We have a slow leak in the left front tire of the Mazda. We took it to the tire shop, but they couldn’t find anything. That was weeks ago. So it’s still leaking and we keep on filling it back up. At least we have one of those new-fangled inflators right in our own garage. Not that we’re going to be driving much. We’re off to Cancun tomorrow, traveling by Uber, airport shuttle and Delta.
Friday, January 13, 2023
Our flight was at 7:00 PM, so we dutifully checked in at the Portland Airport around 5:00. The security check was our first opportunity to try out our newly purchased TSAPre status. Which did not work. We were rejected from the line of privilege despite what it said on our boarding passes. Plus M was selected for a random check even after he got through. Sigh. Is this what we get for traveling on Friday the 13th? But after that everything went well. We flew to LAX, then got onto the long flight to Cancun. M couldn’t sleep during the flight and ended up watching Triangle of Sadness, the Palme d’Or winning movie about a group of super rich folks on a luxury cruise. Was that a good thing to see while on one’s way to a full-service tropical resort? Maybe. Maybe not.
Saturday, January 14, 2023
We arrived in Cancun early in the morning. It took a little while, but eventually a hotel shuttle arrived and soon we found ourselves in a lovely room in the Solaris Grand Caribe.
The Caribe wing of the Solaris has space for 200 guests. The Royal wing beside it holds 300 and has much less interesting architecture.
The hotel strip in Cancun extends along 14 miles of a sand dune peninsula shaped like the number seven.
The blue colors on the right side are the Caribbean; the greens to the left are wetlands and lagoons that separate the hotel strip from the mainland. The hotels are all on the strip in the middle.
Here’s the view from the top of our hotel, which is located near the bottom of the seven. Cancun has strikingly beautiful colors.
Along with the Andees, our friends K and J had also come down. One of the nicest things about the trip was having a chance to visit with all of them.
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Wonderful day at the beach. Some areas of the beach were closed due to ocean conditions; others were open. Where we went the surf was just rough enough to be entertaining.
Monday, January 16, 2023
The Andees hired a car and took us all to Tulum, about an hour and a half away. Tulum is a Mayan city that was built around the year 900. The Mayans abandoned it soon after the Spaniards arrived in the 1500’s.
We had a wonderful guide, a Mayan himself, who had lots to tell us about Mayan history and culture. Along with much else, he taught us the Mayan number system and also told us a dramatic story about how the Mayan written language was deciphered. This last may be have been apocryphal.
Tuesday, January 16, 2023
We took a bus today up along the strip to a shopping area. We got some tee-shirts and some Mexican vanilla, the latter costing about the same price as it would in Corvallis, but never mind. Along the way we passed lots and lots of hotels. There were a few ugly square towers, but most of the architecture was impressive. And the sheer scale was awesome. There are more than 80 hotels along the 7-shaped strip, enough to accommodate many thousands of guests and to provide some thousands of jobs.
This was our first experience with an all-inclusive resort and it was pretty nice. It’s true that the free drinks weren’t very strong, but that’s actually a good thing because it means you can have many drinks with little ill effect. (And real drinks are also available, at the so-called Premium Bar.) The food was mostly good, which is to say, rarely great but very rarely bad. Day-long free food sounds dangerous; but when a buffet is free, there’s really less motivation to heap up your plate. There were also sit down dinner options, which were awesome because the portions were small! What a welcome change that was. Also, we never had to deal with a bill at the end of the meal. Very nice.
On our last evening there was a members only ‘gala dinner’ with live entertainment. Just before we went down to dinner, we took at last glance at the sunset.
Wednesday, January 17, 2023
Up at 4:30 to get an airport shuttle at 5:00. A long travel day, but all went well. All planes on time or early. Even our Portland to Corvallis shuttle found light traffic all the way.
Thursday, January 19, 2023
So now we’re home. The Mazda tire was way low again. We took it back to the tire shop and this time they fixed it. Okay! But wait, now we have to get Roto-Rooter to unplug the sewer lines. Geez! Shoulda stayed in Cancun.
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Okay, so maybe we can relax today. Not too much though because we have another, bigger trip coming up in a week or so…
The day has arrived for the belated birthday party for A and N. E’s plan was to start the proceedings with dinner at Kim Hoa’s Vietnamese, followed by a pavlova dessert at our place. She made the meringue early in the afternoon. A arrived from Vancouver at 5:00 and at around six we set off for the restaurant, picking up H on the way. N joined us there. By 7:00 or so we were back at our place and E started whipping cream and spreading berries. N opened a bottle of champagne and M found sparkling cider for H and some suitably fluted glasses. After candles and song, the pavlova was served. Vay, vay vay, as the Turks might say. It was good. There wasn’t much left at the end.
E had also gotten each honoree a confetti popper. They were spectacular, firing out masses of shiny, sliced up ribbon. Made almost entirely of hard plastic, they were about as environmentally unfriendly as you can get. Fun though.
The pink and green cylinder is a used party toy. The shiny debris on the floor is some of what flew out.
Friday, January 6, 2023
January 6 is a special day in Spain, the day the Wise Men arrive bearing gifts. Here there was a special event of another kind. There was a small gathering by the river to celebrate the birthday of Morris Walker, a recently deceased acquaintance. There was flute playing by a native American, memorial remarks and finally the tossing of a little bottle of ashes into the river. The amazing part about the bottle is that it was made of some sort of dissolvable salt that would not hurt the river.
Monday, January 9, 2023
M has been reading The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan, which is basically just an annotated list of sixty-six American popular songs from various eras and musical genres. Each entry shows the song’s title, the songwriter, the performer, and the date of release along with a number of photos that are related to the song’s time period or genre. And of course each song gets a few pages of text wherein Dylan shares some of his thoughts about it. Some of the songs are quite old–the oldest are from the 1920’s–and a few are from the early 21st century. The great majority, though, are from the years between 1945 and 1980.
Many of the songs are very well-known or at least somewhat familiar to people of a certain age, e.g., Blue Suede Shoes, On The Road Again, Strangers in the Night, Mack the Knife, On the Street Where You Live; but quite a few are decidedly lesser known. For M this latter group would include such titles as Nelly Was a Lady, The Little Cloud That Cried, Take Me from the Garden of Evil, and Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy. Part of the fun is to see how many of the songs you recognize. And then you’re curious to see what Bob Dylan has to say about them. What you find is that his response to each song–famous or not–will go off in all kinds of (mostly) interesting directions.
Inevitably, you’ll want to listen to each song when you read about it. Once Dylan lets you know, for example, that the harmonica part in a certain song was played by Stevie Wonder, how can you not want to hear that song? In the old days, finding and playing it might have been difficult. Now it’s just hey Siri, play Ball of Confusionby the Temptations…
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
We made a return visit to the Herbert Farm Natural Area. Went a little farther this time.
Just like last time, the route was a tad waterlogged right at the start.
But this is different. When we were here two weeks ago, this area looked like…
…this.The three legs of the triangle are big logs, but the top of the triangle is resting on the remains of a much larger one. How long have these pieces been here? How’d they get like this? We don’t think nature would do it. Most likely it was a Herbert with a Cat.
In the evening we had dinner with J, B and C at J and B’s house. A fine meal followed by peppermint pig smashing and a shortbread crust lemon tart. Hard to beat.
Wednesday, January 11
Today it’s back to work for E, who is trying desperately to finish sewing a beach cover-up for our upcoming mini-trip to Mexico with the ANDEES and friends. Oh boy!
Of course after yesterday’s indulgences, E is thinking she may have to enlarge the waistband on the beach skirt.
A Christmas miracle: the temperature rose and along with it came rain and a great thawing. Suddenly the roads were passable, and the ANDEES were able to come for Christmas. A good time was had by all, we hope. We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner of salmon and trimmings enclosed in the Dock Box that we ordered from Local Ocean, a seafood restaurant at the coast. Santa came overnight and we opened our presents the next morning.
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Here’s a quick summary of the last three days. Rain. Cold rain. Steady rain. Lots of rain. And sometimes, gusty winds to go with it.
Thursday, December 29, 2022
We met R and J for coffee this morning. We went to Tried and True down in the south part of town and breakfasted on great coffee and so-so croissants. Thus fortified, the four of us headed farther south for a mile or two to Herbert Avenue, intending to do some walking. There’s a place down there, past the edge of town, called the Herbert Farm Natural Area, which we had never heard of till Joe the builder told us about it. It wasn’t a bad day for a hike–rainy, windy and cold, but not seriously so. Bad weather in a jovial mood, you might say.
The chief feature of the natural area is Muddy Creek. The headwaters of Muddy Creek are only 18 miles away as the crow flies, but the creek wanders a lot and its total length might be twice that. Muddy Creek flows into the Mary’s river just half a mile north of where we went walking. Usually the creek is a lazy thing only a few feet wide. Trees and brush grow thick on either side of it, so you usually don’t see any actual water as it winds its way through farm fields and across a part of the Finley Refuge. But if it rains enough and you get close enough…
It’s hard to tell where the main channel is exactly. This may be just a side channel, one which seems to be getting a lot of use today.
The satellite map below shows what the area looks like in the summer. We walked in from the east along the road that you can see in the upper right of the map. On the way we found that a short section of the road was flooded, but we were able to detour around it. But then, when we came to the place where the road curves to the left, we found it completely submerged under rapidly flowing water. We were able to continue our walk, but we had to go along the edge of an old field to do it. R pointed out that the higher ground at the edge of the field didn’t seem natural. Past farmers had probably moved earth to the area to create a berm to keep Muddy Creek out.
We walked all the way down to the lower left corner of the map. See the big oval broccoli floret down there? It’s a single oak tree. That, of course, was in the summertime. Here’s what it looks like from ground level in the winter.
At the place where the road was just about to dip down and disappear into the creek, we found something interesting. Here’s what it looked and sounded like. (Turn up your sound for the full effect.)
The bubbles, we think, come from air that is being forced out of the soil as water begins to saturate it. As the water pushes in, the air is compressed. What we were hearing was the sound of the air escaping from the ground under the water of this puddle. As we stood watching the bubbles rise in the water, we also noticed something else. At our feet we saw tiny spurts of water popping up out of openings in the soil. These were silent, appearing and disappearing in an instant. It was like the ground was spitting at us.
These phenomena suggested the possibility that the floodwaters were spreading as the creek continued to rise. That was an unsettling thought. The whole area, including the parking lot and the road back to the highway, is just a foot or so higher than the water. In the end, though, if it was rising, it wasn’t rising very fast and we were fine.
Later, as we were driving back toward the main highway, we saw more evidence of earthmoving activities sometime in the past.
Saturday December 31, 2022
The forecast for today called for rain of the intermittent sort. We decided to take our chances and go for a hike in another place we’d never been before. It’s a place about an hour north of us called Miller Woods. Frieda Miller donated the area to the Yamhill County Soil and Water Conservation District in 2004. The drive up was pretty rainy, but our luck was good and things had improved greatly by the time we arrived. Our walk through the Woods covered about three and a half miles.
We saw some wonderful trees, including this big old fir growing in the embrace of an even more impressive oak.
We also ran across a fawn standing motionless in the middle of the trail, while mom stood motionless a few yards away.
Just past the fawn statue, we paused for lunch on a bench at K.T. Summit, so named for Frieda’s husband K.T. Miller.
Later in the day, this being New Year’s Eve and all, we had to deal with three long-standing traditions: fondue, champagne and jigsaw.
By 7:30 the fondue was done and the puzzle was started, but we’d made no progress at all on the champagne.
By 9:00 there had been progress on both remaining fronts.
By 12:30, the puzzle still had a long way to go. But we were running low on champagne, so we went to bed.
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Serious puzzle work.
Monday, January 2, 2023
Monday morning
Monday evening. Now the new year can begin for real.
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Nice weather in the morning today. The dark clouds have given way to some white ones, which makes a big difference. After spending a couple of days obsessing over the puzzle, we now turn to more real life concerns such as taking down the Christmas tree, tending to appointments, and planning a dessert gathering for two December birthday girls. We also need to do something about all of these horrible Christmas sweets. We’ve eaten enough to make us woozy and fat. The rest we need to freeze, give away, or maybe just toss out the window of the car next time we take a joy ride. (Except for the Frigor and the Christopher Elbow. We’re not done with those.)
Not much rain or snow here lately, but still it was a cold and frosty world this morning, with winter mist in the air and a crunchy layer of frost. E walked to tertulia while M drove. Coming home, we switched roles.
Sunday, December 18
Fairly nice weather today with intermittent rain and sunshine. Our new neighbors down on Maple Street marked the upcoming solstice by inviting the neighborhood to a celebration. It wasn’t an open house party, but rather an open garage party that also featured canopies in the driveway and a couple of propane heaters. They served snacks and drinks and also gave every departing guest a bottle of homemade soup to take away. They had quite a crowd, but they were ready. What a nice idea and what an undertaking!
Wednesday, December 21
We visited Niagara Falls today. We didn’t know if we could spare the time, but we decided we needed a break from all this Xmas business. And as it turns out, the Oregon version of Niagara Falls is only a few hours away. Why had we never been there before? We don’t know. And why is it called Niagara Falls? Is it because it looks so much like that other, more famous, Niagara Falls? No. It’s pretty though.
There are actually two falls on this hike, both dropping into the same box canyon. The first one is called Pheasant Falls.
The trail goes past the base of Pheasant Falls…
…and ends near the base of Niagara, which is where we had our lunch.
At our lunch spot we were at the end of the box canyon, with sheer walls rising on three sides. Only the northwest end was open, which means that the base of Niagara Falls hadn’t seen direct sunlight for three or four months. And you know what? It was cold down there. The temperature up on hillside was somewhere around 40. Down in the bottom, it had to be in the twenties. We ate our lunch there anyway, but we did not linger.
The trail leading down to the falls was only about a mile long, but it is a lovely walk. In the beginning it follows a small watercourse downward. On the hillsides the trees are mature but not really old, maybe fortyish. But down near the stream in the bottom of the ravine, it seems like nothing has ever been cut and many of the trees are mammoths. Most prominent are the huge old ash trees, but there are also a few ancient hemlocks and cedars. On the ground lie their immediate ancestors, just as impressive in their way.
When big conifers die, they usually topple over from ground level, exposing their root balls. But when these old ash trees go, it seems that they often break off a good distance from the ground, at least six feet or so like this one…
… or maybe twenty feet from the ground like this one. The foliage at the top is salal, which is normally a low growing ground plant. How it gets started on the tops of stubs like this we don’t rightly know. It seems to like it there.
The ash trees are leafless this time of year, but mosses still thrive .
Here’s the trailhead. Note that our driver’s backpack matches his truck.
Thursday, December 22
So we had a break yesterday, but today was super busy. E started at 4:00 a.m.(!) by doing some digital correspondence. M slept in till 6:30 when he finally rose and made coffee. We had a pre-breakfast of wonderful Texas grapefruit and then read the paper for a bit before heading off for tertulia. It was pretty cold, 24 degrees, and the news was full of warnings about possible ice rain. So E decided to come with M in the car instead of walking. Later in the morning we went down to visit Wild Yeast, the newest bakery in town. Then we were off to Trader Joe’s for a few tidbits–boy were they crowded–before coming home to do some baking of our own.
M made pecan sandies. They filled the house with a wonderful aroma as they baked. But that may have been their high point. Our preliminary conclusion is that, as cookies, they’re not what they should be. Serves M right for having used an internet recipe. E, on the other hand, did something tried and true; she made her famous bars. They’re definitely good.
After the baking, it was time to deal with fact that the Mazda’s left front tire has been leaking. So off we went to drop off the Mazda at the tire place. Then it was time for a quick lunch: humus for M and leftover Solstice party soup for E. Then the guys from Lane Marble arrived to install the shower glass–the final piece of the bathroom remodel. Joe the contractor also came by to see how it went and to celebrate the project’s completion. Somewhere along the line, E had put together a small platter of cookies and fruit for him to take away. Then the tire place called to say the Mazda was done. Off we went again. E then went directly from there to a medical appointment, returning an hour later just in time to tune in to Laughter Yoga.
Meanwhile, we’ve been getting bits of news from the world outside. From Big Sky, Montana, we’ve heard from our friends L and P. P has been working at the Big Sky resort for many years now, after leaving his job in Bend, Oregon back in the 90’s when that town got too crowded for his taste. Finally, this year, it was time for him to retire. We hear there was an awesome party to mark the occasion. We’re not sure how old P is; we think he’s 92.
Friday, December 23
We got up to find Corvallis locked down by a layer of ice. Nothing is moving on any of the streets around us. We’ve never known it to be so quiet here. At 8:00 the temperature was 24 degrees and a light rain was falling, perfect conditions for making the ice even thicker.
Not a time to be driving…or walking either.
Our photographer trod very, very carefully and did not venture far.
By 1:00 the temperature had risen to 32. Not much help there; the ice was worse than ever. By 3:30, though, there were clear signs of melting. They say it will get into the 40’s later this afternoon and stay that warm overnight, so we may be able to move around tomorrow. Meanwhile we have heat, light, food and an abundance of unhealthy sweets. We’ll be fine.
After lunch today J and R joined us in our first adventure with “cupping” at Margins coffee in Albany. Our host was Margins owner and roast master David, a thirty-something former chemistry teacher who seems to be really enjoying this coffee thing. He had five coffees for us to sample. Three were from Ethiopia, one was from Honduras, and one was from Indonesia (Sumatra). The photo above shows a cup of Taro, which comes from Ethiopia and which is dried via a natural process. More on that later.
Here’s the scene with the cupping counter in the foreground and the roasting machine in the back. You can tell from the dirty dishes that this is actually a post-cupping photo.
Our host brewed the coffee very simply by putting grounds into the bottom of a cup, filling the cup with hot water, and waiting several minutes for the grounds to settle out. He then used a shallow spoon to skim off the coffee foam or crema. The result of this process was a thin liquid that was quite flavorful but not very strong.
When the five sample cups were ready, David gave each of us a spoon and a tasting glass and then demonstrated how to use them. First you dip your spoon into one of the sample cups and transfer about a teaspoon of the brew to your glass. Then you have to slurp up the whole sample, trying to spray it into all parts of your mouth. Before demonstrating that part, David warned us that cupping is a noisy process.
During and after the tasting, David also talked about some of the many factors that affect coffee flavor. Different varieties of coffee plants, differing soil types and differing climate all have their effects. He also mentioned that there are two main methods of coffee processing: natural drying and wet drying. Coffee beans, we learned, are the core or pit of coffee fruit. The whole fruit is called a coffee cherry. In a natural drying process, fresh picked coffee cherries are spread out onto concrete or onto drying tables and left in the sun to dry. They need to be raked constantly so as to prevent rot and assure uniform drying. Once the cherries are fully dry, the outer skin and fruit are separated from the coffee beans inside. The wet process is more complex. First the coffee cherries go through a depulper, which removes the outer skin of the cherry, but leaves some of the underlying fruit still covering the bean. This remaining fruit material is called mucilage. The mucilage-covered beans then rest for a day or two during which time the mucilage starts to ferment–which releases sugar– and some of this sugar is absorbed by the beans. After two days, the rest of the mucilage is washed off. The beans must then be dried, either in the sun or by mechanical means.
And of course roasting also has a great deal to do with flavor. So how do coffee roasters like David know which coffee will respond best to various kinds of roasting? The answer is that they don’t really know until they try. David performs cupping sessions every Friday and visitors are welcome, but even if no one shows up to watch, David does the cupping anyway. His purpose is to sample the beans that he has roasted earlier in the week to see how they’ve come out. We noticed him taking notes. Was he carefully writing down how each of us responded to each sample? Nah. People who are passionate about what they’re doing don’t bother with focus groups. He was making notes about what he tasted. It was great talking to him. Good company and a bit of caffeine. We all came away in good spirits.
Roaster control panel
Sunday, December 11, 2022
Wow. Quite a bit of sunshine today. There’s a big winter storm system in the news, but it’s passing a hundred miles or so to the south of us.
Monday, December 12, 2022
As was expected by almost everyone, the implementation of Oregon’s new gun law has been idelayed, as there have been a number of legal challenges. The measure bars the sale of ammunition magazines larger than 10 rounds, requires purchasers to undergo firearms training, and requires that a background check be fully complete before a gun transfer can proceed. (This last provision closes a major loophole in the existing federal law regarding background checks.) The law is the result of an initiative measure that passed by a very narrow margin: 50.6% to 49.4%. The new law is opposed by many police and sheriff departments, partly because it charges them with the task of conducting the training and maintaining the records without providing any resources to support it. The legal challenges, however, are focused on the first provision, and claim simply that a limit on magazine size violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
The magazine capacity limit applies to new civilian purchases only. Military and police are exempted as are current owners of large magazines. This did not prevent one Oregon county sheriff from releasing a statement saying that if the law is implemented “we will be helpless to defend ourselves.” The position of the Meandering on the Way (MOTW) editorial board on this issue is that almost all of us feel that way once in a while.
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Another great weather day and also the day when we finally got the drawer pulls for our bathroom cabinet. Whoopee. This makes the cabinet fully useable and marks the next to the last step in the completion of the bathroom remodel. The last step will be installing glass panels instead of a shower curtain around the shower.
It’s a big week for our bathroom project. Today we got marble in the shower.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
And today we got a granite countertop.
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Icy rain early this morning at our house; snow in other places. And then, by nine, the sun was shining, and M went out to rake apple leaves. Just as he finished, the sun was obscured by another passing shower. or two, or three, or four. Nevertheless, In the afternoon we drove east to Waterloo, Oregon and went walking on the south bank of the Santiam River. First we meandered through an eighteen-hole disc golf course, a long, narrow affair that threads its way along the river through a forest of firs, cottonwoods and the occasional blackberry thicket. Someone had once spent a lot of time and effort making it. Every hole had a number marker, a bench, and concrete pad to launch from. But all else was wonderfully natural. If you weren’t looking at a tee or a basket, you’d have no idea you were on a course. And even in the tee areas, there was a sense of disuse, as if the bench and pad belonged to another era. Was it simply that December is off-season? We couldn’t quite tell.
We found the basket for Hole 13. Some of the others seemed to be missing.
After touring the disc golf course, we returned on a path that runs very close to the river, which was running high and fast.
For a minute the sun obligingly appeared.
At other points the sky darkened and the trail sank. Here we had to backtrack.
A Santiam side channel, small but active.
Friday, December 2, 2022
Another major development today; we now have fixtures! It’s still not quite finished, but the bathroom is functional. M will move back in.
Drawer pulls, shower glass, and a bit of marble trim are all that remain to be installed. Poor M is already having buyer’s remorse and missing his old ugly bathroom. He’ll get over it.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Time to prep for Christmas! We spent some time in the garage, pulling out lights, ornaments, and our trusty tree stand. Then we went and got a tree, a modest one, at our usual place. We decided to set it up immediately so that the fresh cut base wouldn’t have time to dry out. First, we had to move away the giant jade plant so as to clear space for the tree. But where to put the jade? Last year we tried moving it into the dining room for the season, but overnight it went limp and looked terrible. “I’m dying here,” it called out. “Don’t you care at all?” We knew we’d have to figure out a better place for it this year–but that would have to wait. We needed to get that tree up.
Now, as we all know, the basic process of setting up tree up is simple. You put it into the stand and then one person holds it straight while the other person tightens the clamps. Unfortunately for us, we often have trouble with the straight part. Funny how many different ideas of straight there can be. And of course the trees we buy are almost always kinda crooked in themselves. (Why do we buy them then? We don’t know. They look pretty in the lot.) Anyway, we got through the straightening part okay and in the end there was our tree, in our stand, looking pretty darn good. Time to add water. E volunteered for this. She put in one liter. She refilled her bottle and started adding another liter. Then she noticed that as she poured water in at the top, there was quite a considerable amount of water oozing out from the bottom. Whoa! M was paralyzed with dismay, indecision, and general incompetence; but E quickly fetched towels to soak up the water and a basin to wring them into. After we dealt with the water, we took the tree back out of the stand and carried it back onto the patio. We examined the stand and found, of course, a large crack in the bottom. Our bucket, as the song says, had a hole in it. Time to break for lunch.
So we got a new stand and some take-out food. And after we ate, we set up the tree again and poured water into it. And it didn’t leak. And that was fine. After that, M went out and put up the outside lights while E crossed the great divide (Walnut Blvd.) and took a walk up a nearby hill. She came back with the triumphant announcement that she had climbed 12 floors. In the evening we watched A Boy Named Christmas on Netflix. It was very nice, both nice in itself and nice in giving us a break from our current Turkish series, the endlessly frustrating but oddly addictive Black Money Love.
Sunday, December 4, 2022
We had an unexpected event today at breakfast when we got into some Hiatt Bakery pastries that we had previously stashed in our freezer. M’s treat was a moderate sized bear claw. E’s was a largish cinnamon roll. Prudently, she split it in half before attacking it. After taking a few bites, she was heard to remark “This is really sweet…really, really sweet.” And then later, “Ooh, it’s too rich.” Who would have expected such sentiments for this source? Strange indeed are the days in which we live.
Despite the strangeness, we managed to take a walk in the forest and get the tree decorated.
Another clear, crisp day. Nice weather for a drive up to Vancouver (Washington) to have Thanksgiving dinner with AD and AS-C. We enjoyed it immensely. The cranberries were especially delicious, this despite the fact that they were actually a mixture of blueberries, blackberries and boysenberries. Yum. After dinner–and before pie–we had a nice walk through a wetland preserve just a couple of blocks away. For dessert, there were two pies imported from Corvallis, one blackberry and one pecan. We all had to try a little of each. November 24 also happens to be AD’s birthday, so he had to tolerate candles on his. M&E later adjourned to a motel to recover.
Friday, November 25, 2022
After spending the night at a comfortably mediocre Comfort Inn, we went out to do some shopping at the Vancouver Mall. It had been twenty years or so since we last visited a mall on Black Friday, so it was time to update. Who knew what we might find? Is this the end of days for bricks and mortar? Maybe or maybe not. The mall was bustling. It wasn’t as crazy busy as we remember from the halcyon days of our youth; but still, there was a lot of commerce going on. And what a mix of stores! A few were familiar, like Macy’s, Penney’s, and Victoria’s Secret. But many were pretty much mysteries to us, shops like Tilly’s, Torrid, Claire’s and Zumiez. The interesting thing was how much the mall is oriented toward young people–not just young compared to us, but truly young like twenty-somethings, teens and preteens. At Zumiez, for example, you can buy Mercer 55mm 99a Skateboard Wheels and RIPNDIP Lord Nermal Purple Lightning Crew Socks. If you find either of those on someone’s wishlist, you know where to go.
Also, the mall was interesting for what it didn’t have: no Apple store, no Tesla showroom, no Anne Taylor, no Lululemon or Williams-Sonoma, none of that. Instead, we saw Maurice’s, Forever 21, Famous Footwear, a knife and sword shop called Highlander and a cowboyish place called Boots and Wear. There are also LOTS of beauty and cosmetics shops, including three or four hair salons, two nail salons, three or four cosmetics outlets, two tattoo and piercing parlors, and two eyebrow threading places. There were two pop up clothing stores (Yea Dat and Cool Loots) plus two pretzel shops, a bubble tea place, a selfie studio and a COVID clinic. Also a branch of the Vancouver public library, a Golds Gym and at least a dozen eateries, including Chick-fil-A, Outback and Five Guys.
So, you may ask, how did we take advantage of this vast selection of goods, services and calories? Well, we bought a couple of things at Macy’s. What with the sales and all, our total there came to around ten dollars. Then E blew another ten on a new chain for her purple amulet. And that was it. What a fantastically frugal duo! If we had had more time, we might have spent more. But we had an urgent appointment–an offer of a tour of the Andees’ new food truck and a free sample. We’ll tell that story in pictures…
Newly made S’mores coming out of the conveyor oven at Nachos for Dessert. After heating, the fried wontons and homemade marshmallows are finished with Hershey’s syrup.
Saturday, November 26, 2022
After a rainy Friday, we’re back to sunshine. M raked leaves in the morning and then, in the afternoon when things were more dried out, he mowed the lawn. (Lawn mowing in late November? Gadzooks.) We went for a walk up the big hill in our neighborhood and generally tried to wind down from having eaten too much in the last few days. In fact we had a modest supper–followed by two kinds of pie. Best to wind down gradually.
Sunday, November 27, 2022
We didn’t do much of anything today, just rested up for the upcoming week, which should be eventful. The bathroom project is nearing the finish. Check out the shower. Pretty nifty, eh?
Okay, so it’s not quite done. But actually, this is progress.
Monday, November 28, 2022
Fun stuff this morning. We made our annual visit to the Clothes Tree to pick out something or other that E might want for Christmas. No photos of that, it’s a surprise.
The bathroom redo continues. The new floor covering was installed today.
Today’s Quiz
1. What type of floor covering is this?
A. Vinyl B. Linoleum C. Marmoleum D. Paramecium
2. Why do you think M and E chose this option?
A. It is an environmentally friendly product and does not off-gas.
B. It was the most economical.
C. It was recommended by their design consultants.
D. They wanted the flexibility of having thousands of cilia.
Monday, November 14
The vanity was installed today. Drawer pulls and countertop will come later.
Mahogany cabinetry by Reid Larsen of Shelter Woodworking.
Wednesday, November 16
We’ve been having beautiful fall weather this week. It’s been in the 20’s at night, but sunny and up into the 50’s in the afternoon. Today we took an afternoon walk in a part of the Finley National Refuge, near the town of Peoria. The blue line in the map below shows roughly the route of our walk. The last part of the walk is a wide path atop an old dike.
Fall on Lake Creek bayou
This video, taken from a spot near the north end of the dike, shows the current in the main channel of the Willamette and the stillness of a backwater.Approaching the south end of the dike on our way back and listening to the sounds of fall.
On our way back we spotted a skunk nosing around in the middle of a bare field, which seemed a little strange on such a bright afternoon. Also, on a power line that crossed the field, we noticed a lot of these:
What are they?
Friday, November 18
In the morning we went up to Salem to sign up for TSA PreCheck. Beautiful day for a drive. Our final destination turned out to be a booth set up inside a Staples store next to the office furniture. The tiny booth was jammed with equipment: a fingerprint scanner, two screens, a photo backdrop, a high mounted camera and, of course, a credit card reader. Somewhere amongst it all, there was also a human, an efficient young fellow who had his routine down pat. The whole thing took maybe four minutes per person. It was a big Staples store and except for a steady stream of trusted traveller wannabes, it was mostly deserted. Kind of a strange scene.
As we came out of Staples, we remembered that there was a Panera nearby. And we needed a bear claw or something.
Saturday, November 19
In the morning we toured the site of the proposed Oak Creek Preserve, a 144 acre tract of farmland and oak forest just west of Corvallis. The tour was led by the head of the Greenbelt Land Trust, a local non-profit that was founded some 30 years ago by a group of visionaries who were concerned that encroaching development would eventually destroy the natural areas surrounding the city. Their vision was to be able to preserve enough land around the city to form a permanent band of green areas, hence the name “Greenbelt.”
The north edge of Corvallis borders the OSU Research Forest, so a wide green ‘belt” has long existed there. The local GLT began its work focused on the west side of the city. Along with various partners, they have already succeeded in preserving many hundreds of acres and have built and maintained multi-use access trails throughout the area. The area in red on the map below shows how the planned Oak Creek Preserve will complete what GLT calls a “corridor of trails and habitats.”
As their website puts it: With the purchase of this 144 acre property, we have a rare chance to acquire a final missing puzzle piece in the long-envisioned corridor of trails and habitats. We need your help to fund the acquisition and long term stewardship of this iconic site.
The next photo shows a portion of the tract as it looks now. The field in the lower left has had many agricultural uses over the last 150 years. Most recently, it has been used for grass seed production. The oak forest on the hillside above the field seems to have been relatively undisturbed, at least for the last 70-100 years.
The area that has been a grass seed field will be managed as wetland prairie. There are plans to create vernal pools and to build a boardwalk and an observation blind.
This tour took place as part of a fundraising campaign to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Greenbelt has had its eyes on this site for many years, but it seemed an impossible dream because the landowner had signed a purchase option agreement with a developer. As it happened, however, the developer was not able to pull together the needed resources. Soon after that option expired, GLT was able to secure a purchase option of its own and expects to close on the property in the spring of 2023.
The tour was inspiring, both because of the beautiful views and natural surroundings and also because of the energy and idealism of the Greenbelt staff. They quite literally walked the walk while they were talking the talk. The more we think about it, the more we are convinced that donating to this project is a very positive investment in the future.
We went a few miles out of town and walked again in the gallery forest near where the Luckiamute and the Santiam join the Willamette. Here are some sights along the trail.
There’s not much fall color here in the native forest, but the photographers come out anyway…
Good place for cottonwoods.
Saturday, October 29
We went to a birthday dinner for our longtime friends J and M. They served Thai food, catered by a family-owned restaurant here in town. When the restaurant owners first came to Corvallis, two of the younger generation enrolled in English classes from us at OSU. We’ve always felt a connection with the place and of course by now our students are the ones running things.
It was a lovely occasion, with a nice group if people, some of whom we don’t see often. One special treat was a chance to talk to our old colleague S whom we hadn’t seen for a decade or two.
Sunday, October 30,
The process of selling M’s Porsche is off to a rip-roaring start. The first response came in only seconds after the ad went live. Here it is, in its entirety:
sophiejones sophiejones
Hiya Would you mind giving me your #? Please include the link to your post! Thanks.
M read this message and then re-read it. As a communication regarding the possible purchase of a car, it doesn’t work very well. It’s friendly and polite but doesn’t actually make sense, and its instant appearance strongly suggests that it was sent by a bot. On the other hand, it almost works as a poem. But never mind that. M moved sophiejones to the trash.
A few days later, he received a more serious communication, this time from one Douglas C Cole:
Hi, I’ve been working really long weeks at work. So I won’t be able to meet with you for viewing the car, I believe you that is in good condition. I’ll proceed in issuing a Bank Certified Check, When you receive the payment and confirm it cleared, I will have the movers to come for the pick up at your location. So get back to me with the details below asap.
Full Name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Your cell Phone Number:
Last Asking Price:
As soon as this is provided, payment will to sent overnight to you and I will let you know once it’s mailed out with a tracking number sent. I will also add an additional $300 for holding it for me till the Check gets to you in the next 2 Business Days. Also delete the posting that it has been sold to me.
M trashed this message too, throwing away the chance for an extra $300! But why? Doesn’t he know that capitalizing the words ‘check’ and ‘days’ in the same sentence is a secret internet code that guarantees that the sender is trustworthy? Apparently not. Instead, he chose to heed those silly warnings about fake check scams. Sigh.
Halloween Monday, October 31, 2022
A hectic day. In the morning there was consultation regarding the bathroom project and also grocery shopping to be done. Then after lunch M drove to a town 60 miles away to sell the Porsche, only to find that the offer that had drawn him there was “a mistake” and that the dealer’s real offer was considerably lower. “Mistakes have certainly been made,” thought M to himself as he drove away. “I know I made one.”
E, meanwhile, had been on her way to give M a ride home if the deal had gone well. On her way she stopped at a mall in Eugene where she found a couple of needed items that she hadn’t been able to get in Corvallis. So that was good. And fortunately she was still at the mall when M called to say that he wouldn’t need fetching after all.
We both got home in time to have a dinner of walnut loaf and mashed potatoes (yes!) and also to make our modest preparations to receive Halloween visitors. After setting out our lanterns and our buzzy little monster thing, we had to decide which of our two types of candy to give away first. That was important because we were both interested in which candy would likely be left over for us. As it happened, we had fewer trick or treaters than last year, only seven or eight groups this time. There was plenty of candy left for both of us–way too much in fact.
As mentioned, our decorations were modest. But our neighbor across the street loves to decorate. Here’s what her place looked like.
It doesn’t show in this picture, but trust us, there’s a skeleton lurking behind the bush on the right.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Today started off fairly normally. E did a Zoom exercise class while M went out to get a haircut and have his dental prescription filled. Pretty mundane stuff. But then M’s phone lit up with a flurry of text messages. It seems that word had spread about some crazy man in Corvallis who was almost giving his car away for the sake of a quick sale. Two of the messages came from the dealership who had rejected the car on Monday. The gist was that they now believed that their original offer was spot on, so let’s talk. Tsk, Tsk. They had their chance. Two other messages contained offers that were a thousand dollars higher than what M had been prepared to accept. M took one of those and bye-bye Porsche.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
E’s daughter came down to Corvallis today to take care of some details regarding her father’s funeral. She’s been working very hard to arrange things properly and in accordance with her vision and his wishes. There will be a religious service on Friday followed by a celebration of life on Saturday. We have been helping in small ways with arrangements for the latter. E also helped with the obituary.
E continues to be in contact with some of her and Roberto’s old Spanish friends. Their sympathy and the memories and love that they have shared have meant a great deal to her.
Thursday, November 3, 2022
A quiet day in Lake Wobegone. Well, it was rather active in funeral preparations, but quiet in the sense that there were no workmen of any sort on the premises. We’ve reached a sort of stopping point. The dumpster has been removed from our front yard, along with the old tub and toilet. The bathroom walls have been repaired and painted. Next comes floor covering; but that won’t happen for another week.
Friday, November 4, 2022
A service for Roberto was held today at St. Mary’s Church here in Corvallis. The Ceremony of the Word service was led by Deacon Chris, a former neighbor of ours. The service mixed readings, live music and prayers and was quite lovely. There was also a video eulogy recorded by Roberto’s old friend M in Spain. After the service we moved to the St Mary’s cemetery for a brief graveside ceremony.
Saint Mary’s is a hillside cemetery. Roberto’s gravesite is near the top…
…not too far from Becca
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Today the focus was on a celebration of life held at the Corvallis Community Center. The gathering began at 1:00 in the afternoon, but preparations began early. The Andees and several friends arrived at our place around 10:30 and began preparing paella according to Roberto’s recipe. They ended up making two paellas, one seafood and one vegetarian. The day was cloudy and damp, but the rain held off for quite a while. Which was good because A was determined to make paella outside on a charcoal grill, the way her father always did.
The cooks had plenty of helpers–including our friend J who came over to help with the vegetarian version. All went well, though we did hear a few cries of distress regarding Roberto’s recipe. Apparently it was a little vague on exact amounts and things. Of course that’s just the sort of recipe that many good cooks use.
Making paella on the patio.
The paellas were served at around 1:30 and there were lots of people there to try them. The older generation included long-time friends who knew Roberto from his very first years in Corvallis. Our friends H, J and R all spoke, as did E, who told the story of her first date with Roberto, during which he took her on a tour of Toledo, which included a visit to the insane asylum, where his grandfather had been Director and within whose walls Roberto’s father had been raised. Alas, there were no stories from Rich, Roberto’s long-time friend and neighbor, who passed a few years back. Too bad. Rich loved Roberto and also loved to tell Roberto stories.
Lots of A’s friends were there, including C and K, who were also Becca’s friends. D and N were there also, as were S and E, with whom A and Becca had shared many a ski outing back in the early days. Roberto’s step-daughter M came also. She is of course grown up now and has two children of her own. A was glad to see her.
Sometimes these events attract people that no one is glad to see. If you’re lucky, they leave early before your supply of insincerity runs dry.
A had prepared a wonderful slide show about her father’s life. She also played M and M’s eulogy again for this group. Besides paella, there were other Spanish foods, including chorizo and manchego cheese. The latter came in a variety of colors, something none of us had ever seen before. For dessert we had fried wonton s’mores from the Nachos for Dessert food truck, which has just begun operation. These feature A’s homemade marshmallows.
Sunday, November 6, 2022
We woke up to a cold, wet world. Despite the temperature (37°F) and the rain (intermittent showers) we wanted to take a walk in the forest. That meant digging out some winter coats and warmer boots. In the woods the maple leaves were turning brown, but the ferns–which had looked dry and droopy throughout October–were now standing tall and showing off their deep, glistening green. The rain was just playing around while we hiked. It wasn’t until we were almost back to the car that the rain started talking itself seriously. Ten minutes later, as we drove back to town, we noticed the the the drops were getting a little slushy. By the time we got home it was snowing.
Lots of snowflakes, but they didn’t stick much.
Monday, November 7, 2022
Continuous hard rain all day and still pretty cold. It appears that winter is really here. We heard that it was 70 degrees yesterday somewhere in upstate New York. That doesn’t seem very likely, does it? Our source is usually reliable, but…
M spent a certain amount of time outside today while he was over in Albany getting a shell put on his pickup. All through the day, no matter how hard or constant the rain, the weather app on his phone kept on calling it drizzle. Here’s what that “drizzle” looked like.
It was a three ring circus around here in the morning. J the builder, G the plumber and Z the plumber’s assistant were all here, plus A the cleaning lady. The bathtub was moved to the front lawn. E and A did windows; E did the outsides while A did the insides. M helped with screen removal and then escaped for a while by going off to Lowe’s to get landscape adhesive and stuff.
Loud pounding and power tool racket all day. Things went quiet around 5:30, but then the non-construction activities began. M made a quick dinner so we could finish eating before E’s Zoom yoga lesson that started at 6:00. Then, at 6:55 or so, E left for her in-person book club meeting just across town. She eventually found her way back home a little after 10:00. What a day.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Our friend Rick passed away today, after having been in a coma for some time. Just three days ago, his beloved Dodgers were ignominiously eliminated in the first round of the MLB playoffs. We can’t help seeing a connection.
Friday, October 21, 2022
The weather is still unseasonably warm and dry. Our friend J came over today, bringing a son and a granddaughter along. E took them all out to pick apples. Six-year-old S didn’t pick many but got very involved in the sorting once the apples were down.
In other outdoor news, M transplanted an ailing dogwood to a less sunny location. If it survives the trauma, it might do better next year.
Inside, it was another day of pounding and grinding, but progress was made. Drains and feed lines are in place, meaning that all the under floor work is done.
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Andrea’s father died today. E is involved in notifying people of her generation, both here and in Spain. Here’s one of the photos that she included with her announcement.
Sunday, October 23, 2022
M is putting the Boxster up for sale on Autotrader. He knows that fall is not the best time to sell a convertible, but he trying anyway. The ad is here.
Cloudy and a little damp today. Good.
Monday, October 24, 2022
Rainy and cold today. Excellent.
We thank everyone for helping us to identify that yellow stuff that we found in the forest. It’s called Fuligo septica, slime mold, or dog’s vomit. It has a striking color, but it doesn’t seem to have any pretty names.
E continues to be involved with correspondence regarding Roberto’s passing and in helping A with arrangements.
