Meandering on the Way — December 11-18, 2023

Friday, December 8th

We’re doing a lot of bird feeding lately, mainly by allowing birds free access to apples.

Some birds seem to prefer pecking at the fruit that is still up in the tree, but we also see them pecking away at ground level.

Monday, December 11th

E had her post-op appointment today up in Lake Oswego. Because she arrived early, she took a walk around the neighborhood. She ran across this sign that gave her pause.

E wishes to stress that this is not the place where her surgeon has her office. It’s another business entirely.

At the post-op, out came the nasal stents, which was a huge relief. E is delighted to be able to breathe through her nose again, in fact already better than before the surgery.

While E was up north, M went to the Albany train station to pick up our friend Charles. Charles has been visiting Seattle and stopped by on his way back to California.

Tuesday, December 12th

We took Charles to the Ankeny Wildlife Reserve today and walked along the boardwalk through the wetland ash forest. The ash trees there grow in one to three feet of water for half the year. It’s a unique scene. Such forests may soon disappear from Oregon. Emerald ash borers, which have killed millions of ash trees in the east and midwest, are now moving into our region.

Wednesday, December 13th

Today the three of us took a walk in the OSU forest. Here we are in front of the old logging wheel at the Forestry Club cabin.

We took Charles to the OSU campus also, mainly to see the food delivery robots in action. Since it was quite cold, we decided to have hot chocolate. We have the app all set up, so it wasn’t too hard to place the order and say where we wanted it to be delivered. The only glitch is that when we ordered three hot chocolates (Swiss Miss), the app informed us that the most we could order was two. Well, okay, two would have to do.

When your order arrives, you use the app to identify yourself. Then the top flips open. Aah…we could almost taste that hot chocolate already.
Oops! No drinks. Just two large cartons of Swiss Miss powder packets. The robots serve about a dozen campus entities. Most of them are cafes and restaurants, but…some of them are convenience stores and it’s not easy to tell which is which. Good thing the maximum was two.

Thursday, December 14th

Eve still has nasal swelling but has been feeling a lot better. So good, in fact, that we made short work of this 500 piece puzzle.

Monday, December 18th (Andrea’s birthday)

We’ve been running around getting our gifts ready for an early Xmas and Birthday celebration up at the Andees’ in Vancouver. Here are the things we had to haul up with us. The Charles Leclerc F1 shirt, ordered from Germany, arrived just in the nick of time.

We drove up to Vancouver in the afternoon and had a nice spaghetti dinner, followed by our gift exchange. We did the exchange early because Andy and Andi are leaving this Friday on a trip to Spain.

We had a chance to visit with the English china that once belonged to Lizzie Spanswick Chambers, E’s paternal grandmother. Here are a few pieces as seen on Andrea’s table in Vancouver.

And here’s Lizzie herself circa 1950.

3 Replies to “Meandering on the Way — December 11-18, 2023”

  1. oh my take off the hair and thats Hoy!! (known to me as Uncle Marv) whom i truly loved.
    Glad Eve is recovered..and i had to laugh at the robot!! Merry Christmas to all…Feliz Navidad!!

  2. Dear Eve and Michael,
    I loved reading about your recent adventures and seeing your photos. Eve, I am glad you are healing well and can breathe better! I loved seeing both of your faces in the photos with your friend Charles and could picture your walks with him. I liked the apple photo too. Your early Christmas celebration and birthday party with Andy and Andrea must have been lovely. It was a treat to see the place settings of Eve’s grandmother’s China and her photo too. Here we have been spending a lot of time visiting a variety of doctors for Phil . We have to keep him in good shape . We have managed to be on time for t;he appointments but are late with everything Christmas related with the exception of warm, loving thoughts of our dear friends. We are sending hugs and wishes for peace and joy and much love to you. Linda and Phil

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