Meandering on the Way — September 20 to 26, 2025

Friday, September 19th

E made baklava today. We each had a little taste, just to make sure that it was good enough to share at tomorrow’s dinner at J and B’s. It passed the test.

Saturday, September 20th

We did something new today, attending an event called the Luckiamute River Paddle. Organized by the Luckiamute Watershed Council, the event included an hour and a half of canoeing on the river. A few of the twenty or so participants brought their own paddle boards or kayaks, but most of us were in canoes provided by the organizers. We put in to the river from Crocker Road on the edge of the Luckiamute Natural Area about half a mile from the place where the Luckiamute joins the Willamette. Just a few minutes later we shot out of the swift-moving Luckiamute and were caught up in the currents and eddies of the mighty Willamette. From there we paddled more than forty miles north, reaching Canby, Oregon early in the morning of the following day. Hmm…that can’t be right. Because didn’t we actually start paddling upstream in the Luckiamute, away from the Willamette? And for most of the way wasn’t the Luckiamute more like a long narrow pond than a river? Well yes, we suppose it was.

There are no dams on the Luckiamute and sometimes in the spring it is a mighty river, too dangerous for any watercraft. But these days it is supremely peaceful. We paddled across a few deep spots, but for most of the trip the water was only a few feet deep. Our guides explained that if we did happen to fall out of our boat, we should just remember to stand up and we’d be fine.

We suspect that most of the participants knew a lot more about canoeing we did–cuz we didn’t know much! But just in case, the guides did go over some of the basics before we started. They told us that the paddler in the rear is responsible for steering while the front paddler mainly just provides motive force. As a corollary, the person in the back was basically in charge of the boat and would have to guide and instruct the front paddler. So this was our first dilemma. E had spent a lot of time in canoes; M had spent almost zero. So surely E should be in the rear seat. E, however, refused, claiming that her time in canoes had focused only on the duties of being a passenger and that she had never gotten involved in such arcane matters as paddling or steering. So M took the rear.

You may be wondering how this went. Pretty well, you might say. We did not turn the canoe over, we kept up with the group, we did not bump into the shore or into other canoes, at least not very hard, and only once did we get branches in our faces from being too close to the riverside willows. We did have some problems in the chain of command, however. For one thing M–as the back paddler–was quite willing to give instructions to the front paddler but couldn’t figure out what instructions he was supposed to give. Also, E wasn’t really listening, so it wasn’t clear if his instructions were going to get through anyway. She was a powerful paddler, though, and did some share of the steering by herself. Only at one point did she turn around and direct herself to M: “When,” she demanded, “are we going to get to do ramming speed?”

In the evening following all this excitement, we went to dinner at J and B’s house, picking up our friend C on the way. It was a cooperative Greek themed meal. The hosts contributed spanakopita and wine while C–well known gal about town and a Greece area expert–provided dolmas and Greek salad. E brought along the baklava. Another very nice evening.

Sunday, September 21st

M has got himself involved in not one but two backyard projects, one to convert a hundred or two square feet of grass into some kind of planting beds and another to build eight feet of curved walkway out of pavers. Progress is slow. E, meanwhile, went out to the nursery and came home with new plants: two sedums and a gaura.

We’ve also been spending time reading. E’s latest favorite is The Sound of a Wild Snail Chewing, which was recommended to her by friend S. It is narrated by a woman who was bedridden for several months and whose only constant companion was a snail living in a flower pot next to her bed. Her observations and the facts she researched have changed E’s attitude towards snails from one of repulsion to one of admiration. For example, who knew that a snail has thousands of teeth? And that it can hold its fertilized eggs for months until the right conditions appear to lay them?

M has been immersed in the second and third volumes of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, two very long novels about goings on in the late 17th and early 18th centuries with special focus on diplomacy, court intrigues, piracy, slavery, ship building, alchemy, natural science, the development of international financial trading systems, the question of whether Leibnitz or Newton deserves to be known as the inventor of calculus, and quite a few other things. Also, there’s some excellent swashbuckling and a long term love story–very long term. All in all, these books are awfully interesting, but, as one reader put it, they’re not what you would call brisk.

Monday, September 22nd

Grocery shopping and garden work today. In the evening we dropped in to the old Darkside Theater, something we haven’t done for a while. We were there to see Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. Many of us had a surfeit of DA a few years ago, but here in 2025 we have to say that Julian Fellowes can still deliver the goods. It was a great story, with all the old characters and the original actors. Maggie Smith, of course, has passed away, so the movie opens with everyone mourning the death of Mama. Nice cars, lovely clothes, several serious challenges. Can they be surmounted?

Tuesday to Friday, September 23rd to 26th

The weather is fine but it definitely feels like fall. We expanded E’s front flower bed and she got her new plants in the ground. M needs some rain to soften the ground, but we’re not getting much. Seems like we have tons of appointments and busywork these days. (But we can usually find time for a nap sometime in the PM.)