When family members live in widely separated parts of the country (or the world), parting is bittersweet.  You are always glad to be back home, but you do leave a part of your heart behind you.

Jim and Bev Ohlman

This is my last day with my brother, Jim, and his wife Bev.  Yet having over 400 photos on my camera memory chips, it will be easy to recall the pleasant memories of my stay at Bluebell Springs.  One of the joys of being here is the long conversations we have—which go on into the evening until the call of the pillow becomes too strong to resist.  Then I trek up to “the barn,” my home for the week, and hit the hay.  Of course the barn is really a garage (entered from the back), a workshop (that I envy), and a comfortable “efficiency apartment” (with a view you’d have to pay dearly for if it were a resort room.)

"The Barn"

As you can imagine, Jim and Bev have friends and family by the dozens come to visit: writers, musicians, pastors, professors, and others who are compelled to return once they have experienced the wonder of creation showcased by Bluebell Springs.  As a bird and deer sanctuary, a botanical garden, an arboretum, and a place of quiet rest, it will always beckon me.

See you outdoors!

Dean

Enjoy more photos of this awesome place:

Bluebell Springs pond and house

Bluebell Springs beach

Bluebell Springs creek

Magnificent madrone

The garden house

Backlit maiden hair fern

Crescent Beach shell furrow