the sherwood merrywalkers  the great easter egg hunt in sherwood, march 31st

Boy it was cold out there!  We ended up walking to the frog pond, took a picture and warmed up at the coffe shop.  I think it was the first time I had seen the pond frozen.

Julia from Albany was checking out our web site and sent us this recent picture that appeared on the web site of the Salem Statesman Journal.  It was of the tree lighting of the 5 Sequoia trees that we saw that formed the star.  I bet it's an amazing site to see at night or at dusk, when you can still make out the star with the night sky as the backdrop.  Maybe someone out there has viewed it at night with the lights and can let us know. Thanks Julia!

Starr is one of our newer members and has never done the walk in Salem and really wanted to see the Capitol.  It's been awhile for me and it turned out to be Mary Ann's first time.  As always I still found so many things that were new, like the 5 trees at Willamette University and when you look up you see the outline of a star.  It was incredible, and a perfect blue sky.  The Capitol was all decked out in their Christmas finest and we were even entertained by a couple of choir groups from the local schools.  After we had lunch at the Ram, stopped at the Bush House and while Mary Ann and Starr took the tour, I was able to really explore the art gallery in the Barn behind the house.  What a hill going up to the governor's mansion, but we were able to see all of the mountains today.  We started the walk about 10:30 and finished about 3:30, just the right amount of time to see it all.  Take a look at the pictures.  They've made some changes to the walk and it's always nice to see the best of Salem.

Well it looked like a screeching owl.  
The refuge is really coming alive.  We heard the bullfrogs (Ralph and Alice), but they haven't made their appearance yet, but maybe next week.  The resident bald eagles (Trixie and Norton) have found their way back to the snag and the water area is loaded with geese.  If you want to see the rest of the pictures, check them out in the albums.  We did see a little next in a tree but we didn't have any idea of who the inhabitants were.  We are lucky to have to refuge volunteers to help us out with our questions, Carolyn and Barbara, and we usually run into more volunteers out there.  This week Cheri, Bill's sister visited us from Washington.  I think all of us are amazed at all of the activity that is taking place out there this time of the year. 
Well next week is a busy one starting out with Snails in the morning, our meeting on Monday night, tea on Tuesday, Wednesday Walkers in Tualatin, and Thursday is our Christmas Lights Walk.  A big week so everyone load up on caffine!