Meandering on the Way — Oct. 28 to Nov. 7, 2022

Friday, October 28

We went a few miles out of town and walked again in the gallery forest near where the Luckiamute and the Santiam join the Willamette. Here are some sights along the trail.

Saturday, October 29

We went to a birthday dinner for our longtime friends J and M. They served Thai food, catered by a family-owned restaurant here in town. When the restaurant owners first came to Corvallis, two of the younger generation enrolled in English classes from us at OSU. We’ve always felt a connection with the place and of course by now our students are the ones running things.

It was a lovely occasion, with a nice group if people, some of whom we don’t see often. One special treat was a chance to talk to our old colleague S whom we hadn’t seen for a decade or two. 

Sunday, October 30, 

The process of selling M’s Porsche is off to a rip-roaring start. The first response came in only seconds after the ad went live. Here it is, in its entirety:

sophiejones sophiejones

Hiya Would you mind giving me your #? Please include the link to your post! Thanks.

M read this message and then re-read it. As a communication regarding the possible purchase of a car, it doesn’t work very well. It’s friendly and polite but doesn’t actually make sense, and its instant appearance strongly suggests that it was sent by a bot. On the other hand, it almost works as a poem. But never mind that. M moved sophiejones to the trash.

A few days later, he received a more serious communication, this time from one Douglas C Cole:

Hi, I’ve been working really long weeks at work. So I won’t be able to meet with you for viewing the car, I believe you that is in good condition.  I’ll proceed in issuing a Bank Certified Check, When you receive the payment and confirm it cleared, I will have the movers to come for the pick up at your location. So get back to me with the details below asap.

Full Name:

Address:

City: State: Zip:

Your cell Phone Number:

Last Asking Price:

 

As soon as this is provided, payment will to sent overnight to you and I will let you know once it’s mailed out with a tracking number sent. I will also add an additional $300 for holding it for me till the Check gets to you in the next 2 Business Days. Also delete the posting that it has been sold to me.

M trashed this message too, throwing away the chance for an extra $300! But why? Doesn’t he know that capitalizing the words ‘check’ and ‘days’ in the same sentence is a secret internet code that guarantees that the sender is trustworthy? Apparently not. Instead, he chose to heed those silly warnings about fake check scams. Sigh.

Halloween Monday, October 31, 2022

A hectic day. In the morning there was consultation regarding the bathroom project and also grocery shopping to be done. Then after lunch M drove to a town 60 miles away to sell the Porsche, only to find that the offer that had drawn him there was “a mistake” and that the dealer’s real offer was considerably lower. “Mistakes have certainly been made,” thought M to himself as he drove away. “I know I made one.” 

E, meanwhile, had been on her way to give M a ride home if the deal had gone well. On her way she stopped at a mall in Eugene where she found a couple of needed items that she hadn’t been able to get in Corvallis. So that was good. And fortunately she was still at the mall when M called to say that he wouldn’t need fetching after all. 

We both got home in time to have a dinner of walnut loaf and mashed potatoes (yes!) and also to make our modest preparations to receive Halloween visitors. After setting out our lanterns and our buzzy little monster thing, we had to decide which of our two types of candy to give away first. That was important because we were both interested in which candy would likely be left over for us. As it happened, we had fewer trick or treaters than last year, only seven or eight groups this time. There was plenty of candy left for both of us–way too much in fact. 

As mentioned, our decorations were modest. But our neighbor across the street loves to decorate. Here’s what her place looked like. 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Today started off fairly normally. E did a Zoom exercise class while M went out to get a haircut and have his dental prescription filled. Pretty mundane stuff. But then M’s phone lit up with a flurry of text messages. It seems that word had spread about some crazy man in Corvallis who was almost giving his car away for the sake of a quick sale. Two of the messages came from the dealership who had rejected the car on Monday. The gist was that they now believed that their original offer was spot on, so let’s talk. Tsk, Tsk. They had their chance. Two other messages contained offers that were a thousand dollars higher than what M had been prepared to accept. M took one of those and bye-bye Porsche. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

E’s daughter came down to Corvallis today to take care of some details regarding her father’s funeral. She’s been working very hard to arrange things properly and in accordance with her vision and his wishes. There will be a religious service on Friday followed by a celebration of life on Saturday. We have been helping in small ways with arrangements for the latter. E also helped with the obituary.

E continues to be in contact with some of her and Roberto’s old Spanish friends. Their sympathy and the memories and love that they have shared have meant a great deal to her.

Thursday, November 3, 2022

A quiet day in Lake Wobegone. Well, it was rather active in funeral preparations, but quiet in the sense that there were no workmen of any sort on the premises. We’ve reached a sort of stopping point. The dumpster has been removed from our front yard, along with the old tub and toilet. The bathroom walls have been repaired and painted. Next comes floor covering; but that won’t happen for another week.

Friday, November 4, 2022

A service for Roberto was held today at St. Mary’s Church here in Corvallis. The Ceremony of the Word service was led by Deacon Chris, a former neighbor of ours. The service mixed readings, live music and prayers and was quite lovely. There was also a video eulogy recorded by Roberto’s old friend M in Spain. After the service we moved to the St Mary’s cemetery for a brief graveside ceremony. 

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Today the focus was on a celebration of life held at the Corvallis Community Center. The gathering began at 1:00 in the afternoon, but preparations began early. The Andees and several friends arrived at our place around 10:30 and began preparing paella according to Roberto’s recipe. They ended up making two paellas, one seafood and one vegetarian. The day was cloudy and damp, but the rain held off for quite a while. Which was good because A was determined to make paella outside on a charcoal grill, the way her father always did.

The cooks had plenty of helpers–including our friend J who came over to help with the vegetarian version. All went well, though we did hear a few cries of distress regarding Roberto’s recipe. Apparently it was a little vague on exact amounts and things. Of course that’s just the sort of recipe that many good cooks use. 

The paellas were served at around 1:30 and there were lots of people there to try them. The older generation included long-time friends who knew Roberto from his very first years in Corvallis. Our friends H, J and R all spoke, as did E, who told the story of her first date with Roberto, during which he took her on a tour of Toledo, which included a visit to the insane asylum, where his grandfather had been Director and within whose walls Roberto’s father had been raised. Alas, there were no stories from Rich, Roberto’s long-time friend and neighbor, who passed a few years back. Too bad. Rich loved Roberto and also loved to tell Roberto stories.

Lots of A’s friends were there, including C and K, who were also Becca’s friends. D and N were there also, as were S and E, with whom A and Becca had shared many a ski outing back in the early days. Roberto’s step-daughter M came also. She is of course grown up now and has two children of her own. A was glad to see her. 

Sometimes these events attract people that no one is glad to see. If you’re lucky, they leave early before your supply of insincerity runs dry.

A had prepared a wonderful slide show about her father’s life. She also played M and M’s eulogy again for this group. Besides paella, there were other Spanish foods, including chorizo and manchego cheese. The latter came in a variety of colors, something none of us had ever seen before. For dessert we had fried wonton s’mores from the Nachos for Dessert food truck, which has just begun operation. These feature A’s homemade marshmallows.

Sunday, November 6, 2022

We woke up to a cold, wet world. Despite the temperature (37°F) and the rain (intermittent showers) we wanted to take a walk in the forest. That meant digging out some winter coats and warmer boots. In the woods the maple leaves were turning brown, but the ferns–which had looked dry and droopy throughout October–were now standing tall and showing off their deep, glistening green. The rain was just playing around while we hiked. It wasn’t until we were almost back to the car that the rain started talking itself seriously. Ten minutes later, as we drove back to town, we noticed the the the drops were getting a little slushy. By the time we got home it was snowing. 

Monday, November 7, 2022

Continuous hard rain all day and still pretty cold. It appears that winter is really here. We heard that it was 70 degrees yesterday somewhere in upstate New York. That doesn’t seem very likely, does it? Our source is usually reliable, but…   

M spent a certain amount of time outside today while he was over in Albany getting a shell put on his pickup. All through the day, no matter how hard or constant the rain, the weather app on his phone kept on calling it drizzle. Here’s what that “drizzle” looked like.