Local Color

   Lace?  Sculpture?  What is it?  Even if you were from Walla Walla, you might not know where this piece of work is located.  You would have had to see it earlier in the day from the opposite direction heading up hill into the Blues.  It looked like this:

     Standing among the wheat fields the sign was a warning of road closures when the snow blows.  The road behind the sign was rutted, gravelly and curvy.  Seems like every young buck with a gun took a pot shot at the sign.  Rite of passage here in the west.  Gathering a bit of courage and mentally checking tires I headed up the road.  The backward views were stunning.

North towards the Palouse

Line of Trees Along Russell Creek Road

Tree LIne

     On clear days, one can spot Mt. Adams more than halfway across the state.  To the north the undulating hills of the Palouse cast shades as the sun sets.  This drive is only ten minutes from town.  I passed a few cars parked to watch the view and a young couple stopped to eat their burgers from Iceberg sitting in the back of their old truck.  Dust in the air made for a colorful sunset.  Forest fires make an even better one, but I don't wish for those.

 

    This calf mooed anxiously at the car, as I approached.  He had had the road to himself and wasn't sure about getting out of my way.  So I turned around and slipped back down the hill with the wheat edging the road shining in the light of one of the last long days of the year.

    It is good to be back in Walla Walla.  Guns, sunsets, cows and wheat.  Local color.