Over the weekend, we sold our Mazda CX-5, which was very sad. But….it went to a nice young woman named Jennifer, who was looking to replace her current 2002 Mazda that had over 200,000 miles on it. We think she’ll take care of our old one.
Thus fortified by a modest infusion of cash, we went to Salem to shop for an electric car. We had already test driven a Hyundai Ioniq 5 once before, but we needed to look at one again to refresh our memories.
Wednesday, August 23
More car shopping in Salem. We test drove a Kia EV6, which has the same EV powertrain as the Ioniq 5. Otherwise, the EV6 is quite different. It’s wonderful and we immediately wanted one. But we got a bad vibe from the Kia dealership. Plus, the Ioniq is a bit more practical. So back we went to the Hyundai dealer, whose softer sales approach made us more comfortable. After looking at the Ioniq one more time, we decided to go for it. We were thinking of buying but found that leasing was cheaper. (As it happens, purchased Hyundais do not qualify for the $7,500 federal rebate, but leased ones do.) They didn’t have our color on the lot but said they could get us one from somewhere up north.
Thursday, August 24
In the early afternoon the dealer called and said our car was ready. So we went back up to Salem to get it. The color is called Digital Teal. It’s mostly just blue but occasionally looks green.
Friday, August 25
Our electrician came and installed a new 240V outlet in the garage.
Sunday, August 27
M mounted the Level 2 charger. We are in business.
Wednesday, August 30
We took a long walk in the OSU Dunn Forest north of town. We’d been there a several times before, but we took a wrong turn anyway. Sigh. Should have been carrying a map. Still, we ended up in a new place and that was interesting. Fortunately we had our lunch with us: tuna sandwiches, celery, two Dove chocolates and two very wee drams of Jack Daniels. We also got to see a recently fallen tree. Many big firs succumb to windstorms and fall while still living, in which case the root ball remains attached. This tree looks like it died in place and did not fall until its core rotted away.
Friday, September 1
Today E took her friend Asher for a walk, as she does on Fridays. They took a good long trek in the OSU MacDonald forest. M went along this time and took their picture.
After ensuring that both Asher and M were sufficiently worn out, E took Asher back to his owners’ house and then somehow convinced M to take her to the Oregon State Fair. E hadn’t been to the state fair for a few years, but she knew exactly what to do. She wanted some onion rings, she wanted to see horses, and she wanted to look over the prize winning cakes. Since the whole fair seemed to revolve around unhealthy food–there must have been fifty food booths–her first goal was pretty easy to accomplish. The last two were harder to find, but we managed.
Saturday, September 2
We didn’t do much today, just a short walk and some tasks around the house. We were both tired from Friday! We did figure out exactly where we needed to park the new car in the garage and made a system to help us find that spot. The new car is very high tech. Fortunately, we will be able to use a very low tech solution to the problem of in-garage navigation. This will help create more balance and harmony in our universe. We call it the blue tape, white string, and ball system.
Had we had bought the highest trim level of the Ioniq 5, we would have been able to drive part way into the garage and then get out of the car and use the remote to have the car slowly move itself to precisely the spot we wanted. We passed on that.
Sunday, September 3
Chocolate croissants for breakfast. Splendid. During the day, E did some sewing, shopped at the Co-op, and–after consultation with a cohort–began searching through old photo archives. This proved to be a hazardous endeavor as she was stung by a yellow jacket while at her work station in the garage. E survived; the yellow jacket did not.
M went for a short drive in the Ioniq 5 and a long drive in the F-Type. It is hard to imagine two more dissimilar cars, but of course he likes them both.
After our morning walk in the forest, E made cookies for a friend who is going through a difficult time. M did yard work and also wrote a few paragraphs for his latest writing project, a memoir of his childhood in Utah. For dinner, we had leftover paella refreshed with a bit of cod from Natural Grocers. Delicious.
Thursday, July 27
We had tertulia with R and J at our place. We have quite a few blueberries these days and E used some of them to make blueberry muffins for the occasion. Of the many recipes at her disposal, she chose the one from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. They were awesome. After that she had two classes: in-person BBB in the morning and Zoom Laughter Yoga in the afternoon. And it was already time to pick more berries…
Friday, July 28
M went off into the Cascades in the truck today, following Highway 20 and the South Santiam up to House Rock Campground. He took Latiwi Road southward, climbing up to the ridge line and eventually returning to Highway 20 on Gordon Road. On his way down Gordon he came upon an unusual sight–a wrecked vehicle upside down beside the road about eight miles from the highway. It’s a Nissan Xterra SUV. XTerras were sold in the U.S. from 2000 to 2015, but only the 2000 to 2005 models had drum brakes in the rear as this car does. So it’s an oldie.
There were a bunch of red shotgun shell casings on the ground near the car, as if it had been shot many times after it was already dead. Don’t know what that’s about. The wheels and tires are gone; only the brake drums remain at the ends of the axles.
Brake drums, shock absorber, leaf springs, sway bar, tie rod, differential cover, hydraulic brake lines, parking brake cable, part of the muffler and tailpipe–things you don’t often see from this angle..
Having gotten M out of her hair, E managed to cross a lot of things off of her ever growing to do list. Today she is working on planning for some kind of major gathering scheduled to take place next winter.
The weather has been wonderful lately, eighties in the afternoons with cool mornings and evenings. We ate dinner outside today–leftover spaghetti and fresh salad. On TV we’re watching The Diplomat. We have mixed feelings about it, but it holds our interest.
Saturday, July 29
The Nachos for Dessert food truck was working a car show today at the Vancouver (WA) Mall. So we got in the red car and went up to check things out. We had some terrible mall food for lunch, but then some fine dessert at the truck.
We looked at the cars, too.
This Nash Metropolitan is pretty cute. The Metropolitan was designed in the U.S by Nash-Kelvinator and was also sold mostly in the U.S., but manufacturing was outsourced to Britain.
Most of the cars at the show were American made, but here is another British made car. The photo shows the engine compartment of a fifties/sixties era Mini.
And just for comparison, here’s the engine compartment of the car that was parked next to the Mini at the show. This engine is a fifties/sixties era Chevrolet V-8 (with an aftermarket supercharger.)
Sunday, July 30
M went out early in the morning to pick berries so we could have fresh baked blueberry muffins for breakfast again. Very tasty. Then, after we took a walk in our little local woods, M did irrigation system repair while E transcribed several more Uncle Charlie letters.
The letters are from a large collection written by E’s father’s brother, Charles Osborne Chambers, who was an officer in a the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War 2. The letters E worked on today were sent from Germany in 1945, about the time that the war in Germany came to an end. E was surprised to learn that Uncle Charlie’s work did not end then, nor did the secrecy and censorship of the letters. In almost every letter he mentions that although there is lots going on, there’s not much news that he can report. However, in contrast to his earlier letters from 1943, he does reveal where he is stationed (first in England, then in France, then in Germany.) He mentions being headquartered in a German village whose occupants had fled, leaving behind neat stacks of freshly cut firewood. He observes that the roof of the house they were using was “pretty well shot up” but that the house itself was warm and dry.
E is also struck by the fact that Uncle C wrote so faithfully to his mother, despite the burden of long and difficult hours of work. It makes E imagine that they had a very special bond, C being the firstborn child of the family. It is also evident that E’s grandmother, Lizzie, wrote many letters to her son, although these do not survive. Mail service was erratic and C mentions that when mail finally arrived, he often received as many as eight letters from home at a time. Lizzie also sent packages to C, which cannot have been easy considering the times. It appears that she sent cookies and other items at regular intervals. At least once she sent him a bar of Lava soap. This must have been a much needed item: he mentioned it in three separate letters. Of course he does explain that such repetitions were often deliberate because he was never certain that all of his letters would reach her.
Monday, July 31
More nice weather today, but the forecast is for higher temperatures later in the week. M did grocery shopping and worked on his writing project. E made a batch of minestrone soup. She likes to do this in stages, so she worked on it off and on all day. We had our friend J over for dinner. J is recovering from shoulder surgery and cannot yet drive, so we sent one of our large fleet of vehicles to fetch her. The soup was great. And so were the Magnum bars that we had for dessert. Fortunately, we were able to eat them outside where the drips didn’t matter.
Later on, E transcribed another Uncle Charlie letter and M caught up on the latest episodes of Witcher.
We drove thirty-five miles or so south down to Eugene and then flew up into the air, heading north. The day was clear and our flight path was relatively low, so we could look down and see I-5 almost all the way up to Seattle. We had a 45-minute layover at Sea-Tac, then lifted off for Boise. We were still climbing when we passed very close to Mount Rainier. Spectacular.
We rented a car at the Boise airport and checked into a Quality Inn. Once we got in the room, we understood why the motel was not called the High Quality Inn. For one thing, our room was missing a least one piece of furniture. But basically it was okay. So we also understood why they didn’t call it the Low Quality Inn. We had dinner at the Denny’s next door. The meal scored highly for proximity to our hotel.
Sunday, July 16
This was our day to kick around Boise. We decided to go to the Idaho Botanical Garden, which is located on the outskirts of the city at 2355 Old Penitentiary Road. It turned out to be quite nice. There is an English garden, a rose garden, a meditation garden, a children’s garden, a koi pond, a native plant area, and more. Plus, immediately adjacent to the garden, there is an old penitentiary. Not so nice.
A helpful sign pointed out that this section of the garden was where temporary gallows were constructed when an execution took place. Hangings took place outside the walls of the prison so as not to disturb the sensibilities of the other prisoners.
After walking through the garden, we toured the penitentiary, which has been developed into a museum. It is one of only three decommissioned U.S. prisons that are open for public view. Someone has gone to a lot of work to provide extensive interpretive information about the history of the prison and the people who were there. A sign at the entrance invites any visitors who happen to be former ‘residents’ or family members of residents to contact the museum staff if they would be willing to help with the ongoing research.
Four of the cell block buildings are open to walk through. The oldest, dating from the late 19th Century, has incredibly tiny individual cells with steel latticed doors. The cells in the middle aged blocks were a mix of single, double and triple bed cells and had the more familiar steel bar doors. The newest block, completed in the early 1950’s, was noticeably more humane and had somewhat larger spaces. None of the cells had windows. The prison closed in the 1970’s after several buildings were damaged during a series of riots.
One of the most interesting exhibits is a row of 24 cells where each cell has an information placard about one of the prisoners who spent time there. The Information includes dates, reason for incarceration, a photo of the resident, and in many cases, information about what happened to that person once they were released.
The experience of seeing the prison was a little creepy and we did not take pictures. For the curious, there are lots of (uncreepy) photos and other information here.
After the prison tour, we retired to our motel room to recuperate and to get out of the 105 degree heat. Later on we took a hint from one of our readers and had dinner at Twigs Bistro in Meridian, a Boise suburb.
Twigs is a lovely place. The distance from here to life in those old cell blocks is so vast as to be almost incomprehensible.
Monday, July 17
After a less than high quality breakfast, we went to pick up our overlanding vehicle from Idaho Overland Adventures. Owners Brianne and Joe had everything ready for us and gave us a one-hour orientation before sending us off. The vehicle we rented is a Toyota 4Runner that has been modified to include a rooftop tent, a nice sized side awning, and a slide-out kitchen in the rear. The kitchen includes a 12-volt refrigerator running off a dedicated battery that can be charged either by the truck’s electrical system–while driving–or by a solar panel for days when the truck is parked. The truck also has an impressive Garmin GPS system that not only tells drivers where they are and what roads to take, but also relays the truck’s position to the home unit in Boise and allows for emergency communication no matter how far out in the boonies one might be.
On the first day, we didn’t actually use any of these things. Instead we just drove a couple of hundred highway miles down to Elko, Nevada and stayed in a motel. The motel was nicer than our previous one, but it also had a big bare spot in one corner of the room. In back of the motel we saw a couple of dozen armchairs and three or four couches arranged in neat rows in an unused part of the parking lot. Are all hotels like this? E went for a swim in the pool. And then we had dinner at a Basque restaurant.
Tuesday, July 18
Today our trip began for real. First we made a meal plan for the next two days and went off to the market to get what was needed. That done, we filled up the tank at what we thought might be the last gas station we would see for the next two hundred miles. We then drove north on Nevada Highway 225 and started looking for the road to Jarbidge via the ghost town of Charleston. We did not know that there were actually two ways to get to Charleston from the highway–one good one and one bad one. We turned off on Humboldt River North Fork Road. As we found out later, that’s the bad one. In fact, in places, it was terrible–not really dangerous for people, but hard on machines. It was also beautiful, passing as it did through the low hills of uninhabited sagebrush desert. The Garmin was really helpful; it knew the route well and was quick to let us know what to do whenever we had to decide between two faint tracks, each seemingly leading farther into nowhere.
Eventually we came to the end of the wrong road and connected up with the better one. We passed the Charleston ghost town and found that there was still an active cattle operation going on there. We also found active cattle.
Finally we got to the high point of the trip–both literally and figuratively–Copper Basin and Bear Creek Pass. The former was the area that M thought we just had to see.
The road to Jarbidge climbs along the east side of Copper Basin and eventually reaches Bear Creek Pass at 8,488 feet. It then drops very steeply down the other side of the mountain till it reaches the level of the Jarbidge River at about 6,500 feet. The town is just a few miles downstream. We set up in a somewhat primitive campground next to the river a half mile from the town.
Getting in and out of bed required a ladder. Note the awning extending out from the driver’s side. That came in handy when it rained.
At around 2:00 in the morning, M descended the ladder and went out stargazing. The Jarbidge River canyon is steep and narrow, which meant that he could only see a relatively narrow band of sky running north and south between the canyon walls. Still, it was a moonless night and the nearest town of any size was 100 miles away, so there were plenty of stars to gaze at. The Milky Way, meanwhile, was running east and west, and looked like a glowing white bridge stretching across the canyon from rim to rim.
Wednesday, July 19
In the morning the weather was again sunny and warm, pleasant in the shade but a little harsh out in the sun. We walked into town to see the sights.
In 1909 there was a gold strike in the area and miners began to pour in. One story has it that the town was first called Mahoney, after an early prospector. For reasons unknown, the name was later changed to Jarbidge, a mispronunciation of the Shoshone word Tsawhawbitts. (According to Shoshone legend, Tsawhawbitts was a giant cannibal who roamed a certain canyon in the far reaches of northern Nevada, hunting for unsuspecting men to toss into a large basket and carry back to camp for dinner.) Eventually a large-scale gold mine operated in the canyon, with a vertical shaft running down 1100 feet, where a number of horizontal shafts branched off. The apparatus in the photo below was located at the top of the vertical shaft and was part of the mechanism for operating the elevators that would take miners up and down and bring the ore up. Production was high for about ten years but then gradually declined, finally ceasing in 1932.
These days there are several dozen buildings in Jarbidge, including a hotel (of sorts), two bars, and a general store. Of the many houses, some are very nice, but few are very large. Some houses don’t look like much at all, at least at first glance. Look again, though, and you see that most of them are solid, snug and well-maintained. Only a few of them are lived in all year. The over winter population is said to be about fifteen hardy souls. The most crowded time of year is hunting season. During our time there, the town was alive, but hardly lively. There seemed to be only one business open, a bar/restaurant called the Outdoor Inn.
There are no paved streets in Jarbidge and the town speed limit is 10 mph. There wasn’t much traffic, either vehicular or pedestrian. As we walked along Main street, we did see one very neatly dressed old man slowly make his exit from the Outdoor Inn. He used a walker to shuffle over to a white pickup truck, got in and drove away, stopping at a house about 300 yards south on the same street. Presumably that was where he lived. Then an ATV came by, driven by a girl who looked to be ten or eleven years old. There was another girl in the seat beside her. They were just barely tall enough to see over the dash, but they were laughing and having a grand time. After a few minutes the driver returned, this time without her friend. Later on, another ATV passed by, this one driven by a boy, who was maybe seven or eight. If he had been seated, he would have been too short to see over the dash, so he stood on the floor of the machine just behind the wheel. As he passed, we were both struck by how small he was to be driving down the street, but even more by his demeanor. With his eyes fixed straight ahead, he stood as motionless as a statue, with a serious, stoical, trancelike expression with a hint of sadness.
Back at our camp, we were feeling hot and dry, so we went and sat in the river for a while. There was still a little snow melting up in the hills, so we got cooled off pretty quickly. After that we dried off and went back up to the truck for lunch. As we ate we noticed some light cloudiness moving in from the northwest. It was nice to have a little less sun and we started thinking about naps. But then the clouds got darker and we could hear a bunch of thunder off somewhere. Vay! Vay! Vay! as you might say. E located our rain shells and started moving all non-waterproof items to shelter and M jumped up on top of the truck to reach up and extend the rain flaps around the roof tent. That process is quick and easy, but only if you know what goes where. We really appreciated having had the benefit of Joe’s detailed orientation back in Boise. By the time the storm hit us, the tent was prepared, the truck was closed up and we were settled in on our folding chairs under the awning. Which was good, because the rain came hard and fast.
It lasted about 45 minutes. Quite enough, thank you.
After the rain stopped, the clouds lightened a little and we had a visitor. E took its picture.
Thankfully, that one shower was the extent of the rain and we were able to cook dinner without drowning our veggie burgers and cookies. After dinner, we took another walk, this time in the direction away from town. There were striking rock formations on both sides of the canyon that looked quite lovely in the early evening light.
Thursday, July 20
Today we had to get back to Boise and return the 4Runner, as early in the day as possible. So we were up at 6:00 and on the road by 7:00. We took the easy route out of Jarbidge, one that M knew well from his previous visit. Also, we knew we had plenty of gas. So it was a relatively stressless trip, the only problem being that Boise was about six hours away. We got there, though, and made a quick stop at the airport, where E rented a car while M continued on to turn in the truck. By 3:00 in the afternoon we were checked into a very nice room at a Hampton Inn downtown. We had just enough time to clean up and go to dinner at Epi’s, a very nice Basque restaurant. This we had been looking forward to the whole time. It did not disappoint.
Friday, July 21
Up at 5:15 today and on our way to the airport by a little after 6:00. The Boise airport is nice, very easy to understand and to deal with. Our plane was late taking off, however, because of heavy fog in Seattle! Fog? The whole idea was preposterous! But there it was, and the delay almost made us miss our connection. Isn’t it amazing how slow some people in airports can be, if you happen to be in a hurry? But we got to the gate in plenty of time, at least two minutes before they closed the door. By 11:00 we were back in Oregon. At the Eugene airport, by the way, the Eugene Library has provided an automated story/poem dispenser in a corridor on the way to the gates. You push a button to choose one of the two, short story or poem, and the machine prints one up and spits it out for you. E got a short story, which was rather nice.
Saturday, July 22
Looks like it must be M’s birthday.
Sunday, July 23
We had another party today with A who came down from Vancouver. This time there was cake!
E made a lemon meringue pie today, which is a fairly laborious process. Plus, she had to be especially careful because she was presenting the pie at a meeting of the LMPS–the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. It goes without saying that society members are experienced with all manner of pies. And they can be somewhat particular, especially about lemon meringue. More than one local baker has disappointed them in one respect or another. (And alas, their favorite bakery–Taylor Street Ovens–shut down a year ago.)
E’s first step was to look around for someone to make her a crust, as she really didn’t want to do that part. Fortunately M likes to make pie crust. (He always mixes up a little too much so he can eat some of it raw.) So M provided a shell and E took it from there.
Here’s a picture of the group just as the meeting was coming to order. From left to right: L, H, E, B and A. Sixth member T (aka N) took the picture.
We are happy to report that the pie was well received.
Friday, July 7
M has started writing a memoir about his childhood in Utah in the fifties and sixties. He also caught up on Season 3 of The Witcher.
Saturday, July 8
At 11:00 E took Spanish Pisto Manchego to her yoga class potluck. The potluck was a joyous occasion because it was the first time the group had gathered in person since the onset of the Pandemic. In fact some of the members had never seen each other in the flesh as the class started on ZOOM during the pandemic. We are all grateful to our teacher L for providing the class through thick and thin.
We had dinner with B and B at Ba’s in Albany. Before dinner we stopped off at their place for cocktails. They also gave us beets and a zucchini from their garden. And they’ve already harvested potatoes.
Sunday, July 9
Raspberry jam day! Berry season is upon us already. E got a flat and made two batches of jam. M has started reading an actual book from E’s book club: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
Monday, July 10
M had some dental work today and must have a soft diet for the next little while. E took a long walk in the forest and got a good recording of a Western Tanager. She really wishes she could spot one in the forest, as they are beautiful birds. But, alas, they are heard and not seen. Later she went out–and because she is an angel–she got M a chocolate shake from Burgerville. She also brought home a raspberry shake, which of course M couldn’t eat because of the seeds. E is certain that she hadn’t planned to get two shakes; somehow it just happened. She also pureed some leftover pisto for M.
Tuesday, July 11
E had another in-person Better Bones and Balance class. She says she likes the teacher very much in spite of the fact that the workouts are strenuous. M went for a long ride over Tombstone Pass in the Jaguar and also worked on arrangements for our trip to Boise and points south, which is coming up. We’ve had lovely weather this week.
Speaking of weather, E checked in with her niece J who lives in Vermont. J sent along these photos.
J lives on the top of a hill, so so she was above the flood…
…but all roads to town were blocked.
And then there was the matter of the poor turtle that took refuge in her driveway.
In the evening, E attended a meeting of the Knitting and Non-Knitting club made up of former ELI colleagues. E enjoyed catching up with people and doing a bit of work on her much neglected embroidery project.
Wednesday, July 12
We had coffee today with the daughter of our friends Rick and Gypsy, who both recently passed on within a year of one another. It was nice to hear about her doings. She has a son about to enter high school and twin daughters about to enter fifth grade.
Thursday, July 13
E had a medical appointment in Portland today. She is pursuing the dream of saying goodbye to the CPAP machine. The appointment went well and she found out more about an implant that can correct sleep apnea. It’s a multi-step process, however, and the big question is whether it would be covered by insurance. She now awaits follow up information from the medical provider. E thinks this was a very pleasant type of doctor visit: no clothing is removed, no pain involved and best of all, they don’t weigh you!
Friday, July 14
M had to rethink and rearrange some parts of our upcoming trip. Why now? At this late date? Could it be because he didn’t do it right the first time? Naw, that would be impossible…
Anyway we leave tomorrow, flying to Boise for some reason or other. We hope we remember what the reason is when we get there.
We started a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle yesterday and finished it today. Five hundred is a nice size. Those 1,000 piece puzzles are a lot of work. Plus they monopolize our dining room table for days and days.
Once it was together, we didn’t want to put it away immediately, but we were going to need our dining room table. E used a bread board to transfer the puzzle to this little table next to the couch. It’s doing well there.
Friday, June 16
E plans to make another paella for B and B, who are coming on Saturday. So today she spent some time doing parts of the meal that can be done in advance. She has also been working outside, her latest project being a major rehab of the bed on the east side of the house. She also is in charge of making war on the spider mites, which are bad this year.
M has been doing lots of yard work, especially in the back yard. The results are mixed–very mixed.
Right now the dominant color in this area comes from volunteer poppies. M dropped some seeds about five years ago in an entirely different part of the yard. One or two still grow there, but they’ve decided they like it here better.
M is also binge watching The Last Kingdom, a saga of Saxons vs. Vikings based on novels by Bernard Cornwell. He’s nearing the end of Season 4.
Saturday, June 18
We walked in the forest today, then later on had paella with with B and B. Very nice.
Sunday, June 19
We celebrated Fathers Day by cooperating on making a chocolate pie for M. Making chocolate pie around here is a complicated process. It goes like this. First M mixes up some dough for a pie shell. He has to make more dough than he needs because A) having extra allows for mistakes as he rolls it out and puts it into the pie pan, and B) he just has to eat some of it raw. (!) M bakes the shell and leaves it on the counter for E. E makes filling and puts it into the shell. She then makes meringue, spreads a not too thick layer onto the filling, and then bakes the pie to brown it. Then the pie has to cool. When it’s ready, M makes some whipped cream. To serve the pie, we cut a piece for M and a piece for E. M then removes the meringue from his piece and places it on top of the E’s piece, giving her a double layer of meringue. Then M spreads some whipped cream on his piece. It’s delicious. Everyone is pleased.
Monday, June 19
M went to the dentist. E concentrated on her next challenge: hosting tomorrow’s meeting of her book club. They will be discussing The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, so clearly there must be tea. Also there will be Grandma Randall’s applesauce cake plus gluten free macaroons as needed. Also crackers and two kinds of cheese. Some club members will be here, and others will be Zooming. Very complicated.
One of the many themes in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane concerns the experiences of a young woman who was born in China, placed in an orphanage, and then adopted by an American couple. This was at a time when there were large numbers of unwanted girl babies in China, many of whom were adopted by couples from other countries, chiefly in North America and Europe. As such girls grow to be teenagers in their new homes, issues of cultural identity complicate what is already a difficult time. E and M watched a documentary film that follows a number of adopted Chinese girls as they negotiate these years. It’s called Somewhere Between and was made by an American film maker who had just adopted a girl from China and wanted to learn whatever she could from the experience of others. It’s interesting.
Tuesday, June 20
The book club meeting day has arrived. As she is preparing, E finds that one of the small folding tables that she likes is unusable due to loose and missing hardware. Oh-oh. Finally she says “I don’t really need it.” Why would she say a thing like that? Well, possibly because she is confident that M–who has has a graduate degree in grammar and linguistics–will know what she really means: “The person I am talking to could probably fix this table. If so, he should do it right now.”
Once the table was fixed and other preparations made, E took some time to call Spain and talk to Manolo.
The book club meeting went fine. M stayed out of sight in the study watching The Last Kingdom. He is now in the middle of Season 5.
Wednesday, June 21
M finished removing grass and other weeds from the raspberry bed–an area that has been much neglected in recent years. E played orchard worker and climbed a ladder to thin apples from the tree closest to the house.
In the afternoon we walked over to H and T’s house to see how their remodeling project is going. The framing and drywalling are all done and painting is just beginning. H and T are a little frustrated by how long it is taking, but it is definitely progressing. After a tour, we had tea and sliced mangoes outside. It was a warm day, so their deeply shaded back yard was much appreciated.
Thursday, June 22
Tertulia with J and R at Coffee Culture. It’s time for the annual Chintimini Chamber Music Festival. J is a former board member and she and R often host some of the visiting musicians. This morning their house guest, Festival Music Director Erik Peterson, joined us for coffee and pastries.
Several times during the day, E received reminders about her appointment on Friday with a service provider who shall remain nameless. By the third reminder she was starting to get annoyed. More on this later.
Later on we had dinner with J and B at Tacovore. They’ve recently returned from a holiday in Portugal. They are part of group of about a dozen travelers who call themselves “El Grupo.” The core members of the group studied together in Costa Rica and have been traveling together ever since. In Portugal they were able to rent some lovely multi-room accommodations. Among other places, the group visited Aveiro, which is known as the Venice of Portugal. The gondolas of Venice have graceful designs, but they pale before the strikingly colored gondolas of Aveiro.
Friday, June 23
Just after breakfast, E went off to her 9:00 AM appointment with the provider who shall remain nameless. When she arrived, there was a light on inside but the office door was locked. Beside the door was a doorbell button. She pushed it several times but got no response. She got out her phone intending to call and ask if perhaps she had come to the wrong address. (Though this seemed pretty unlikely since they had given her this address three times the previous day). At this critical juncture, it turned out that her phone was not working! Yikes! What a mess. Luckily she was only five minutes from home and was able to go back and use M’s phone.
When this was finally sorted out, the explanation was simple. It was the correct address, but the staff had forgotten to unlock the front door for the day’s first appointment. Had they heard the bell? Oh no, they said, the bell had been disconnected some time ago because it was so annoying.
They were very apologetic and the actual appointment, when it finally came, went very well.
Saturday, June 24
We went to the nursery this morning and bought several zinnias and a small bunch of verbena. When we got home, E went right out and put them in the ground.
The verbena are pretty now; the new zinnias won’t flower till later.
We caught someone in the garden harvesting rhubarb next to a runaway ninebark bush…
In the morning M loaded his expedition gear into the truck. At 10:30 he departed on another trip to the wilds of northern Nevada. Three hundred miles later, he still hadn’t gotten out of Oregon. But that was all part of the plan. He spent the night in Lakeview, Oregon, where he had had the foresight to reserve a room.
E, meanwhile, had more important issues to attend to. She was having her annual birthday dinner with D, a friend and former colleague. She met D at their usual place, Dulce de Alma, where they could both order small portions of delicious things. But what to wear? The weather had turned quite warm, so E treated herself to a new spring blouse.
What do we think? Is it springy enough?
Wednesday, April 26
M left Lakeview at 8:30 or so, with the remains of the previous night’s Mexican take-out tucked into his backseat fridge. Unlike the Dulce de Alma in Corvallis, El Aguila Real in Lakeview specializes in huge portions of more or less edible things, so there was plenty left over. After an hour or two of driving, he was still in Oregon, but he had gotten as far as the Doherty Slide, one of his favorite places in these parts.
Oregon 140 is almost dead straight for many miles, but then comes to a one thousand foot high barrier. The road turns right and traverses up the face.
After another hour and a half on the road M was well into Nevada and ready to get off the pavement and find a place where he could stop and eat his lunch. On the map, there was a gravel route called Knotts Creek Road. It looked promising, although just what it promised was not clear. But down the road he went. Five or ten miles in he passed a very active cattle operation.
After that, the landscape got emptier. Eventually, he came to another ranch, this one not so active.
Windmill out of order.
Kitchen not up to modern standards. And anyway…
…the house is too small for the modern consumer lifestyle. But on the plus side: no noisy neighbors, zero maintenance yard, plenty of wire, and very small chance of having a tree fall on you.
Just a mile or two past the abandoned ranch, the road enters an area called Pearl Canyon. There M found a place to stop and heat up his chile verde.
There was a rushing stream down in that low spot.
Rushing this day…probably not so rushing a few weeks from now.
After lunch, instead of going back up Knotts Creek Road to the highway, he went farther into the boonies, turning first east and then north on Leonard Creek Road. This got him back to the highway, but at a point some 40 miles beyond where he’d left it.
Buoyed by this nifty maneuver, he decided to try a similar strategy to find a place to camp for the night. He drove a little farther east and decided to head down another gravel road, this one called Sod House Road. On the map, he could see that it connected to Sand Pass Road, which would take him into some likely camping areas.
As it happened, this was not a good idea. After driving for about an hour on a not very good road, M found that his Nevada atlas and his Nevada reality failed to sync up. Sod House Road did not connect to Sand Pass Road or to anything else. All he could do was to drive back the way he had come and start all over again, with not many hours of daylight left.
M ended up stopping for the night on a hillside, overlooking a very dry looking valley.
The sunset went on forever. The night was cold.
And what was E doing on this nice April Wednesday? She was off taking pictures of flowers, picking rhubarb from our garden, and making a pie!
Last week the fawn lilies were barely starting to unfold. Now here they are in full bloom.
E also found that there were still trillium flowers around, both newish–the white ones–and oldish–the pink ones. E wonders why people can’t turn pink and pretty when they get old.
We’re pretty sure that she intended to share both the photos and the pie with M…probably.
Thursday, April 27
E started the day at tertulia with J and R, after which she attended the Zoom BBB (Better Bones & Balance) class. In the afternoon she did Laughter Yoga, and for dinner went with H and T out to Gathering Together Farm. E and T had oven baked fish with broccoli rabe and garlic herb mashed potatoes, while H had fresh pasta. Was it good? It’s always good at GTF.
M started the day by cooking bacon and eggs on his hillside and listening to a couple of meadowlarks. Then it was time to go into town to get some gas and start the homeward leg of the journey. The plan was to explore the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge with an eye toward spending the night somewhere therein. If that didn’t work out, he could always just go on back to Lakeview. What he discovered was that the reserve wasn’t exactly prepared for visitors. All the little roads to all the interesting places had suffered washouts over the winter and it was going to take time to repair them. There was no announcement about this and no one around to ask, so M had to find it out for himself by driving around and discovering the washouts one by one. That in itself was entertaining up to a point, but got old. Finally, though, he found his way to an actual place. It was called Gooch Spring.
Here’s a place where water seeps out of a hillside at Gooch Spring.
At some point someone figured out a way to get some of the seep to flow into a pipe and drip into a tank farther down the slope. By now the metal tank has taken on the colors of its surroundings.
M briefly considered camping at Gooch Spring, but there wasn’t much to look at once you’d finished with sagebrush and, at an altitude of 6,090 feet, it was likely to get pretty chilly overnight. M decided to head back.
The drive to the west provided another encounter with the Doherty Slide, this time going down the traverse instead of up. There are several YouTube videos of vehicles traversing the Slide. Here’s a link to one. The word “slide” in the name does not refer to cars or animals sliding over the edge and falling down into the valley. Instead, it probably refers to the large amount of eroded material found along the base of the ridge.
Friday, April 28
M returned home with a truck covered with dust both inside and out. Cleaning took hours, and even then the interior did not pass inspection. M got a piece of rhubarb pie anyway.
Saturday, April 29
It’s been warm for several days now–shorts weather–and flowers are blooming all over town.
Monday, May 1
Oops, it’s cold again. Time to put those shorts aside.
Tuesday, May 2
In the morning we went for a walk at the Finley Wildlife Refuge south of town. The pond on the Woodpecker Loop was as full as we’ve ever seen it. We noticed that the season has reached an important milestone: the poison oak is back! And boy is it healthy looking. One small consolation is that just when the poison oak leaves pop out, the wild irises come into bloom. They both seem to like the same conditions and are often seen close one another, though not usually this close…
Back at our house, a flicker has been coming around lately. He makes a racket by tapping on our metal chimney cover. Here he is at the feeder.
Wednesday, May 3
Lots of work in the garden today. E needed to repot her rosemary, which has been the centerpiece in her flower bed out by the front sidewalk. Last week she got a big new pot for it and today we made the change. Wasn’t easy.
In the afternoon we went for guided walk through a neighborhood that contains some of the city’s older homes. Most of houses featured on the tour were built in the period from 1890 to 1910. The oldest house, however, was the Biddle-Porter house, which was built circa 1856, making it one of earliest Corvallis homes still standing. Benjamin and Maria Biddle came to Corvallis around 1852 and had previously lived in Springfield, Illinois, where Biddle had been friends with Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer who also lived there. Apparently the friendship continued, as shown by the existence of letter from Lincoln to Biddle written in 1860 during Lincoln’s first presidential campaign.
The Biddles resided in the house until 1877. The house was then occupied by three different OSU professors before being sold to Jack Porter in 1925. It stayed in the Porter family until 2010. It is currently being restored by its preservationist owner.
Thursday, May 4
Tertulia today with J and R. Like us, they’ve been out looking at wild flowers. R has seen fairy slipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa) blooming at the Lewisburg saddle. After tertulia M worked on his drip irrigation network and pulled weeds. E did a one-hour exercise class, planted some candytuft in her old rosemary pot and then went off to the nail salon–all this well before lunch.
We’re thinking of going to stay overnight on the coast. We’d go over in the afternoon, stay the night, and then hike on the following day before heading home. For some reason, it seemed best to do it on Monday and Tuesday. Monday was supposed to be very rainy, but Tuesday was supposed to be only moderately rainy. That should work.
Monday, April 10
As predicted, it’s really rainy today. And…the forecast has changed. It now calls for lots of rain tomorrow also. Oh well, we’re committed now.
We stayed at the Adobe resort in Yachats. We ate dinner in their dining room, which sits on a low cliff just a few yards from where the waves are crashing against the nearest rocks. Lots of big windows give a panoramic view of the ocean, up and down the coast. Will those few yards of rock and earth eventually wear away and the Adobe dining room fall into the sea? Maybe. But maybe not for a while. The food was very good, but expensive. We paid more for dinner than for our room.
Tuesday, April 11
Woke up at 7:00 and it was pouring down rain. By the time we got breakfast the sun was out. Huh? It stayed mostly sunny all day. So much for forecasts.
Our hike was in the Sutton Recreation Area, about 40 minutes south of Yachats, almost to Florence. To get there we drove south down Highway 101. For most of the way the highway runs very near the rugged coast and the views are spectacular. But then, about ten miles north of the town of Florence the highway drifts southeast away from the shore and runs inland. On the satellite image below, Highways 101 is the prominent blue line that goes up and down through the right half of the picture. Our hike began at the end of Sutton Beach Road, the smaller road that runs up closer to the beach.
The land between the beach and the highway consists of ancient sand dunes that have been mostly–but not entirely–colonized by what is now a forest ecosystem.
The size of some of the trees shows that plants have been growing out of these dunes for a long time.
The hiking trail was a four and a half mile loop. The first part of the trail passed through dense vegetation along the banks of Sutton Creek. Then, at about the two and a half mile mark, the trail crossed into the mostly empty Sutton Creek Campground. We found ourselves a table and had a leisurely lunch. On the return leg the trail moved up to higher ground and crossed a large sandy area where the plant kingdom has not got much of a foothold. At least not yet. We were lucky with the weather and the whole length of the route was soft underfoot. A lovely hike.
Wednesday, April 12
E had a HEPAJ meeting today. They had lunch at a restaurant that everyone calls the Australian meat pie place. That name annoys E and before she went she called them to see if they had anything in the way of pies that weren’t meat filled. As it turned out, they did, and E enjoyed a nice vegetable korma pie.
Meanwhile, M took his truck in to the Nissan dealer to deal with a recall. At issue was a possibly malfunctioning parking pawl. A parking pawl is what prevents an automatic transmission vehicle from moving when you put it in Park. If the pawl does not engage properly, the car can just roll, roll, roll away, gently down the street. In the photo below the pawl is engaged. The driveshaft cannot rotate and thus the car’s wheels are not able to turn. As soon as a car is shifted out of Park, the pawl is pulled back and the shaft is free to turn. The part in the lower right corner is called the hand. Although not many people know this, there is actually a person inside your automatic transmission who uses a finger to move the pawl in and out. The work is stressful and it is not surprising that occasionally an intervention is required.
Thursay, April 13
Tertulia today with J and R, who have just returned from a tour around the Rhône region of France. They had a few days in Lyon, just a week or two after we did. They too had some troubles with disruptions due to protests over the issue of raising the retirement age in France from 62 to 64. Harumph.
E had two classes today–Laughter Yoga and Better Bones. M had no classes at all.
Friday, April 14
E needs a new wallet and wants it to be exactly like the old one. So off she went down to Eugene Leatherworks and ordered herself one. She’ll get the same color, size, shape and features as the old one, with a few little upgrades. It’s promised by August. Here’s the old one and the planned materials for its replacement.
:
E returned from Eugene in time for a meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. They met at A’s house, with E, H, T and L in attendance. The pie was delicious and a good time was had by all.
But the events of the day were not over. In the late afternoon a package arrived. Here’s what it contained–the newest member of our household.
Saturday, April 15
Nice day–mid fifties and lightly overcast. Also, chocolate croissants for breakfast! Then a hike in the OSU forest to check on the wildflowers. There were lots of trilliums around, but many were turning pink and drooping. The height of their season has passed. The fawn lily blossoms, on the other hand, have not quite arrived. We’ll need to check next week.
What we noticed most today were the yellow violets.
Sunday, April 16
M went out trucking in the rain today, messing around in the Coast Range, where there isn’t any snow. The plan was to go west on Hwy 20 to Burnt Woods, then south to Harlan, then farther south across the mountains to connect with the Falls Creek road and finally come out on Hwy 34 near the fish hatchery sign. It didn’t work out though. M came out onto 34 okay, but had drifted too far east to even come close to Falls Creek. Must try again sometime.
Harlan is more of a crossroads than a town, but the area is very pretty.
M’s route is up out of the valley into the mountains. The road goes on and on through a whole bunch of trees, which is somewhat monotonous. Also rainy.
Clear cuts make for a change of scenery.
And very occasionally, there’s a lake. M found this one high up in the middle of nowhere. Strange looking stubs in the water. Anyone know why are they’re shaped that way?
For our last few days in Spain we stayed with Lesley and Marciano at their house in Rivas. Lúa, Ke, and Buddy reside at the same address.
Lesley invited some of E’s old friends to lunch today, giving us a chance to see them one more time before we leave. The temperature was around 70, nice enough for a dinner outside. Lesley outdid herself with a multi-course banquet: fondue in a bread bowl, mushroom soup, Chinese vegetable salad, followed by the choice of salmon or cod in hollandaise. Then came two awesome desserts: brownies with a thick coconut topping–contributed by Margo–and Lesley’s fresh fruit pieces in port wine sauce over blueberry ice cream. Wow.
It was a shame that we only had half an hour to rush through this meal; we really should’ve planned better…Nah. Just kidding. We gave this meal the time it deserved–more than three hours.
Wondering about all those initials? Left to right: Paco, Margo, Marga, Lesley, Marciano and E. Photo by M.
Sunday March 26
We went to downtown Madrid today for some last minute details, including half a kilo of magical powder:
Monday March 27
Another nice day. We went for a walk through an old olive grove, and later on we grilled some halloumi cheese to help with the midday meal. Also, of course, we packed up the suitcases. We are really tired of packing.
Tuesday March 28
Marciano and Lesley got up early and got us to the airport by 4:00 AM so we could catch our 6:00 AM flight. Heroes both of them! By 8:30 we were in Amsterdam and by 10:30 we were on our way to Portland. The bad news was that our plane’s in-flight entertainment and wi-fi were both down. You can imagine the groans that greeted that announcement. In other areas the Delta/KLM service was wonderful, including the main meal, which was very tasty and healthy too.
We finally got back to our little house at around 4:00 PM, 21 hours door to door.
Wednesday March 29
When we arrived yesterday, Oregon seemed cold and damp; but the sun came out today, long enough to dry out the long grass in the back yard. M took the opportunity to break out the mower and go on the attack. Inside the house, both of us got back onto our computers as soon as we could. Besides being really tired of suitcases, we were super tired of small screens.
E took a walk and was happy to come across a new friend from the animal kingdom.
Thursday March 30
Cloudy today, but not raining. In the morning we worked on our taxes. In the afternoon we did some weeding and cleaning up outside. Jet lag is making us feel sluggish. We woke up at 3:00 AM wondering if it was time for breakfast.
Today marks the 4th wedding anniversary for the ANDEES. E sent them a gift of flowers, since an internet source said that flowers or fruit were the appropriate gift to signify the deeper blossoming and ripening of the relationship.
Friday March 31
Progress on the jet lag front: this morning we didn’t wake up till 4:00 AM. In the afternoon we took a forest walk and saw lots of Trillium and a few tiny yellow violets. Also we saw that the Indian plum is leafing out. It’s always the first. When we got home, we took a closer look at our two Indian plums, and sure enough, they have new leaves too–and blossoms.
We are reminded once again that spring starts early here but then seems to proceed very slowly. Besides the not very showy Indian plum blossoms, we have a few nice hyacinths and some long rows of daffodils, but these all look a little forlorn since so much else is just barely getting started and there’s a lot of brown around. It doesn’t help that the weather has turned dark and rainy and is predicted to stay that way for the next week or so. Of course there are buds everywhere and new red leaves have appeared on the roses. If we look closely we can see that the flowering currant is on the verge of flowering and that the forsythias are about to turn yellow.
Saturday April 1
It’s nice to be home of course. It’s comfortable and there’s an easing of tension. Certainly there is tension involved in traveling, especially when you’re older. But we kind of got used to it and now we miss it–at least a little. Today we were trying to figure out something about our finances and had to go over our credit card transactions for the last couple of months. It was so exciting to see all the transactions from the trip. Look, there’s the Senator Hotel. Remember that? And what was the Hungry Grill? Must have been in an airport. What was the 62 dollars at Puerta del Sol? Was it the purse? Remember the purse quest? Etc.
Our Visa cards are issued by our credit union. We used them a lot, but we were always a little nervous because they didn’t always work. E ended up calling the credit union twice to try and get them working again. This helped some but did not solve the problem completely. On our unexpected descent into the Lyon subway system, for example, we found that the ticket machines didn’t like our cards. The machines took cash, so it wasn’t a serious problem, but it was disconcerting. Has anyone else experienced such issues with credit cards in Europe?
One thing that worked well was Apple Pay/Apple Card. It was especially handy when used in combination with the Trainline app on the iPhone. Trainline makes it easy to arrange train travel in Europe. You just enter where you’re traveling from, where you want to go, and the date you want to travel. You then push a button and it gives you all the different train types along with all the possible departure and arrival times and all the prices. You choose what you want and then pay for the tickets by choosing Apple Pay and pressing one button on the phone. Then you’re done. Trainline sends you an e-ticket that you can show to the conductor when the time comes.
Of course Trainline is not that easy the first time you use it, because at that point you have to input all your basic information: name, address, email, age, passport number for everyone you are buying a ticket for. You can also enter any discounts you may qualify for. In our case, we got a Dorada (golden) card from the Spanish rail system, which provided a 40% senior discount on long distance tickets. Other EU countries honor the Spanish discount and Trainline remembers it all. Using Trainline costs $5.00 per ticket, but it’s worth it. (It should be noted that Trainline is not idiot proof, as M demonstrated on our trip to Granada, but we won’t go into that.)
Sunday April 2
Damp, gray, calm. There’s a bit more yellow on the forsythias.
We took the train south to Córdoba today. Our train was an Avant, which are high speed trains that make more stops than the intercity expresses. But even with a few stops, the 190 miles to Córdoba went by in less than two hours. So comfortable, so much leg room, and so much elbow room—just three seats across: two seats, a wide aisle, then one more seat on the other side.
The Romans founded Córdoba sometime around the year 150 BC. The oldest part of town is on the north bank of the Guadalquiver River and eventually, in around 75 BC, the Romans got around to building a bridge to the south bank. Eight centuries later, the bridge remained but the Romans had gone and the Muslim Umayyads ruled southern Spain. Somewhere around the year 750 the Umayyads did a major renovation of the bridge. After that, the bridge remained in continuous use until the middle of the 20th Century. Until 1940, it was the only bridge in town. These days it’s still in use, but it’s pedestrian only.
The building in the background above is the Great Mosque of Córdoba. But, you may object, if it’s a mosque, what’s that Christian-looking bell tower and cross and stuff.? Well, that’s because since 1356 the place has had a new owner. Like many new owners, they’ve been doing some remodeling. And they’ve turned it into a cathedral.
It’s still very mosquelike inside, light and airy like most mosques, even though it was built 1200 years ago.
It’s a huge space. The building is a rectangle a block long and most of a block wide. Presumably all the interior walls at one time looked like this….
…or this.
Only a few of these original Umayyad style interior panels still exist. Dozens of others have been replaced by elaborate Christian-type niches. There’s also a huge organ, an elaborately carved wooden choir box and a beautiful basilica.
The lower part of the basilica
Much of the Christian stuff is beautiful in its way, but the overall effect is as if someone planted groups of showy exotic flowers at random places in a tranquil natural landscape. But never mind, much of the original effect is still there, especially in the Patio of the Orange Trees shown below.
In the afternoon we took a tour of the city. Here’s our tour bus. It was called a tuk-tuk, but being electric, it didn’t do a lot of tukking.
One stop on the tour was the 13th Centrury Santa Marina church, which was built soon after the Muslims were forced out of the city by King Ferdinand III. The site previously was occupied by a mosque.
Tuesday March 7
Responding to a reader request, we also visited the old Córdoba Synagogue. It was a ten minute walk from our hotel through a maze of medieval era streets.
The upper floor is the women’s section..
Here’s the menorah…
…and here is an inscription just above it.
The inscription reads: “Provisional sanctuary and abode for the Testimony completed by Yishaq Moheb, son of Mr. Efraím Wadawa, in the year of seventy-five. So return, Oh God hasten to return to Jerusalem!”
On the way back from the synagogue E stopped to talk with Maimonides, the great 12th Century philosopher, scholar and physician. Maimonides was born in Córdoba, but alas, he was born a hundred years too soon to have worshipped in the synagogue we had just seen.
Amazingly, while E was there the Maimonides statue actually bent down and spoke to her! M quickly snapped a photo but found later that it had disappeared from his phone! E has not revealed what it was that Maimonides said.
After visiting the synagogue and doing a little shopping in the morning, we got back onto a train in the early afternoon. Before long we were in Granada and safely into the Hotel Grisol de Guadalupe, up on a hill, just across the road from the Alhambra. That evening we took a walk down the hill for a ways and got this view of the oldest part of the city.
Wednesday March 8
Granada is a city of about 225,000 people and, to be honest, most of it doesn’t look at all like the old part shown in the last photo. Granada is home to a number of universities and, of course, to one of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe. One of our taxi drivers said that education and tourism are the only two things that keep the city alive. He claimed that the Alhambra gets an average of 8,000 visitors per day.
The Alhambra is a large complex of palaces and gardens on a hill overlooking the city. It consists of three main areas. The Alcazaba is a fortress dating from the 11th Century. The Nasrid palaces were built later and were home to the rulers of Muslim Spain for about 300 years. The Generalife is a garden complex on a hill above the palaces. The Nasrid palaces are the star attraction and access is by appointment only. Our appointed time was 2:00 PM, so we went into the complex at a little after 12:00 and went to the Generalife first.
One of the nice things about these Muslim era gardens is how much water there is: in pools, in fountains, and best of all, flowing in small stone runnels along one’s path or across the courtyards.
A view from the Generalife down into other parts of the complex.
Here are a few photos from inside the Nasrid palace. They hardly do it justice.
Thursday March 9
We managed to get back to Madrid today, despite an unexpected two hour layover at a new high speed rail station in the middle of nowhere.
Was it lunchtime? Yes. Was there a cafe at the station? No, there was a vending machine. Did the cellophane wrapped sandwiches all have a little blurb that said Improved Recipe? Yes! What exactly had the recipe been improved from? Very hard to say. And who, you might ask, is to blame for this scheduling catastrophe? Well, you might ask, but we might not say…
Sunday. March 12
Nice spring weather these days with highs of around 70. We are pausing to rest up and plan our next phase. It’s almost time to say goodbye to our little apartment. We’re visiting some of our local shops for the last time. While M was busy working on the blog, E took an excursion to visit her former neighborhood downtown. She walked through the Retiro Park and found that Avenida Menéndez Pelayo #37 was still intact. Roberto’s family owned three apartments in the building. E lived on the second floor in the back. E remembers that most buildings in Madrid were dingy looking back in the day. Pollution levels are much lower now and everything seems spiffier.
Later, as she returned to her current Madrid neighborhood and emerged from the dark caverns of the metro, she was greeted by this sure sign of spring.
Today it seemed as though we had travelled back through time. Were we looking at the prehistoric cave paintings at Altamira? No, no, not that far back. Did we visit the castle where Columbus made his pitch to Isabella and Ferdinand? No, not that either. We traveled back to a time that for many of us is within living memory. We visited a travel agency.
And you know what? It was really busy. There were six agents working and several more customers waiting for a turn. When you walked in, you had to take a number. Our number was R74. After a minute or two, we noticed that there was a big board that showed which numbers were being currently served. Oh good, now maybe we could get some idea of how long we might have to wait. Or could we? The number that had just been called was K42. Hmm. The next customers called had number M60. Hmm. But wait, those particular people had come in right before we had! Our spirits rose. We had to be getting close. But when the next number was called, it was J03. Our spirits fell. But, as it happened, J03 was a no show. And the next number was ours.
Our agent was Alejandra, a young Spanish-Venezuelan woman whose family lives in Florida. She was great, although her computer system was really slow. But it was good enough so that we could make all the basic arrangements for our late March travels to France, Switzerland and Germany. Good!
By the way, if you’re thinking that most of the customers in the travel agency were older people…you’d be right.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Today we took the train north and had another nice day with M and M. First we did a walk along the river and then had a nice meal at their place. M made merluza (hake) and it was delicious. (We don’t get hake in Corvallis, which is a shame.) M’s merluza recipe involves a sauce which consists of tomato sauce, sweet red pepper and mayonnaise. We could have just dipped fresh bread into the sauce and even without the fish we would have eaten pretty darn well.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Today we made a visit to the Gran Cafe de Gijón. It’s a Madrid landmark and as one writer puts it, es uno de los Cafés más prestigiosos del mundo. It was established in 1888 by a man named Gumersindo Garcia. He was from the northern coast of Spain and he named his new cafe after his hometown of Gijón. Over the years it developed a reputation as a literary and cultural gathering place and was frequented by several generations of celebrated Spanish writers and artists. In her day, Mata Hari came to the Cafe Gijón, as did Hemingway during his time in Spain. But we did not visit the cafe to imbibe the exalted literary atmosphere. No. We visited because of another, even more important figure who was also connected with the Cafe Gijón. In the early seventies E herself taught classes in a building two doors down. Every day, at around 11:00, she would take her coffee break in the nearest cafe. She doesn’t remember meeting any geniuses there, but she does remember the pastries. They were good.
In the early 2020’s E went back to the Gijón. Here she is at lunchtime with her wine and bread, waiting for her primer plato.
E recognized the Gijón interior right away. After a bit M noticed that the Gijón still had a cigarette vending machine. When he pointed it out, E said, “Oh, that’s what’s really different, this room used to be full of smoke.”
The announcement says that the management is not responsible for any malfunction of the machine and gives you a number you can call if you have an complaint. No mention of possible lung malfunction.
When M zoomed way in on this picture, he could make out the names of the cigarette brands currently on offer. As a former smoker he found them interesting. He saw Fortuna, a brand that he smoked when he lived in Barcelona, and a few unfamiliar brands such as Nobel and West. But the great majority were old American brands: Lucky Strikes, Marlboro, Chesterfield, L&M, Winston, and Camel. Chesterfield? Seriously? Back in the day, Chesterfields were the original coffin nails—long, fat and unfiltered.
Thursday, February 23
We got up really early today, had a quick bite for breakfast, then got a taxi to the train station at 6:15. E’s friend, another of the M’s, was taking us on a day trip to see the city of Leon, which is in the northwest of Spain. Leon is three hours from Madrid by car, but just two hours by high speed train. In our case, the train got us to the outskirts of Leon real fast, but then came to a halt. There were some issues to resolve before we could actually get into the station, 45 minutes worth.
Eventually we got off the train and began walking into the center of town. It turns out that Leon is a really lovely city. It was quite cold, so once we got to the center we were happy to drop into a cafe for cafe con leche and some little do-nuts called buñuelos. Then we were off to see the Leon Cathedral—which is awesome.
Another place we visited was the Casa Botines, which was designed and built by Antonio Gaudi between 1891 and 1894. Gaudi is most famous for the design of the Sagrada Familia and other buildings in Barcelona. Casa Botines is one of only three of his creations that were built outside his home region. Now a museum, it was originally designed as a mixed use building. The ground floor housed the family’s textile business while the Botines family lived on the top four floors.
Work downstairs, live upstairs. Just your basic mom and pop operation.
A little after 1:00 we stopped for lunch at a cafe/restaurant where a member of M’s family worked as a cook in times gone by. The dining room didn’t open till 1:30; we had a glass of wine while we waited. The barman also helped us warm up with some little cups of hot fish broth on the house.
We also had a tour of the Basilica of San Isidoro, a religious building whose history dates back to the early tenth century when a Christian church was built over the ruins an ancient Roman temple to the god Mercury. That church was destroyed in the middle of the tenth century by invading Arabs. A new Christian church was built just a few decades later at the beginning of the 11th century. Parts of this church still exist and our tour guide helped us to see the difference between those oldest parts and the many later additions.
In the book room of the basilica we saw hundreds of medieval era books, the oldest dating back to the 7th century. Another room, called the Pantheon of Kings, shows wall art from the 12th century. And, yes, the Holy Grail is also here, the very cup that Jesus drank from at the last supper, more than two thousand years ago. Wow. But how do they know for sure that this is the one? And aren’t there also more than a hundred other places in Europe that claim to have the Holy Grail? Well, yes. But hey, maybe more than one cup was used during that meal. Anyway, the one here is technically known as the Chalice of Doña Urraca. It has definitely been in Leon for a thousand years; but during the thousand years before that, the story is a little sketchy.
Here’s what we saw, but this photo is from the internet. No photography was allowed in the museum parts of the Basilica.
We stopped briefly in another religious museum so that M could say hello to an artifact from her personal history: the old wooden confessional from the parish church of her childhood.
After the museums, we spent some time having hot chocolate and churros at the Parador, the Hostal San Marcos. Then we walked back to the train station and caught another fast train home. It was late by then, so there we were rolling along at 150 miles an hour through the darkness, letting someone else drive, wearing no seatbelts, and facing backwards.
Friday, February 24
Fresh raspberries for breakfast today. From Morocco. Awesome. And then a nice restful day. Some grocery shopping in the morning. Later E went to the papelería and got us an actual paper map of Madrid. She’s busy working back and forth between what she sees now and the host of places and memories that rise up out of the past.
Saturday, February 25
Two days in a row with nothing major on the schedule. Nice. We did take a walk down to the nearest plaza to get a few essentials: pastry treats for our traditional Sunday breakfast and a bottle of champagne for some occasion TBA. It was about 1:00 PM on a cold, sunny day and it seemed like everybody was out and about. Despite the temperature, the cafes had all their outdoor tables out and just about all of them were full. Twelve o’clock to 1:00ish is the time for the aperitivo, a pre-dinner drink usually served with a little snack. We found a table outside a place called Bar 29 and ordered two small beers. They came with a complementary dish of green olives. By around 1:30 the tables started emptying out as people returned home to get ready for their midday meal. We headed home for the same reason.
There weren’t many children having aperitivo al fresco, but we did see a couple of little boys at a table near us. Mom was not there. E speculates that some time earlier Mom had said to Dad, “You know, maybe, while I’m getting this big dinner ready, you could get the boys out of here for a while.”
Sunday, February 26
Today, we went to a birthday celebration at M and M’s place up north. There were two birthday honorees: M and M’s daughter E and our very own E. Dinner featured two rice dishes: a yellow one called arroz a banda and another that they call black rice. Here’s a photo of the latter.
This has shrimp and squid and gets it color from squid ink.
After dinner there were cupcakes made by L and C, with help from their grandma, and also grandma’s wonderful pineapple upside down cake. There was candle lighting and Happy Birthday singing—in English.
Here are a couple of the cupcake makers at their own table.
