Meandering on the Way — June 11 to 28, 2022

Name Changes! You may not feel ready for any more earthshaking changes in the world right now. But these are easy ones–we hope. Because After the Purge is now After the Plague, and the Pandemic/Endemic Diary is now Eve and Michael’s Meandering on the Way Diary. 

And speaking of the word “meander,” we remember the time when we were on a long bus ride in Turkey. Along the way we caught several glimpses of a river called the Büyük Menderes. We later learned that the ancient Greeks called it the Miandros. Greek travelers who saw it were struck by its extremely winding nature. Back in Greece, people started using the word figuratively, to describe anything that moved indirectly or aimlessly. Eventually this usage came into English as the word meander. About ten years ago a fellow named Jeremy Seal decided to float down the Büyük Menderes in an inflatable canoe. He’s written a book about the experience and also posted a slideshow.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Rain off and on today. What a difference from Nevada. Our yard is spiraling out of control. Cocker Spaniel sized plants are turning into St. Bernards.

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Cloudy and damp, but only raining a tiny bit. M mowed the lawn, front and back. Including time out for a necessary nap, it took him all day.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

We went into the forest today and hiked the Vineyard Mountain Trail. We saw tons of wild iris, way more than we had seen in previous years. We used to be happy if we saw a dozen in a season; we saw many dozens just today. 

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

E went for a tour of a native plant nursery run by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. On her way home she took a side road so as to go past Sarah Helmick State Park. Near the park she came to a stop. A mother skunk was shepherding five tiny babies across the road. The process kept the mother skunk very busy, as she had to keep circling them to keep them together. The crossing was slow, but it looked to E as if they were going to make it.

Friday, June 17, 2022

A somber day today. In the morning E spoke to a longtime friend, who revealed that she had just gotten a cancer diagnosis–a bad one. And in the afternoon E went to the funeral of another friend, someone that she had known since her early days in Corvallis. Either you die, we say to ourselves, or you watch your friends die. Some choice. E says that there were a number of children at the funeral. The young ones so cute, the older ones so handsome…

Sunday, June 19, 2022

We went back to the Luckiamute State Natural Area today. This time we wanted to take the trail that goes east toward the confluence of the Willamette and South Santiam rivers. The first half of the hike was easy. It went along the edge of a field, much of it covered with wild flowers. The bees were going crazy over the yellow and white ones

The last part of the hike went through a riverside forest. That was a little harder. In some places the trail was flooded and we had to detour through the brush.

Finally we came to the place where the rivers come together. It turns out that just before the Santiam flows into the Willamette it splits into two channels. Here’s a Google Maps satellite view. 

The arrow in the satellite photo shows where we got to today. Below is a photo that E took from that spot. She’s looking across the Willamette to where the smaller of the Santiam channels comes in.

You may notice that there appear to be sandy beaches in the satellite photo. There are no such beaches in E’s picture. That’s because the river levels were much higher today than they were when the satellite took its picture. We’re imagining that the amount of water passing by here today must be more than what flows through all the rivers in northern Nevada in a week. 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

For the last week or so we’ve had a long stretch of clouds with cool, damp weather. And now–just when the calendar says it’s summer–suddenly it is summer. Sunny and warm today, with more of the same in the forecast. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

What a year it has been for flowers! And what a year for weeds! Mornings are still cool–nice conditions for working outside. E is heroically thinning the good apple tree, M is working on the watering network, and both of us are weeding. We are not used to the heat though, so even though it’s only in the 80’s, we spend the afternoons resting inside. 

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Tertulia this morning with R and J. They’ve just come back from a trip to San Francisco, during which 1) they had the catalytic converter stolen from their Prius while it was parked at a motel, and 2) they attended two performances of the San Francisco Opera. One of the operas was Don Giovanni and the other was a modern work inspired by (gasp!) The Dream of the Red Chamber. They loved Don Giovanni; they weren’t so sure about the other.

The Dream of the Red Chamber, a.k.a. The Story of the Stone, is a vast and immensely popular 18th century Chinese novel, one that M wrote about extensively in the very early years of this blog. To see his description of the novel, click here, here and here. The same material–with fewer typos–is also included in The Last Bookshelf.

After coffee, it was time for more yard maintenance. M mowed and weeded. E weeded, fought the mite wars, and planted a new Russian sage. Then, after a suitable period of rest, we went to Ba’s Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. Delicious. Still a fairly limited menu, but all very good. And, finally, they have their beer/wine license. M had a pFriem pilsner.

Sunday, June 26, 2022

A memorial gathering was held today for E’s friend and yoga teacher Susan Meyer. E helped plan the event and had spent part of Friday helping clean up the venue, an old schoolhouse out in the country. She also made biscotti for the crowd, using a recipe that Susan had given her. When teaching yoga Susan often used to read poems at the beginning and end of each class. At the gathering E read two of them: When I Am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver and Unfolding Bud by Naoshi Koriyama. 

So, that was one thing. Closer to home, today was also Becca’s birthday. She would have been 47. A number of E’s friends and relatives called or sent messages to let her know they were thinking of her. Late in the evening, E and M shared a small piece of chocolate cake to mark the occasion. 

Monday, June 27, 2022

Another very warm day, downright hot. We did our weekly shopping and a few chores outside. M has started a painting project in the garage. Everything was pretty normal–right up until about 4:00 PM, at which point E started on a rhubarb pie. It’s in the oven now and the aroma is wafting down the hall toward the study. Salad and pie is the menu for tonight’s dinner…

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Clematis are out in force.

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