RISING WATERS IN MEDFORD
I don’t have a before photo but to get an idea the river side of the bridge support usually has homeless people camping under it…to keep from getting wet!
CHRISTMAS IN MEDFORD 2
The view of “old town” as it is getting dark…
There is a lovely little “gourmet” market that opened up. I have gourmet in quotes because they don’t quite hack it in the gourmet department but in Medford it could pass for gourmet. They do have a nice selection of gourmet pastas and sauces imported from Italy. Pricey! They also make their own desserts and have a small lunch menu.
I bought some over priced pasta (guilted by how helpful the man running it was. He even sold me a cup of cold soup after hours to heat up at home! It was spinach and chickpea. I was quite surprised when I got home to find out it wasn’t a blended soup with some sort of curry. It was clear broth with chickpeas and whole baby spinach floating around. Excellent. If I had made it the baby spinach would have been overcooked due to neglect! Looking at the menu as I ate, I would go back during lunch, order a main item and get the cup of soup for free instead!
They did a great job with the decor I hope they survive. My guess is that their lunch menu is the main draw. They don’t quite have the experience or knowledge to run a spectacular store and their prices are too high for mediocre groceries. For the square feet of space they have allotted which isn’t very much (someone likes clean design) they should be buying the best of the best! Five years of living in Medford I am still not familiar with Medford’s elite…but in the age of cooking and travel programs galore knowledge of superb food is no secret.
They may just lack the money for inventory and if that is the case they do a good job merchandising the store to look like it is intended to be a sleek high-end gourmet market.
Excellent job with the decor!
More of the downtown lights….
This is the town center and I am sure it is put up by the City of Medford. What I picture is that one day someone got the bright idea to decorate the downtown. Christmas lights attract visitors. But they delegated the buying to some secretary who had a catalog in front of her…..I’ll get some Santas…and some elves…and…. The rest of the decor the white lights in the trees that line the streets is nice and sleek. They put up the giant Christmas tree which is beautiful….
The the poor statue of the chess player has to stare at all of these juvenile prefab Christmas shapes.
The Ginger Rogers Craterian Theater is on the other side of the park…..the rest of the park should have stayed with the “starring” theme.
Lights run across buildings…
well this is not a Christmas photo but a plant under a light in front of a Mexican restaurant!
These are lighted grape clusters in the window of a thrift store…
and one of the furniture stores always has their windows decorated….
Coming soon….Christmas in Central Point!
CHRISTMAS IN MEDFORD
Medford is all decorated and I finally walked around downtown to capture the holiday season. I love that there are still people who paint store windows….
Here is a jewelry store..
Tattoo shop
And this beautiful little wreath introduces a dried flower shop.
The town Christmas tree!
Lovely display of giant pine cones.
I love these little lights on the bare branches..
The bell tower…
Irish Pub good place to recover during the holidays….shopping…visiting relatives…
The old train depot is now a restaurant. Lovely decorations.
This beauty is right in front of my apartment building.
EVENING RUN IN MEDFORD
I love branch silhouettes against the evening sky…
I guess this is supposed to be Santa peeing….
What Jesus wishes Christmas was really about…
a couple of decorated houses not far from my house…
SNOW ALONG THE GREENWAY
These are from last week when Medford had a dusting of snow. Medford doesn’t get much snow it lies in the Rogue Valley which is surrounded by mountains and they get snow so you don’t have to drive far during the winter.
I went out for a run and this is right outside of my apartment.
Of course along Bear Creek Greenway where I do most of my running.
Dead horsetail.
COMICE PEARS
Another good thing about Medford are the Comice pears. There are only a few places the Comice pears can grow and Medford is one of them. Being as West as you can get they don’t call them pear farms but pear ranches! And them is some mighty fine pears to be herdin’!
Medford is the home of Harry and David the company who makes a living selling pears for outrageous prices. These are damn good pears and when I lived on the East Coast I thought it perfectly reasonable to spend $30 for five pounds of pears. Since moving to Medford I get the pears for 29 cents a lb…..thats a savings of a whopping 28.55 !
Now these pears are “seconds” but I’m not one of those picky people that cares if my fruit has a ding on it. Harry & David only pick out the biggest “perfect” pears for their gift boxes. You can’t find the Comice pears in Safeway or Albertsons as they do not buy anything local. But my favorite grocery store FOOD 4 LESS or better known as SHERM’S buys many things local. In addition to having one of the biggest selections of organic and natural foods!
It is a rare time that Sherm’s parking lot isn’t filled… and he has a mighty big parking lot!
BLOOMS IN NOVEMBER
Things I love about Medford…The bushes that are bursting with blooms in November! These were taken outside Medford Center a local mall on a bleak and dreary day. People were rushing past on their way to catch a movie but as I started taking photos people started noticing how beautiful and how many there were. I should have taken an a more distant shot there were two bushes side by side this one was full of blooms and the one next to it was full of buds.
The rain is a blessing in an area hit by drought but its easy to forget when it seems dreary day after day. It is during fall and winter that I have to make an effort to see the beauty. After blue skies and a green landscape it is not easy to transition to the grays and browns of fall and winter once the trees have dropped their colored leaves.
Soon I will be photographing the mistletoe that becomes prominent in winter branches and after Thanksgiving people will be putting up Christmas lights. I think the lights are a substitute for blue sky during the darkened early evenings.
FALL IN MEDFORD
Still some flowers blooming!
Main St. passing under I-5…
Bear Creek running along I-5…
Old Town Medford
painted murals on a building for lease…
The chess player has been gifted with a rose…
church doors…
OSCAR MEYER WIENER MOBILE
The wiener mobile was in town! Mind you I would never eat one of those…but for nostalgia…it made me get a big old grin and start singing the theme song!
ALONG BEAR CREEK IN THE RAIN
With much needed recent rains Bear Creek has been running a bit more rapidly than usual..
these beautiful leaves were relaxing in a puddle
HALLOWEEN AROUND MEDFORD
I should have posted these this morning but as usual I’m way behind!
The window of the local art store…
other downtown windows…
These were in the window of the art gallery
BLOOMING MAGNOLIA
I confess I know nothing about trees but I don’t think I have ever seen a Magnolia tree bloom at this time of year…but maybe its the type!
ARTIK CREAMERY
Last time I was at the farmer’s market in Medford there was an icecream vendor….God I love icecream…snob about it though…this was right up my alley…a bit pricey though at 7 dollars a pint!
NEW NIKE EQUALON 4s!!!
I actually needed new running shoes before I went to Montana but couldn’t really afford them at the time so I switched to walking. Finally I have started to recover from my three week unpaid vacation and my new Nike Equalon 4′s have arrived!!! (along with a new running jacket for winter)
Here is a side by side comparison…the Equalon’s on the left have about 165 miles on them….on the right 0 miles! Lots of tread and nice and clean too!!!
I’m so excited….to start running again…and its good the weather is cooling off!
MEDFORD part 4
When my sister last came to visit we met up with my brother and his girlfriend at this great pizza place
a Medford side street..
baskets of flowers line the little park by Craterian Theater
this poor man isn’t playing with all of his pieces….stolen I assume….
Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater…
A side view of the Rogue Community College….
And a bit of art work behind the Rogue Art Gallery…You would think there would be more but the rest is inside.
I have no idea what the hell is going on with Bear Creek but this week it has looked more disgusting than usual…smells bad and there are little bubble things floating…and to further my dismay…
there was a man fishing in it while I was running…..ughhh…I’m hoping it was catch and release and he wasn’t planning on eating it.
Just in case people need reminders…this is what clean water looks like!!
Recent Comments