Autumn (decorating) in the great outdoors...

Last week in Oregon was fun.  I spent the week with my folks, harvesting fruit and veggies, canning pear sauce and pear nectar, kickin' the old people's butts at dominoes, being called names by the old people that I will not print on this blog (sheesh!), and taking in a little Eastern Oregon culture.  Since I now have to blog here and on 365being.com (starting as soon as I figure out how that one works), I'll leave the story of the salt lick art auction for that blog, or next issue of the bookazine, but here's a shot of the (okay, not-so-)old people the day after they bought five of the thirty-five, um, sculptures:

Why would anyone buy used salt licks at an auction?  It raises money for research into Parkinson's disease.  Why would anyone buy so many salt licks at auction?  A very good auctioneer made it reeeeeaaallly fun.  And it raises money for research into Parkinson's disease.

Most people think of Oregon as coastal rain forest, but once you cross the Cascade Mountains, you get into high desert and ponderosa pine country.  Sage brush, rattlesnakes, and cowboys (and salt licks) dot the landscape around my hometown of Baker City.  Of course everyone has a barn, but some are a little more stylish than others...especially in my family:

The inability to leave perfectly nice wood in its natural state runs in the family, as evidenced by the paint job my aunt did on her barn.

Although Aunt Rose and Uncle Dwayne live outside of town, my parents house is just a few blocks off of Main Street.  Main Street this autumn echoes the country style of most of the locals with corn shocks and scarecrows trussed to every light post:

Autumn decor or scarecrows held hostage? 

Scarecrows shopping.  Gotta love small town style!

My dad was a forester, not a rancher, so his outdoor styling reflects more of a woodland theme.  The only drawback to this?  With the cattle overtaking all the deer habitat, the deer have moved into town, and they love this natural drought-tolerant design.  They might nibble the neighbor's roses, but they hang out at the Lara place.  If it weren't for the 7 foot tall deer fence around the kitchen garden, my "vacation" might have been a bit more leisurely.  Oh well.  More leisure time would only have resulted in games of cribbage or Scrabble, and those old people are just plain mean about losing. :)))

The neighbors never did know what to make of our weedy (no chemicals in our garden shed) lawn.  I'm not sure the ones with crew-cut grass think the drought-tolerant natural landscape is any better, but the deer love it, and the water consumption is way lower.  Goes nicely with the solar panel on the roof, too. 

As lovely as vacation was, it's nice to be home (okay, that was home, but I mean back to Belle Ami), and back to work.  As far as I know, I've got another garage door to woodgrain, and a dining room to leather glaze this week, and wait 'til you see the fireplaces coming up later this month!  Check back Monday and Thursday nights here for decorating updates, and watch for new posts of behind the scenes goofiness on the 365being.com blog, too.
If you want to see more of my work than shows down the side of this blog, you can check out my portfolio at theartofthehome.com.

Feel free to leave questions or comments below, or email me at dawnmariedelara@gmail.com.