Monday, October 20th
Our Monday was busy again. It began with both of us going off to our respective grocery stores and then spending some time on our respective exercise routines–a walk in the forest for E and some sod chopping for M. We got back together for lunch, after which we drove off to see the new Starbucks. Doesn’t that sound exciting!
Our town’s two oldest Starbucks both recently shut down, causing one long-time customer to write a grouchy letter to the newspaper. The new Starbucks occupies the site of an old Taco Time where we used to go for lunch. Did they retain the arched doorway and the cactus? Uh…no. Also: Was it nice inside? Sure, it’s all in shades of brown, but it’s prettier than the old Taco Time. Was the coffee good? E was very pleased with her mocha. We saw that they had bagels. We wanted to ask if they served them with cups half full of melted butter for dunking, but we didn’t.
Later In the afternoon E went to the dentist, thus raising the day’s most critical question: Would she get a mini-cupcake, something that her dentist sometimes has on hand for the benefit of discerning clients? Well….as it happened, she did get a cupcake. She brought it home and tried to eat it after dinner. Aaagh! It was matcha flavored! Her face fell! She was not pleased. We long for simpler times.
Wednesday, October 22nd
Besides his visits to the Maury Mountains and the Cascades–where E led him on a hike that nearly killed him–M has also gone wandering through the Coast Range. Such a picturesque area, especially if you get off the main roads! Here’s a sample:
So…a lot of harvesting going on here. But what about those trees in the middle? Is there something wrong with them? We’re pretty sure that this cutting pattern results from state forestry regulations that prohibit cutting trees within a certain distance of a stream. The system of rules is wonderfully complicated. You can get a sense of that complexity here. Seasonal streams like the ones in the photo have fairly narrow exclusion zones, which leads to strange looking bands like this.
Friday, October 24th
After a week of pretty good weather, today the rain is falling.
Saturday, October 25th
Went for a walk in the neighborhood today, despite a brisk downpour. While we were on the return half of our loop, the rain paused and we got our reward, a spectacular rainbow. One end seemed to anchored somewhere near our house, the other on the hillside from which we were returning. Alas, it disappeared pretty quickly.
Dinner at the Dizzy Hen in Philomath. With E at the wheel of Mavi (as the EV6 has been christened) we arrived at 5:26, just in time to get a good place in line for the 5:30 opening.
Sunday, October 26th
After two days of rain and a few sudden blasts of strong wind, it definitely looks like fall here. It’s a good thing M’s two projects are more or less done.
E and H went back to PRAX theatre today to hear the Corvallis Repertory Singers perform J.S. Bach’s “Wachet auf” (in English: Wake up) followed by Mozart’s “Great Mass in C minor.” The program notes suggest that by listening to these two works back to back, listeners will be able to hear how Bach’s work influenced Mozart’s. While E was at PRAX, M spent two hours at home listening to Nina Simone, a singer he’d long wanted to know better. He was impressed enough by the music to want to know a little more about her life. He found that she was an American singer and pianist who first found success in the 1950’s with songs that combined folk, blues, and jazz influences. Before this time, she had been struggling to make a career as a classical concert pianist. At age 17, she spent one summer studying with German pianist Carl Friedberg at the Julliard School. In order to fund more classical training, she took various jobs, including gigs playing piano at clubs and restaurants. Her singing career did not begin until a bar owner offered her extra money if she would sing while she played. Critics have always claimed to be able to see classical influences in Simone’s popular work and some have pointed out that her piano playing seems especially similar to the music of….wait for it….J.S. Bach. Well, says M, Nina Simone ain’t no Mozart, but Mozart ain’t no Nina Simone either.
Monday, October 27th
Hiked at Mary’s Peak today. It was a cold and damp, but not actually raining very much.
Thursday, October 30th
We spent much of the morning undoing the damage from M’s online attempt to buy a couple of spare dinner plates. He found exactly what he wanted on what appeared to be housewares website. The price was very attractive! Alas, once he had entered his info and pressed the order button, nothing happened–no order confirmation, no nothing. Becoming suspicious, he googled the name of the website and found out that it was flagged as fraudulent. Oops. Had to cancel the card and get a new one. That turns out to be pretty easy these days.
Friday, October 31st
To the delight of most of our trick or treaters, our front yard has a new form of wildlife.
Mushrooms and Mozart, clouds, rainbows and Nina Simone, stunning photos – what a week!
Those clearcuts are alarming…do they not believe in selective thinning of trees there? The whack and stack approach is a pretty radical practice…will they replant or is it just no further trees in those places??
Your garden is just lovely…I wish I had that green thumb and one small snippet of artistic ability. my “gardens” consist of whatever seeds the birds deposit..i have some primroses, but mostly berries. lots of berries.
I need sleep (and glasses, apparently), as it took me 3 astonished reads to figure out that you weren’t really going to see respiratory singers….but I did get a good chuckle out of my mistake!!
Love your scary screaming owl!!!!
The landowners are required to replant within a year, and I think they all do. In the Coast Range the trees grow fast. About 45 years from now they’ll probably clearcut these places again. A large portion of this part of the range is under private ownership, which means very large wood products companies. They make the biggest clearcuts. Other parts are national forest land; clearcuts happen there too, but usually on a much smaller scale. –M