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The Chateaulin French Restaurant isn’t much to look at from the outside in winter or early spring, but it can be nice to look at once the ivy covering its exterior turns green. And the place can be really spectacular when the ivy changes color in fall. Next door is Martino’s and Macaroni’s, previously mentioned here.
We had a really nice sunrise earlier this week. This one was colorless before taking my shower (photo coming someday). When I got out of the shower and looked out the window 20 minutes later it seemed someone had painted it orange. I should have known by the color that the San Francisco Giants would win the World Series later in the day.
There were several celebrity guests at this year’s Ashland Halloween Parade. Although, Christine O’Donnell lost the election held two days later, she seems to have had time to visit us here in Oregon on Halloween.
That’s her on the left. How do I know? She turned around to reveal this:
As mentioned a few days ago, last night I made good on my decision to see Zepparella at the Historic Ashland Armory. This place is much better than other venues in Southern Oregon. Compared to the Medford Armory, Main 1 Arts Center, and Rogue Theatre in Grants Pass (which is the worst) the Ashland Armory is in superior condition, has a better stage, better lighting, sound, etc. The size is also perfect. The Main 1 Arts Center is too small and the stage is too low. The Medford Armory is too big and hollow. All bands should come through the Ashland Armory instead of those other places.
Anyway, Zepparella were great. I had the best seat in the house, front row next to Zepparella’s lovely and talented guitarist, Gretchen Menn. The front row is great for the view, but the sound isn’t so excellent. I could hear her guitar and the drums well, but the bass and vocals were coming out of speakers to my sides or above me so my position didn’t allow for a good mix.
I went to see “Throne of Blood” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this afternoon. I’m not much of a play goer. Even with four or five to choose from every evening in this town, this was my first in a couple years. However, “Throne of Blood” was very good and I left without the usual regrets.
I have no interest in acting, but somehow I really wanted to play the part pictured here, the forest spirit.
I believe this is the first time this play has been run. I don’t think it will be the last so catch it if you can. In fact, they same production is going to take place in Brooklyn, New York beginning in November. If you happen to be in Ashland for Halloween, the final performance will be Halloween night and tickets are still available. Throne of Blood is a fitting play for Halloween.
It has been years since I’ve seen a train use these tracks in town. Yet somehow it felt a bit unsafe to squat down on them for this photo.
The green shows are gone until things warm up next year, but here are a couple more songs from Mitsuki Dazai.
The first is a curious version of “Sakura, Sakura.” First she sang the song without the koto. Unfortunately, my camera wasn’t running when she sang as she sounded great. Then she played the song you see below. This video has not been clipped and I didn’t miss any of the song. She performed the song, which usually clocks in at over 5 minutes, in just 40 seconds. I’m not sure why she didn’t do a fuller version.
This next song was really cool. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it was more than 9 minutes in length. My SD card filled up after about 4 minutes. For the full version you’ll need to buy her CD. It’s really good.
The sun was just going down when I took today’s pic. The only reason it looks so light is I left the shutter open for a full second. Unfortunately it was cloudy, so there was no sunset to view, and this would have been the perfect time and angle to see it as this is the normal sunset direction.
Today’s photo is looking down East Main Street towards downtown Ashland. Pasta Piatti, on the left, is a good restaurant. The Ashland Springs Hotel can be seen in the not-too-far distance on the right.
Today’s photo is from halftime at yesterday’s AMS football game.
The vineyard in yesterday’s photo is in today’s photo on the mountainside on the left side of this picture.
While it is quite common to see the Buddha resting on a lotus flower, he doesn’t seem to mind the shade of a vineyard either.
In the distance you can see the Ashland Springs Hotel (and my house–I can’t really see it as it isn’t nearly as prominent as the hotel, but it is in this picture).