest rescue dog,, OilMan and Harold face chase and brought the miscreant back and we humans were finally able to greet each other properly.

We have been sitting around all afternoon admiring Anne's beautiful garden, watching the Tour,  and getting caught up. It is always nice to be with people who are practically members of the family. We have all been present for each others'  marriages   and births, and even a number of vacations when the children were young, so we know exactly how to move into the groove together....

Tonight we dine outside again. This time on Anne and Harold's deck.