Pleasant Walk at the Arboretum

I was at acupuncture early this morning - I wanted one more treatment before I depart for Mexico on Friday. Then I met my friend Phil at the Hoyt Arboretum - I've talked about him before. We met when I was working at the Oregon College of Art and Craft...the reason that I moved to Oregon in 2005. We lived quite close to each other so we started carpooling from the east side to work on the west side. After I left the college in 2011 we traded carpooling for walking and haven't stopped, not even during Covid. 

So we met at the Arboretum this morning. It was foggy and cold and drizzly, being a bit higher in elevation. But we had a delightful walk. We came across this gorgeous Mahonia x media (Oregon Grape Holly) in full bloom. This hybrid blooms earlier than our native Mahonia...isn't it a beauty?