Is mistletoe symbiosis or a parasite?

Jacksonville is well lit for Christmas. During our Halloween volunteerism, the organizer from the Chamber of Commerce mentioned it took some doing to get all the businesses in downtown historic Jacksonville to chip in to get their holiday garlands and lights to match.   Seriously! It started the weekend after Thanksgiving and one by one, the shops got up tiny white lights framing all the shop windows with cedar-looking garlands bedecking the pillars and frames.  We missed the Christmas tree lighting as we were at the coast that weekend, but on several subsequent forays downtown we pass heavily decorated shop windows, passers-by in Victorian garb and people on the side walks giving away hot apple cider.

Last weekend we did our chores early Saturday and went on a wine tour of Upper Rogue Valley.  Didn't mean to hit 3 wineries before camping, but they were so co-located!
Agate Ridge Vineyard has a spectacular view of (much of the year) snow-covered Mount Mcloughlin.  In the summer they have live music and bond fires and giant games:  (life size Jenga and other stuff I guess.)  We just threw a slimy tennis ball for the owner's energetic dog, Syrah, and tasted some good wines.  We ended up with a free coupon for a tasting flight at the neighboring winery: Cliff Creek Cellar.  It happened to be their members' pick up day so they were having food and festivities.  We're not members but they let us eat their prime rib and chocolate and had generous portions on their tastings.  We imagined going back in the summer (since they're also 22 min from Jacksonville.)  Their grapes abut grapes at Folin Vineyard's, so we had to stop there too.   It sounded like they were closing after this weekend and we still aren't sure if they meant for the season or forever. We ended up with two beautiful wine glasses and the phone number of a dude who teaches fly-tying  (in case Judd needs a 6-8th grade project.)  

All we had to do at "camp" was open the yurt and turn on the heat.  (We had stopped at India Palace and picked up Indian food to warm up for dinner. It didn't even make it to the warmer.)  I did lose soundly at cribbage. Only drawback to Valley of the Rogue State Camp Ground:  it seems to be 20ft from Freeway  5 (they're free here) and apparently they don't turn off traffic at night. Zooming sounds woke us up all night.  We had a nice, brisk morning walk along the Rogue River and went home to prep for Sunday/Monday.  DId I mention these chores involved buying 9 pound boxes of spaghetti and 18 bags of mini marshmallows for Judd's "tower challenge?"  (i.e. have 6-8 graders spend the last day before holiday break seeing who can make the tallest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows.) Doesn't sound lethal or messy, right?

On the way home, the fog was thick but the sunrise promised to break through.  It made stunning black and white snaps of the trees full of mistletoe balls. 

I refer you to this awesome Prezi by Wade Sumner and Elize Perez, if you can click through it with your arrow button:
https://prezi.com/ql1hdfrsyuqc/symbiosis-between-mistletoe-and-a-tree/

And, in an unrelated note:  Hotel at work conference in Seattle, The Edgewater (famous for  4 Beatles fishing out a window)  uses antlers in all of their decorating....

Jacksonville Victorian Judd's Birthday and Big FOOT

Bagpipers !

Judd's Birthday Parade in Jacksonville!!  They called it "a Victorian Christmas Parade" but it was heavy on antique cars spewing diesel fumes and low on Carolers in Victorian garb.  We had gone to breakfast at the Jacksonville Inn (hearing that it was classy, but pricey for dinner.)  It was pricey for breakfast.  And we were still too early for the parade so we walked downtown and had tea at Pony Espresso.  While we were perusing the local paper, we overheard a woman squeal a greeting to the barista, "It's MY birthday too!"  So, Judd went over and squealed, "It's MY birthday TOO!"  The three of them congratulating each other was adorable. The predicted rain held off and we cruised the main street (3 blocks) to find an acceptable curb. We didn't know until the start whether the parade was going up or down California St. (It went down.) 

It was a cute, small town parade and cuter still to see the families and tourists lined up to watch. Because it was wet/cold everyone had hats or mittens or were  wrapped in blankees. Best ugly sweater was blue and yellow and said Oh Vey!  with dreidels all over it. We did our Saturday laundry and shopping chores and met a work friend for dinner at the BackPorch Bar and Grill. Serious BBQ.  Judd and I had just discussed at breakfast that we really should share a meal when we go out because the portions everywhere are so American. But then he ordered his own beef brisket and I ordered my own seared ahi tacos. We invoked the birthday exception-to-any rule.

 On Sunday we had a great breakfast at the Honeysuckle Cafe in Ruch on our way to Applegate Lake.  Two breakfasts but justified this time because we were taking leftovers for lunch after a hike. We had been told the World's only Big Foot trap was in those woods up the Applegate.  We found the trail head sign and it has a foot logo on the trail marker.  That made it official.  The website said the trap was baited for several years but all they caught were bears.  (They didn't say who went up to free the bears.)  So now the trap is locked open "for your safety."  We had forgotten the directions I printed out and lost cell signal so we were hiking by memory.  It was purported to be 3/4 mile into the trail.  After we hiked about 45 min, I said we must be beyond 3/4 mile.  (I'm not THAT out of shape.) There had been a slight turn off and we figured that must have been it. So we hiked back and there it was a few feet off the main trail.  It looks like an oversized outhouse where some big foot has painted "Big Foot was Here."  We hiked through a dreary green forest--so many colors of green, drippy from the frozen fog, which cleared by the time we emerged from the forest. Ferns grew out of tree trunks. Lichen drizzled along branches.  Holly-like, pokey plants lined the trail and we started to worry it was the poison oak which was reported along the path. (We googled it later and decided it wasn't poison oak.) We cam across some deep holes but chose not to find out if they were bat caves or big foot hide outs. Judd declared it a spectacular start to his birthweek.

"Sleepless in Seattle"

I'm  in Seattle, not sleeping. I left work at noon and it took two flights to get to Seattle. I did have that delay at TSA security.  After they xrayed my backpack, "Do you have anything sharp or dangerous?"  I reply, "knitting needles."  While I put my boots back on, I see the dude frisk through my knitting, bag of almonds, reading glasses.  I told Judd I made a point of removing my 1.5 inch knife-- I call it my "Swiss Princess knife" because I don't like armies.  It's pink and comes with a plastic "ivory" toothpick, mini-tweezers and knife/scissors.  I'm confident my "Swiss Princess knife" is in my car.   The TSA dude rifles through the backpack and finds Judd's jackknife.  (Set up again!!!)   I ask the agent if I can mail it home and he says that I can go put it in my car.  Happily, I've allowed enough time, and the Medford airport is so small that I can walk to my car in  minutes.   SO, I return Judd's, did I say, engraved , pocket knife, to my car and get to do (boots off/xray etc) security clearance a second time and still make the flight on time. 

Our contingency got to the hotel at 6:00 pm and went out for dinner at 6:30. Fabulous Indian/Nepalese food at Kastoori Grill.  Most of us got 3 out of 6 spicy. One colleague got 6/6!  We didn't share that one. We walked back along the Public Market and very near crossing the road to our hotel, a very long train went by. We stood stamping our feet in the cold. I got myself all tucked into the hotel room: work clothes shaking out on hangars next to the luxurious robes, left-overs in the hotel fridge, phone and computer charging. And then I tried to start the fireplace (the room's source of heat.)  I ended up needing to have an engineer sent up.  I hear him say, "Oh, Sh...!"  So, my valve doesn't work and now, at 8 dark 30 bedtime, I'm being offered "a new room with heat."   SO, I repack all my crap which has exuded across the beautiful room; I schlepp my stuff, which now includes an already poured glass of wine, up and over a floor, and end up, EXACTLY over that train crossing........ but with a fabulous fireplace and ottoman-shaped-like-a-bear.   And a note from the hotel:  "Should the sounds of the passing trains disturb your sleep, please take a pair of earplugs , on the house."

Not sleeping yet......

Beecher's Handmade Cheese

Judd's, Mine and Ours - Fishing the Elk*

(*reference to blog post from 10/5/17 "They didn't call it "Catching the Rogue.")

  We decided to get use out of our fishing license before the end of 2017 so booked a second trip with Charlie from the outfit he and his wife Rochelle run:  Fishing the Rogue.
You'll recall from the October trip that we didn't catch anything on the Rogue.  But November is a good time for salmon nearer the coast, so we booked a hotel and made the arduous-over-the-mountains-in-the-dark trip Friday night after work.  We keep arriving in these scenic villages in the dark and then get to wake up to views and vistas.  We stayed in Bandon (where we have lunched before) but headed south Saturday morning to meet up with our guide in Port Orford (about 30 minutes south.)  SIDE NOTE:  Judd reminds me that when we wanted cedar siding for the house we built in Maine, the siding was Port Orford cedar.
Small world.

  About 3 other float boat guides were meeting up with their clients in the same Ray's shopping center parking lot.  Turns out the recent rains have made the nearby rivers too full to fish efficiently and this particular Saturday was going to be the best conditions of the Thanksgiving weekend. The water level had dropped 3 feet in the last couple days which is better for catching fish. Another guide, Mike,  checked out our license plate and was happy to see Oregon.  (Judd's car--finally the right license plate.  I wonder what they think when they see my Maine plates.) 

 We (i.e. actually Charlie and Rochelle) put the boat in by a hatchery on the Elk River......by headlamp in the pitch black of pre-dawn, their little Chihuahua Button standing guard on the console between the front seats.  We had to wait in line as there already were other fishing boats ahead and way behind us.  Being the best day of the weekend and the best river conditions around, everyone and their outta- town-company were on the Elk. It was slated to rain all day and we were ready for it, but happily it only showered a little mid-morning and it was just warm and overcast the rest of the day. The boat is decked out with a propane heater under the foc'sc'le if that's what it's called. (Look THAT up in your Funk and Wagnall's.)   Any way, just to the right of my coffee holder there's a slit under that front deck. The slit is just big enough for a boxed pizza, thus the name "pizza oven."  It's located just above that propane heater and, better than pizza, it's keeps your "Danish Kringles"  from Trader Joe or "ham and cheese sandwiches" warm until about Elevensies when you need a snack. 

 Judd and I reclined in the dry, cushioned, swivel seats and Charlie sat behind us doing all the dirty work.  We cruised down the Elk using headlamps the first hour but enjoying the sunrise and the wildlife. Charlie changed out our rod with either massive lures the size of your hand, or bait (eggs and tuna) and  he knows which holes the salmon run which way and which method to use.  Mike in the parking lot had called him "the fish whisperer" so we were confident we had the right guide. 

SIDE NOTE:
What I called red fire balls in the last blog looked like what I used to fish with in my childhood:  plastic jars of individual red eggs, actually called Balls of Fire.  Turns out Charlie harvests the fresheggs from whatever we catch and seasons them with soda or sugar to get them to congeal together.  He scoops them up into rectangular hunks and hangs them with a sand shrimp when we bob.

from Pautzke.com

 Dragging lures seems slightly less virtuous to me than back bouncing although I see that experience sure makes a difference knowing when to use a lure and when to bounce with bait. The bouncing requires a technique (i.e. practice) where you let your the weight on your line fall to the bottom and then gently tap before lifting and getting it to tap the bottom again. Of course the bottom varies between  3 feet deep and 8-10? feet  and the current varies with how much line comes out so Charlie would have us bring in our hooks and change out the weights depending on on the current. Sometimes it was hard to tell if you hit bottom or were just dragging along, but Charlie from the back seat could tell by how slack our line was.  He expertly told you to reel it in or to let out more line. Judd and I got mediocre enough to notice when the bottom was sandy or when it was rocky and we got better at knowing that we needed to let out more line or reel in for less.  (At least we thought we got better and Charlie is the ultimate polite teacher and gives feedback to encourage you to succeed and never looked disgusted with us.)

And succeed we did!!!  Early out, at the Seven Mile hole, Judd, back bouncing along sporting his plaid fedora,  snagged the first one: a female from the hatchery, noted by the tag. She was 34" and estimated at close to 20 pounds. I haven't seen Judd grin so big since his first baby was born. We hopscotched with many boats--they'd pass us, we'd pass them all morning long.  Not many boats were having luck.  We passed a couple people on the shore, also not having much luck. Near the end of the day, we found a spot where Charlie had us try the bobber technique.  He backed the boat up onto the edge of a hole and planned how deep the bait would sink below the bobber.  When Judd's line would float too far right toward me, I'd hand off my closer bobber line to him and he's reach over so I could follow the bobber in a carefully orchestrated circle around the eddy.  Charlie knew just when to tell us to hand off. Both lines kept getting stuck on the bottom and we were instructed that if your bobber disappeared you should reel, reel, reel real hard to set the hook.  We kept setting it but kept turning out to be the bottom.  Boat after boat after boat went by--more boats than we had originally been hopscotching all morning.  All were getting done for the day and heading to the output. Suddenly, one of the hooks "stuck on the bottom" turned out to be a fish on the line.  Charlie demanded hand it over.  Judd and I both thought he was going to reel in the big one, but there I was with the rod in my hand reel, reel, reeling. Something big kept pulling the line out and I thought it was getting way or would snap the line.  Charlie told me when to keep reeling and when to let the fish run.  I couldn't believe how heavy it was or how many times I had to reel it back in. I thought my hands would give out. I imagined The Old Man and the Sea. I thought, "I'm going to be really annoyed if I have to give this back to Judd or Charlie to bring in."  But then, I brought it in.  Charlie pulled out the biggest fishing net you ever saw and scooped up the wild salmon buck.  It still had sea lice on it (which can't live more than 24 hours in the fresh water river, so Charlie surmised it must have come from the ocean in the last day. ) That's fresh fish!

 Rochelle picked us up and portaged us back to the Ray's supermarket parking lot.  Charlie had done all the gutting, cleaning, bagging of our salmon steaks. We cleverly brought an ice chest with us to store the booty. A good time was had by all (except several of those other boats who didn't catch any.)  We highly recommend Fishing the Rogue to anyone who wants to catch fish in southern Oregon.  A fabulous business run by fabulous people.  Thanks Charlie and Rochelle (Rochelle not pictured.)

Must be, true because Judd NEVER puts stickers on his car yet he did for this one:
www.fishingtherogue.com/

WILDLIFE -- several snowy egrets and, yes, a cow crossing....

Beach View in BANDON:

Last day of "Fall" and red is the new orange

Even though winter doesn't really start for a month, this is the last day (Thanksgiving) that I count Fall. I can no longer abide the orange theme. Tomorrow we start red and green. That means the gourds gotta go. Pumpkin themed seeds, chips, pancakes gotta go. The sunsets at the coast last weekend totally have to go. Even that double rainbow on the way to work yesterday looks kind of orangesque. Sure, we'll have some pie left-overs for a day or two, but then we're on to Christmas cheer.

Judd had most of yesterday off and started pre-cooking our usual Thanksgiving fare:  pearled onions, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing, cranberry relish.  This morning after my pies came out of the oven (only 2 this year as we are kid-less:  pumpkin and apple) Judd put a turkey in. It was unseasonably warm outside (low 60s) so we went for a walk despite the 40 % chance of rain.  It did shower on us but it was warm enough we didn't care.  By accident, we found a new forest-

marked trail on the other side of town. Southern Oregon is home to a rare species of lily and this is where it lives!  (We didn't see any on this forest walk, but we saw more exotic madrone trees (where the bark falls off.) There are SO MANY trees with big round orbs of something growing in them-- parasitic aliens?  mistletoe?  We don't know yet.

(The tree movie is left-over from the Redwood forest.  It took a long time to walk around one tree.)

are those mistletoe balls in all the trees?

Three shows in 3 days

 

View of Mt Mcloughlin as I depart the VA parking lot Fri pm 11/10/17

Last weekend when we decided to stay around town, we shopped for "things to do" around here.  Friday night the local Jacksonville theater troupe was doing a live show called Disney Musicals Mad-Libs. For $12 each, including free before the show food, we fell for it. We're total suckers for Disney musicals. We walked in the drizzle about the 4 blocks to the theater which doubles as Calvary Church.  We knew our way around (i.e. where the bathrooms were and where the food room was) as this is where the Chamber of Commerce had us meet up to dress/ get instructions for the Haunted Trolley Tours. Actors worked the audience before the show, asking for nouns and adjectives.   They didn't even have to say "kid-appropriate" nouns and adjectives.  The show then consisted of the actors singing/acting out some favorite Disney tunes with our mad-lib contributions embedded in the songs. It was a little bit improv as, at times, the audience could pick which actor they wanted to perform which number.  Of course a sing-along was included at the end.  I got every performer to sign my playbill. It was a cute evening and we walked home via the J'Ville Tavern, home of the  "Husband Day Care" sign.

Saturday we pondered going to the new Murder on the Orient Express in a local cinema but instead opted for renting the middle ages version (1974) Murder on the Orient Express on Netflix. (Albert Finney, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, etc.) There's an even older one (1934)  but we'll save it for a cold winter's night.

Don't forget:  Ginger Rogers "had to do everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in heels"

On Sunday afternoon, after leftovers from our chef-off food weekend, we attended the Medford Symphony at the Ginger Rogers theater. We had tickets for the 2nd row from the front but that meant we saw the conductor and the first violinist real well, but had no view of the percussionists at all. **NOTE TO SELF**  next time sit further back. The pre-show wine was pretty bad but the half-time cheese- tasting-because-it-was-the-50th-anniversary-was epic. We thought it was adorable that there is designated walker-parking for all the grey-hairs who roll down to their seats, but can't leave the walkers in the aisle.

And what the what is this?  I get a message that someone has commented on my blog post called "Cheese, Please."  When I translate the Arabic comment, this is what it says:

Cheese, please!

Day TWO of the long weekend

Happy Veterans' Day!

Jacksonville flags the shops for Veterans/ Day

After morning coffee and blogging and internet researching next weekend's fun and games, I dropped Judd at his school for his prep work. Someone loaned him a power saw and he was pre cutting 8 foot boards so the students would only have to hand saw two cuts for their project. I went off to the Medford Veterans' Day parade to walk behind the VA banner with colleagues.  I parked on the street at the very end of the parade route and then  walked up the main street to the park where the parade was setting up.  I hiked past volunteers in vests or cops at every corner along the site as they readied for stopping traffic.  I actually passed 2-3 people per block who looked like they intended on watching the parade, either sitting on the curb or setting up a lawn chair. 

When I got to the park, I passed everyone already lined up: fire trucks, police, cars, fancy cars, ugly cars (all with engines idling.)  Then the  Scouts, various troops of Girls and Boys, with various means of transport including floats and horses.  And then the Veterans-- in all era uniforms as far back as doughboys, in cars, in jeeps, on foot, on motorcycles. I got the 1/4 mile to the end and had not seen one VA colleague. So I called my boss, the Chief of Staff and found him, then 2-6 more VA employees. We walked back up the line until we did find the VA banner and friends, just as the parade was departing. It turned out to be a very well attended event, with both sides of the streets lined with viewers all the way to the end. I even recognized a couple of people in the audience:  a couple of VA employees and a couple of Vets I've taken care of at the hospital. The worst thing I could say about it was walking in the exhaust but, as they say in Young Frankenstein, "it could be worse--it could be raining."  We had a sunny fall day.

I went back to help Judd saw wood and put up posters in his classroom and then Day TWO of the Chef off began.  We needed to stop at the store just one more time as, in yesterday's fooding frenzy, he forgot to buy his main course.  Judd developed his menus as he went.  He is really the master improviser. He substitutes easily if a core ingredient is too expensive or not available. He admitted to mixing up his two menus for a little while.  He incorporated the secret ingredient I game him, a vat of Pub Cheese, brilliantly into his had whipped salad dressing. And since we had no theater to get to, we planned a later dinner, so he was out with his headlamp, grilling cod in the dark. The menu was seared cod with spicy lentils, kale and hand crafted salsa verde; roasted carrots with smoked paprika; shaved brussels sprout salad with toasted hazelnuts and hand whipped pub cheese dressing. Very savory and much more virtuous ingredients than I prepared.  I had just explained the glycemic index to Judd and that we were going to start eating fewer white foods.  Then I brought home white rice and cream for my recipe. We gave up the "keep track of calories or carbs or cost" for the contest. Too labor intensive and totally diminishes the taste of the food.

After being used to stocking our pantry in Maine so we could feed kids or entertain neighbors at the drop of a sombrero, we've been so diligent each week here to shop only for two of us, only for the week of dinners and lunches so we wouldn't waste food.  Now we're going into the week with 8 home made frozen gourmet dinners. We will eat like royalty! AND:







Left over ingredients:  
double bunches of cilantro
most of a bunch each of parsley, and kale, and spinach, and red cabbage
half a stalk of brussels sprouts
1/2 bag each of lentils and green split peas
3/4 each of a red onion, yellow onion, shallot, 4 green onions
cheeses including: gouda, parmesan, blue and Oregon cheddar, oh, and pub
jars of garam masala, cardamon, cayenne, red pepper flakes, paprika (and although both           our recipes called for saffron neither of us could splurge for that)
7 of 8 ounces of heavy organic cream
9/10th of a box of vegetable stock 
and
11/12th of a jar of capers

It sounds like a Christmas song.

Stolen off the internet

  

The Lady or the Tiger?

Day ONE of the Chef OFF!

Oh my word!  Is this just a Medford Oregon thing?  Veterans' Day FRIDAY was thee most crowded affair I've seen.  Is it pre-black FRiday or something?  We went to do some shopping chores for Judd's latest school project which required us visiting, possibly in the correct order: a Goodwill-esque Catholic thrift store, a Walmart, Fred-Meyer (a triple Target-size department-everything-store-chain), a Dollar Tree, Bi-Mart (Sam's club-look alike with a free membership and key chain ID), Trader Joe's and then, our usual grocery store, Albertsons.  EVERY PARKING LOT HAD A WAITING LINE/TRAFFIC JAM.   It took us hours to amass Judd's equipment:  8 non-LED flashlights; a dozen glass jars with lids but without Ball-jar etchings so light could pierce them; colored cellophane or plastic for which light could pierce the bottles of various liquids; nails;  sand paper (to build "light boxes" from the 8 foot boards he bought last weekend with the 5 hammers,  5 saws, tape measures.......Plus, we had to Chef-OFF food shop.   I was starting to feel time pressured about cooking my meal with only 2 hours prep time before the show.  (more later on that) We made it home by 2:45 so I could soak my split peas for 30 min and start cooking.

Since we'd missed lunch, I said I'd make my appetizer dish fast and we could eat it before I finished cooking the rest.Judd then delivered by secret ingredient:  fresh Oregon pears.

Dang!

When we had planned the challenge the night before, we talked about whether someone would give an awful/challenging secret ingredient to thwart the opposite chef or if it would be like "The Lady or the Tiger."  We sort of had to look up how that was an analogy as I recalled most of the punch line from my 8th grade English Mr. Limoli training but not all of it.***

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml

I guess my point was, if I really loved Judd, would I give Judd the pub cheese or the sauerkraut to incorporate into his gourmet menu?  Would Judd give me Oregonian pears or BBQ sauce????  And there was mention of anchovies... we'll see.

***I just googled Mr. Limoli and he still lives in San Diego at 82yo.  I'm gonna find out how to write him a thank you note!!!

 My Menu for Judd-- an Indian theme

Appetizer: 
 Parmesean/Panko encrusted cauliflower with
  Pan-seared cherry tomatoes

Main course:
  Shrimp biryani w/basmati rice
  Saag paneer (a spicy spinach/cheese dish)
  Dal (a spicy split pea/ tomato dish)
  Raita (plated with sliced Oregonian pears!)
    (a cool cucumber/yogurt side dish)

Exotic marigolds as table decoration-- every dish in the house dirtified.

Namaste!