Meandering on the Way

Tuesday, February 25th

We went to an archeological museum today, the Museo Arqueológico Nacional. It’s quite near to us, just a 20 minute walk. The exhibits focus on the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal) from the Stone Age up through medieval times.

One of the most famous items in the collection is a limestone bust called La Dama de Elche.

The bust was created sometime in the 4th Century BC. Experts believe that it is an image of the Carthaginian goddess Tanit, who was worshipped in some parts of Iberia at that time. The bust was found in 1897 by a farm worker who was clearing land near the town of Elche, Spain. The landowner placed the bust on a balcony at the front of his house so that everyone who passed would be able to see it. Soon, however, news of the discovery spread to Paris and the Louvre offered to buy La Dama for 4,000 francs, a large sum of money for the time. Thus La Dama resided in Paris for many years. Finally, in 1941, the French and Spanish governments signed an agreement that resulted in her return to Spain.

Today the Dama de Elche is exhibited next to another 4th Century BC sculpture, a seated figure called the Lady of Baza.

Wednesday, February 26th

Well…there’s a birthday coming up. Time to do some present shopping. First we went downtown because E wanted to look for some makeup at a famous department store called El Corte Inglés. It was only two Metro stops away, so that was easy. And it was pretty easy to find the gigantic cosmetics section. In fact the only difficulty at El Corte Inglés was the price of things. Of course that was to be expected, but still it was a shock and E decided to put off most of her purchases for another time and place.

But what about some clothes shopping? For that we left the area around Puerta del Sol and walked a few blocks down toward the Plaza España. There we found a store called Zara, a much more congenial place. Another big difficulty, though, is that the styles are so different here, first because they’re so European and second because they’re so urban. But E was up to the challenge.

We passed several Metro entrances during our travels today. Here are photos of two of them. We’ve edited out the station names. But even without labels, perceptive readers might be able to tell which is Chueca and which is Plaza España.

Thursday, February 27th

And then, suddenly, it was the day, the actual day of the birthday. In the morning M went off the papelería (paper store) to get some needed supplies. When he returned he closed himself off in our little bedroom and got busy wrapping. By 1:45, we were suitably dressed and ready to get on our way to the La Maruca restaurant over on Velasquez Street, just five Metro stops away.

By 2:45 we were seated around a table for eight and getting started with some white wine…

La Maruca specializes in Cantabrian food and everything we tried was delicious. Cantabria is on the north coast of Spain and many of its famous dishes are seafood based. E had merluza (hake) served with boiled potato pieces in a sauce of onion, garlic, paprika and olive oil. She loved it. M had albóndigas. Albóndigas are meatballs served in a small amount of rich broth. It is often a modest dish and M had had it before many times on both sides of the Atlantic. Usually it is a tasty but unassuming dish. As he looked through the menu M suspected that La Maruca albóndigas might be on a whole other level. He was right; they were superb, the best he has ever had.

For dessert E had a piece of lemon meringue tart, this on the very day that some of her Oregon friends were holding a meeting of the Corvallis Lemon Meringue Pie Society, a meeting that E had to miss.

The gathering was fun, and a special reunion of old friends. Yes, the friendships are old and so are we. We all have our health challenges, some more than others. E is very grateful for the efforts that everyone made to attend.

And finally, here are a couple of photos at our place back in Chueca.

 Friday, February 28th

A much quieter day today. Our agenda was pretty simple: sleep in, then go out and get a fresh loaf of bread and maybe a can of soup to go with the broccoli that’s sitting in the fridge. That would do for dinner. For lunch we went to a very modern, mostly vegetarian restaurant called Honest Greens. Very nice. Corvallis definitely could use a branch. And oh yes, E also made a trip down the street and around the corner to a little shop called the Bazaar. She wanted some clothespins.

 Saturday, March 1st

Rain. Hmm. We may have to leave. But meanwhile, continuing our quest for affordable cosmetics, we took the Metro out to a mall in another part of town—a place where normal people shop. And we found success: identical products for half the price! The cosmetics store had a tiny men’s section, which M decided to examine while E was occupied. He found a row of products meant to keep men’s hair in place. These come in various strengths, ranging from Estilo Despeinado, (The Uncombed Look) to Glued, then Ultra Glued, and finally Hard Cemento. Perhaps you think we are joking, but no…

Sunday, March 2nd

More rain today. Definitely time to head for Pompeii.

Sunday, February 16

We drove up to Portland today, in a sensible white Toyota, through two hours of steady rain. Not much fun. But then, after we checked into our sensible hotel, the Andees met us for dinner, which was nicer. It was still raining though.

Monday, February 17

We got up early and drove through the rain to the airport, where we dropped off the Toyota just before 5:00 a.m. A tediously long tunnel led us finally into the newly renovated main terminal, which is a sight to see. By 7:15 we were in the air headed for New York.

We deplaned into Concourse B at JFK. Having had a skimpy breakfast, we were quite ready for lunch. But was Concourse B ready for us? What a sad sack collection of eateries. Somehow we made do. Four hours after that, we had a really good dinner* on our Delta flight to Madrid, which did much to boost our spirits.

*except for the dessert of which E did NOT approve

Tuesday, February 18

Our plane arrived at Barajas airport at dawn, just in time for a pretty sunrise under a still bright three quarter moon. When we got out of the plane, our part of the terminal was mostly empty. It was a long way from the gate to Immigration, but a good walk was just the thing at that point. And when we got to the immigration hall, there were no lines at all, just five or six somewhat bored looking officers, who may have been glad to see someone show up. How often does that happen?! Before long we were through customs and back into the real world, dragging our luggage along with us, looking for an airport cafe that we knew had to be there somewhere. When we found it, we ordered some much anticipated Spanish coffee and pastries and sat down to contemplate our next move.

We made sure our phones were working and then mapped out a Metro route to get from the airport to our short term rental, located in a part of old Madrid. That was all very well, but when we eventually got off the Metro in the proper area, we were unpleasantly reminded that Metro stops in the old town do not necessarily include escalators or elevators. Yuck. Our suitcases were equipped with air tags but not with anti-gravity modules . We got our exercise dragging them up a couple of flights. Then we took a taxi for the last leg.

By noon we were safely settled into our little apartment. Then it was nap time. It’s amazing how comfortable a bed can be after twenty-three hours of traveling.

The apartment also features a couple of minorish plumbing problems, a vacuum cleaner, lots of storage space, and a mop bucket that is accompanied by a mop handle that has no mop at the end. Interesting.

We are in a neighborhood called Chueca, named after a 19th century Spanish composer. It is inside the old city walls and is situated near a number of massive neoclassical government buildings that were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite having such distinguished neighbors, by the 1940’s Chueca had fallen upon hard times and become a place where sensible people did not go. In the sixties, hippies and artists lived here, but by the seventies it was famous mostly for drug trafficking or worse. In the eighties and nineties, it gradually became a gay neighborhood and gentrification began. It is now a major tourist and entertainment area.

Our place is not right in the center of things, but on Friday and Saturday nights we heard enough revelry to know that we weren’t in Corvallis anymore.

Wednesday, February 19th

We located a likely looking grocery store and began stocking up on things that we need. E worked on the challenges involved in buying and weighing produce so as to make things easy at the checkout counter. M got some wine and noted that prices seemed very low. Exchange rates are okay these days; the euro and the dollar are almost exactly equal. We got a take-out tortilla* that we can live on for a day or two.

*In Spanish cooking a tortilla is a thick omelet containing potato and other vegetables, typically served cut into wedges that resemble slices of pie.

Thursday, February 20th

More shopping today, to get the things we didn’t get yesterday. (There’s a limit to how much you can buy when you’re afoot and several blocks from home. ) Besides staples and other boring things, we got a litre of orange juice from one of those machines that squeezes the oranges and fills your bottle while you wait. Was it delicious? Yes.

We also searched out a vintage clothing place and E got herself a sweater to wear around the house, so as to keep her other sweaters nice for going out.

We are quite jet lagged these days, falling asleep at odd hours, etc. We don’t accomplish all that much.

Friday, February 21st

The Spanish midday meal is eaten at around 2:30 PM. It’s called comida and is generally much more substantial than the meal that we call lunch. (It is also more likely to include wine.) Today we went to see Leslie and Marciano and had comida there. The meal began with aperitivos consisting of olives, cheese, crackers and jamón serrano, followed by a squash soup, and then by chicken Alfredo. For dessert we had fresh pineapple and cream. It was great to be with them again. E and L met many years ago while E was teaching English in Madrid and have enjoyed keeping in touch over the years. L and M’s children are grown and gone, but they have left behind some lovely pets with whom we enjoyed socializing.

Saturday, February 22nd

Today we met Manolo, who invited us to join him at place called Macareno, a bar and cafe just twenty minutes walk from our apartment. Manolo was born and bred in Madrid and knows dozens of places where a person can make a more informal comida from tapas and drinks of some kind. Like most of the places Manolo has taken us, Macareno seemed tiny, with just a few cramped tables and not that many square feet of standing room, but it is a hidden gem for ambience and food. We found it by following directions on our phones. Siri led us from our apartment along a series of crowded streets, then onto a less crowded cross street, and finally onto a street that was mostly empty. But when we found Macareno and went inside, the place was jammed. Manolo had told us to arrive at 1:00—quite early to be eating—in hopes of possibly getting a table, but that was out of the question. We were able commandeer a couple feet of bar space and one stool and made do with that.

We started with vermut and a big serving of potatoes in garlic mayonnaise sauce. We went on to share some tortilla and then some skewers with anchovies, olives and mild peppers. Our bartender, Alberto, who seemed to know Manolo well, then threw in a big glass of banana wine. Then it was time for more vermut and some really delicious croquettes flavored with jamón serrano and truffles. It was after 2:00 when we left. El Macareno was still packed with customers; the difference now was that there was also a crowd lined up outside the door. Otherwise the street was still empty.

In the evening E had a nice catch up phone call with her friend Margo who has had some health challenges lately but is doing very well. This year is the 60th anniversary of their study abroad year in Puerto Rico, arranged by SUNY Albany.

Sunday, February 23rd

For today’s comida we were invited to Marga’s place. (No, not Margo, Marga) This involved a subway ride and several blocks of walking. We are so unused to urban navigation! Even with the help of our phones, we are often unsure, and yet, so far, we have always managed to arrive on time. The weather has been very cooperative, mostly cloudy with occasional sunshine and temps in the 50’s, which makes for quite pleasant walking.

It was great to see Marga, along with her son, daughter, son-in-law and grandson. Her son P, who was born in Chicago, also happens to be E’s godson. E and Marga’s husbands were Fulbright students at the University of Chicago and money was tight, but they managed to have a social life by taking turns hosting dinners in their tiny apartments. E remembers that baby P had to nap in the closet when his parents brought him to E and R’s studio apartment for dinner.

Monday, February 24th

The goal for today was to decide on a venue for E’s birthday dinner. A couple of our friends recommended a place called La Maruca, so off we went to try and find the place and see what it was like. It turned out to be quite nice. After talking for a while with the hostess E found the place very suitable and the reservation was duly made. Not too surprisingly, one topic of their discussion was the matter of dessert. M believes that he overheard the words “torta de limón.”

Both of us slept well last night and we are finally starting to feel a little more normal. There is an archaeological museum just twenty minutes walk from us and we hope to maybe get over there tomorrow.

Friday, January 26th

LOCAL WOMAN COMPLETES 15-YEAR EMBROIDERY PROJECT!

Sunday, January 26th

WATERFOWL INVASION!

Tuesday, January 28th

MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES VANISH!

Wednesday, January 29th

LOCAL WOMAN DISCOVERS NEW TYPE OF FUR TREE!

Thursday, January 30th

Yes, it’s been quite a week, even without considering the fact that we had eight straight days of sun. Thank goodness that’s over. All clouds today, with rain coming.

Sunday, February 2nd

A quiet day today. M worked on his writing; E spent some time in the garden, refreshing bird feeders and looking for signs of very early flowers. And yes, she found some, first a couple of snowdrops in the backyard and then multiple blooms on the sarcococca bush by our front door.

In the evening we watched another very nice movie: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikiry. It’s about a man who owns a bookstore on an island off Cape Cod. More and more these days, we judge the value of an evening movie by how close it comes to keeping us fully awake throughout its length. By that measure, we give this one five stars. See this Cinemaholic link for a short (and spoilerless) feature about the film.

Snowdrops and sarcococca are nice, but neither provides any burst of color. For that we have to go indoors, where some far showier annuals are on display.

Monday, February 3rd

We were doing some trip planning yesterday and E realized that she would have to change the date of her next dental appointment. When she called this morning to make the change, she feared that the appointment might have to be postponed till April. But instead she was told that due to a cancellation there was an opening at 2:00 PM today! E thought this was wonderful, the only drawback being that today was a Monday. Dr Laster’s cupcake delivery day is Tuesday and she would have to forego her favorite treat. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

Or can you? During her appointment, E was informed by the hygienist that their cupcake delivery day had recently changed to….Monday! Faithful readers can well imagine E’s positive reaction to this news. In fact, as she related the events to M, she seemed somewhat abashed at perhaps having overreacted, in which case her young hygienist might be thinking that she is eccentric or something. Well. We all know what to think about that.

Friday, January 3rd

Russian tea cakes (formed into balls and rolled in 6 Tbsp powdered sugar, excellent)

Friday, January 10th

We took a longish hike today, on a trail that we’d never gotten around to even though it is very near. Called the Mulkey Ridge trail, it is a 3.9 mile route that passes through two natural areas located on the western edge of Corvallis. The trail first passes down through the Fitton Green Natural Area and then along Mulkey Ridge through beautiful oak savannah. For variety there are also some big old firs and a healthy population of madrone. But the main thing is that it is semi-open country with lots of fine views, which is quite different from a fir forest with its view of nothing by tree trunks. About two and a half miles in, our trail went up to the top of the ridge, where we stopped for lunch at a bench in the sun. After that the trail took us down to Mulkey Creek and then continued east through a section of the original Green Belt Land Trust property. The route ends at the Bald Hill parking lot, where we had conveniently stashed an extra car so as to be able to drive back to where we’d parked the other.

Both creek and ridge are named for a family of immigrants who arrived in Oregon in 1846. Johnson and Susanna Mulkey were from Missouri and brought eight children with them. They settled on a homestead claim just west of Corvallis (then still known as Marysville.) Accompanying them was a young black woman named Ame. Missouri was then a slave state and in Missouri that’s what Ame had been. Once she entered Oregon, Amy was technically no longer a slave because slavery was not legal in Oregon. But she wasn’t free either. Oregon’s solution to the slavery controversy had been to pass a law saying that no black person would be allowed to live in Oregon. Any black person who chose to live in Oregon was subject to being publicly whipped every sixth months until that person decided to move on. But at least out in the hills west of Marysville, no one cared to enforce any of that legal folderol. The Mulkeys were able to ignore Oregon law and keep Ame on, still considering her to be their slave.

According to a memoir written by one of his granddaughters, Johnson Mulkey was a big believer in education. In the early days, he built a schoolhouse on his land and invited his neighbors to send their children there for free. Later on, a larger district school was established in area. During the Civil War this school suffered disruption due to the fact that the schoolmaster, a man named Emery Allen, was an anti-slavery northerner while some of the children came for families that had immigrated from the south. Writing many years later, Maude Keady, the memoirist granddaughter, remembered it this way:

Mr. Allen forbid the children to yell for Jeff Davis on the school grounds but allowed them to yell all they liked for [President] Abe Lincoln. One day enthusiasm ran high for Abe Lincoln.  There had been lots of cheering, so my mother did not wait until she was off the school grounds until she began yelling for Jeff Davis. One of the younger Horning boys followed her lead. The next day, Mr. Allen called them up and threatened to whip them but finally let them go without the whipping.  However, the school board, who were Uncle Charlie Johnson, Mr. Horning and someone else, discharged Mr. Allen and payed him off in greenbacks, which were at a considerable discount at that time.

As for Ame, she continued in her doubly illegal status even after the war, the Emancipation Proclamation notwithstanding. When Johnson and Susanna Mulkey died, she was passed along to their daughter Mary, who had married a man named John Porter. Ame outlived all four of these ostensible owners. She was buried in a Corvallis cemetery, near the plot owned by the Mulkey family but not quite inside it. Here is the marker:

When we first came to Corvallis in the late 1970s, there was a shop downtown called Mulkey’s Shoe Repair. In 1982, the shop was the site of a shotgun murder. But that’s a story for another time.

Wednesday, January 15th

It just takes a little sun for the solar car to really get going…

…until it runs into the shade.

Friday, January 17th

We had dinner at Ba’s in Albany with B and J. Ba’s seems to be popular these days; we were lucky to get there just before the rush. We all had warm noodle salads. Good stuff. M says their pho is also great.

We’ve been getting in contact with friends and family a lot lately. Perhaps it’s a response to the times.

Saturday, January 18th

Mexican Wedding Cookies (rolled in an entire bowl of powdered sugar, and perhaps even more excellent)

Sunday, January 19th

Over the last month or so, we’ve had to scramble over a fallen tree every time we walked up to Cronemiller Lake in the OSU forest. But not today.

Along the way we found a new sign. Maybe it’s because we’re English teachers, but to us it seemed a bit off.

Monday, January 20th

Sunny today with highs in the 40s. We did our grocery shopping early, then M fetched the red car out its winter quarters. To give the cat some exercise, we drove up to Wilsonville and met the Andees for lunch.

In the evening we watched The Six Triple Eight, a movie about a battalion of black women who served in Europe during World War II. We’d intended to stop in the middle and save the last half for another day, but it was so absorbing that we had to see it all. Very inspiring.

Sunday December 29th

When the rain let up for a few minutes, we popped over to our local wetland for a walk.

Tuesday, December 31

We stayed up late on New Year’s Eve, working on a puzzle and a bottle of champagne. At midnight we turned on the TV to see what we could see. We saw Ryan Seacrest introducing Carrie Underwood at Times Square. We watched Carrie for a moment and admired her outfit. But it was a weird scene. We switched over to Channel 1962 and watched Perry Mason instead. Amazingly, Perry hadn’t changed much. As the story went along, handsome Paul Drake dug up some important information; attractive Della Street made a perceptive observation; and Lt. Tragg proved himself to be plodding but honest. DA Hamilton Burger–he whose sole mission in life was to condemn innocent people to long prison terms–was again outwitted by the wily Perry, who for some reason was walking around without his wheelchair.

Wednesday, January 1st

It rained most of the day here, which was no great surprise because it’s been doing that for about as long as we can remember at this point. We turned on the wipers and drove out to A’s place in the country for a very nice New Year’s Day gathering. To start off the year she made a pot of black-eyed peas–peas for peace–as is her custom.

We also found time to finish the puzzle that we started last night. It’s called Mushroom Boy and was harder than we expected. It was expertly crafted though, and the pieces had interesting shapes and were easy to handle. Made by the New York puzzle company.

Thursday January 2nd

Most of the action was at the bird feeder.

Sunday January 5th

We took a walk in the forest today and found lots of mud. We don’t have any good pictures of the mud, but we do have these three gems, which we plan to display in the next Lying Captions Showcase at the county fairgrounds.

Today E received an unusual message from one of her contacts in the state of New York. Her informant recently had a medical appointment at a large, newly constructed clinic. After finishing up with the doctor, our source came back into the waiting room and found that it was much more crowded than it had been earlier. According to our witness, many of the new arrivals were sitting with their heads hanging sideways and some had their tongues hanging out. We hasten to say that this message was received under less than ideal conditions and that we cannot be sure that the information is accurate. But if it is, things look to be getting pretty tough back there in the east.

Monday January 6th

Unsettling weather phenomenon today. As E began her walk, she was astonished to see her shadow on the grass, along with the shadows of various trees cast upon the house. There was also an extremely bright yellowish disk up in the sky. The two phenomena may be related. More research is needed.

Tuesday January 7th

E went back to Smart Reading today, down at Lincoln School. She had a wonderful time, meeting with three separate third and fourth grade kids, all of whom seemed enthusiastic about books and reading. Also, the location for the reading has changed from last year’s use of the open plan lunchroom to this year’s placement in the library, which is a lovely second floor room with lots of light and a great view. The most popular books, however, continue to be the Who Will Win?/¿Quién Ganará? series. (Sample titles: ¿Quién Ganará: Oso Polar o Oso Grizzly? and Who Will Win: Triceratops or Stegosaurus?

Monday, December 9th

It was another cold, damp day, but off we went for a walk down at Snag Boat Bend south of Peoria. (E loves this hike, but loves its name even more.) The first part of the main trail is a boardwalk, built to cross three or four hundred feet of ground that tends to get mucky when wet. Usually we like boardwalks. They’re softer underfoot than gravel or pavement. But we didn’t like this one. The planks were a little worn and had gotten super slippery after many days of rain. So each step was an adventure. On our return leg we took another route.

After the boardwalk ended and we were back in contact with planet Earth, the trail followed along the bank of an old meander channel of the Willamette, which is now a backwater. The color palette was mostly soft greens and grays, but then…

Snag Boat Bend is a detached ‘Unit’ of the Finley National Refuge. It’s a small area just in the middle of the flattest part of the Willamette Valley. The soil is excellent here and the unit is surrounded by farmland. Here’s a little of what that looks like.

We thought this might be a grass seed field, but we found out it wasn’t. This grass is growing for the benefit of sheep. We know that because as we walked along the south edge of the refuge, we came across a couple of farmers building fence along the north edge of the field. We exchanged a few words while E knelt for a moment to reassure their dog, who was nervous about us. The fence making moved fast and consumed only minimal resources: just short, skinny poles holding up a single strand of soft wire. The poles appeared to be bambu and were thin enough to be pushed into the wet ground easily. We doubt that the farmers were thrilled to have visitors strolling by as they worked, but they were very pleasant to us and of course we did not linger. This was the most interesting part of our walk, and also the most difficult for us to describe. All we have are questions. Who are they? How long have they been farming? What is their life like? How do they manage to work in the cold? What are they going to have for lunch?

Friday, December 13th

M has been under the weather lately, leaving E to her own devices. She went hiking in our old neighborhood of McDonald Forest and found an unusual view of Cronemiller Lake.

Saturday, December 14th

Wednesday, December 18th

The holiday season proceeds apace. Best wishes to all.

Wednesday, November 13th

Rain all day today, the real stuff. We were thinking of a hike out in the Crestwood Land Trust area, but we decided it was too wet for that. Instead we just went up to Calloway Creek. Much of the trail there goes through a managed fir forest that was thinned a number of years ago and these days there are three distinct levels of vegetation there. The lowest layer consists of fern and blackberry. Then comes a layer of foliage from deciduous understory trees. At Calloway, these are mostly Oregon hazel,–unimpressive, tattered looking things that grow about eight feet high. Above them you see only the spiky trunks of middle-aged firs, unless you really crane your neck to see their crowns.

Thursday, November 14th

Friday, November 15th

There is still lots of rain going on these days. We did get to see the recent full moon, but only through a layer of cloud.

What would happen to animals–pets, domesticated or wild–if humans were to suddenly die off? We have both just finished reading Hollow Kingdom, a novel that suggests some possible answers to that question, in an entertaining sort of way. The story is told from the viewpoint of a pet crow. Once the apocalypse begins, the crow has a lot to learn, as do all the other creatures who survive.

E’s current book is James, the re-imagining of the Huckleberry Finn story from the viewpoint of Huck’s companion, the escaped slave Jim.

Sunday, November 17th

We went up to Salem today and had dinner at Happy Bibimbap. A and A drove down from Vancouver and met us there. It was a lovely evening and the food was good. (But if anyone offers you a Korean beer called Terra, you might want to give it a pass.)

Tuesday, November 18th

Margaret Atwood came to Corvallis today–on her birthday–to give a talk as part of Oregon State’s Provost’s Lecture Series. The lecture was to be accessible either in-person at PRAx or via streaming. We were both interested in seeing Atwood, as was our friend H. H managed to get tickets to attend in person while we had to settle for watching the stream.

M’s interest in Atwood dates from long ago and centers on an early novel of hers called Surfacing, which he first read in the 1970’s. In 2018, the year of M’s great purging of the books, Surfacing was one of only twenty or so books that M couldn’t bear to part with. One of the very earliest entries to this very blog included a photo of the striking cover of his 1972 copy of the book, along with some thoughts about it.

OSU is primarily an Ag, Science and Tech school, but these days it does have a rather nice arts complex. The PRAx center for the creative arts at OSU was completed just two years ago with funds provided largely by private donors, including a $25 million gift from Patricia Valian Reser, who graduated from OSU in 1960. Patricia Valian was born in 1938 in Windsor, Ontario Canada and was the daughter of a sheet metal worker. You can see an oral history sketch of her life here.

So anyway, how was the lecture? Well, E and M haven’t actually seen it yet. H says it was good. She has seen it, but via a video stream instead of in-person. Huh? What? Didn’t she go to PRAx to see it? Yes she did, but when she got there she found out that the lecture had been…not cancelled exactly…but changed. The reasons are somewhat murky. One story has it that there was a bomb threat. But the more accepted explanation is that when Atwood arrived in town and found out that OSU’s graduate teaching assistants were on strike, she informed OSU that she couldn’t give the talk because she did not cross picket lines.

Apparently some sort of compromise was reached. Atwood agreed to give the talk, but only for the camera. The talk was then streamed, but access to the stream was limited to only those who had originally registered to attend in person. People like us, who had originally registered for streaming would be able to stream eventually, but not until November 25th. Well.

Thursday, November 21st

We had J and B over to dinner tonight. It was great to catch up with them. B had shoulder surgery just four weeks ago and is wearing a sling. This did not prevent him from bringing along a very nice autumn salad of brussels sprouts and cabbage dressed with hints of maple syrup. E and M contributed tomato cheese pie and gelato. J came through with a bottle of local pinot noir. The winery is called Lumos and is located just a dozen miles away from us. Here’s how the Lumos people describe their Pumphouse pinot : Lean, hungry, and playful, the 2019 vintage of the Pumphouse block carries on the windswept tradition of previous years with its aromas of wet brick, goji berries, and blood orange. Flavors of thimbleberry and cinnamon intermingle with these scents…

The wine was very good. We were pleased to see that it was a wet brick wine as we have never found a dry brick wine that we like. We did not detect the flavor of thimbleberry, but this is only due to our own ignorance. Even though we grow thimbleberries, we have never tasted them. We also missed the cinnamon note and could not fully appreciate the wine’s windsweptness. This was probably due to our old and worn down taste buds.

Friday, November 22nd

Today we took a hike in the Crestwood Land Trust natural area, the hike that we had postponed the week before. As we were preparing to leave our house, the weather was quite nice: periods of sun, though with some ominous clouds. Our drive to the trailhead took about 40 minutes and was an eventful one. At the 20 minute mark we saw a beautiful rainbow, an arch that reached out in the direction we were going and appeared to touch down almost exactly at the place where our hike would start. Ah-ha! said we, we’re going to find the end of the rainbow. But, alas, when we got to the trailhead, we found that the “bow” part of rainbow had been deleted and the other part had taken over. It was raining pretty hard.

So we bundled up and walked out into the rain like people who didn’t know any better. On the first part of the trail we searched in vain for all the acorn woodpeckers that we had seen on our last visit. They weren’t dumb. We took just a photo or two of the soggy scene.

After a while, though, the weather started to improve. Soon we had our hoods off and a little after that we noticed we had shadows. By the time we got to the viewpoint where we planned to have lunch, it was pretty nice.

By the time we had eaten and hiked back to the car, another rainbow had appeared and seemed to be coming to earth right close to us. No pot of gold though. Darn.

In the evening E and her friend H went to a folk music concert at the Best Cellar Coffeehouse in the basement of the Methodist church. They enjoyed it immensely. Since neither E nor H can see well enough at night to drive, they relied on the Ü-beck transportation service to get them there. In the interest of fairness they used an Ü-beck competitor to get themselves home.

Sunday, November 24th

It’s been a nice weekend, cool and damp, but not really raining very much. Both of us have been working outside a bit, cutting away dead things and prepping plants for winter. On Saturday morning, E went out early and walked to the French pastry shop to secure us three weeks’ worth of croissants. That evening she walked with M over to Tacovore for dinner. On Sunday she walked again–just in the neighborhood–and found a holly bush with berries.

E thinks of holly berries as a sign of winter. But at our house, in an area that never sees the sun at this time of year, we still have signs of summer: two azalea bushes in bloom accompanied by a pink and purple fuchsia. It’s a little confusing.

Tuesday, November 5th

M was off into the mountains again, taking a ‘short cut’ from Five Rivers Road to a place on the Alsea River called Missouri Bend. Things were damp and misty over there, but it only rained a little.

Wednesday, November 6th

E went to the OSU Repair Fair last night, with M serving as chauffeur. She took along her old folding camp chair that she purchased at a Greek big-box store in Cyprus in 2003. Over the years some of the fabric had begun to fail, threatening serious structural collapse. In the sewing section of the Fair, E found a young woman willing to take on the job, even though it required hand sewing because the fabric could not be removed from the chair. First she fixed it; then she decorated the mended place. Results below.

In other news, it’s been raining pretty steadily here for a week. It’s about time. Happily, the rains held off during the trick or treating hours on Halloween.

We also note that our readers have not, at least so far, shown any enthusiasm for M’s suggestion that a fine route from Corvallis to Yachats would be to travel via New York, Mumbai, and San Francisco. Yeah…we know; it’s hard to believe. Of course people might have been distracted by other things that were going on in the world in early November…

Thursday, November 7th

The rain has stopped and we’ve taken the opportunity to rake leaves and do other garden chores.

Friday, November 8th

We took a walk in the forest today. Saw a couple of slugs, quite a bit of moss, and many thousands of maple leaves. Also, fungi.

Back at the house, we noticed that the November sun is low in the south even in the middle of the day.

In the evening E accompanied her friend H to a reception given by the OSU Foundation to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a major renovation of the OSU Library. Some of us remember that renovation because in 1999, when it was going on, M, H and E all had offices just across the street from the construction. The building being renovated dated from the 1960’s. It was a large, five-story cube in that infamous sixties block style, so from the outside it was pretty ugly. Indeed, it was almost as ugly as the building just across the street that housed the English Language Institute.

So, back then, despite the construction noise, we were happy to see that the library was getting a remodel. And the result was not disappointing. It was much nicer looking and we no longer got brutal sun glare from its glass paneled southern wall. Even better, they added a full service coffee shop, which we came to enjoy very much. (This is the very shop that came to be the scene of the Barista Décolletage Incident of 2007, but that’s another story.)

H is a long time donor to various OSU departments, which explains her invitation to the day’s event, an invitation that allowed her to bring a guest of her choice. The event included a tour followed by a buffet served in the fourth floor rotunda. There were two separate age groups on hand. The great majority of the donors were seniors, while the OSU hosts and speakers were mostly women similar in age to E’s and H’s daughters. Both H and E were impressed by how well the event was organized–especially in the matter of catering. As E put it, the girls did a great job.

Saturday, October 12th

We joined J, B and H at the old Lewisburg Grange Hall for a special midday dinner. The hall, once the site of M&E’s wedding, currently belongs to the St. Anne’s Greek Orthodox Church, the organizers of our annual Greek Fest. The food is invariably delicious.

After the main meal, we all got dessert to take away and adjourned to our back patio, where M served Greek coffee that he made in a Turkish cezve. (Hope St Anne is not reading this.)

Friday, October 19th

A couple of out of state readers have shared some beautiful photos of fall foliage. Here’s a contribution from Oregon…

Sunday, October 20th

Time for another visit to Dufur, Oregon and a two-night stay at the Balch Hotel. We packed up the electric car and left Corvallis around 10:00 in the morning. The weather was cloudy with rain in the forecast. But we were headed east, and it would likely be clearer over that way. As we got into the mountains, we stopped for a driver change at Cascade Park, as we often do. It was deserted, and still lovely at this time of year. While we were there, did we discover that we had forgotten to bring our luggage? No.

We went over the Cascade mountains to Redmond and then turned north, stopping in Madras to charge up and do some shopping for snacks. By late afternoon we were in Dufur, just 20 miles south the Columbia River, safely checked into the Balch Hotel.

In its original form the hotel had 28 rooms and four shared bathrooms. Some of the rooms have since been converted to have their own baths, but many others remain pretty much as they were. They look like this.

The four original shared bathrooms have all been preserved and are also lovely. Each one is really two separate rooms–one for the tub and one for the toilet and sink.

Our dinner at the Balch was excellent–salmon cakes for E, grilled salmon for M, and chocolate cake to share.

Monday, October 21st

Our plan for the day was to zip up to the Gorge and take I-84 a few miles east to the mouth of the Deschutes River, where we would go hiking. But on the way, we stopped at the Dufur Community Cemetery. The cemetery was established in the late nineteenth century and for many years was known as the Dufur Rebeckah Lodge Cemetery. The Rebeckahs deeded it to the county in 1975.

We got to the Deschutes State Recreation Area around 11:00. The Deschutes River is 252 miles long, originating far to the south near the border with California and flowing north all the way to the Columbia, which forms the border with Washington. In the photo you can see the Deschutes as it flows under the highway and railroad bridges and into the big river.

We hiked about four miles, first walking upstream on a trail that runs along the river’s edge, then changing to a different trail higher up on the hill.

Tuesday, October 22nd

Time to start the trip home. We checked out of the Balch at around 10:00 and headed back up to I-84. We were getting low on charge, but the internet told us that there was a fast charger in Hood River, just 30 miles away in the direction of Portland. Luckily, that proved to be true, and after twenty minutes of charging at Electrify America, we continued on our way. Around 12:30 we were through Portland and entering the suburb of Tigard, where we stopped at the REI at Bridgeport Village. This allowed us to achieve one of the other objectives of the trip, which was to get E some new waterproof hiking/walking shoes. Lunch was had in the REI parking lot, where we dined on leftovers from the previous night’s dinner at a brewpub in The Dalles. (The Balch restaurant wasn’t open on Monday.) A parking lot might sound like a terrible place to have lunch; but if you’ve been to that particular one, you know it’s actually pretty nice.

Wednesday, October 23rd

E is reading Goodnight Sweet Prince, a book about actor John Barrymore that was published in 1944, shortly after his death. Barrymore’s long acting career began in live theatre in the early 1900’s and then partially transitioned into silent movies beginning in 1912. Barrymore later made an easy transition into talking pictures in the early 1930’s. Barrymore’s greatest acting triumphs were in the early phases–the period before his life-long alcoholism started to catch up with him. Of his many stage performances, his portrayals of Richard III and of Hamlet were the best known. Orson Welles said many years later that Barrymore’s 1922 performance in New York was the best Hamlet he had ever seen. In 1925 Barrymore took his version of Hamlet to London, where it received positive reviews and was seen by a very young actor named John Geilgud. On his program, Geilgud jotted down his impressions, noting that Barrymore “had a wonderful edge and a demonic sense of humor” and also that his performance had “tenderness, remoteness, and neurosis all placed with great delicacy and used with immense effectiveness and admirable judgment”.

Barrymore made many silent films, most of which were judged by critics to be low quality movies partially redeemed by the brilliance of their star. The best known of these might be 1924’s Beau Brummell. During the filming, it is said that Barrymore, then forty, had an affair with co-star Mary Astor, who was then seventeen.

These days the easiest way to see Barrymore’s work is to watch the talking pictures from the 1930’s. Tonight we watched Grand Hotel, a pre-code, pre-color film starring John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, and Wallace Beery. It’s a wonderful movie with great acting from all of the principal players, and of course includes one of the most famous lines of dialogue in all of cinema history. (If you don’t know what that line might be, here’s a hint. It’s not Barrymore’s line and it’s not Crawford’s either; it’s Garbo’s.)

Thursday, October 24th

E attended a meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. Although the members all enjoyed getting together, the occasion was marred by an inferior lemon meringue pie! Sourced from a previously reliable bakery, this pie, says E, was an all round flop with watery filling, soggy crust and partially uncooked meringue. Yikes. Not a single plate was licked.