While I am fully embracing autumn this week, especially in the kitchen—I’ll have some notes on fall cooking next week, I wanted to share a bit more of our summer on film in this space. These photos are all from our impromptu stop at Petersen Rock Garden outside of Bend, Oregon.

Rasmus Petersen, a Danish immigrant, constructed the elaborately detailed sculptures and monuments around the property in the first half of the last century using primarily rocks and minerals from the Central Oregon area.

The property has been under the care of his family since his death, in varying states of repair and disrepair and was recently added to the National Registrar of historic places.

Exotic fowl roam the grounds where you can picnic and visit a gift shop and rock museum. We loved our visit and couldn’t quite get enough of all the little details, even in the hot high desert sun.

I left thinking about the impetus to build and collect and create that drove this man, his solitary dedication to craft and sense of never reaching completion (I read Petersen worked on the gardens until his death in 1952). Fascinating.

—SCB