Meandering on the Way

Monday, August 31    Deaths: 459 (+1)    Cases 26,713 (+159)

Busy day, what with grocery shopping at two different stores by two different people at two different times, M going to Winco and E going to Market of Choice. Good thing they had some Vermont maple syrup with blueberry pancakes on the side to get them started. (An early version of this post accidentally omitted the maple syrup. This error was spotted by our ever-alert proofreader.) After all the shopping E worked in the garden planting asters while M worked on materials for the TESL seminar in Chile. Dinner was grilled salmon and roasted vegetables, including a crookneck squash that E picked up from a neighbor’s giveaway box.

Then there was another action packed episode of Cable Girls. The highlight was when serial abuser Mario dragged his wife Angeles and up onto a rooftop and started whaling on her. He was mad because he suspected that she had been trying to poison him, which was, of course, quite true. Three friends of Angeles saw her get dragged away and followed them up to the roof. They all jumped on Mario and tried to stop him. But Mario repulsed them and got one of them around the neck with both hands seemingly intending to strangle her to death, at which point Angeles took a big swing and hit him upside the head with something heavy and Mario passed from this world. Well, that was plucky and no one will mourn Mario, but now the four women have a whole new problem…

Tuesday, September 1    Deaths 465 (+6)    Cases 26,946 (+233)

We both sent some info off to Chile today, more or less agreeing to participate in F’s TESL seminar via Zoom. E will use some mostly tried and true pronunciation activities and M will try a totally new writing thing, based on a reading that E thinks is totally impenetrable. M says that yes, it’s challenging, but hey, at least it’s not Merleau-Ponty. In the garden E did more aster planting and M did more ceanothus pruning. For lunch M went to the Taco Time drive up. They gave him the wrong bag, which he didn’t notice till he opened it up back at the house. It was only partly different from his real order, and it wasn’t bad.

Wednesday, September 2      Deaths   468 (+3),   Cases  27,075 (+129)   

On the 160th day of Pandemic Diary data collection, Oregon COVID fatalities have reached the level of 10.88 per 100,000 residents. The curve, as per the Pandemic Diary system, looks like this:

Thursday, September 3      Deaths   470  (+2)   Cases  27,336   (+261)

Today M got a haircut and took a little drive and E went clothes shopping. M went out just for fun, but for E it was serious business. She needed some new shorts for this hot weather, nothing grand but they had to be comfortable. She called her favorite local shop to ask if they had a selection of shorts that she could try on at home. They were ready and willing to work things out. The sales clerk asked what E was interested in and offered to pick her out a group of items. All E had to do was come in and pick them up to take home. All were charged to her card, and then, when she returned the items she didn’t want, the charges for those were refunded. This required two trips to town, but E was pleased to know that there was a relatively safe way for her to shop. In the end she bought two items. Neither is quite right but she can modify them to suit her needs.

M reports that the Oregon coast is cool and beautiful but that visitors are swarming over every inch of it to take advantage. In contrast, the narrow and winding secondary roads that M took to get over there were almost deserted. That was fun, once or twice just a little too fun. Sakinol, M, sakinol. 

Still to come today: Laughter Yoga, another episode of Chicas del Cable, and possibly a start at watching Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, a DVD lent to us by a friend. 

Over the last ten days the Oregon Health Authority has reported the results of 47,793 COVID tests, of which 2,181 were positive. For that period, the ratio of positives to the total is 4.57%.  

Friday, September 4      Deaths   475 (+5)   Cases  27,601 (+265)   Daily test rate  4.78%

Another 5-mile hike today, but this one a lot closer to home. We went into an area of the OSU forest very near where we used to live. We started out at about 9:00. It was a lovely, cool morning. The temperature climbed slowly as we hiked, but we were always in the shade and quite comfortable. The parking lot at Peavy Arboretum was quite crowded, so we spent the first hour on a route we knew would be less traveled.

We took Road 510 almost to the end and then went up the Road 516 spur. From the 516 cul-de-sac we bushwhacked steeply up to where the Section 36 trail passes by a couple of wolf tree firs. Slow going in that stretch as we had to keep a sharp eye out for poison oak as we waded through the undergrowth in our hiking shorts. What a dumb idea! One of us should have thought to think. Needless to say, we didn’t meet anybody on that route. So that was the bright side–no masking. Anyway, we then took an older section of the 36 trail up to the top of the little mountain. The old log bench, though partly broken down these days, still serves its purpose. We sat to rest a while, remembering all the times in past years when we used to hike up to that same bench early in the morning, carrying kibble and water for Lucy’s breakfast, coffee, bread and olive oil for ours.

Saturday, September 5      Deaths   480  (+5)   Cases  27,856   (+255)   Daily test rate  5.65%

E went out to the country to help her friend by again taking her dog on a walk. A fairly cool day today, a nice time to be out walking. M stayed in and finished another of the crosswords from his book of London Sunday Times Jumbos. These are hard puzzles and M works has to work off and on for days and days to get one done. This time, when he looked in the back of the book to check his answers, he found that he had been right about every clue except one. The same thing happened the last time he did a Jumbo. Sigh.

It was Kentucky Derby day. Usually run in May in front of thousands of spectators, it was delayed four months this year and took place with only owners and staff on hand. The winner was Authentic, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by John Velazquez. Tiz the Law, a Saratoga-based horse that E was rooting for, started the race as a heavy favorite but faded down the stretch. Thank goodness she hadn’t put her money down. Authentic is Baffert’s sixth Kentucky Derby winner. In the winner’s circle after the race, the horse bumped Baffert and knocked him down. What was that about? 

Sunday, September 6      Deaths   481  (+1)   Cases  28,044   (+188)   Daily test rate  3.54%

The pandemic has gone on for a long time. The hot days keep coming. The ground is parched. And of course it’s not our country’s most shining hour. We’ve both been feeling in the doldrums lately. 

Was that why we broke our relax on Sunday rule and worked on our house project for much of the day, despite the heat? Anyway, there we were, out in the sun, overdosing on Vitamin D. The idea was to hang shade cloth on the outside of our two big living room windows. The windows face south and the sun hits them hard this time of year. E finished making the two shades, hemming the sides and making rod pockets on top and bottom. M mounted some hooks above the windows, and while he was up there he removed about a dozen old hooks and brackets leftover from things the previous owners had done, probably to address the same problem. This left lots of holes in the siding and window frames. M filled those and also did a little scraping in places where the paint was bad. Once the hooks were up, E got on the ladder and measured where to put the mounting loops onto the shades. We are using the little-known fishing line method to enable easy mounting and dismounting. So now the shades are up, but there is still priming and painting to be done in all the areas where M made a mess. Hm. Maybe sometime next week. 

Monday, August 24    Deaths: 420 (+3)    Cases 25,155 (+218)

Shopping day and also coffee with R, at Susan’s garden shop café. M and R talked while E got groceries at the Co-op next door. When the shopping was done, E sat down and helped M finish his latte. R is looking much better, having mostly recovered from his back surgery and having been able to get off the pain meds. 

E made pisto Manchego for dinner. Great summer fare. 

Tuesday, August 25    Deaths: 427 (+7)    Cases 25,391 (+236)

The Republican national convention is going on this week. Yesterday, there was a speech by Kimberly Guilfoyle, a “senior campaign advisor.” M watched a little. There seemed to be no content, just a screeching, histrionic call for obeisance to the supreme leader. Over at Daring Fireball, John Gruber responded to it by mentioning a racist 90s era speech by Pat Buchanan and quoting Molly Ivins’ fabled response: “It probably sounded better in the original German.”

Today, Trump was shown welcoming immigrants, pardoning a criminal, and basking in the support of a number of black citizens. Having recently re-negotiated her pre-nuptial agreement, Melania Trump was the featured speaker. Here are a couple of points she made about the Donald. None of it strikes me as remotely true, but of course that’s not the point.  “Whether you like it or not, you always know what he’s thinking. And that is because he’s an authentic person who loves this country and its people and wants to continue to make it better. He wants nothing more than for this country to prosper and he doesn’t waste time playing politics.” 

Wednesday, August 26    Deaths 433 (+6)    Cases 25,571(+180)

The test positive rate was quite low today: 3.79%. This continues a somewhat positive trend for that statistic in Oregon. 

M and E hosted backyard tertulia today and made a coffee cake for the occasion. E was in charge of batter and M made the filling/topping. Eve got the recipe from a friend while both were living in Spain in the seventies. It still works. 

Thursday, August 27    Deaths: 438 (+5)    Cases 25,761 (+190)

Five new deaths, but the test positive rate was low again, 3.18%. 

We talked today via WhatsApp with our friends F and I in Chile. Nice to see them. F wants us to help with a special Zoom-based seminar for students about to graduate from the TESL program where she teaches. We’ll see what we can think of that we might do. Everyone tells us that adapting activities to Zoom mediated learning is a lot of work. F, of course, says that it’s pretty easy. 

As soon as Laughter Yoga comes to an end, we’re off to Sisters, Oregon to spend the night. In the morning the plan is to get breakfast from the Sisters Bakery and then hike up to Chush Falls. The trailhead is up 6 miles of gravel road, so it’ll be interesting to see how crowded it is. 

Friday, August 28    Deaths: 447 (+9)    Cases 26,054 (+293)   (10.38 deaths per 100,000)

It was 39 degrees outside when we rolled out of our Best Western bed in Sisters at around 7:00 AM. At least that’s what our phones said. And, yes, it did seem a bit chilly when we got outside a little while later on our way to fetch breakfast. We found the Sisters Bakery up and running and as popular as ever. E got in line and M went off get gas for the Mazda. Only two “parties” of customers were allowed into the shop at any one time. When it came E’s turn to enter, she saw that the customer group in front of her included a young woman who was getting a selfie in front of the counter. She had come out for do-nuts wearing a tee shirt and hot pants. Cold? What cold? E got us a few of our favorites: one chocolate bar, one plain old-fashioned, one maple old-fashioned, and one massive apple fritter that we meant to keep and  share for breakfast on Saturday. Just as E came out the door with her box, M pulled to the curb and whisked her away back to the motel room. We then used the in-room coffeemaker to create two steaming cups of half-caf complete with artificial creamer and a touch of sugar. It was a magnificent breakfast. M overdid, as he always does, downing both a the large choco-frosted bar and the normal sized plain. Eve underdid at first, eating only her maple old-fashioned. But since that wasn’t quite enough for a hiking day breakfast, she sliced off just a bit of the fritter, which made everything all right. Here’s a picture of the fritter once it had made its way back to Corvallis. When it was purchased, there was a serious irregularity of shape on the lower left. But, as mentioned, E was able to fix that right up.

Having given breakfast the time it deserved, we eventually set out for the trailhead, arriving there at about 10:30. The road was rough, but we found that it wasn’t rough enough to have prevented eight other vehicles from having arrived before us. Still, it worked out pretty well. We passed some people now and then but spent most of our time with the feeling of having the place to ourselves. There was lots of room up at the top and a surprising amount of water coming down the falls. 

The hike was 5.2 miles in all with only 400 feet of elevation gain, not too difficult though a little on the long side. M’s right hip was bothering him toward the end. E had a few difficulties at the start but often seems to get stronger as a hike goes on. She’s a tough one. 

Saturday, August 29    Deaths: 454 (+7)    Cases 26,293 (+239)

This morning E went out to help her friend S by taking the dog for a walk. S is a former yoga teacher who lives in a lovely spot out in the country but who now has mobility issues. Several of her friends are taking it in turn to help out in various ways. The dog is very nice mini Australian shepherd and it was a lovely morning, so E enjoyed the walk. She noticed again today that a dog of that size is a lot easier to manage than the labs she remembers from her dog owning  years.

M spent the morning in the garden trimming ceanothus and spreading the last of this year’s homemade compost. The day was warm-almost-hot and cloudless, a lot like summer and also just a bit like fall. M spent the middle of the day in the garage trying to rejuvenate a 40-volt lithium ion battery that had fallen into a coma and refused to accept recharging. There is lots of advice on the internet about how to solve this problem and M tried two different methods. After both failed he ordered a new battery online and spent the next hour in the kitchen making chocolate chip cookies to console himself. E’s new garden umbrella arrived in the early afternoon. She spent some time unpacking and assembling it and found it good. But alas, not all is perfect here on Oak Avenue. While she was out there, E saw a large rat climbing down the inside of our fence and finding shelter beneath M’s monster blackberry bush. E now refers to the berries as Rat Berries and refuses to eat them.

Sunday, August 30    Deaths: 458 (+4)    Cases 26,554 (+261)

E did a Zoom meeting with old friends S and Mrs H and had a nice time catching up on what’s going on back there in upstate NY. Mrs. H runs a food bank and has had the challenge of keeping it going in times of pandemic. S has plans for kayaking by moonlight two nights from now. M joined in briefly and said a few words about Merleau-Ponty and the building of philosophical castles upon sand–shifting sand. M himself is working on an essay called “What is Real?” He’s pretty sure that once it is published it will clear everything up. 

Cirello’s Pizza will be providing our main entree this evening. Entertainment will be provided by Episode 8 of Cable Girls, a Spanish series about a group of women telephone operators in Madrid in the 1920s. The main themes involve romance, money, and women’s rights issues. Great stuff. There was only one killing in the first few episodes, but now we have another, a mysterious murder near the end of Episode 7. Francisco went to meet the evil blackmailer Beltran, intending to kill him. But when he got there Beltran was already flat on his back on the floor in a pool of blood. Thinking quickly, Francisco searched the room and found the incriminating photos of himself and Alba that had been the basis for the blackmail, but in the process he dropped his gold cigarette case that has his name engraved inside. And just after he left, we saw a woman’s arm pluck up the cigarette case and presumably bear it away. Francisco and Alba now believe they are safe, but for how long?   

Monday, August 17

Oregon Health Authority: deaths 388 (+0)   

M has reached page 140 of Phenomenology of Perception. Things are heating up.  

“Insofar as I have a body through which I act in the world, space and time are not, for me, a collection of adjacent points nor are they a limitless number of relations synthesized by my consciousness…I am not in space and time, nor do I conceive space and time; I belong to them, my body combines with them and includes them.” 

Tuesday, August 18

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 397 (+9)    cases 23,676 (+414)

Here’s another passage from Phenomenology of Perception, this from page 142. In it, the word ‘motility’ refers to our ability to move. If we see a friend across the way, we can move our arm and wave a greeting. If we see a piece of pie before us, we can reach for a fork. If we are otherwise paralyzed, we can move our eyeballs. The quote within the quote is from A. A. Grunbaum, Aphasie und Motorik, 1930.

“(Space)…is already built into my bodily structure, and is its inseparable correlative. ‘Already motility, in is pure state, possesses the basic power of giving a meaning.’ Even if, subsequently, thought and the perception of space are freed from motility and spatial being, for us to be able to conceive space, it is in the first place necessary that we should have been thrust into it by our body…” 

Earlier in Phenomenology of Perception, Merleau-Ponty has suggested that it is not our ability to think that makes us sure we exist. Instead he says (if I’m getting this right) that it is our ability to make movements that defines the reality of the space in which we find ourselves. “I think, therefore I am” is fine, but thinking actually comes later.  So if we’re serious about understanding this (rather ridiculous) stuff, we’d do better to start with “I can, therefore I am” or “I move, therefore I am.”

Wednesday, August 19

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 408 (+11)    cases 23,870 (+194)

The Democratic National Convention is going on this week. On Monday we heard Bernie Sanders–sharp and on point–and Michelle Obama–tough and moving though a little overlong. The highlight for many was this passage from the former first lady: “Donald Trump is…clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. (sigh) It is what it is.” On Wednesday Kamala Harris made a strong impression and Barack Obama took his turn, praising Biden and saying that the current president “hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.” Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday seems to have been generally well-received, with one Fox News commentator calling it a “home run.”

Thursday, August 20

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 412 (+4)    cases 24,165(+295)

We’ve realized that we have been socializing quite a lot lately, maybe too much. We generally meet our friends outside, we have an arsenal of masks, and of course we try to be careful. Still, perhaps we are not minimizing risk as much as we ought. We heard an amusing story from another couple. It seems there was an intervention of sorts in their family, with both of their grown sons taking it in turn to tell them that they were going out far too much and urging them to act more responsibly. The parents replied “But we’re only doing what all our friends do…”

For safety in socializing, hiking seems like a good idea, but of course everyone in the world has the same idea, so the good places are jammed. For example, today we went with B and B to Silver Falls. It was nice, but it was on the crowded side and we had to wear our masks pretty much the whole time. For our next outing, we’re going to seek out some not so good place and see how that goes. 

Friday, August 21

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 414 (+2)    cases 24,421 (+256)

Both M and E did some watering this morning and then their paths diverged. M got down to work on the Diary while E went off to drink champagne (at 10:30 in the morning!) with her friend P who is celebrating the seventh anniversary of her arrival in Corvallis. M is thinking that maybe he should go to the kitchen and drink a glass of V-8 juice just to help maintain the overall balance of nature. 

Instead he reads Chap. 5 of Part 1 of Phenomenology of Perception, which is titled “The Body in its Sexual Being.” Sounds interesting, eh? But Chapter 5 is tough sledding, eighteen pages of highly abstract generalities in which a single paragraph can go on for more than four pages. It has a kind of beauty and you could almost say that it has some kind of meaning, but it is hard to read and incredibly boring. Here’s one of the juicier parts:

Understood in this way, the relation of expression to thing expressed, or of sign to meaning, is not a one-way relationship like that between original text and translation. Neither body nor existence can be regarded as the original of the human being, since they presuppose each other, and because the body is solidified or generalized existence, and existence is a perpetual incarnation. 

This is language of a very high level, way up there where there’s hardly any oxygen. Consequently, there isn’t one living, breathing word in the whole passage. They’ve all died.  

Saturday, August 22

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 417 (+3)    cases 24,710 (+289)

After a quiet Friday, E and M both attacked the garden this morning. E picked some delicious late raspberries and then gathered rhubarb for stewing and apples for sauce making. M picked blackberries for breakfast and later did edging and weeding on the west side of the garage, any area that receives only sporadic attention and nary a drop of watering. These August days continue warm, mostly sunny with highs in the 80’s and cool nights. The days are noticeably shorter as the weeks seem to fly away. Tonight there is a sliver of a moon.

Sunday, August 23

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 417 (+0)    cases 24,937 (+227)

Time for a new Oregon pandemic curve chart. Thankfully, the sharply increasing trend that we saw in July and early August has not continued. Instead, average deaths per day have dropped by about a third, from 5.5 to 3.5. 

Monday, August 10

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 357 (+1)    cases 21,488 (+216)

M has penetrated a bit further into Phenomenology of Perception, where he found this:

“An object looks attractive or repulsive before it looks black or blue, circular or square.” Kurt Koffka, 1925

This an example of the kind of thing that phenomenologists think is important. Attraction and repulsion are immediate and concrete aspects of perception. Color and shape–as described by words–are abstractions that lead us out of the real experience of consciousness and into a world of systems and interpretations. Kurt Koffka is best known as one of the trio of German psychologists who developed Gestalt theory in the 1930’s. This quotation comes from earlier in his career when he was immersed in the ideas of Edmund Husserl, the founder of Phenomenology.

Tuesday, August 11

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 368 (+11)    cases 21,744 (+286)

Today we planned a park tour, so as to be away from the house in the early afternoon when A. would be working. First we got a take-out lunch from the 57th Street Grill, a.k.a. Taylor Street Ovens. This consisted of a couple of sandwiches and a big chocolate chip cookie. E, who has studied these matters carefully, says that Taylor Street has the best chocolate chip cookies in town, save only for M’s, which, by the way, have not been seen in the city for months. What’s wrong with that boy?

We ate the sandwiches at home. What a treat they were! So haphazard and homey, so old-fashioned, so delicious. As for the cookie, we saved that for later. We then got in the little car and headed east through Albany and Lebanon to a tiny town we’d never seen before called Waterloo. Waterloo Park is just north of the bustling town center, which is crammed with fast food outlets, monuments and two major museums. Oh, wait. Wrong Waterloo. Waterloo Oregon looks like this

Besides the little store, there are houses nestled at random intervals in the surrounding forest, at least a dozen, maybe two. That’s about it. Waterloo, Belgium actually looks more interesting. It does have monuments and museums and also this quite tasteful McDonald’s.

But anyway, back to Waterloo Park, the one in Oregon. It’s on the south side the Santiam River about half a mile from the store . The park has a boat landing, and most of the people we saw were headed toward the water, not with boats, but rather with inflatable plastic things of all sorts. We saw more than one such group floating slowly downstream with a bunch of rafts and plastic do-nuts all lashed together and bearing crews of many ages and sizes. 

We skipped the large campground and instead stopped beside the river to eat our cookie. Then we walked through the picnic area and saw some giant fir trees, one giant fir stump, and one monster tree whose species we have yet to identify. 

After the monster tree we got back in the car and set off to find McKercher Park on the banks of the Calapooia. Navigating by dead reckoning, eschewing all such sissified aids as maps or GPS, it took Michael most of forever to get to the damn place. It’s nice though, very low key, a big shady wayside with a picnic area and easy river access. This time of year the water is low and the popular thing is to just take your shoes off and walk around in it. The park is really quite easy to find–especially if you are coming from anywhere other than Waterloo. It’s just a few miles east of Brownsville, Oregon, which remains proud of having been the location for the filming of Stephen King’s Stand By Me in 1986.

Wednesday, August 12

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 375 (+7)    cases 22,022 (+248)

M has finished the Introduction to PofP. The main point of the Introduction seems to be about having a proper understanding of what the real world really is. Apparently, a lot of people have made assertions and/or assumptions about this topic and they have all been mostly wrong, according to Merleau-Ponty, which is why we need phenomenology. The mistake that he most objects to is the idea that the world has some sort of real existence apart from us. Next up in PofP, Part I: The Body. M just can’t wait.

Eve went out to meet with some of her buddies on AF’s farm in Kings Valley. There were kittens, ducks, chickens and llamas, and a wonderful baked zucchini dish. So a great time was had by all. When E left, however, she noticed that the gas was a little low in the CX-5. In fact, there were no bars left on the gauge and the range display read zero miles. Oops. The nearest gas station was about 20 miles away. Fortunately, she did make it that far, proving that the CX-5, like many cars, has at least a gallon in reserve that it is reluctant to tell you about. 

Meanwhile there was big to-do at E&M’s house, with jackhammers and mini-loaders pounding away at our little concrete porch and front walk. It was the first day of our sidewalk replacement project, partially fulfilling E’s dream of having a non-concrete sidewalk. The destruction phase is now finished, thankfully. The building phase promises to be quieter. 

Thursday, August 13

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 383 (+8)    cases 222,300 (+278)

The Oregon COVID mortality rate continues to climb, with 55 deaths reported in the last ten days, an average of 5.5 per day. The overall death toll as reported by the OHA is 383. This means that there have been 8.9 deaths out every 100,000 Oregon residents. The curve chart below shows how things have considerably worsened since the end of June.

And what about phenomenology? Can we escape the endless bad news by sampling the offerings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty? Well, so far, Part I of Phenomenology of Perception has been disappointing. The section title is “The Body” and there is a great deal of talk about visual and tactile perception. In discussing the physiology of perception, the focus is on the organs of sight and touch and on the nerves that carry visual and tactile impressions. There is a lot of discussion of certain abnormal “patients” who have odd deficiencies in these areas. But what about normal people? And where is the brain in all this? It is commonly understood today that the signals traveling from any sense organ to the brain are the only the raw materials. We don’t really see with our eyes; we see with our brains. In the 1960’s, when M-P was writing, neuroscience was fairly primitive. But still. You can see that he is working on the right problem, but isn’t the brain part of the body? Still, it is early days yet and M will persevere.  

Friday, August 14

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 385 (+2)    cases 22,613 (313)

The walkway is finished. We need to start working on its environs.

Saturday, August 15

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 386 (+1)    cases 23,018 (+405)

OHA reports more than 400 new cases today, but also reported a new daily high in the number of tests. The day’s 12,944 tests far eclipsed the old record of 8,058. The result was a surprisingly low positive test rate of just 3.2%, the lowest in Oregon since the middle of June. 

Sunday, August 16

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 388 (+2)    cases 23,262 (244)

Oops. A “script error” caused some distortion of the OHA test positive rates for the Saturday and Sunday reports. The actual positive rate was closer to 4.0 %. That’s still considerably lower than most days this month. Deaths have also been low for the last three days.

Tuesday, August 4

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 333 (+5)    cases 19,699 (+333)

M’s new tee shirt has finally arrived, allowing him to delve further into Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s The Phenomenology of Perception, a work of deep abstraction and profound irrelevance. Nevertheless, off we go.

Let’s start with Merleau-Ponty’s ideas about what is known as the Müller-Lyer illusion:

The German sociologist Franz Carl Müller-Lyer devised this diagram in 1889. We’ve all seen variations of it by now and we know the trick. When you first see it, the three horizontal lines are all different lengths. But of course they are not, say the scientists, as can be proved with a ruler. In fact, you don’t even need a ruler. All you have to do remove all twelve of the short diagonal lines and you will be freed from the illusion. 

Merleau-Ponty strongly objects to this reasoning. You will not be freed from illusion, he says, because there never was any illusion. The lines you saw at first glance in the diagram were not the same lines as the lines seen later, after you were instructed to ignore or erase all of the short diagonal lines. The lines in the diagrams were not just lines at all. What you saw first were three complex shapes, because that’s how perception works. If you erase all the winglets (the short diagonal lines) you’re not looking at the same thing any more. The horizontal lines that are component parts of the complete designs are neither equal nor unequal to the lines without winglets; they are merely different.

We know they are different because we just saw the difference with our own eyes. There is a reason that we see the difference and that reason lies in the nature of perception. We see the difference because–after centuries of evolution–that’s how our eyes and brains work. So we were never mistaken, never in the thrall of an illusion. In fact, we are being tricked, but we are being tricked by the scientist who is attempting to sucker us into believing that real experience and natural perception are inherently inferior to the idealizations that are the foundation of a scientific definition of knowledge. Scientists, says M-P, are both naive and dishonest. In the specialized vision of “objective” science, it is valid and useful to speak of equal and unequal lines. Science achieves its clarity by departing from the reality of experience into the realm of abstract reasoning about reality. But if we want to know what is really going on in the world, and what makes humans do what we do, the model fails because it is precisely the human perceiver that must be removed in order for the model to proceed.

For Merleau-Ponty, we cannot explain the Müller-Lyer illusion by assuming that there exists some thing in the world called a line, another thing in the world called consciousness, another thing in the world called the observer who has the consciousness, and an event in the world called perception which connects them all and which sometimes goes wrong. For M-P, the world is perception and that’s all it is. “I” do not “perceive” the “world.” Those three words are all just different names for the same thing.  

He goes on to say that we can reflect on our perception world, we can reason about our perception world, and we can also imagine different perception worlds. Humans do a lot of all those things. But our thoughts or acts of imagination about the world do not exist apart from us–and nor does anything else–though it is easy to mistakenly think that they do. Implicit in this critique, I think, is the idea that such thoughts and imaginings can help us, but they can also lead us very far astray. The difficulty about perception is that it is so basic and all-encompassing that we forget about it. And when we do that, we forget ourselves. The project of phenomenology, it seems, is to remind us.

Meanwhile…math. An article in our paper today has this headline: “Second-lowest COVID case total since July 8.” Inside, the article says “The new daily case total…is the lowest number reported in the past 12 days…and the second-lowest since July 8.” Does the article also mention that yesterday’s total of test results was the lowest since June 15th and that yesterday’s test positive ratio was one of the highest on record? No, these details are omitted. 

Wednesday, August 5

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 338 (+5)    cases 19,979 (+280)

Arrived at the coast a bit after 4:00 and got settled into our kitchen-equipped room at the Inn at Otter Crest. Here’s E getting settled.

When her kids were young, E had a time-share in the Otter Crest complex and has many good memories of the place. She hadn’t seen it though, for more than twenty years. It’s still very nice. We took a walk down from the Inn to the hamlet of Otter Rock, where there’s a Mo’s Chowder restaurant, a surf and skate shop call Pura Vida, and a café called Cliffside Coffee and Sweets. Mo’s was closed, but business was good at the surf shop, with lots of people returning their rented wetsuits after a day of surfing. The coffee shop was also busy, with a line of young people out the door, some masked, some not, and nobody distancing. Sigh.

Back in the room, our dinner was hamburgers with lettuce, cheese, ketchup, dill slices and a big beautiful tomato. It was great. The corn on the cob would have been great too, except that we didn’t remember to bring it. Fortunately, we had remembered the tempranillo.

Thursday, August 6

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 339 (+1)    cases 20,636 (+246)

This morning we drove about 50 miles up the coast to this place called Cape Lookout. 

It’s a two-mile finger of basalt that dates back to a time of massive lava flows about 15 million years ago. The hike is 4.8 miles in total, beginning at a parking area somewhere among the trees in the upper right of this photo. The first part of the trail goes along the south rim. Here’s the view from there.

Later the trail crosses to the north edge. Here’s a view looking directly down from that side.

The plant life on the cape is spectacular, with giant old-growth hemlock and Sitka spruce growing right up to the edges of the 400-foot cliffs on either side. The lush undergrowth of salal and ferns is almost impenetrable. The trail is smooth and well-graded–at first. Then it mostly isn’t. It had rained the night before and we ran into a little mud here and there. Also a few roots.

Friday, August 7

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 348 (+9)    cases 20,636 (+411)

Returned home today from our coastal adventures, tired and a little out of sorts. It’s not the coast’s fault. We had a wonderful hike that was followed by a fine take-out meal from Local Ocean in Newport. We shared a beautiful sunset and a very tasty Black cod dinner in our little dining nook looking out at the sunset. 

So that was all good. But then we made the mistake of watching the final hour and a half of Kördüğüm/I Am Blind, which Netflix inexplicably calls Intersection. The last few episodes had been a little clumsy. They had their moments, but there had been some continuity failures, such as the time Naz gave Ali Nejat his ring back at the end of one episode and was busy arranging wedding decorations at the beginning of the next. Then Naz was killed, which took a lot of sparkle out of the story. It was almost as if some of the remaining actors felt it too. By the second to the last episode they were just going through the motions, trying to get if over with. In the finale, lots of things were wrapped up and happiness seemed to be in the cards for several couples, but none of it was terribly satisfying or particularly moving. We blame the story runners for losing inspiration right at the end. But maybe it wasn’t all their fault. Maybe it’s just us expecting too much. The final stages of any addiction are much less fun than the beginning; that’s the way it goes. 

Saturday, August 8

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 355 (+7)    cases 21,010 (+374)

More gardening today. M mowed, dug weeds and extended an irrigation line; E fought in both the weed wars and the mite wars, fertilized a bunch of things, and picked up a bushel of fallen apples. She found a few apples from the far tree that were edible. M tried a good looking one from the near tree, but it was still bitter. Patience.

Dinner came from Ba’s in Albany. Ginger chicken with rice and kimchi for M, vegetarian noodle salad with egg rolls for E.

Then, continuing with the gardening motif, we watched a documentary called The Biggest Little Farm, which was suggested to us by a veterinarian we know. It’s the story of a couple who leave their tiny apartment in Santa Monica and go off into the wilds of Ventura County to do farming the old-fashioned way. Along the way they are mentored by Alan York, a master horticulturist with whom we were already familiar from having read about his work with biodynamic vineyards in Oregon. The Biggest Little Farm is an inspiring story and it’s helping us deal with our Turkish soap withdrawal issues. 

Sunday, August 9

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 356 (+1)    cases 21,272 (+262)

A quiet Sunday. We had a long walk in the cool of the morning. Did a few errands, including the carwash and the candy store. E did some alterations and read poetry. M made some progress on his British crossword, a Sunday Times Jumbo cryptic from 2006. He’s been working on it for weeks. Just five clues left. 

Monday, August 10

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 357 (+1)    cases 21,488 (+216)

Monday is our new grocery shopping day. M went to Market of Choice; E went to Natural Grocers. No trouble with any of the things on our list.

M has penetrated a bit further into Phenomenology of Perception, where he found this:

An object looks attractive or repulsive before it looks black or blue, circular or square.

Cited by Merleau-Ponty in PofP, the quote comes originally from a 1925 book by Kurt Koffka, who is best known as one of the trio of German psychologists who developed Gestalt theory in the 1930’s. I don’t what exactly this sentence means. I don’t know if it is true or not. I don’t know whether it much matters. But it’s a good example of the kind of thing that phenomenologists find important. It is an indication, they would say, about the nature of reality, about what is important and what is not.

Tuesday, July 28

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 303 (+14)    cases 17,416 (+328)

We made a visit to the coast today, straight west to Newport and then north a few miles to Beverly Beach. Lots of traffic everywhere and the day use parking area was almost full. Beverly Beach goes on for miles, though, so it didn’t even begin to be crowded. There was a strong wind from the north and a hazy cloud bank just off shore. Three or four miles inland it was 80 degrees; at the shore it was 60 and the wind made it startlingly cold. It was wonderful to walk along the beach, seeing the varying colors of the sea, sand and shore. Whenever we walked on dry sand, if we looked down, we could see a constant flow of windblown grains at ground level, like a shallow tide running fast across an endless furrowed plain. The blowing sand was so fine that a fair amount got through the fabric of E’s shoes. After 40 minutes or so we had had enough and headed back to the car, which made for a welcome shelter from the wind. E emptied her shoes out before we left, but when she got home there was still black sand around her toes. 

Wednesday, July 29

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 311 (+8)    cases 17,721 (+305)

Tertulia at Bodhi’s once again. E tried a thing they have there called a breakfast roll, which is something like a cinnamon roll, but with the dough knotted. She loved it. Foolishly, M settled for a blackberry scone. After breakfast, we walked back across town to pick up the Mazda after its oil change. Met some old colleagues as we passed the Wednesday Farmers’ Market. 

Back at home, M went on line to spend one of his birthday presents, an Amazon gift card. Such a challenge! What sort of thing is there in the world that he might want? In the end, he spent $20 on a linen/cotton tee and $30 for a copy of The Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Exciting stuff, eh? As early as Friday, he could be wearing a new shirt and reading 75-year-old French philosophy. 

It was E’s night to cook and she put together a nice summer meal of shrimp cocktail, corn on the cob, Milton crackers, and a couple of glasses of cabernet.

Then…we watched TV…and suffered a blow which has left us reeling. Naz has been murdered! In the first episode of Season 3! Can Naz really be gone? Because you know, in the last episode of Season 2, Feyza appeared to have been killed, only to reappear in Season 3, the bullet apparently having missed her heart. But there is much less ambiguity about Naz’s death. It seems that she will be seen no more, except in flashbacks or dreams. More on this later. 

Thursday, July 30

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 316 (+5)    cases 18,131 (+410)

Corvallis school officials have announced that school will open in the fall, but that classes will be on-line only for at least six weeks. Also today, Barack Obama delivered the eulogy for John Lewis. E heard most of it on the radio and was impressed all over again by his decency and his vision. She mentioned how lucky she felt to have had at least the eight years of his tenure. M took a three-hour ride in his little car, setting out early in the morning while it was cool enough to have the top down. At 4:00 E had her laughing class; at 5:00 she had a meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society, in the backyard of one of the members. M was on his own for dinner. 

E and M have talked a bit about the loss of Naz. It is a blow, because she was the character that we liked the best. The crux of melodrama is good against evil but the foundation is often the possibility of true love. We long for evil to be vanquished so that good people can find love and happiness. As we get more involved with a series, we more and more come to love certain characters and hate others. That’s the test; if you start a series and don’t begin to love some characters and hate others, you’ll probably abandon that series and look for something else. 

We’ve stuck with I Am Blind partly because we were longing to see things work out well for Naz. Her relationship with Ali Nejat was the deepest foundation of the story. Well, so much for that. Now what’s going to happen? Who even cares? Is it worth the trouble to watch the final 10 hours of the series? I suppose we’ll continue on, just to see. Could this have been an elaborate trick? Will Naz pop up alive somewhere? Doubtful. But one can never say never in soap land. 

Friday, July 31

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 322 (+6)    cases 18,492 (+361)

Went for a walk today at Minto-Brown Island Park, up in Salem. The park is named for Isaac “Whiskey” Brown and John Minto, two barbarian usurpers who established farms there in the 19th century. In 1857 Brown established himself on an island near the west bank of the Willamette. In 1869, Minto purchased land on another island near the east bank. The land on both islands was in agricultural use for many years. During that time, the main channel of the Willamette shifted and both properties ceased to be true islands. The land is subject to periodic flooding and was therefore never developed any further. In 1970, both properties were acquired by the City of Salem, creating an 883 acre park consisting of both agricultural fields and riparian woodland. M remembers visiting the “park” in the late seventies or early eighties. It seemed–to his untrained eyes–like nothing more than a very large vacant lot that nobody wanted. Since then, both M’s eyes and the park environment have improved. In 2013 the city purchased an adjacent 307-acre parcel, a former Boise-Cascade industrial site. Cleaned up and restoration began soon after.

So the park now comprises about 1,200 acres. There is a 30-acre (!) off-leash dog park and a total of nine miles of walking, running and biking trails. We walked a little over two miles, partly through the vastness of the dog park, partly along the river, and partly through the woods near the sloughs where there is lush growth everywhere, much of it in the shade of gigantic cottonwoods.

So it’s quite a lovely place. But still our overall experience was not so nice. We went in the morning when it was coolish, and so did everyone else. The parking lots were jammed and people were everywhere. The dog park was actually the safest part. It’s where several large agricultural fields used to be and there was plenty of open space with room for everyone. On the trails, though, things were less good. The main trails are paved and in some parts are quite wide, so in theory one could keep one’s distance most of the time. Other trails, the nicer ones, were very narrow. About 80% of the walkers we met were wearing masks, but that’s not quite enough. And even when everyone was masked, squeezing past oncoming groups was sometimes nerve wracking. Worse were the cyclists and runners, who were mostly unmasked and who of course were breathing hard, spewing droplets in all directions. It’s hard to say how dangerous it really was, but it wasn’t too pleasant. We were relieved to get out of the wooded areas and back to the car. 

Saturday, August 1

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 325 (+3)    cases 18,817 (+325)

E made another heroic trek over to the Patissier this morning and fetched us back some croissants–both pain au chocolat and almond paste. Oh they were good. Two were eaten; two were frozen for later. Then we worked in the garden on the two W’s: watering and weeding. After lunch Eve finished a new mask while M read and worked on the diary.  

Sunday, August 2

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 326 (+1)    cases 19,097 (+280)

Well…we’ve gone ahead and made reservations for a stay at the coast. We’re getting a room for two nights at the Inn at Otter Crest, a resort where E once had a time share. The restaurant and pool are closed, but that’s fine with us. We’ve reserved a room with a kitchenette and plan to eat most of our meals from supplies brought with us from Corvallis. The area is still in Reopening Stage 1 because of a largish outbreak related to a seafood plant. What we want is a view of the ocean and a base from which we can do some coast range hiking and perhaps a beach walk or two. We still thinking about getting a take-out dinner one night, but otherwise we plan to avoid nearby towns entirely. 

Amazon has delivered M’s copy of Merleau-Ponty’s The Phenomenology of Perception but not his new t-shirt. These two items were ordered on-line on the same day and have become conflated in his mind. M has already read a few pages of TPOP but is hesitant to continue. He fears he will not get the full effect without the shirt. Thoreau tells us to “beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.” But M is wary of enterprise of all sorts and has never truly desired to become new. He will wait.

Monday, August 3

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 389 (+0)    cases 19,088 (+330)

On the 130th day of our record keeping, it’s time for another update to PD’s Oregon Curve chart. But first, a little history. The chart immediately below is from the beginning of July, when things looked pretty hopeful. Remember those days? The second chart is the updated one, which traces how it all went sour over the last 30 days.

Tuesday, July 21

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 269 (+7)    cases 15,139 (+292)

The number of Oregon residents who have been tested for COVID has risen to 352,000, which is about 8% of the total population. As of today, the overall positive rate since March 30 is 4.37%.  The volume of testing has increased greatly over the last four months. In April, Oregon reported an average of 1,407 test results per day, in May the daily average was 2,435, in June it was 3,605 and so far in July it has been 5,216. 

Michaelsday, July 22

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 271 (+2)    cases 15,393 (+254)

A lovely day today. M got to install a new induction cooktop. First the electricians came and installed the new wiring, then M put it into place. Besides sawing and drilling, this process involved a lot of cursing and groaning, so we know he was having a good time. 

Meanwhile E went to a doctor’s appointment and got some good news. Part of it was that the doctor saw no need to fire a laser torch at her big toe. That’s always nice to hear. Another part is that he gave her a couple of those individually packed squares of Ghiardelli chocolate, which is also nice, especially during those times when your dentist is temporarily unable to give out cupcakes. 

Today’s food was generally excellent. Our tertulia with J&R was at Bodhi’s Bakery and we were able to sample their version of chocolate chip scones while seated outside on a nice cool morning. Hearty and delicious. Then there was that smoked salmon for dinner followed by Chambers sized pieces of birthday chocolate pie from the 57th Street Grill, aka Taylor Street Ovens. (Which is to be found neither on 57th St. nor on Taylor, of course.)

Later we watched two hours of Intersection, a.k.a. I Am Blind, our Turkish soap opera. Pediatrician Naz and race driver turned businessman Ali Nejat have been engaged for a while now. As far as we know, they haven’t had sex yet. The Pandemic Diary stylesheet says to avoid the expression ‘have sex’ and prefers ‘slept together’ cuz it’s classier. But Naz and Ali Nejat have slept together in the same bed several times. It’s just that in all cases adorable little Kaan slept in the same bed right between them, which has made adorable little Kaan very happy but has made E start to worry a little about just how they’re going to deal with this kid in the long run. 

But there’s been a lot more going on besides that little triangle. Naz’s mother Ayşen, who runs a real estate business, is becoming involved with Ali Nejat’s friend Ayhan. Ayhan is a cheerful and charming restauranteur who has been married four times. He mentioned this to Ayşen early on, saying something along the lines of “I’m trying hard to be a good guy and I think I am, but I have to tell you that if you talked to my ex-wives you might get another story.” That was a wise move on his part because Ayşen is smart enough to have already figured out some of that for herself. 

There has been a lot of action involving Ali Nejat’s sister Feyza and his father Tarik. Feyza, whose young son was killed in a car accident that occurred when Ali Nejat was driving, has just got engaged to the sinister Murat, who has gotten all chummy with her father and has dragged them into an investment scheme that promises Tarik a new level of wealth and power. Ali Nejat has come to distrust Murat and will have no part of it. He has sold his shares in the family business, which has estranged him from both sister and father. He continues the warn them about Murat, though, from time to time, which just angers them both. 

Feyza’s ex-husband, Enver, has returned from a long exile in Dubai. He had fled Turkey several years ago when a warrant was issued for his arrest for something or other. Resourceful fellow that he is, he has somehow arranged for the case to be dropped, allowing his return. The motives for his return to Istanbul are unclear. He has, in the past, been a mentor for Murat. But he has told Feyza that he still loves her and wants, more than anything, for them to be together again. So there are two men who say they love Feyza, but can she trust either of them? We in the viewing audience have started rooting for Enver, as we see more and more sliminess from Murat. 

And here comes another figure from out the past–Ali Nejat’s first love, Eylül, who happens to be Enver’s younger sister and who has been living in Germany working for a design firm, the same firm that–oh lord never mind. Needless to say, she still carries a torch for Ali Nejat and he’s not entirely over her either. And what about Gokçe and her boyfriend Emre, he of the white Porsche Panamera? Lots happening there. She dumped him after one of her friends texted her a photo of Emre kissing another girl. But Emre refused to accept dismissal. We will always be together, he says, until I say we’re not. He confronted Gokçe’s friend who sent the photo and roughed her up a bit. Then, a few days later, he really let loose on Gokçe herself, punching her several times, cutting her lip and bruising her cheek and left eye. Gokçe is in shock and doesn’t want anyone to know, especially her brother Umut (Naz’s ex) because she thinks that if he finds out he’ll just kill Emre and then have to go to prison. She knows, as do millions of viewers, that impulse control is not one of Umut’s strengths. But she finally does tell Genco, Umut’s old friend and assistant mechanic. Genco immediately wants to have some direct conversation with Emre, but Gokçe begs him not to do anything because then he will get into trouble. At this point Gokçe knows that Genco is in love with her and she’s starting to wonder how she feels about that. Anyway, Genco tells her not to worry about it and that nothing’s going to happen. He tells her he’s got to go off to work, but instead goes and finds Emre, stuffs him into the trunk of a borrowed car, and drives back to the garage where he works. After putting up the closed sign, he takes Emre out of the trunk and into the back room where he proceeds to spend some time beating the crap out of him, pausing when he gets winded but then going right back at it. (Or so we assume–not all of this is shown. But the initial blows were fairly graphic, as were the several blows that Emre dealt Gokçe.) To see what happens next, we must go on to the next episode…if we can find the strength.

Thursday, July 23

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 273 (+2)    cases 15,713 (+320)

It’s 4:33 in the afternoon and M is having difficulty concentrating amidst the raucousness of the Laughter Yoga class that is Zooming into the living room. Part of today’s lesson seems to be How to Imitate Animals Laughing.

Friday, July 24

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 282 (+9)    cases 16,104 (+391)

As this is the 120th day of PD record keeping, it’s time to update the Oregon curve chart. Grim news today on the virus front. There were nine deaths reported, the highest total ever for the state. Deaths per day in the last ten days averaged 3.8, also a record high, as you see.

Saturday, July 25

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 286 (+4)    cases 16,492 (+388)

In the fantasy world of I Am Blind, Naz has broken off her engagement to Ali Nejat. Lately it seems that she has been more of a baby sitter for Kaan, while Ali Nejat goes off and does what he does, which includes things like finding out who murdered his nephew, trying to save his father’s company, and, just by the way, having soulful conversations with former lover Eylül, whose intention of leaving Istanbul and returning home to Germany has first weakened and then finally dissolved. Hmm. Now, Eylül is taking care of Kaan–that was quick–while Ali Nejat goes to an important meeting. Kaan, the fickle little beast, thinks Eylül is wonderful because she took him to a stable so he could ride a pony. 

Umut and Genco were pretty pleased with themselves for beating up Emre and then dumping him in a vacant lot; but now they’re nervous. When they dumped Emre off, he may have been much the worse for wear but he was very much alive. Later that day, though, he was found very much dead by a vagrant searching through a nearby dump. Darn it! Why does life have to be so complicated? 

Sunday, July 26

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 289 (+3)    cases 16,758 (+266)

A nice Zoom meeting today with with the three J’s: Jim, Joanne and John. E took her iPad out to the back yard and we sat under the apple tree for a bit. At one point Joanne noted that we should all be going out for ice cream, a sentiment of which we all approved. We also got an update on John’s new little house at the lake, which now has plumbing and an appliance or two. He claims that a Certificate of Occupancy may be signed within the week. Hopefully, we will be able to travel sometime and go see it. Also during the meeting we picked up the iPad and gave a quick tour of our yard, in the course of which we noticed that our wireless signal reaches to the farthest corner of the garden and also that the our rhubarb patch was flourishing. Well. After the meeting E went out to pick some and then later in the afternoon she turned around and baked a pie.

Tuesday, July 14

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 244 (+7)    cases 12,805 (+367)

This is the 110th day of our record keeping, so it’s time for another update of our Oregon curve graphic, now based on 11 consecutive 10-day averages. As you see, the latest ten-day average is equal to the previous high back in early April. Looks like a second wave to us.

Wednesday, July 15

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 247 (+3)    cases 311,111 (+276)

Tertulia in our back yard this morning. We baked scones. And because it’s berry season, we filled our scones with luscious semi-sweet chocolate chips. Yum. Later a little yard work, a little sewing, and a little reading. A warm summery day. It was nice to stay indoors for most of the afternoon. We did some searching online and ordered E a stand for her iPad mini. She’s been doing a lot of Zooming of one kind or another and her cobbled together holder had finally failed. For dinner E arranged take-out from Ba’s in Albany. Ba’s is run by a wonderful young couple who offer what they call Vietnamese comfort food. It’s delicious. After dinner we watched a little of our Turkish soap, but then moved on to a new jigsaw puzzle.  

Thursday, July 16

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 249 (+2)    cases 13,509 (+428, new Oregon record)

Nice day, definitely summer. Errands and a short hike in the morning: first Bottle Drop, then the Shell station, thence up the road to the Calloway Creek trail. It was still cool in the forest in the late morning. After the hike M donned his gloves, picked up some cutters, and went out to our sprawling blackberry bush to see if he could bring it under some semblance of control. It’s a native variety, very thorny, one that is used to surviving in hostile conditions. In the relatively benign environment of our garden it becomes very enthusiastic, sending out ridiculously healthy new canes in all directions, including up over the fence, where it could threaten the physical safety and mental tranquility of the entire neighborhood. Hence, action was required. 

Friday, July 17

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 254 (+5)    cases 13,802 (+293)

Last night we went out around 11:00 to see if we could see the comet Neowise. We knew that we wouldn’t be seeing it from our house because the comet was low on the northern horizon and there are wooded hills just north of us. So we drove to a place where the land was flat to the north and sure enough there it was, dim but visible to the naked eye, and even more visible through E’s binoculars. It was pretty cool. Neither of us could remember when we’d last seen a comet–if ever. Neither of us had been out after eleven for a while either. 

Oregon COVID news continues bad with little sign of any impending improvement. Fatalities have now reached 254, a rate of 5.91 per 100,000. 

For reference, total Oregon fatalities in the 1918 influenza pandemic totaled 3,675. Oregon’s population at that time was approximately 781,000, which yields a fatality rate of 471 per 100,000. That rate is far higher than any reported figures for COVID anywhere in the world. One explanation for the large differential is that the influenza virus caused its victims to develop a number of fatal secondary infections and conditions for which no treatment was available in 1918. COVID can cause similar secondary problems, but in the intervening 100 years medical science has advanced, and many of these associated conditions can now be managed.  

Saturday, July 18

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 257 (+3)    cases 14,149 (+319)

M’s birthday looms on the horizon. A birthday present has been ordered and there has been discussion about ordering a pie. Before that, though, we’re having guests over for dinner on Sunday. E is planning another paella, out on the patio of course. And speaking of food, we have now gone more than a week without pain au chocolat. It’s all right. We’re OK. And our take-out meal today was from Sybaris–such a lovely restaurant. E loved her brie and almond croquette over salad greens; M had deviled chicken, which consisted of half a bird, mostly deboned but still in one piece, the whole thing roasted in coarse crumbs. It was served with a salad of warm white and sweet potatoes with fresh arugula, green beans, snap peas, and summer squash, all with a Gubbins sauce dressing. Awesome. Has M now fallen in love with Gubbins sauce (made with cream, tarragon vinegar, butter, and English mustard?) No, he has not. But just this once, it was grand. 

Sunday, July 19

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 260 (+3)    cases 14,579 (+430)

As we continue documenting the pandemic, here’s a photo showing two different consumer items that are all the rage these days. First, jigsaw puzzles. Everyone from NPR to WSJ has noted the jigsaw puzzle shortage. Puzzle makers cannot keep up with demand. “We have never seen anything like this,” said one manager. “Oh my God, how could we have been prepared for this?” asked another. Both of those comments translate as “If only we’d stockpiled 500,000 more units, we’d be rolling in it!” E and M have contributed to the surge in demand, having bought this puzzle a month or two ago, picking it up curbside from an otherwise closed bookstore. It has turned out to be a good puzzle for us, 1000 pieces and just challenging enough. 

And then there is the market for Zoom-related doodads. Plenty of those being purchased. E just got herself this tabletop stand. She found a dizzying selection of stands and holders, but fell in love with this one, partly because it seemed sturdy and flexible and mostly because it was the best looking of the bunch. 

• 

• 

Now she wants wireless earbuds. 

Monday, July 6

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 215 (+0)    cases 10,395 (+165)

E did some grocery shopping today and mostly had a good experience–sensible procedures and few other shoppers. She found everything we wanted except one. It seems that the entire Adams natural peanut butter selection has gone missing. There was no creamy, no crunchy, no you stir, no pre-stirred. There was plenty of Jiff, which is sold by the same company as Adams, and plenty of Skippy, but none of the good stuff. Hardly a critical moment in world history, but it’s the kind of thing that’s been happening around here. Last week E was looking for low-sugar recipe pectin. We ended up checking every store in town. They all had regular pectin in the yellow box, but the pink boxes of the low sugar type were nowhere. How about online? Well yes it was there, but at three times the usual price. Bleh. Very annoying at berry picking time.

Speaking of shopping, we remember back at the beginning–oh so many months ago–we were all told to stay home and to minimize our trips to the grocery store, especially if we were over sixty. We were supposed to grocery shop just once every two weeks.. We have to confess that we never managed that. We did stop going shopping together as we used to. Now we take turns going alone. But the longest we ever lasted between store visits was a week and now we’re much worse. It seems to us, however, that around here it’s not just about how often you go, it’s also about when and where. A crowded store seems like an outbreak waiting to happen even if you go into it only once. A well-managed store when it’s mostly empty seems very different and doesn’t really scare us. E’s experience today was typical. She went at ten in the morning on a Monday, got in and out quickly, and was never closer than eight or ten feet to anyone except the checker who was behind a barrier. 

Tuesday, July 7

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 220 (+5)    cases 10,605 (+210)

Today was M’s turn to go grocery shopping. Both TJ’s and Mother of Markets were almost empty between 9:00 and 10:00 and everyone he saw was masked. The haul? Wine and dried fruit from Trader Joe’s, fresh vegetables, canned soup and two take-and-bake baguettes from the other place.

Later M also had to go to the hardware place–again–because it turns out that when he went the first time he had not bought enough cedar for his footstool project. He realized this only when he was staining the component pieces that he had cut out and sanded. During that process he was able to determine, by means of counting, that he had not provided his stool with a sufficient number of legs. Kuçuk problem vardı. E, with her unreasonably high standards, would likely object to using a two-legged stool.

In the evening, there was more Turkish TV. Remember how Umut jumped off the jetty and everyone–except for a few million television viewers–thought he was dead? The writers brought him back in the very next episode. Jeez.

Wednesday, July 8

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 224 (+4)    cases 10,817 (+212)

We met J and R for tertulia this morning at the coffee shop. We sat at a table outside. It was a lovely morning, mild and partly cloudy. What an odd time this is. Everyone puts on a mask just before entering a shop, and then, instead of robbing the place, they pull out credit cards! 

Later M worked on his wood project and E spread bark mulch and planted Zinnias. There was leftover paella for dinner. Deluxe.

Thursday, July 9

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 230 (+6)    cases 11,188 (+371)

All bad news today from OHA, lots of new cases, high rate of positives, and the day’s death toll was among the highest ever. 

M had two medical appointments in the AM, then went for a drive in the country to unwind. Best driving music of the day was Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory. Loud enough to hear at speed with the top down. 

E’s Zoom enabled exercise class did drumming today. Improvised equipment consisted of a drum made from a large cardboard box set up on an upside-down laundry basket. Two wooden spoons served as drumsticks. Great fun. Afterward, Eve, the laundry basket and the spoons were all fine, but the cardboard box–which had underlying health issues–did not survive.

That was in the morning; later she had her first session of Laughter Yoga. She says that it was pretty easy. Just sit in a chair and laugh.

Friday, July 10

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 232 (+2)    cases 11,454 (+266)

Saturday, July 11

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 232 (+0)    cases 11,851 (+397)

Take-out from Tacovore for dinner. Tacovore is one of the best restaurants for these times: online ordering and curbside pickup. Other good places that we know of include Pastini’s and Burgerville in Corvallis, plus Sybaris and Ba’s in Albany.  

Sunday, July 12

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 234 (+2)    cases 12,170 (+319)

E and M have both been re-reading West With the Night by Beryl Markham. It’s a wonderful book that is filled with love for and insight into some of her favorite things: Africa, dogs, horses, and airplanes. The book does not deal much with men, but apparently she loved them too. She was married at least three times, though one source reports six. Husband #2 was Mansfield Markham, whose name she took and stuck with. Husband #3 was a journalist who at one point claimed to have written most of West with the Night. Beryl Markham’s biographer, Mary Lovell, is unconvinced. If anyone inspired the book, says Lovell, it would most likely be Antoine de Saint Exupèry, to whom Markham was not married, though they did spend some quality time together. Markham also idled away a certain number of hours in the company of the Duke of Gloucester, the son of King George the 5th. This relationship, so it is said, was broken up by the Windsor family who were so eager for her departure from the scene that they granted Markham an annuity. A few years before that, Beryl had stolen Robert Redford away from Meryl Streep. How many women can say that? Or was it Denys Finch Hatton that she stole from Karen Blixen? Or did she take up with Hatton only after Blixen was done with him? Hard to say from here. The only thing we know for sure is that while Blixen was played by Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, Markham was played by Stephanie Powers in a TV movie called In the Shadow of the Sun. Score one for Blixen there. 

But never mind all that. Beryl Markham was, for years, a pioneering aviator in Africa, flying in primitive, and radio-less, machines over uncharted expanses. She was the first person to fly west from Europe to North America–a more difficult feat than Lindbergh’s because she had to fly against the wind. When not flying, she was a successful race horse trainer.

Wednesday, July 1

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 208 (+1)    cases 7,817 (+275)

Both of us have been reading a book called Something Wonderful. It’s about Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein and the era when they were such a large presence in American musical theatre. We’ve been reminded that their first mega-hit was Oklahoma! in 1943; their last was The Sound of Music, which opened in 1959. In between came Carousel in 1945, South Pacific in 1950 and The King and I in 1952. Because neither of us was very familiar with Carousel, we decided to have a listen to it, and, after a brief argument with Siri, we were able to hear the soundtrack of the 2018 Broadway revival. It turned out that we did recognize one song from the show, or at least one particular line of that song. The song starts like this:

The memorable part comes just a little later:

You can probably guess which line it was that seemed familiar. But something else seemed familiar, too. The song is about spring, something that happens every year in temperate climes, but it also serves nicely as a metaphorical foretelling of the great Pandemic of 2020, at least as it transpired around here. Just add the interpretations in parentheses below:

The song about June goes on for several more verses. One verse is about rams and ewes, one of them is about fish (fish?), one is about human romance, and there’s one more about saplings bursting with sap and suchlike. Great stuff. Something Wonderful is an interesting and thorough book. We lukewarmly recommend it.

Thursday, July 2

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 209 (+1)    cases 9,636 (+363)

We’ve finished Episode 12 of our Turkish soap, whose Netflix title is Intersection and whose original Turkish title is Kördüğüm. We naturally thought that kördüğüm was some fancy word for intersection. But it seemed weird. Intersection is a noun, but in Turkish üm is a verb ending. So finally we looked it up, only to find that Kördüğüm does not mean intersection at all and is not a noun. It’s a sentence, and it means ‘I am blind.’ Now you may well be asking, “How can one word in Turkish be a three word sentence in English?” That is of course a very excellent question, so we want to try and answer it, even though it is technically off topic. Alas, even though we kinda know the answer, we are not the best people to ask. What you should do is take some basic Turkish lessons. You can do that online here. In fact, we are looking for two more people to study with, because you need four people to make an actual class, which is much cheaper than private lessons. If you are, for some bizarre reason, interested in this, starting in August, please let us know. We have details on pricing and schedules. We know the instructor and he’s good.

But now back to unreality. How did Netflix get from I Am Blind to Intersection? We don’t know. Does the original title relate to the fact that some of the characters are blind to the machinations of the treacherous evil doers who claim to be their friends? Possibly. For example, we are getting to know a new character named Murat, an old childhood friend of our handsome and good-hearted hero, Ali Nejat. Murat appears very wealthy and wants to help Ali Nejat realize his long held dream of starting up a business to make beautiful cars. Will Ali Nejat accept his help? We sure hope not because at the end of Episode 12 we found out that Murat’s real goal is the total destruction of Ali Nejat and all his dreams. But why?

Meanwhile, Ali Nejat has just spent a lovely and leisurely day alone with Naz at the family dacha in the hills somewhere around Istanbul. This is the first time they’ve ever spent a whole day together and they are both smiling. They were smiling a little bit a week or so back, after Naz separated from Umut. But then Naz found out she was pregnant. The child was Umut’s, of course, because all that Naz and Ali Nejat ever do is smile and look longingly at each other. Given how determined they are to be good, it may be all they ever do. So is Naz still pregnant? No. What happened there is that when Umut heard she was pregnant, he begged and pleaded for another chance and swore that everything would be different. Naz finally sighed and said something like “Okay, but do you know how hard this is going to be?” which turned out to be an understatement. After 24 hours of being the loving husband, Umut freaked out and started throwing things and breaking windows and stormed out. The next day he came back to apologize but ended up yelling at Naz and knocking her down, causing her to have a miscarriage. Not surprisingly, Naz doesn’t want to see him anymore. Ah, but someone else does want to see Umut. The mysteriously evil Murat wants to see Umut. Whatever he is planning, it can’t be good. 

Friday, July 3

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 209 (+0 )    cases 9,636 (+342)

As with in many U.S. states, there were lots of new COVID cases in Oregon this week. The daily number of tests continues to increase, so that would explain some of it. But the test positive ratios were also high this week, ranging from 4.63% on Monday to 8.35% on Friday. The overall positive ratio since March 30 is 3.78%.

Saturday, July 4

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 213 (+4 )    cases 9,930 (+294)

It’s been 100 days since the Pandemic Diary began its record keeping. It’s time, then, for the tenth entry to our chart of average daily fatalities per 10-day period. in the first 70 days the daily fatality rate went up, down and back up a little. In the last 30 days it has been essentially unchanged: 1.7, 1.9, and 1.8. 

Sunday, July 5

Oregon Health Authority:  deaths 215 (+2)    cases 10,230 (+301)

Nice visit with Andrea today. She drove down in her new Leaf, which has three or four times the range of her old one. Andy was off fighting wildfires. We had never thought of it before, but of course the 4th of July weekend is one of the busiest times of the season. Andrea says that the fires so far have been small ones, but there are a lot of them.

E made paella for the occasion and we had a COVID protocol dinner outside on the patio. Ice cream and homegrown berries for dessert. Lots of fun for us. Later on we checked in with I Am Blind or whatever it is. 

We watched Umut and Naz (left and right in the picture) as they went to court to finalize their divorce. It was an interesting scene with just four people in the room: the judge, the court recorder, Umut and Naz. The divorce was uncontested and they had both already signed off. As a last step they had to appear–without lawyers or any other supporters–and re-affirm orally that each agreed to the divorce. The judge asked each one in turn. Naz said yes without hesitation. She’s too practical to have come all the way downtown just to start waffling in front of the judge. Umit has told her a number of times that he definitely wants a divorce. But, being an idiot, he is mostly saying that because he expects her to beg him to change his mind. It’s not clear whether Naz realizes this or not, but it doesn’t matter at this point. She’s done. When the judge asks Umut the question, we get one of those very long dramatic pauses that are one of the hallmarks of Turkish style soaps. You many think you have seen a dramatic pause or two in your lifetime, but I’m telling you these Turkish ones are at a whole nother level. Anyway, Umut eventually says yes, at which point the judge reads the decree into the official record and the divorce is done. Is that how it really happens in Turkey? We don’t know. We met a few divorced Turkish women while we were there, but we didn’t get into the mechanics. Mostly we just listened to how very pleased they were to have escaped the hell of being married to a Turkish man. 

That night Umut started drinking, put an automatic in his pocket and went to Ali Nejat’s house to kill him. He had a good bead on him through a window and then, after a really long pause, into the scene came oh so adorable Kaan to give his dad a goodnight hug. Umut just couldn’t do it. His pistol fell from his hands. He went back to his shop and got some gasoline and then went to Ali Nejat’s fledging car factory and set fire to it. He then finished his bottle, drove his new Range Rover to an extremely picturesque jetty near the Bosphorus bridge, and threw himself into the sea. A surveillance camera recorded the scene. Currents are strong in that area, say the police, and body must have been swept away.

Umut’s family is crying and carrying on and Naz feels terrible. More terrible than she needs to feel, in our opinion, but maybe that’s just us. It’s interesting that everyone seems positive Umut is dead. Don’t they know they’re in a soap opera?