It’s been a topsy-turvy year for me and I’ve not been able to write as much as I would have liked.  I’ve also realised that it’s sometimes nice to write about something that is outside of yourself, so that is what I am going to do now.

I visited Bend, Oregon, in October and November of this year.  It is amazing landscape – expansive, at times mystical and bleak, and at other times epically uplifting – especially where there are llamas concerned!

The area is known for its mountains and sleeping volcanoes.  To visit an area that has been an area of active volcanoes is to feel that you are at the end of the world; it is the land that time forgot or rather a land that has been left as it was when the eruption happened:

I was really taken into the emotional heart of Bend when I visited the High Desert Museum, which features wonderful insights into the wildlife, geology and people of the area.  I was particularly moved by ‘Snowshoe’, the rescued Lynx.  He was found wondering starving and close to death in California.  He had been taken in by people wanting to use him as a pet, and to make him harmless they had de-clawed and de-toothed him.  They got tired of him and realised he wasn’t what they were looking for so released him back into the wild (with no teeth or claws to survive).  I don’t know whether to call this ignorance, evil or stupidity, or a combination of all three.  It is certainly glaringly obvious that wild animals are wild animals, not for domestic use.  The museum now keep him in his own natural sanctuary – since he is now unable to look after himself in the wild; keeping him safe and fed in an enclosure is the kindest act humans can now do.  Visitors to the museum are generally disgusted and sad at how he was treated in order to fulfill someone’s need of a pet – he is now an exhibit but only because humans left him that way.  He is now at least admired and respected.

Snowshoe

I have seen many sunsets in America – they can be beautiful anywhere in the world.  Here is one above the city of Bend:

Finally – for this area of central Oregon, I adored Smith Rocks Park.  It’s one of those places you could stare at forever and you wish that you didn’t have to face the world outside it:

All my memories of Oregon will stay with me; I’ve seen a great deal of it in recent years – here are some other photos from other areas of it:

Florence, near the coast of OR

Again, the mist here made me want to throw myself into it and not come back out into the world.

Oceanside, another amazing place on the coast of OR

Oceanside in the day

Columbia River Gorge, OR

Painted Hills in Eastern Oregon

Downtown Portland, OR

The city of Portland is vibrant, bohemian, exciting, historical and beautiful.  And, it has the added bonus of nestling within the awesome Mount Hood.

Happy Christmas to all and thank you for reading.