Last night a neighbor southwest of me had a party with great live music – marimbas and a singer. The singer was enjoying bouncing his voice off the echoing hills. As the evening went on, more and more neighbors discovered the great music. I could hear hoots coming from different directions, and I added a few hoots of my own.

When the music ended, the hills rang with many hoots. I found it thrilling to be interacting with my neighbors this way. Not knowing who had the party and who was responding to it from a distance only made it better. It must have been interesting for the musicians to have an invisible audience.

Looking toward the music:

The view from my deck, looking southwest.

We’ll dance two numbers. “Hair”, a 60’s style hippy musical, has lyrics that make me laugh:

She asks me why
I’m just a hairy guy
I’m hairy noon and night
Hair that’s a fright
I’m hairy high and low
Don’t ask me why
Don’t know
It’s not for lack of bread
Like the Grateful Dead

…and we’ll dance a retro hip hop number. We will be the last group, closing the show.

The annual dance performance and benefit showcases the variety of talented dancers, choreographers and movement specialists in our area. It also provides a financial boost to one of the many nonprofit groups working in our community.

This year’s beneficiary is our local animal shelter, Greenhill Humane Society.

Here’s the details:
The 16th Annual Dance for a Reason
January 23rd, 2010, 7:30 pm
Hult Center Silva Concert Hall

Reserved Seating | All seats $15.00
Hult Center Box Office
online at The Hult Center
or call 541.682.5000

The 2010 performers are:
EDGE Swannies
Oregon Ballet Academy
Island Arts
ZAPP
Jawani Bhangra
Ifilldance
Eugene Youth Ballet
Kings Krew
Robin Bryant Dancers
RAWK – Breakdance
Urban Pulse
Pacific Classical Youth Ballet
Lane Dance Company
Won Tan Nara
Drum & Dance Ensemble
Dac Nooners
Eugene Casineros
Darin Henry
Picuris Pueblo Tribe
The EDGE

In the past 16 years, Dance for a Reason has contributed
over $44,000 to non-profit groups in our community.

Past beneficiaries:
St. Vincent de Paul (funds dedicated to the homeless)
Womenspace
Centro Latino Americano
World Wheelchair Sports
Youth Literacy Program for Head Start
Community Soup Kitchens
Courageous Kids
White Bird Clinic
LILA (Lane Independent Living Alliance)
The EDGE Scholarship Program
Young Writers Association
Lane Arts Council
VALID (Violence & Abuse in the Lives of Individuals living with Disabilities)
Committed Partners for Youth
Doulas Supporting Teens
Huerto de la Familia (The Family Garden)
and, to keep it all going,
Dance for a Reason itself was the 2009 Beneficiary.

The Hayden Bridge neighborhood is north of the I-105 freeway and east of I-5, bordering Eugene. Bordering it to the north is the Gateway Mall, the new Riverbend Hospital (a new building that opened in 2008) and several large employers, including Symantec, Royal Carribbean Cruise Line call center and the hospital.

Riverbend Hospital

Gateway Mall

Here’s some photos I took of Page Park, next to Page Elementary.

Behind the park is a paved, off road bike and walking path.

I just listed a home three blocks from this park and bike path, at 1080 S Street. It’s about 10 minutes from the hospital.

From the park, heading north on 14th Street is a short but lovely country drive to the McKenzie River and Harvest Landing birding site and the Rodakowski Boat Landing.

Nearby is Willamalane Park and indoor community pool. No one was about, since it was raining, but I took these pictures of the skateboard park and playground. In the background is the indoor pool.

As I was heading to my car I couldn’t resist taking a picture of these pretty leaves on the sidewalk.

Sunday I walked the 1 1/2 mile section of the West Bank Bike Path by the Willamette River from the Owosso Bike Bridge off Copping Street in River Road to the Greenway Bike Bridge in Maurie Jacobs Park. Here’s a link to the
bike path map.
It was a warm beautiful day and lots of people were out enjoying the bike path and playing
in the Willamette River. The annual Whiteaker Block Party was going on also.

[Shameless Plug] I just listed five duplexes on Copping (bordering the river) and East Howard and wanted to explore the area.

This section of the path is very beautiful and shady with lovely views of the river. Close to the Copping Street end of the path is a large duck pond where people enjoy feeding the ducks.

”

I ran across some people playing with their dog in the river.

The Greenway Bike Bridge, seen in the distance, leads to Valley River Center mall. On full moon nights people come out to dance Argentine Tango on the bridge.

I passed by some girls enjoying a swing on the river.

Here’s some boys tubing down the river.

Another beautiful view from the path. Spencer Butte is in the background.

There are wildflowers to enjoy too.

An island hideaway.

This section of the bike path takes you to the Greenway Bike Bridge at Maurie Jacobs Park.

There are community gardens all over Eugene. This one is in Maurie Jacobs Park across from the Greenway Bike Bridge.

This is the end of North Grand Street, entering the park.

Saturday:
Milonga Entre Suenos at Studio B

2nd, 3rd, 4th (and sometimes 5th) Saturdays
189 W. 8th Ave (above Brenner’s Furniture)
Cost: Sliding scale $6-10; $5 student

Sunday:
Practica at Studio B noon-4pm

189 W. 8th Ave (above Brenner’s Furniture)
Beginner-Intermediate lesson noon-1pm
Cost: lesson $8, lesson+practica $10, practica only $5.

Tuesday:
The Bailonga at the Vet’s Club starting July 14

1626 Willamette St
Cost: $4-7 (a sliding scale) and the profits go to the music makers

UO Tango club(not in session over the summer) 6pm-8pm
Lawrence Hall room 166 on the U of O campus

Cost: Free

Thursday:
Practica at Studio B 8pm to 10pm.

189 W. 8th Ave (above Brenner’s Furniture)
Cost: $5

Friday:
Alternative Tango Friday on the first Friday of every month
At Studio B, 189 W. 8th Ave (above Brenner’s Furniture)

Cost: $5

Random times and places:
Tango Bombs
This one was at the Eugene library:

Other local Tango web sites:
http://eugenetango.com/tango/events

The etango yahoo group
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://groups.yahoo.com/group/etango/

The Tango Center’s group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5375423733

On Tuesday at the Tango Center they will be giving a lesson in classical Indian dance and performing for us. I’ll be there for sure! Here’s the schedule:

Tuesday at the Tango Center (Broadway at Charnelton):
7:30 p.m. A lesson in classical Indian dance
8:00 p.m. A lesson in beginning Argentine Tango
9:00 p.m. A demonstration of Indian dance
Followed by: The milonga (social tango dance) starts
With live music: Guitar and Flute duet

My daughter Loreen and I spent the afternoon touring the eight private native plant gardens and one of the four public native plant gardens in Eugene Sunday. It was hosted by the Emerald Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO).

The homes all had impressive gardens made up of mostly, if not entirely, plants native to our area. All the plants were labeled, so I took this opportunity to photograph the plants and their labels.

Here are a few of the plants, with their labels, that I photographed. The last picture is our last stop, inside my daughter’s mother-in-law’s yurt.

Candy Flower

Baneberry

False Solomon’s Seal

Tall Bluebells

Oregon Geranium

Hall’s Lomantium

Sticky Cinquefoil

Straggly Current

Red Flowering Currant

Smith’s Fairybells

Kinnikinnick

Cooley’s Hedge Nettle

Fringecup

Fawn Lily

Tea, Anyone?

Tom put the hive facing south just outside of our woods.

They were pretty sleepy when we transferred them to the hive.

Here’s Tom dumping them into the hive:

We didn’t get stung, but Tom tucked his long beard into his shirt just in case. I took a look at the hive this morning, and there were eight dead bees on the threshold. Not to worry, the bees kick out any dead ones. The loss of only eight is not bad!

When we moved into our home in 1985 there was an ancient oak tree at the edge of our deck, full of honey bees. About five years later the tree fell in a storm. We were able to move the swarm into a hive where they lived happily for several years until the bee mites finally got them. The fallen tree had many, many pounds of honey in it that we enjoyed for a couple of years.

All that’s left of that oak now is the hollow end. After we chain sawed the last piece, it rolled down the hill and landed upright. Here it is with our cat (Ogopogo) sunning herself on it:

It’s April 27 and the new poison oak leaves are just coming out, some red, some orange, some green.

The leaves look a lot like blackberry leaves, but poison oak is shiney and smooth and blackberry leaves are a bit hairy or fuzzy and not smooth or shiney.

Poison oak likes to form ropes and climb trees. We have cut all the ropes climbing our trees on our property, which has greatly reduced the amount of poison oak we have. I took these pictures on our neighbor’s property.

Climbing trees is the primary way it spreads. The climbing poison oak fruits and the birds eat and drop the fruit. On the ground below a tree with poison oak you’ll find lots of poison oak plants on the ground. It’s not always easy to spot the plants on the ground, as you can see in the picture below:

If you hike where there is poison oak, wear clothes that cover you up as much as possible. If you touch it, you have about 10 minutes to wash it off. Use soap and hot water. Also wash the clothes you were wearing in hot water.

Here’s some more pictures:

=======================
Hello All,

My name is Andrew Royal Dugas and I moved here with my fiance Andria Miguez in September. I teach tango and yoga and am the co-founder and organizer for the very successful Houston Tango Festival. I am writing you to share my vision for the possibilities I see for the Tango Center and to make a request.

I have volunteered to lead a group of teachers, organizers and committed tango folks to create something new at the Tango Center. With the help of Tom Kamis, a well respected entrepreneur in downtown, our vision is to create in reality the possibility of a great, well functioning and world renowned tango venue. We have a chance to not only keep the facility, but help make it beautiful, make it comfortable and make its potential a reality. Tom is in negotiation with the owners and, though there are still many variables and nothing is guaranteed, he is on track to become the new lessee, with a new business model that creates more revenue sources such as a stage, a classroom, a kitchen and a bar.

To create this and keep the space open for the month of March, Tom Kamis negotiated with the owners a way to clear the space for this new vision. Before March 15th, if we pay the back-rent, the owners will agree for us to continue to hold events in the space. The amount is $5000 and once paid, will cover everything till April 1st. At this moment we have amounted $1,400 in pledges and money’s from last Saturday’s milonga. We have 11 days to accrue the remaining $3,600 to continue operating through the end of the month and I ask each of you to give what you can at any Tango Center events in the upcoming weeks. As of today, I have become the functional director of the space and the non-profit and I make this commitment to you: Every dime this community gives towards this effort will be accounted for and be taken care of by me personally.

Please join me, your organizers and your community in creating a new Tango Center by pledging and donating at our Saturday, March 7th and 14th milongas or any other Tango Center event.

My email is: royaltango@gmail.com
I want to hear from you! Please contact me with questions, comments, stories, concerns and ideas. Thank you to each and every one of you for you part in creating and sustaining this
vision for so many years.

Sincerely and With Excitement,
Andrew

The Register Guard quoted me near the end of
this article.

The owners of the historic 1929 building, Conner and Woolley, gave us notice to be out by the end of the month!

The non-profit Tango Center opened in 2003 and has attracted thousands of people downtown. Not just for tango, there are dances and classes in other styles as well.

Many hours of volunteer effort and donated money has greatly improved the space. When the Tango Center acquired the space, the walls were painted with black and white stripes. It took a lot of primer and paint to repaint the walls! The next project was to install a huge dance floor..

The old drop acoustic ceiling was removed, exposing the original high ceiling. Because slats could be seen in the damaged plaster ceiling, the fire department required it to be repaired, at great expense.

Tomorrow night the public can speak to the City Council at their meeting:

Meeting begins at City Hall at 7:30.
Doors open at 7:15
Get there (at least) by 7:15 to get a “ticket” to speak to the City Council.
You cannot get a ticket to speak 5 minutes after meeting starts.
You will have a total of 3 minutes to speak.

The contact person is Beth Forrest, 682-5882, beth.l.forrest@ci.eugene.or.us

Here’s a link to a Register Guard article.

Amazon Creek starts in east Eugene at end of East and West Amazon Streets, and empties into Fern Ridge Lake, about four miles from the west end of Eugene.  An off road bike path follows the creek with a portion on the streets going through downtown.

Tom and I took a walk on the West Eugene portion, a walk of about five miles. We started at City View, where I have recently listed a condominium at 1357 City View, bordering the Gudu-kut Natural Area.

This portion of the trail is very open and sunny.  It was a mostly clear January day with a few clouds – beautiful!

The first half of the walk is parallel to 13th and 11th Streets where there are many businesses.  Some are right on the trail, such as Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life

and Euphoria Chocolate Company

I was in need of a pit stop and went into a gas station mini-mart.  The staff was very friendly when I asked if they had a public bathroom, which was sparkling clean.  They even have a paved path from the bike path to the mini-mart.

The Richardson Bridge, crossing Amazon Creek is interesting.
This historic steel diamond truss design bridge was built in 1912. Its original location was near Prineville where it crossed the Crooked River. In 1956 it was relocated between Walton and Mapleton on the Siuslaw River. The bridge was moved here in 1986 to carry bicycle traffic when it could no longer support heavy loads.

West of the Beltline the path runs through the Wildlife Scantuary.  There are numerous viewing areas.  There are some newish subdivisions bordering it that have the advantage of access to the path.

Bird watching is fun!

The path ends (or begins) on Greenhill Road, across the street from Greenhill Animal Shelter.

And for your pit stop pleasure, there are two porta-potties.

Here’s a picture of Tom and me dancing at The Tango Center. Noah Brenner sometimes brings his harp, puts it in the middle of the dance floor and we all dance around him. I love it!

More than 100,000 refund checks have been returned to the IRS as undeliverable and about 280,000 economic stimulus checks have been returned to the IRS. In all, the IRS has about $265 million in returned checks!

Click here to see the letter.

Our daughter Noni:

Our daughter Loreen:

Taking a break for Tigger B

Grandpa Tom and Tigger B

Better yet, we can drop our ballots in ballot drop boxes all over town for free!

Thank you, Jesse Springer, for allowing me to use your cartoon!

One of my favorites is this vine maple:

Ballots with the wrong postage will be returned. Here’s an article from KVAL about that.

Tuesdays
Bailonga (Liz Foster)
The Tango Center
Alternative Music (DJed)
w/ live set, usually starting around 9pm
8-8:30 – guided practica
8:30-11pm – milonga
$4-7, sliding scale

Wednesdays
UPDATE! (11/2008) This milonga is not currently running.
The Buzz Milonga
(Andrew M, Andrew D, and Christopher M.)
At the Buzz coffeehouse
ground floor of the Earl Memorial Union (UO)
DJs choice of traditional, nuevo, and/or
alternative tango music
8-9:30pm (The Buzz closes at 10PM)
Free! and open to the public

Thursdays
Practica (Jim Thurmond)
Studio B
excellent selection of traditional tango music
rotating DJs include Pam, Jim, and Helmut
8-10PM
$5

1st Fridays
Fusion milonga (Maggie Tryk)
Studio B
Alternative and traditional tango music
Special blend by DJ Maggie Tryk
8-9pm tango lesson with guest instructor
9pm-12am open dancing
$5

2nd and 4th Fridays
Traditional milonga (Jeanine and Carmela)
“Milonga entre suenos”

Studio B
9pm-12am
$6, ($5 students)
delightful sweets included

Saturdays
The Big Milonga (Greg Bryant)
The Tango Center
8-9 concurrent Intro to Tango + Intermediate lessons
9pm-1am Milonga, sometimes with live music
empanadas usually available for purchase
$7

Sundays
Practica (Greg Estes)
Studio B
2-4PM
$3
preceded by Intermediate Tango, 12-1
and Beginners Tango 1-2 with Greg Estes
$5 extra for either or both classes

La Milonguita (Marisela R.)
The Tango Center
7:30-8pm rotational guided practica
8-10:30pm dancing to traditional music
$5

Also: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, during the day,
the Tango Center is open for dancing from 10am-4pm
during the Weekday Market. There is no cover charge to use
the dance floor but please consider supporting the community
by purchasing your coffee or lunch there, or buying some
organic produce, or an item from one of the artists or craft vendors.
Weekday Market

I sold a home in Fall Creek last February, and fell in love with the town. It has a tiny downtown with a great Mom and Pop store/post office.

My client and I walked over to the Fall Creek Market. Everyone knows everyone, and it seems to be the community meeting center. There is hot food and tables outside to sit and watch the neighbors go by. In addition to food, the store has videos to rent and local crafts for sale. It also houses the Fall Creek post office.

The creek is a big, year-round creek with fish.

My clients love living there, except for worrying about the occasional cougar in the neighborhood.

I was disappointed that Arthur and Anita, who are local beekeepers, were eliminated so soon. I would have loved to have seen more of them.

Tigger B wasn’t into sitting in her highchair for long (she just turned 18 months old). We took turns walking with her on the raised sidewalk, which is great for toddlers.

We ordered five different dinners plus gourgeres (cheesy bread puffs) and bacon-wrapped grilled figs with hazelnuts and sheep’s milk cheese. We shared everything, so I got to taste them all.

My two favorites entrees were:
pork confit with plums and polenta
skirt steak with broccoli, tomatoes and anchovy-herb butter.

The tomatoes were big, thick slices of heirloom tomatoes. The steak and the pork were both tender and cooked perfectly.

Everything was delicious. The other entrees we had were:
grilled sea scallops with salsa verde
seared albacore over white beans with salsa verde
halibut, clams, corn and potatoes in Catalan romesco sauce

The entree prices are $7 to $15.

They make their own wine drink once per month, Vin de Pamplemousse. It was good, but I prefer dry wine, so it was a little sweet for me. If you like sweet, you would not consider it to be sweet.

Speaking of sweet, I had a wonderful chocolate mousse of a surprisingly large size. Luckily, there weren’t enough for everyone who wanted one, so I shared mine. The other desserts looked great too.

Belly
291 East 5th Avenue
Tuesday-Saturday
683-5896

We had a picnic at RiverPlay Discovery Village at Skinner Butte Park. Wow! What a wonderful place!

With Skinner Butte on one side and the Willamette River on the other side, the one acre playground has a village modeled on actual, historical buildings.

There is an elevated stream, a canoe, a kid-powered ferry, a stagecoach, a Rain Circle and more. There is an Ancient History Sand Dig where children can dig to find a life size ichthyosaur bronze fossil, arrowheads, and ancient stone tools.

Grandma (me) and Tigger B

Grandpa and Tigger B

The rain circle

Digging for dinosaurs

The large 25′ high play structure in the center has a Skinner Butte climber that looks like the basalt pillars on the west side of the Butte that are popular with adult rock climbers. It’s very wheelchair friendly with highly-integrated accessibility features.

Rock climbing on the central play structure

The central play structure

Boys playing with the water pump

Big boys like the water pump too!

RiverPlay was opened to the public in July of 2006. It was designed by http://www.landcurrent.com/contemporary/landscape_design.php?in=Riverplay&work=public LandCurrent. The Rotary Club and a grant writer raised over $450,000 and hundreds of volunteers built it.

The riverside off road bike path runs next to RiverPlay. It’s a nice place to watch runners, bicyclists and boaters.

We had our daughter Loreen with us and our granddaughter Beatrix. She’ll be a year and a half old next month. She had a great time running around. It’s a nice place for a little one to explore. There’s also couches and easy chairs to relax in.

The Tango Center was built in 1929, and was originally a farmer’s market, so it’s back to it’s roots.

Where but in Eugene can you have lunch, buy your veggies and dance (for free!) to classical tango music!

Here’s a Register Guard video of
the Weekday Market

It accompanied
this article

The trail through the grove is beautifully maintained.

Here’s some of the more exotic trees in the grove:

Here’s the bald cypress I have on my deck:

Our climate is so mild here, we can grow all these trees. Extremes of hot and cold are rare in the Willamette Valley.

The Friendly Street neighborhood is bounded by Amazon Parkway (East), Chambers (West), 18th (North), and 28th & 29th (South), and includes College Hill, that I blogged about last March.

I was all over this neighborhood last Saturday with my family. My son Aysh and his fiancee Allie are visiting us from New Mexico, and my mother-in-law is here from Joshua Tree California.

We all went to the Friendly Area Neighborhood garage sale event on Saturday. What a wonderfully organized event that was! There was a map, available in local stores, with a 4 page list attached. A huge number of neighbors participated. We only got to a small fraction of them before the trunk was full!

Aysh and Allie were especially anxious to hit the garage sales. They tell me that garage sales in New Mexico aren’t that great.

I love looking at the homes here. There are many vintage homes built in the 1920s on the hill and homes built in the 1940s and 1950s on the flat. It was great fun talking to all the friendly neighbors.

We explored The Grove of the States. There is a tree from every State plus Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands. Because the trees are so big, we thought it must have been planted in the 1940’s. It turns out, it was planted in 1967 to commemorate the meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General.

We threw a ball around between us to Beatrix’s great delight. She has recently figured out how to throw and bounce a ball. After a half hour we were back on the road feeling great.

Within a minute the people around the area had the fire beaten down, and all that was required was for the fire crew to put out the hot spots. As soon as I saw that it was mostly contained (no flames) I went back and took these pictures.

This is looking away from the fire toward the sun, showing the smoke. Taken from my loft.

The tree on fire is the one on the right that splits into three trunks.

Here’s the tree that burned. You can see it still smoking near the top of the right hand trunk.

Some of the Oregon Country Fair crew on the scene. My husband Tom is the one with the long beard with his back to you.

Here’s another shot of the Oregon Country Fair Fire Crew on the scene.

The fire crew cut the tree down and hauled it away.

My 15 1/2 month old granddaughter, Beatrix, is camping with us as well as Utilikilts 14 month old baby girl, Yosha. What fun!

We were also giving out autograph books. I got one autograph when Dedy Cooper (110 meter hurdler) stopped by, and he hung around for awhile to give autographs.

We have some people scheduled to be in our tent for autographs. They are:

Thursday, July 3 4-7 p.m.
Kenny Moore, author
“Bowerman and the Men of Oregon”

Saturday, July 5 10 a.m. – noon
Geoff Hillister, author
“Out of Nowhere: The Inside Story of How Nike Marketed the Culture of Running”

Mac Wilkins, Discus Thrower

Sunday, July 6 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Geoff Hillister, author
“Out of Nowhere: The Inside Story of How Nike Marketed the Culture of Running”

Tinker Hatfield
Nike shoe designer and former U of O pole vaulter

I recommend you do this on a cloudy day. Some of the hike goes through beautiful shady woods, but much of it is through hot sunny fields. The views of oak savannas and beyond to the city are magnificent! Mt. Pisgah is 209 acres with well maintained paths. The summit is at 1,531 feet, 471 feet above the valley floor.

Wildlife abounds. We saw deer and a lizard on this hike.

We took a small trail off the main trail. It stopped after a while and we had to backtrack, but it sure was beautiful. Wow, the ferns!

The summit has a panoramic view of the Willamette Valley. You can see Eugene to the northwest, Springfield to the north, Creswell and Cottage Grove to the south.

There is a bronze relief sculpture at the summit that is a memorial for Ken Kesey’s son Jed and Lorenzo West. Jed and Lorenzo were killed on the way to a wrestling match when the van they were in encountered white-out conditions and plunged over a 300 foot cliff.

While we rested at the top, we saw parachutes coming down near the strawberry fields on Seavey Loop. The U-picks there will be another blog when the strawberries are ripe!

We saw lots more wildflowers on the way down.

Yesterday was the first day of June, and I had a wonderful hike with my husband Tom, my granddaughter Beatrix and her parents: my daughter Loreen and her husband Damon.

We started at edge of town on the corner of West Amazon Drive and Martin Street.

This trail leads up to the Ridgeline Trail.

Tom is carrying a sleeping Beatrix, age 14 months.

It’s June and wildflowers are everywhere!

This is the headwaters of Amazon Creek. It flows through town and finally into Fernridge Lake, west of Eugene.

We’re on the Ridgeline Trail now, and Beatrix is awake and singing!

Wild roses

Salmonberry flowers.

The berries are great eating.

The paths are well maintained and with good bridges.

Lots of ferns.

Watch out for poison oak! Look for the 3 leaf structure, smooth not fuzzy, sometimes shiny. It’s green now, but turns beautiful red colors in the fall. Wear clothing that covers your legs.

Averages:

Month      List$/Sq.Ft. | Sold$/Sq.Ft. | # of Sales | Days On Market
2007
June            $184                $182                  14                   129
July             $170                $165                  22                     91
August        $187                $185                  32                     61
September $194                $192                  24                     65
October      $199                $198                  26                     41
November  $192               $189                  19                      93
December  $195                $192                  21                    116
2008
January      $176               $171                  10                      90
February    $222              $207                   6                     178
March         $206              $193                 14                     135
April            $148              $141                 10                       76
May             $203             $190                   8                       65 (to 5/23)

Year            $188              $184               208                      86

An individual month can look very different if there are few sales and one sold price is very high or low.
For instance, in February 2008 there were only 6 sales, and one of them sold for $220,000 with a Sold$/Sq.Ft.
of $225.

It’s a peaceful area to stroll, walk your dog, and enjoy the woods and wildflowers. To get there, go south on West Amazon to Fox Hollow, turn right on 43rd Street, then left on Hilyard. Three blocks up is the dead end of Hilyard and entrance to the park.

"

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This coming Sunday at 7 PM at The Hult Center for the Performing Arts, the show Forever Tango will be performed. As exciting as that is, even more exciting to me is what’s happening Saturday night at the Tango Center.

The dancers and orchestra of Forever Tango will come to our regular Saturday Dance April 5th at The Tango Center! Stage dancing is exciting to watch, but I can’t wait to see the dancers in a social dance.

This crazy bit of luck, is due to Eugene’s position at the start of their spring US tour. Their show at the Hult Center is April 6th, and they will be arriving from Argentina Saturday morning. The are spending two days in Eugene.

The 16 dancers, who are long-time milongueras and milongueros, will be joining us for social dancing.

But most exciting is the orchestra, the elite of Argentina’s Tango musicians, including four of the best old Bandoneon players in Argentina, and former members of Pugliese’s and Calo’s bands! They of course know how to play for dancers.

Oh boy, I can’t wait!

If you are going to be in Eugene for the Olympic Trials and Oregon Bach Festival, the Obsidians have a great opportunity for you to enjoy the beauty of the Pacific Northwest outdoors.

In Eugene are:

Within a short driving distance of Eugene are:

For a list of June and July hikes go to http://www.obsidians.org/otrials

For map lovers, I am defining the College Hill neighborhood as bordered by 18th Street on the north, 28th Street on the south, Willamette Street on the east and Lincoln Street on the west.

COLLEGE HILL RESERVOIR:
 
This 15-million-gallon reservoir at 24th and Lawrence was completed in 1939. It’s open to the public and is a popular star gazing spot. The Eugene Astronomical Society often holds events there. They held a star party there last month during the total lunar eclipse (February 20, 2008).

COLLEGE HILL PARKS:

WASHINGTON PARK & RECREATION CENTER, 19th to 21st Ave. along Washington
Washington Park features include balance beam, baseball/softball, full court basketball, climbers, community center, fixed benches, picnic tables, play structure, seasonal restroom, slides, swings, tennis, tire swing, wading pool .

EUGENE EMERALDS BASEBALL CLUB, 2077 Willamette St.
Eugene Civic Stadium ballpark is home of Eugene’s own Class A baseball team, the Eugene Emeralds. The stadium was built in 1938 as a WPA project and is a much beloved historic wooden stadium.

PARKS ON THE EDGE OF COLLEGE HILL:
AMAZON PARK, 2580 Hilyard St., 22nd to 34th, Amazon Pkwy. to Hilyard St.
Amazon Park encompasses approximately 90 acres. Many wonderful activities take place here, such as summer concerts and Shakespeare in the park and kite flying. The park has a lighted soft-surface running trail, an off-leash dog park, a skatepark bowl, basketball, children’s play area, picnic facilities, Amazon Community Center, Hilyard Community Center, sand volleyball, lighted softball fields, a soccer field and a swimming pool with several diving boards, a water slide and lap pools and a concession stand.

Amazon park also includes AMAZON COMMUNITY GARDENS at 28th & High. In recent years, volunteer gardeners at the Community Gardens have produced over a ton of fresh vegetables for FOOD for Lane County.

Walking and biking paths in Amazon Park include Adidas Amazon Trail. The smooth, bark chip trail is one mile around with a 1500 meter cut-off and 1km inner loop. The mile loop is marked every quarter and the kilometer loop is marked every 100 meters. A trail segment is lighted. Just south of Amazon Trail is Rexius Trail, a 3.5 mile bark chip loop along Amazon Creek.

MORSE RANCH PARK, 595 Crest Dr
This was the home of Senator Wayne L. Morse, Oregon’s independent United States Senator (1944-1968). It is a 27 acre park of open space and woods, 1936 National Historic Register home, picnic shelter with limited kitchen facilities, and off lease dog park. Also located on the Morse Ranch Park is Willamette Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, an independent organization that rehabilitates injured wild birds and small animals.

WILLAMETTE STREET BUSINESSES
Eugene’s founder and city planner, Eugene Skinner, ran the main street, Willamette Street, between the city’s two buttes, Skinner Butte (now in the center of town) and Spencer Butte on the south end. Willamette Street, the east border of College Hill is mostly commercial with about 150 businesses and about 40 professional offices. Some of the Willamette Street businesses between 15th and 29th Streets are:

Note – this is not a complete list.

RESTAURANTS, CLUBS & BARS:
Cravings Cafe, 1530 Willamette St.
Bel Ami Restaurant, 1591 Willamette St. in the Mid Town Market
Mac’s Restaurant and night club in The Veterans Memorial Bldg, 1626 Willamette St.
Cafe Yumm, 1801 Willamette St. in Meridian Building
The Glenwood 2588 Willamette St.
Three Forks Wok & Grill, 2560 Willamette St.
Shoji’s Japanese Restaurant, 2645 Willamette St.
Turtles Bar and Grill 2690 Willamette St.
Three Square Bar & Cafe in the Southtowne Shoppes
Tasty Thai Kitchen, 80 E. 29th
Chapalas Mexican Restaurant, 68 W. 29th

SHOPPING CENTERS:
Meridian Building 1801 Willamette, housing Folkways, Uncommon Scents, Cafe Yumm, Sattva Gallery and more.
Southtowne Shoppes, 28th and Oak St.
Woodfield Station 2860 Willamette St.

FOOD STORES:
Capella Market-natural foods, 25th & Willamette St.
Great Harvest Bread Company, 2564 Willamette St.
Pomegranates Mediterranean & Middle Eastern Grocery, 2833 Willamette St.
Market of Choice Grocery in Woodfield Station 2860 Willamette
Long’s Meat Market, 81 E. 28th Ave in the Southtowne Shoppes
Sunrise Asian Market, 70 West 29th

ATHLETIC CLUBS:
Pilates Center, 1680 Willamette St.
In Shape, 2681 Willamette St.
Bounce Gymnastics (for kids), 2705 Willamette St.
The club I belong to: The Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette St.

BANKS:
Washington Mutual 2840 Willamette St.
U.S. Bank 55 W 29th
Oregon Community Credit Union 2890 Willamette

OTHER BUSINESSES:
Down to Earth Garden & Housewares Store, 2498 Willamette St.
Southtown Lanes Bowling, 2486 Willamette St.
Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St.
Eugene True Value Hardware, 2825 Willamette St.
Hollywood Video, 2866 Willamette St. in Woodfield Station
Pookie’s Bed and Breakfast on College Hill, 2013 Charnelton St.

Skinner Butte is where our pioneer founding father, Eugene Skinner, built his first home, a log cabin overlooking the river.

This is a vibrant, artsy neighborhood with a diversity of people, including professionals and artists. It’s a great place for walking or bicycling. There are no hills, and there are beautiful off road bike paths. Downtown and the library are about one mile away. There are exciting restaurants, coffee shops and night life within 1/2 mile. Sam Bond’s Garage is one of my favorite places to enjoy live music.

Owen Rose Garden:

The jewel of this neighborhood is the G. Owen Rose Garden. It features 6,500 roses on nine acres. June is the best month to see the roses. I took a walk in the rose garden on Tuesday, and even though it’s February and no roses are in bloom, many people were out enjoying the sunshine.

There was once a mid 19th century river front orchard here. The last surviving remnant is the Black Tartarian Cherry tree, dating back to 1860, located at the north end of the garden. It is the largest cherry tree in Oregon and one of the largest in the United States. In early April it’s laden with delicate white blossoms and is gorgeous!

In the orange square on the left is some people, to give you an idea of how big this tree is.

On the north end of the garden is the Willamette River with a bike path beside the river. The rose garden is part of the riverfront park, stretching from the Ferry Street Bridge to the Greenway bike bridge near Valley River Center. It’s faster to bike to Valley River Center than to drive from Whiteaker.

Sladden Park:

Sladden Park, with 3.5 acres is at N. Adams and Cheshire Streets. It offers full court basketball, climbers, disc golf, fixed benches, picnic tables, a play structure, slides, swings, teeters, tennis, a tire swing, a wading pool, and a whirl.

River House Community Center:

Next to the River House Community Center at 301 N. Adams is one of the entrances to the Willamette River bicycle path.

Whiteaker School:

The Whiteaker School on the corner of N. Grand and Clark Street houses Whitaker Montessori School, Amigos Multicultural Services, Witeaker Head Start Center and EC Cares.

Within a half mile walk are:

Grocery Stores:
Red Barn Natural Grocery
357 Van Buren St

Red Apple Market
849 W 6th Ave

Plaza Latina
1333 W. 7th Ave (about 1 mile)

Restaurants & Coffee:
Papa's Soul Food Kitchen BBQ
400 Blair Blvd

Sam Bond's Garage
407 Blair Blvd

World Cafe
449 Blair Blvd

Chao Pra Ya Thai Cuisine
580 Adams St

Wandering Goat Organic Coffee
268 Madison St

Sweet Life Patisserie
755 Monroe St

On Friday, February 8 my dance troupe, The DAC Nooners, will be performing on the Silva stage at The Hult Center for the Performing Arts along with a variety of other dancers and dance troupes.

Dance for a Reason is an annual benefit event that has, over the years, raised money for a variety of causes such as the Lane Independent Living Alliance, Community Soup Kitchens, White Bird Clinic and Womenspace. This year’s non-profit beneficiary, Huerta de la Familia (The Family Garden), is a small local non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate poverty and hunger among low-income Latino families by assisting them to grow their own organic vegetable gardens.

The DAC Nooners is a group of about 25 dancers, mostly middle aged. This will be our eighth year performing for at Dance for a Reason.

The Edge presents Dance for a Reason 2008
February 8, 2008
Time: 7:30 p.m.
http://www.hultcenter.org
Location: Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center
7th & Willamette; Eugene
Phone: (541) 682-5000
Admission: $15

Here’s how an evening at dancing Argentine Tango sometimes goes for us. We dance a few dances together, then dance a few with other people. Back together, as the evening progresses, we melt into each other more and more. When my legs and feet have the weighted, swingy feel that I strive for, Tom really enjoys causing my legs to swing around his – between his legs, around the outside of his legs, and even around his waist! Several times when we left, we’ve been so buzzed on Tango, we walked a half block in the wrong way before we realized the car was in the other direction!

There is often live music at The Tango Center. Some of the musicians and groups who regularly play at The Tango Center are the band Mood Area 52, guitarist Craig Einhorn, the Portland band Conjunto Berretín, pianist Rebecca Oswald, the band Los Banditos Del Tango, and harper Noah Brenner who sometimes puts his harp in the middle of the dance floor and we dance around him. Fantastic!

Argentine Tango got its start in Eugene about twelve years ago when Elizabeth Wartluf, a dance professor at the U of O, discovered tango and became obsessed. She started classes in the U of O dance department, eventually offering three semesters.

The U of O remains the best bargain for classes. The general public can enroll for no credit for $60 per semester. There are many instructors in Eugene now, and a list can be found at The Tango Center web site.

Over the years there have been more and more places to tango in Eugene. The first one, that is still going, is Studio B, above Brenner’s Furniture at 189 W 8th Ave. Greg Estes started this venue soon after Elizabeth Wartluf started her U of O classes. He taught many people how to tango in those early days, and still does. Argentine tango dances are held there on Thursday evenings 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday afternoons 2 p.m. to 4 p.m for $3 (students free) with a drop-in beginning class at 1:00 p.m for $5.

The biggest venue in town (and my favorite) is the non-profit Tango Center at 194 West Broadway (at Charnelton). Free parking is available in the public garages on Charnelton at Broadway. If you’re going by bicycle, you can bring your bike inside and park it by the windows. All ages are welcome. On Saturday, if you arrive at 8 p.m. there is a drop-in beginner’s lesson and a drop-in intermediate lesson that is included in the cover of $7 ($5 for students). On Tuesday there is a dance from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. to alternative music (some tango, mostly something else).

The U of O Tango Club has a free dance on Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the EMU at the coffee shop The Buzz. It is mostly alternative music. The sometimes have a Sunday dance at The Tango Center. See The Tango Center web site for a calendar of events.

The Tango Center got its start in 2003, initially through the efforts of Greg Bryant and Olga Volchkova. It soon became a non-profit through the Lane Arts Council and is now run by a group of dedicated tango dancers.

Here’s a video is of a performance at The Tango Center by Andres and Meredith Klein: