Water on the brain

Sounds serious if not fatal, doesn't it? I think, if anything, this theme of water is too big—too many ways to go. When you live in Oregon rain is the first thing that comes to mind and the last week has provided lots of rain inspiration (actually more like "exasperation").

One of my ideas was to depict the "Bensen bubblers" that are installed all around downtown Portland. These charming water fountains were provided to the city by one of its founding fathers, Simon Benson, early in the history of the city. His reason was to give the workers building the streets and buildings a good cold drinking alternative to beer! He felt he was strengthening the morals of the city by keeping the men out of the taverns. No one knows if it worked in that way, but to this day we have these lovely reminders of his philanthropy. ( We also, reputedly, have the largest number of microbreweries of any city in the US, so they may not have killed the local interest in beer entirely!)

One of the things I most love about the new house that we are moving to is that a creek runs through the property. Since we bought the place last fall I have enjoyed watching it rise and fall with the rains. I think the sound of the water will be lovely to live with. Now I am wondering if I can come up with something that has to do with our creek.