Charles Sprague Memorial Fountain

This fountain toward the north end of the Capitol Mall park, north of the Capitol also appears to be a good place for cooling off, though it looks like it could do some real damage to a human body.*

According to the Oregon State University library website, a national competition, made possible by a bequest from former Oregon Governor Charles Sprague (1939-43), was won by Weltzin Blix. His sculpture is 85' long by 20' high of welded bronze weighing 15,000 lbs. It was completed in 1980. Mr. Blix was a teacher of sculpture, ceramics and drawing at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon until his retirement in 2002.

*Edit: I was not aware of it at the time, but actually, this is a prohibited activity.

Oregon Administrative Rule 125-075-0005 Use of the Capitol Mall Area Parks and Grounds states:

• ..."(c) For the purposes of City Code 94.110, no bathing, wading or swimming shall be allowed in fountains, water displays or systems, with the exception of the Wall of Water Fountain on the Capitol Mall Plaza, in front of the Capitol Building, where wading is allowed; "...

It pays to look back sometimes

This mural depicting a Pacific Northwest scene is on the south side of a store on Commercial St. between Court and State Sts. Commercial is a one-way street going south which probably explains why I never noticed it before. The 'rock' underneath the boy bares the signature of muralist Abram Heard, dated 1998. It's in fairly good shape after 10 years in direct sun. (The white squares are signs which state who may park in the adjacent lot.)

Cooling Off

The geyser fountain known as the Wall of Water is a favorite of kids on a hot summer day. This is on Court Street across from the main entrance of the Capitol.

First Garden Harvest

Unfortunately it wasn't harvested by me. This is the downside of having deer visiting your property. In spite of netting, barricades and obstacles, she managed to desecrate our little garden in one night raid. She not only ate the leaves, but all the little baby zucchini! And look what she did to our tomato plants. Omnivores that we are, my husband is ready to start hunting season a little early...(not really!)

Historic Building

According to the Oregon Historic Photograph Collections of the Salem Public Library, the Capitol National Bank Tower was built in 1880. It was refaced in 1892 with stone, and the two carved stones at the top -- CNB on the left and 1892 on the right -- were added at that time. The upper windows still have the small panes of colored glass. The building on North Commercial St. is on the National Register of Historic Places and is now home to Globe Travel. I love that this same facade has graced this building for 116 years.

Pet Beds

I found these adorable pet beds at the Salem Saturday Market, held in the state 'green parking lot' (the paved one), corner of Summer and Marion Sts. (free parking in the 'yellow' lot across the street--the gravel one). These were made by Debbie Dougall of West Salem. She has sizes for larger cats and small dogs, even for tiny "teacup"-sized dogs in many delightful colors and patterns. See her website - Jonah's Pet Beds. Cats that we've had in the past always preferred any cardboard box I brought home, but these sure look cozy.

August Theme Day "Metal"

Today is City Daily Photo Theme Day, and for August the theme is 'metal'.

This is the "Eco Earth Globe" at Riverfront Park in downtown Salem. It began life as a large pressurized tank, known as the "acid ball", used by Boise Cascade for their paper mill operation. The steel ball, 26 feet in diameter, was built in Portland in 1960 and pushed by tugboat up the Willamette River to the former mill site. The mill was closed in 1982 and the property acquired by the City. The 22-acre parcel was opened as Riverfront Park in 1996.

Two-inch ceramic tiles were attached to the ball ( 86,115 in total ) to form the continents and seas and 200 ceramic icons, which were created by students and professional artists.

More info from Blue Mountain Eagle News, authors, Theda Damon Weatherford and Heather Sheedy. Read the complete article <here>.

You can view thumbnails for all participants of this month's City Daily Photo Theme Day. There are 183 blogs taking part around the world.