02 Jun Twin Pines Circle, Acorn Circle, Fairway Court: Oak Knoll neighborhood
Quiet residential neighborhood.
Some homes border Oak Knoll Golf Course.
“A bucket of golf balls.”
Trees, Flowers, Stories.
Twin Pines Circle
Twin Pines Circle should be named “Twin Pines Semicircle.” It begins and ends at Oak Knoll Drive. There are two short cul de sac streets off of Twin Pines Circle: Acorn Circle and Fairway Court. I walked all three in May 2022 on a windy springtime afternoon under blue skies filled with big white clouds.
When I walk through Lithia Park in May, I see many colors of rhododendron flowers side by side. That doesn’t happen often in neighborhoods, so I enjoyed the multicolored display of lush rhodies in this yard.
Condos at 854 Twin Pines Circle, built in 1964.
This type of house makes neighborhood walking fun
Where are the “twin pines?”
Short cut to Oak Knoll Golf Course
Chance meetings
I was fortunate to meet two interesting people during this walk, one on Acorn Circle and one on Fairway Court.
Fairway Court
As I turned onto Fairway Court from Twin Pines Circle, I stopped for a minute to admire (and photograph) this nature scene.
Here is the rest of Fairway Court, a short cul de sac street. You might notice Pompadour Bluff between the trees on the left side of the photo.
I met Julie on Fairway Court, as she was returning home from walking her dogs. She has been a professional flute player in several symphony orchestras, including the New York based American Symphony Orchestra. I asked her if she ever played in the Ashland City Band. She said, “Yes, when Raoul Maddox was the conductor.” That would have been more than 23 years ago!
Acorn Circle
Acorn Circle is another short cul de sac street off of Twin Pines Circle.
At the end of the Acorn Circle cul de sac, I met Carl. As I was walking downhill toward his house, I had noticed one of the Oak Knoll golf course greens just beyond the back yard. After saying hello, my first question was, “Do you get very many golf balls in your yard?” I expected him to say there was an occasional stray ball, but that was not his answer. He replied, “I have collected almost a 5-gallon bucket full of balls in just two years here.”
“That’s a lot,” I exclaimed, and then out popped my second question. “Any windows broken?” The answer to that one was fortunately “No.”
The front yard was lovely, for which Carl gave a lot of credit to his wife. Then he pointed out “her favorite garden saying” inscribed on a rock in the garden. His wife had found it right here in town at the Grange Co-op.
I asked about the childlike or Goddess-like statue near the inscribed rock. It turns out to have a story – and an exceptionally long life for garden statuary. Before moving to Southern Oregon, Carl and his wife purchased one of their previous homes from a couple who had built the house in 1935, and had placed this statue in their yard at that time. They enjoyed it for decades. When they sold the house to Carl and his wife, the original owners left the statue. Through the years, Carl and his wife developed their own emotional connection with this child or Goddess. It has come with them in every move since then, and now looks over the garden in their current home.
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