Calendar of Quirk: ‘Toma un libro’ and other worthy oddities found all around Yamhill County

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Sunflower, elk, blue moon, blackbird, images on mural from before it became the tribal cultural center.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##This parking space, at Southeast Third and Evans, next to Serendipity Ice Cream, reserved for the carriage drawn by Frankie the horse.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Badminton, anyone? Court, rackets and shuttlecocks are (often) available for use at Nicholson Library at Linfield.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##This example of the Little Library tradition is found on Southwest Cowls Street in McMinnville.

Another week’s worth of oddities, from legacy ceramic tiles to badminton on carpet:

March 4 We mentioned the Dayton-area Highway 18 moose in recent weeks; we should also mention the deer statue on Highway 99 just south of Amity.

March 5 A home in Carlton, formerly a church, has in its yard a single grave from the property’s previous life.

March 6 Erected privately, and anonymously, last spring, “Horse Carriage Parking Only” sign at Third and Evans streets in McMinnville. (It’s for Frankie the horse, a familiar downtown denizen during the spring and summer.)

March 7 At the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s cultural center on Grand Ronde Road (current exhibit — “Stik,” on logging history): a ceramic tile mural from the building’s previous life as Grand Ronde School still graces the entry of the facility. Trees, flowers, mountains, handprints and signed pieces dominate the 12-by-8 mural. An anomaly is the uncredited tile reading, ponderously, “Death is but laughter to the broken heart.”

March 8 Linfield University’s Nicholson Library hosts events but also plenty of places to quietly study – and the atrium on the south end of the main reading room is also set up as a badminton court. The net is located under the high ceiling and can be taken down and put back up — but when the net goes up a box of rackets comes out, all just feet away from the stacks. Tape on the floor outlines the area of play.

March 9 Blank and weathered “Chamber of Commerce Tourist and Service Club Information” sign on Highway 99W, near Walmart, with no address or additional information. It’s been anonymous and neglected for years. (It’s the same issue with the “tourist information” sign on 99W south of Newberg: weathered, worn, and impossible to read.)

March 10 Southwest Cowls Street, Little Library. These sidewalk “leave a book, take a book” locations are CQ-worthy enough, but this one is painted on all four sides with images of people reading, and this message:

“Toma un libro, deja un libro.”

Have you seen something that’s an example of quirk — an oddity that adds to the joy of life in Yamhill County? Email Kirby Neumann-Rea at kirby@newsregister.com.