Month: October 2020

Monday, October 19     Deaths   628  (+8)   Cases  39,794 (+262)

A couple of short walks, just around the neighborhood. E had Better Bones and Balance via Zoom while M did a final run-through of his Chile talk. Then we did an hour of Turkish study , preparing for our next lesson, which will be on Wednesday since the regular Monday class has been changed to Thursday. E also did a last run-through for Chile; then she switched gears and practiced using the LearnCube white board for Turkish. But that was after she went to Bi-Mart for misc. goods and Halloween candy. E made another simple and healthy dinner. Then we settled in to watch the last episode of Season 2 of The Gift. It was very disappointing. The show has many virtues, but without a good season-ender we don’t feel that it has been a good investment of our time and attention. Will we ever watch Season 3? Well…it’s not impossible.

It was a cool and partly cloudy day with a beautiful sunset. Probably should be spending more time outside instead of doing all this digital interaction. 

Tuesday, October 20     Deaths  633  (+6)   Cases  40,136 (+242)

The Chile webinar, long awaited and much feared, has now come and gone. It went okay. M forgot to tell the young teachers to be that they’re going to have to love their students, but that might have been a little too mushy anyway. It’s a great relief to have it over with.

We celebrated with a take-out dinner from Tacovore, complete with a large glass of their incomparable lime juice, which we knew how to turn into a couple of margaritas. 

Wednesday, October 21     Deaths   635 (+2)   Cases  40,443 (+307)

In Turkish class today we learned how to say on the left/right side of something (street, page, river, etc.) You start with the thing you’re talking about, such as street. Then you make that word possessive by adding the proper possessive ending (in,nin,ın or nın). Then you add sağ (right) or sol (left) followed by the correct genetive ending (i/si/ı/sı). Then you add the locative suffix “da” but when you do that you have to remember to use the “n” spacer. Oh, and don’t forget that when you add the possessive ending to a word ending in “k”, such as “sokak” (street) the “k” changes to a silent ğ. So there you have it, sokağnın sağında, on the right side of the street. Wasn’t that easy? No. But is it logical? Yeah, it pretty much is. 

After class, we were off to the nursery to buy some trees and poppy seeds. We’ve been considering what to get for a long time. We are committed now to making our yard more of a native environment for birds, caterpillars and whatever, so we needed native plants. Garland has a good selection of natives, all in one place. Nice. For trees we ended up choosing a cascara and a vine maple. Then it was time for lunch, after which E went off on more garden related business, picking up some bulbs and seeds at the fall plant sale connected to the Tribal Native Plant Program of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. M headed out to the back yard to begin the process of converting a portion of our back lawn to some sort of prairie. 

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Winter Sun (Kış Günesi) a Turkish series we watched once before long ago. We’re trying to see if we catch more Turkish this time. So far, M has understood mostly just the old standbys: I love you, calm down, etc. But E is understanding a number of bits and pieces, including Trust me, which another basic staple of Turkish dramatic dialog.

Thursday, October 22     Deaths   646 (+11)   Cases  40,810 (+367)

Nice talk with J and R today. We had to do a Zoom tertulia this time since the temperature in the morning was too far down the scale to allow having coffee and scones outside. This time the menu was oatmeal for J and R, waffles with blueberries for M and E. We had to cut tertulia a little short so as to be ready for Turkish at 9:00. A kind of review and catch up lesson today. We went over the endings for present/present continuous verbs. It’s a bit like Spanish, in that the person is shown by a verb ending and you don’t actually need a pronoun. For example, in English we have a series of three-word sentences: I am happy, you are happy, she is happy, we are happy, you(all) are happy, and they are happy. Spanish does it with a series of two-word sentences: estoy contento, estas contento, esta contenta, estamos contentos, estais contentos, estan contentos. Turkish does it with a series of one-word sentences: mutluyum, mutlusun, mutlu, mutluyuz, mutlusunuz, mutlular. More importantly, we learned that the word for hot (sıcak), when it is used to describe a person, indicates that the person is warm-hearted, not that they are that other thing. 

After Turkish, it was time for rest, recovery and lunch. Then E had to get ready for her HEPAJ meeting at H’s house, from which she had to hurry home to do laughter Yoga. M dug in the dirt and planted trees.

On this the 210th day of PD recording keeping, the Oregon COVID news is not so good. In the most recent 10-day period, we had an average of almost five deaths per day, continuing the upward trend of the last 30 days and coming close to the peaks we had in August and early September. Here’s the updated chart.

Friday, October 23     Deaths   649 (+3)   Cases  41,348 (+538)

Did an outing today with B and B up to Mary’s Peak, up to the top where one of the B’s had never been. Drove in separate cars up to the parking lot, then hiked together up to the summit. Mostly sunny when we arrived with great views in all directions. Cold wind, though, and we all bundled up. It got considerably cloudier as we walked back down to the cars. To get out of the wind, we drove down to the campground to have lunch. Delicious! B–the one who does most of the cooking–had made chocolate chip cookies. Super, as the Turks say, (although when they say it, they stress the second syllable, so it sounds like zoo-PEAR). E brought a thermos of hot tea, which was extremely welcome. M brought a flask with just enough Aberfeldy for everyone to have a mini-shot. Also welcome. When we got back to town the temperature was up in the mid 50’s and our coats were way too warm.

E talked to her old friend L. in Vanautu in the afternoon, a FaceTime call out of the blue. L left upstate New York many moons ago and went to live with husband T in a tropical paradise. We visited them in the late nineties to see it for ourselves. Some years later L came to Turkey while we were there and we traveled around Ephesus together. E and L hadn’t been in touch for the last few years, so it was wonderful for them to catch up.

The last little while has been crazy full of international contact. Besides Vanuatu, we had Zoom Turkish lessons from Germany, Zoom webinar presentations to Chile and the Skype call with Margie in Spain. It makes M’s head spin.

Saturday, October 24     Deaths   653 (+4)   Cases  41,739 (+391)

Eve did her usual heroic Saturday duties. First she walked over to the Patissier for croissants. She says that the guy with the oxygen canister on his belt was there again, serving as an example to us all. Let not a mere breathing problem keep you from croissants. She then went out to do a dog walk for her friend but found the dog cowering indoors because of some shooting going on out there in the country. She decided to bring Pepper back to our place in town and let him run around the back yard for a while. That worked fine; Pepper pretty much stayed in constant motion till it was time to take him home. M, meanwhile, was still digging in the dirt, preparing an area of lawn to become a ‘meadow’ next spring. The dog made a contribution. 

Dinner was take-out from Ba’s Vietnamese Comfort Rood in Albany. We had to take the Porsche to pick it up because the Mazda was ailing. E got the vegan curry, M the beef pho. We both got the large size portions, which we carefully halved as soon as we got home, one half to eat and one to save for another day. 

After dinner we had a FaceTime call with Andi and Andy. Andy is settling into his new job working for the Post Office. He has to work tomorrow, as the USPS does package work for Amazon on Sundays. Andrea is starting a new job with Banfield next week, one that she expects will be more challenging and more interesting than what she has been doing.

Sunday, October 25     Deaths   653(+0)   Cases  41,101 (+362)

Zoom meeting with the siblings today, E from Corvallis, Jim from Clifton Park, and John from the new cottage at the lake. Jim reported that he has not been getting messages on his phone as it is locked outside in his car. Joanne can still answer a landline however, so that’s how the meeting organizer was finally able to contact him. Jim still has his old Corvette and they’ve been out in it quite recently. Good for them. John moved his camera to show us his canine friend, Mabel, who is currently keeping him company up at the lake. Mabel is a Puerto Rican immigrant, a refugee from Hurricane Maria. E showed a picture that she had come across while perusing old albums. It was of one of their great grandfathers on their mother’s side, one Luther Ochampaugh, a Vermonter worked with his brother as a cheesemaker. 

After the meeting E and M put the jumper cables on the Mazda and got it going again. Once it started up, we noticed that the gas gauge read empty, which seemed absurd, but there it was.  M put in half a gallon and we headed off to the gas station. After half a block, the gauge jumped up to one eighth full. Good news. After three blocks it jumped to more than a quarter full. By the time we got to the station it had settled in at about three fourths full. Very peculiar.

After lunch we got outside for a bit and then, when we were nice and tired, our Turkish teacher sent us the homework for tomorrow. Dragged ourselves through that. We’ve learned that preparation pays. 

Dinner was roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad. Lezzetli! (Delicious!) Daha sonra iki televizyon programı izledik. (Later two television programs we watched.) One was an episode of Kış Güneşi and the other was Part 4 of Flesh and Blood on PBS. We’ve now watched all four parts of the latter. It’s not terrible, but that’s as far as we’ll go.

Monday, October 12     Deaths   599  (+0)   Cases  37,467 (+218)

Having seen a near record high number of deaths reported last Thursday, we now get a second straight day of zero deaths. That helps some, but the trend is again upward. Here’s an updated chart on this the 200th day of the Pandemic Diary database. 

Tuesday, October 13     Deaths   605  (+6)   Cases  37,770  (+259)

Last night we watched more of The Gift, a Netflix series filmed in Turkey by a Turkish production company. It’s very good. There are lots of beautiful location scenes, both in the city and out in the Anatolian steppes. Much of the action in Episode 4 took place on Mount Nemrut, a site in southeastern Turkey where lie the ruins of the tomb-sanctuary of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene. In Episode 3 Atiye dodged one bullet by bailing out of her wedding just in time. She’d been conflicted already, and when she learned that her mother had lied to her about nearly everything, that did it and she was out of there. But she cannot dodge her destiny. By the end of Episode 4 we understand that the mantle has been passed. Her sister Cansu, meanwhile, has broken out of the friend zone…but now feels terrible.

This morning E had an exercise class and doctor’s appointment; M did some grocery shopping. Weather wet and blustery. Turkish homework in the afternoon. 

Wednesday, October 14     Deaths   608  (+3)   Cases  38,160 (+380)

Turkish lesson this morning. We learned how to say “Shopping to do going am I” which is of course  “Alışveriş yapmaya gidiyorum.” That means we should also be able to say “Shopping to do went I” (Alışveriş yapmaya gittim.) So the next time M or E goes shopping at the Co-op, we should be able to report the fact in Turkish–provided that we remember any of this beyond the next few hours.

With all this attention toTurkey, we have been thinking a lot about our good friend Neşe, who unfortunately passed away about two years ago. Eve met her when both were working at the Turkish American Association in Ankara. After we left Turkey, Neşe came to visit us in Oregon. It was blackberry season when she was here and our neighbor Rich invited us to come picking at a place just south of town. Rich, who has also since passed away, was a former professional football player. Here’s a picture of the two of them. Presumably, Rich picked the high-up berries while Neşe got the ones lower down…

We also visited Neşe after she had moved from Ankara to the Mediterranean coastal city of Alanya, where she worked with a Georgetown study abroad program. Here’s one of our favorite photos from that time.

Thursday, October 15     Deaths   611  (+3)   Cases  38,525 (+365)

Tertulia at Bohdi’s once again. Although the sky was clear and the sun was bright, and it was a little chilly at 8:30 in the morning. You have to dress for it. At the other end of the day, we had dinner and wine with J and B (or was it B and J? We forget.) Anyway, that was also very nice. They have a large front porch that was designed–along with the rest of house–by B himself. It’s just right for this pandemicky sort of entertaining. Even if it had rained we would have been cozy. 

Friday, October 16     Deaths   617  (+6)   Cases  38,935 (+410)

Worked on Zoom skills in the morning. At lunchtime we went hiking once again in Mcdonald Forest. Several miles, so not just a walk. Had a visit from R. who came over by bicycle around 4:00. He’s looking well. Our friend P. also came over around 5:00. Weather was fine and we entertained both the guests on the back patio. Nice. Had some olive and cheese sandwiches with P and then later on dined on leftover chili. We got some carrot cake cupcakes from Trader Joe’s in honor of P’s birthday. Hm. Probably won’t do that again.

Saturday, October 17     Deaths   620  (+3)   Cases  39,316 (+381)

Spent most of the day prepping for seminar coming up next Tuesday. Ridiculous behavior. Splurged on take-out dinners from Sybaris. M liked his entree; E was disappointed by her pumpkin stuffed ravioli. We shared a Boston cream pie for dessert. Neither of us was disappointed by that. We were thinking that while we do miss going out to restaurants, having restaurant food at home also has its points. You can say whatever you want or laugh as load as you want anytime; plus the wine is a lot cheaper.

After dinner we watched more of The Gift.

Sunday, October 18     Deaths   620  (+0)   Cases  39,532 (+216)

The Patissier was closed but E fetched breakfast for us anyway on her morning walk–a chocolate donut for M, a cherry danish for herself. Then more Zoom practice. Then E had a Skype visit with her friend M in Madrid. M reports that the virus continues to be a serious problem in Spain. She says that most people wear masks while walking down the street, but then they go into crowded bars to meet their friends and of course everyone removes their masks to drink and talk. Sigh. M has two granddaughters, one seven and one three (?). She wants to teach them some English while they’re young. She’s having some success with the older one but less with the younger. The little one has been known to say (in a three-year-old’s Spanish) “I want to sit with grandma now, but not for studying English.”

M meanwhile was opening up our newish furnace to check the filter. Sure enough, the weeks of smoke and ash from the fires has left it sorely in need of replacement. The filter size turns out to be not a common one, so he had to order online. Once he started thinking about the garage, M was moved to try and tidy it up a bit. This involved moving the Porsche out so as to get better access to some storage shelves and etc. and etc. We still have debris from the great cupboard delivery and he got rid of some of that as well. Then, since the little car was already out in the driveway, it seemed like a good time to take a quick ride. While he was gone and the garage was sort of clear, E rearranged some of her stuff in her quest to create more free space, possibly enough for a bicycle. Then it was time for a walk, which took us to exotic places like Anjni Circle and Angelika Avenue. We ran across a street party, a dozen or more neighbors on lawn chairs arranged in a large circle on the pavement in the center of their cul-de-sac turnaround. They were a friendly group, even offering to let us join them if we paid a $2.50 entry fee. Back at home we had a bit of Turkish study and then E jumped in the car and took our completed ballots down to the drop box at the courthouse. It turned out to be a kind of party atmosphere with a line of cars and people saying ‘Yay for voting!” She says it was an energizing experience. When she got home, it was time for dinner: leftover spinach dal (once cooked by M), leftover raita (once whipped up by E), and fresh cooked but oddly mushy rice also courtesy of one who shall be nameless. Sunday night TV included two episodes of The Gift and and one episode of Flesh and Blood on PBS. Lastly we had to check the daily Oregon COVID news and as noted above, it turns out nobody died that day, which is quite fine and deserves a mention.

Monday, October 5     Deaths   572  (+0)   Cases  35,049  (+279)

Had our first Turkish lesson today, coming to us from Rostock, Germany via LearnCube. Yo! It was hard! LearnCube seems pretty cool but first we have to learn how to use the tools and remember how to type the Turkish alphabet. We have bitten off a lot here.

After class we had to pack up for the coast, including food for the first 24 hours. Did a poor job of this. As it happened, M remembered to pack many items of food, but not the three most important ones, one of which was the fat slab of chocolate lovers cake from the Market of Choice bakery! Had to make an emergency stop at Ray’s Food Place in Waldport. Arrived at the hotel around 4:00. Beautiful day, sunny and cool. Big waves.

As the sun set we had our dinner in the room with food brought from home and Ray’s. Quite adequate. The Adobe Resort was built in the 70’s (we remember) and was quite a place back then. It’s still very nice, although a few bits of seventies décor are looking tired. There are spectacular views from the restaurant and bar, where almost every table is at or very near one of the long wraparound windows. And there were definitely people eating and drinking in there, seated at every other table. We’re still leery of indoor dining.

Tuesday, October 6     Deaths   581  (+9   Cases  35,340  (+291)

Hiking day. Leisurely breakfast in the room, then a short drive down to Cape Perpetua. We hiked the Cook’s Ridge trail, which leads eastward away from the sea and climbs 1100 feet into the beginnings of the Coast Range. We knew better than to do the 8.0 mile loop and instead did a 5.8 mile up and back. That was plenty. Amazing trees. They grow fast here, so even the big ones are only 100 to 200 years old. The trees were hemlock and Sitka spruce in the first half of the climb and later some cedar and fir. We learned from a signboard that in this climate hemlock will outgrow Douglas fir; M had thought that nothing could. More beautiful weather. Here’s E about a mile up the trail exploring the remains of a very old tree, probably a hemlock.

For dinner we got take-out from the hotel restaurant and again ate in the room. Very good food. E loved her vegetable cacciatore. When you first look at the Adobe menu, it seems a little too regular American. But looking deeper E found a non-pasta vegetarian entrée–that in itself is a miracle around here–and it turned out to be really delicious. M had halibut fish and chips, also very pleasing. We washed it down with Rioja brought from home.

Wednesday, October 7     Deaths   583  (+2)   Cases  35,634  (+294)

Another hour and a half Turkish lesson today. We had not expected to be doing it on this particular date when we made hotel reservations. But…things change. Turkish and LearnCube are still hard, but we’re getting excited. We might possibly learn something. (Which we will then proceed to forget, but never mind.) But wait, our 9:00 A.M. Turkish class was not the first important event of the day. At 7:30 sharp we were third in line when the doors opened at the Green Salmon Coffee Shop in downtown Yachats. M had a star-shaped classic Danish and E had a cherry-rhubarb turnover. Plus we had our half cafs. We took it all back to the room and sat looking at the sea and making happiness sounds until it was time to start the class. 

After class it was time to check out. The drive home took just over an hour. We spent the whole time trying to master possessive adjectives. In English that would be my, your, his, her, its, our and their. Seven words and you’d be done. But not in Turkish, oh no. In Turkish there are twenty-eight; six basic words each with four different variations, except for third person plural, which seems to have eight variations. In practice Turkish possessives are quite logical–there are good reasons for all those variations–but it’s not easy to remember them all. 

Thursday, October 8     Deaths   594  (+11)   Cases  36,116 (+482)

A sobering number of Oregon COVID deaths was reported today, the highest Oregon daily total since Aug. 17 and the third highest ever. The fatality rate per 100,000 is now 13.8. 

We did an hour of Turkish study on our own this morning. Such motivation! E also had laughter yoga. Both us spent time catching up on paperwork and bill paying. We’re worrying about our Chilean presentations. Florencia sent us a copy of the seminar announcement. Our names were on the list of presenters. Oh no! We only have ten days to prepare! We’ll never be ready in time! 

Friday, October 9     Deaths   597  (+3)   Cases  36,526  (+410)

Grocery shopping this morning, M went to Winco and E went to the Co-op. Then Andrea stopped by for lunch on the back patio–cucumber sandwiches and a can of Amy’s lentil soup. Good cooperation from the weather. After that E contacted Chile to nail down some specifics of how our presentations would go. Then we worked on how to adapt our stuff to Zoom. Mostly we practiced screen sharing.

Online shopping update: M’s EarPods arrived.

Saturday, October 10     Deaths   599  (+2)  Cases  36,924  (+398)

The Corvallis Greek Fest is going on this weekend, but not in the usual way. Usually it’s a big party with food, drink, music and dancing in a giant party tent. This year there was no tent, no dancing, no drinks and no music. They did the food though, by golly, serving it up drive-through style. When we heard the plan we wondered how that would work. Friday was the first day and we heard that some people had to wait an hour and a quarter. So when we went on Saturday we took some reading materials with us–Turkish lessons actually–so as to have something to pass the time. But when we arrived around noon, there were only eight or ten cars ahead of us and the line was moving fast. E had typed up what we wanted to order (for ourselves and a friend) and there was a big crew of clipboard carrying order takers and tablet carrying payment staff. We took our haul over to H’s house, where she had set up a beautiful fall themed table on her covered back patio. It was a damp, cool day with intermittent splashes of rain, so we had to bundle up. But the menu was grand: pork souvlaki, falafel, spanakopita, Moroccan Chicken, braised lamb, vegan dolmas, fasolia, and pasticcio plus baklava and a bunch of kinds of cake. We didn’t actually order all of that, but we did our best. M made Greek coffee in his new Turkish coffee maker and served it in cups he had brought along for the occasion. 

Later on we started watching a new Turkish TV series. It’s called The Gift and concerns a painter living in Istanbul who discovers a mysterious connection between the images that have always inspired her painting and some images recently discovered during archeological work on an Anatolian hillside. Her obsession begins to affect her behavior and becomes a cause of  concern for her family and for her rich and rather boorish fiance, whom she inexplicably seems to be excited about marrying. At first everyone thinks she is just goofy, including the handsome young archeology professor that she tracks down, hoping that he can give her some explanation for what is happening to her. He initially assumes that she is just a nut and shoos her away. But he is forced to rethink when he begins to find evidence for some of the crazy things she claims, things that she could not have known, secrets that been buried deep in the earth for at least 15,000 years… 

Sunday, October 11     Deaths   599  (+0)   Cases  37,225  (+331)

Zoom meeting today with two siblings and one cuz. Nice to catch up with them. John is still in his new cottage at the lake and is thinking of living there through December. Cuz’s sabbatical year is being disrupted by the pandemic. She had planned to be doing a number of projects involving international travel, but that’s not going to work. She is adapting. J and J had some severe storms in their area last week and lost power for many hours, which would have been long enough to melt their ice cream had they not taken pre-emptive measures. E and M have been trying to learn how to use their new green screen. One thing we discovered was that when E wore a particular green turtleneck and vest, the computer assumed that her torso was part of the background and erased it, which left only her head floating in the middle of the screen. A little unsettling but hilarious. We wanted to let the group see this. Unfortunately the computer began to get smarter and in this session it insisted on keeping her torso firmly present. So disappointing. By changing up the lighting and camera angles, however, we were able to briefly recreate the effect. So everybody got to see the floating head, if only for a few seconds. 

Next we needed to do a little Turkish. The teacher has sent us feedback about our compositions, plus an extensive word list and lots of grammar notes. Argh!

Chili and corn bread for dinner. Flesh and Blood on Masterpiece for TV.

Monday, September 28      Deaths   547  (+0)   Cases  32,994  (+174)

Grocery shopping day. We went to the Co-op together (bad) but we did separate once we got in. That got us in and out fairly fast. Just so you know, the frozen salmon at the Co-op is way, way cheaper than at Market of Choice. Once we’d got our stuff loaded into the car, E set out for home on foot to get her steps in. M went over to Natural Grocers to get some particular things that they’re good at. Then later E went out to the Peoria Road farm market searching for tomatoes and peppers that meet her standards. We haven’t eaten them yet, but they look pretty good. Later E had Zoom yoga and M didn’t do anything except open his box that arrived from the Walgreen’s online. On the plus side, he did manage to get through a whole day without ordering anything else.

Tuesday, September 29      Deaths   555  (+8   Cases  33,291  (+297)

It was the first day of E’s new Better Bones and Balance class. The teacher introduced each student and had each one say hello. E was a bit upset. If she had known what to expect, she would have worn a nicer tee. 

Later she met a friend  for a socially distanced, bring-you-own-chair meeting at MLK park. She says they had an enjoyable wide-ranging conversation, which included the topic of what dating must be like these days, compared to what it was when the two of them were starting out. While they were talking, some folks began laying out a soccer field just next to them, using a bunch of orange plastic markers that she swears looked liked little caps or beanies. E left before the game started, but not before seeing the two teams arrive, several gaggles of seven or eight-year olds and their support staff. How is that allowed these days, she wondered, soccer being a sport that does involve some close contact?

M attempted repairs to the back lawn by over-seeding some dead spots. He then provided E with salmon, steamed potatoes and green beans for dinner, which seems to have satisfied her. After dinner, we watched episode one of a British series called Bodyguard, which features the actor who play mama Durrel in the The Durrels on Corfu. This new role makes a change of pace for her for sure. The drama is a little too tense for us old folks, but whole thing is quite well-done.

Last, and maybe least, it was a red letter day in the world of garbage containers. Of our three containers, two were getting terribly shabby and broken down, so M had requested new ones. As if by magic, they appeared today. M feels so much better now. Plus, E need no longer be ashamed of her trash containers when friends come to the back yard. (Which we suspect she has plans for.)

Online shopping update:: two articles of clothing arrived

Wednesday, September 30      Deaths   559  (+4)   Cases  33,509  (+218)

The Oregon COVID death rate has reached 13 per 100,000. This compares favorably to some places–New York 137, Florida 70–but not so favorably to others–Australia 3.55, Japan 1.24.

Busy day today, starting with a twenty-minute walk around town just before tertulia. At Bodi’s with R and J,  we had one chocolate orange scone, one beignet and two half-caf coffees. The latter gave us more of a jolt than we’re used to, so we had to rush off and do more crazy stuff. First E went off for another walk while M went to the grocery store for emergency essentials such as party supplies and tonic water. E then spent a couple of hours in the garden, dead heading, weeding, lavender trimming and generally cleaning up to prepare for having guests on Thursday. M joined in to do edging and lawn mowing. After lunch E made gazpacho. She had to do it early so as to allow it time para reposar tres horas antes de cenar. Just before dinner she made croutons and chopped up a couple of boiled eggs for guarnición. We also finished the leftover fish, washing it down with a sort-of-local pinot noir. Beautiful!

Online shopping update: M’s Turkish coffee maker arrived.

Thursday, October 1      Deaths   560  (+1)   Cases  33,862   (+353)

Hazy morning. We often get early morning fog this time of year, but now we are also getting smoke from California wildfires. There’s a weather system that is blowing the California smoke out to sea, circulating it north and then moving it back inland 450 miles from where it started. Most of the smoke seems to be up high; air quality at ground level is moderate. 

M took the Porsche on a drive out, first west to Alsea, then back to Monroe via Alsea Falls. Very little traffic on that leg, three cars oncoming in 30 minutes of driving. The road is narrow and curvy and runs through thick forest. Great fun in the Boxster, but it was even more fun years ago in the Miata. The lack of visibility around the turns makes going fast a fool’s game. Instead the route rewards liveliness and lightness of foot. Whereas the Boxster is an athlete; the Miata was a dancer. 

But as it happened this drive had something for everyone. After a sedate jog south on Highway 99, Porsche and driver slipped over to Harrisburg (via Lancaster) to cross the Willamette. From there we crossed over I-5 into some out-of-way farm country. First there was a miles long stretch of flat straight road. No traffic at all, perfect visibility in all directions. The Porsche liked that fine. The old Jaguar XKR would have liked it just as much if not more. The Miata would have been gasping, groaning and bored stiff. After that came a sort of miracle, a giant, sweeping S-curve on an otherwise featureless plain. The Porsche became very happy, as close to carefree as a Porsche can get. Go ahead, it was saying, go as fast as you want, I’ve got this. And even if we die, so what? That’s part of what the both of us were born for. Fortunately M knows a siren song when he hears it and sailed through just fine. Anyway, soon after the big curves the road turns north and runs through a different kind of farm country with curves, straights and rolling hills to keep things interesting. We arrived in Brownsville all too soon.

In the late afternoon E hosted a backyard gathering of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. The pandemic has been a challenge for LMPS. They’ve tried various ideas, including meeting via Zoom, but these have not been completely satisfactory. Also, some of the members have health issues. But the LMPS spirit is strong and E’s solution–masked, distanced and at individual tables outdoors–seemed to work well. Masks came off for pie eating and for a passing photographer, but otherwise stayed mostly on.

The pie, by the way, was not lemon meringue. Instead, E got a ladder and picked some apples off the better of our two trees. She peeled, cored and dewormed them, then followed the JOC recipe exactly. The results were spectacular.

M had a bit of pie, but also made himself a haloumi pita with tomato, cucumber and cilantro. That was pretty good too.

Online shopping update: One article of clothing arrived.

Friday, October 2      Deaths   563  (+3)   Cases  34,163   (+301)

Found out early this morning that Donald and Melania have tested positive for COVID. A later update put DT in the hospital. No one knows quite how to respond, at least for the record. Heather Havrilesky posted “I want to scream and drink boxed wine and eat bags of salty shit and dance.” Her accompanying graphic was The Triumph of Surrealism by Max Ernst:

E went to the eye doctor after breakfast and reports that the old air puff into the eye has been suspended for the duration. When she got home, her eyes were still dilated, but she wanted a walk in the forest anyway. M made a lunch and off we went, just for a little stroll up to the lake. Nice morning, sixty-something degrees when we left home but in the lovely low seventies when it was time for lunch. On the way up we ran across a pileated woodpecker just ten feet away, perched on the side of a tree at eye level in full sun. Yo! How often do we see that? After a few seconds it flew to a higher and more distant tree where it perched on the shady side. Here’s a not very good photograph of that view, just to lend a hint of credibility.

E noticed this pattern on the pond as we were leaving. Said it reminded her of snowshoes.

After dinner, watched the final episode of Ted Lasso. Quite satisfactory. Will there be another season?

Online shopping update: One large pantry cupboard arrived. Two boxes, 43 kilos each. Yikes! Have E and M gone mad?

Saturday, October 3      Deaths   571 (+8)   Cases  34,163  (+348)

Yesterday was the 190th day of the Pandemic Diary. In the last ten days, average daily COVID fatalities in Oregon were 3.1, up from 2.8 in the previous ten-day period. Here’s a long term chart.

Despite this grim picture, E and M had chocolate croissants for breakfast again! While E went off to get them, M made coffee using beans from Cauca, Colombia. Cauca is the area around Popayán, the mountain town where we lived for three months once upon a time. We remember seeing coffee being grown there, mostly on small holdings and always growing in the shade, often under banana trees. But we had never seen any specifically Caucan beans until just a couple of weeks ago. Is it good? You bet. We could describe it as tasting like coffee with hints of more coffee. Not much banana.

In the late morning Eve did her Saturday dog walk out in the country while M started assembly of the pantry cupboard and making preparations to install it where it goes. After lunch E joined in and much progress was made. Not quite done yet, though. The cupboard is starting to take shape; it just needs its doors, shelves and anti-tipover strap. 

The rest of the garage is a mess.

Online shopping update: An empty box from Tennessee. (E has to fill it and send it back.)

Sunday, October 4     Deaths   572  (+1)   Cases  34,770  (+259)

E has a Zoom meeting with long-time friends S and Mrs. H from back east. We did of bit of outdoor work and M finished assembling the pantry cupboard. It’s still empty though; everything that’s supposed to fill it is sitting in various boxes in the garage. We haven’t stocked it yet because we have to prepare for two momentous events tomorrow. In the morning we have our first day of Turkish class and in the afternoon we head off to stay at the coast for a couple of days. Much to do.