A Thoughtful Gesture

It was nice of some thoughtful college student to wrap this warm scarf around Billy Budd's neck, but it seems maybe a coat would be more helpful. This picture was taken when the temperature was around 20 degrees (F), outside the Peterson Memorial Library on the Walla Walla U. campus. You've seen Billy Budd before: In the summer and in the winter.

Comforter

This is a statue located outside the College Place Presbyterian Church. I don't know the story behind it, but as the man is holding a hammer I would guess it is something about the man being tired and needing comfort from the Creator.

WW Frontier Days #3

"The Great American Duct Tape Contest." That's what this garment fit for a rodeo queen was created for. Quite lovely, if you ask me, and I'd say definitely worth first place, which it did indeed win. Other entries included flip-flops, wallets, and random trinkets. With all the colours you can get duct tape in these days, the competitors had plenty to choose from.

A Small Break

This is a beautiful sculpture in the waiting area of the Family Birth Center at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla. We became familiar with this piece of art while awaiting the arrival of our first child last Wednesday. Little Miss arrived that evening at a healthy 8 lb. 4 oz., and 21.6 inches long. Due to this new distraction, my posting on this blog may not be regular for a while. Please forgive me - I do plan to continue posting as much as possible and hopefully get back to daily postings soon. For now...I'll be busy learning how to be a mom!

A Friend in the Field

Today's is another photo from Whitman College. This isn't the best picture because I had to snap it fast. I was walking along the sidewalk when I noticed this man running his hand along the face and neck of this wooden horse. It looked so cute - almost as if he were soothing it or talking to it after a long day of work. Whitman College has quite a bit of interesting art on its campus...some of it I don't particularly care for, but this horse I think is beautiful. It looks to be made of driftwood and stands on their quad - the biggest open expanse of grass on the campus.

Marcus Whitman

If you've been following my blog at all, you've probably noticed quite a few mentions of the name Whitman. It's a very popular name in this valley, due to the history of the Whitmans: Marcus and Narcissa. A summary of their story can be read by visiting this posting. This friendly statue of Marcus Whitman stands at the very eastern end of Main Street in Walla Walla, and really struck me for the simple reason that he is smiling. Not many statues of people show them smiling and happy. I liked that this one did.

Modern Art

In a college town, you'll find all sorts of dwelling places. Aside from dormitories (which we're not allowed to call that anymore - they're residence halls), there are spacious two-bedroom apartments, studio apartments, run-down rental houses, well-kept rental homes, and the big expensive houses on the hill where the faculty live. This is an example of a college student apartment: older building, a couple of new things, a couple of old things, and random stuff on the walls. This apartment is inhabited by some friends of ours who are expecting their first child (a baby girl) in November. She works part time and he's a full-time student finishing his last year at Walla Walla U. Her sister is an artist and gave them some paintings for their adorable little upstairs apartment. It's a small place, but I love the ambiance. It's relaxing and very "hip."

Balancing Act

I'm not really sure what the name of this sculpture is, but it certainly is eye-catching. It's one of the many pieces of art on the Whitman College campus. My husband and I ate a picnic lunch on their campus one day last week and walked past this as we were leaving. Anyone care to venture a guess as to what it means?

Whitman College is a prestigious private college in Walla Walla. Its student body is probably somewhere around 1200 and it is well-known for being a place of excellent education...and high tuition. Last I checked a year's tuition was around $32,000, though it may have gone up since then, since I think that was at least a year ago. The high cost of attending WC is well-made-up-for, however...the campus is well-maintained, and those of us outsiders in town joke about how the school's administrators and board members sit around contemplating the challenge of what to build next. "We have so much money...what should we spend it on?"

I'm told that Whitman's endowment is so high that they could have absolutely ZERO students on campus for three whole years and still pay every single one of their staff and faculty members and operate as per the norm. Amazing, isn't it?

I hope to have more WC campus shots soon.

Elvis 2

The second portrait of Elvis on the cement wall along Highway 11. This area is largely unused. It's just gravel and dirt, and it's roughly the size of a large living room, so it can't be used for much. Plus, it's on a busy corner along the highway. The only use I've seen of this area is for parking cars that are for sale. Currently a green minivan that used to be used for some sort of party services is sitting there, the owners hoping for a miracle that some poor college student will want it. If you'd like to see the first portrait of Elvis, and read more about this art, see yesterday's post.

Elvis 1

I don't know who painted these, but there are two beautiful portraits of "The King" on a random cement wall just outside of College Place. Any time you drive from Milton-Freewater into WW/CP, you see these two paintings, and I've wanted to stop and get photos of them for months. Finally, I did. Up close they are even more phenomenal than just glancing at them from the highway. I'm not even sure why the artist chose this spot. Perhaps they live in the house at the top of the wall? Perhaps they got tired of seeing the ugly plain cement wall every time they drove between the towns? I don't know, but I wish I could tell the artist that they did an amazing job. Tomorrow I'll show you the second one, which is located just to the right of this one.

Golds and Greens

After many years of lacking in this particular area, Walla Walla finally got an Italian restaurant. The Italian Bistro opened on Isaacs Street just a few months ago, and I hope it sticks around for years to come. They took over a closing country-style restaurant called the Homestead and redecorated (thank goodness!). The now-schnazzy dining area features brand new booths, ambiant music, and clearly Italian-themed artwork. Case in point: the above photo. It hangs in the entryway of the new restaurant. And though I'm not a wine-drinker nor am I an artist, I did pause to appreciate the blended golds and greens in this nicely-done painting.

Wall Art 2

Here is the second part of yesterday's post. For more information on what and where this is, see yesterday's post. Enjoy your Sunday!

Wall Art

Another geocaching photo. I have a lot of these, since I entertain myself by stocking up on daily photo blog shots while husband searches through brush, water, mud, grass, trees, and sometimes questionable items to find whatever cache may or may not be there. Really, I make it sound worse than it is, but the most enjoyable part to me is finding new things and documenting them with my camera. And, of course, sharing them with you afterward. This shot has two parts; tomorrow you will see the other part. This wall borders a parking lot in a small park next to the Walla Walla River. Apparently we have a lot of talented wall-painters in this valley...or else just one who really likes doing it. This particular section of the river flows through the southeast part of Milton-Freewater. I believe what used to be at this location is an old water plant, but I'm not certain about that. The building has been converted into a covered picnic area, but in all honesty, it's not a place I'd want to spend time exploring after dark. We found plenty of broken beer bottles, among other things. Including the geocache, which was along a riverside path behind the old plant/picnic area. Monday I'll show a photo of the old building.

Vandalised Onion

As far as I know, there is only one more onion to show you in this series. I hope to get a picture of it soon. And if I've missed one, someone should let me know so I can get a photo of it and post it here for the rest of the world to enjoy. This onion is one of the few I've seen vandalised. The beautiful rust-orange pieces of glass can be seen picked off and on the ground at the base of the onion. It made me sad to see that; this is one of my favourite onions. And some artist spent HOURS cementing each small square to this orb, and someone disrespected that effort and talent enough to ruin it in a few short moments. Sad, really.

More Sweet Art

Well, I finally got some more photos of the onions I haven't posted yet. For those of you who don't know, I started a series a while back of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Art that began gracing our downtown Main Street last year. Each one was decorated by a different artist, and each one has a unique style. I like them all! This one made me chuckle...not because of that photo above, but for what I found on the other side. A close-up is posted below. At least it's keeping our streets a tad cleaner, right?

Underworld Art

When you leave Milton-Freewater and head southeast, you cross this river, which I believe is the Walla Walla River. This overpass and road takes you to Southfork, of which I did a series of photos around Thanksgiving. This overpass, however, is just as you're starting to leave the "city" of Milton-Freewater (I put that in quotation marks because MF has approximately 6,000 residents) and head into the countryside. The unexpected colours from beneath the road caught my eye and I turned into a nearby driveway to investigate. This is what I found beneath the overpass. I don't know who did it or why or even when, but it's beautiful. I just love the vivid colours!