Burns Night and a blast from our past

We had been looking forward to our weekend sojourn all week.  Unable to find any Burns Night festivities around Jacksonville, we reserved dinner at a function in Eugene, a short 3 hour road trip up the highway. We were up early Saturday so cleaned out the fridge of leftovers by making a hash of all remaining veggies:  grated raw potato, grated carrot, chopped onion, some purple cabbage and the last  crimini mushrooms with egg over easy on the side.  We'll have to shop when we get back from the weekend.

I was looking for some yarn to travel with so looked up a yarn shop half way up the road.  The Knotty Ladies in Roseburg opened right at 10:00 when we arrived, some ladies sitting around a couch knitting with their coffees.  They encouraged us to touch everything. I needed to resupply some pink or magenta chunky yarn, having knit and given away another few hats. When they asked what my project was, I said pussy hats and they all cheered. Judd was particularly interested in the contraption that rolls your skein into a ball right before your eyes.  No more hours of husbands with their hands in the air

  this versus this

When I told folks at work that I was going to Eugene, McMenamins on the North Bank was highly recommended. We lunched at McMenamins with a seat right on the bank of the Willamette River, signs of spring abounding, such as runners and bikers and tulips 6 inches out of the ground. I overheard two similar-to-our-age couples at the table next to us talking about their upcoming trip:  fly to Luxor--boat to Aswan. Judd and I did that trip 37 years ago (1981) when we departed Peace Corps- Kenya.  Except we took a train from Cairo to Luxor and we went 3rd class on the boat up the Nile to Aswan, sleeping on the deck of the boat for 3 nights.  We arrived in Egypt on Christmas eve and I recall a banner over the hostel lobby that said, "Happy Birthday Jesus."  We had joked about being killed by Egyptian pillows if there were ever a pillow fight because they were so solid--we were sure they were filled with sawdust. And the boat trip to Aswan was most memorable for me for trying to sleep through the noise at night, which we assumed was rats playing soccer til the wee hours: THUMP, scuttle, scuttle, scuttle, THUMP, scuttle....repeat.

We were in Egypt just 2 months after Anwar Sadat was assassinated. My parents were none too happy to hear I was spending a month in Egypt (but then they weren't particularly thrilled that I went to Kenya for 2 years either.)The reason to go to Aswan is not just to see the dam but to view the ruins of Abu Simbel. These national treasures were unearthed and moved to higher ground in 1964 due to rising waters of Lake Nasser. I can't put my finger on it at the moment, but I have a pic of Judd and I at the bottom of the monument, just like the person below in the doorway with a hand extended. Read more here:
http://www.traveladvisortips.com/7-interesting-abu-simbel-temple-facts-to-know/

But I digress.  It was a blast to the past, but we moved on to our hotel to get dressed for dinner.  Having done our hour of walking to and from the local 5th Street Market mall, we thought we'd splurge on a taxi since it had been rainy/drippy all day.  But the taxi said it would be a 40 min wait so we decided to walk the 20 minutes to the Unitarian Church venue. Judd looked dapper in his kilt and knee socks. Many dudes were dressed in their Scottish finest, fewer women were. But there was certainly plaid decor, live music, and Scotch tasting.  

By the time we tasted hors d'oeuvres and chatted up a couple people at our table, when I went back for ur Scotch flight all the beautiful, wooden planks were used up.  The barmaid offered I could come back one at a time for the 5 flavors.  I found a plate at the appetizer table and labeled 1:00 with a swatch of garnish lettuce.  I told her to put number one at 1:00 and go around the clock in order.  I had two plated flights in no time and portaged them back to our table.  Real bagpipers did pipe in the Haggis but the evening was light on Ode to the Haggis or Toast for Lassies or Laddies and only one poem was analyzed more than read.  By the time I found the nice Irish lady-table mate was bashing Hillary CLiniton,  we left., walking back through the neighborhood.  Judd turned more heads as he beer-shopped in the local mini-mart. The cashier asked "something going on?" and Judd said, "not that I know of, why?"

"Great, now you've pissed off nana" et al.

SATURDAY was very busy--Judd freed of the burden of grading papers, making lesson plans and accumulating science experiment gear.  We played all day.  We finished up our 
protest signs and met up with thousands for the second annual Women's March, this one in Medford, OR, just 1 minutes from our house. 

Many upbeat, energized people, may cool signs and slogans.  We debated wearing the pussy hat, hearing that if offended some people who didn't have pink pussies or didn't have female genitalia. With the inclusivity of the march, it seemed the original wholesome intent of the original hat, to make an iconic statement, was upheld and there were plenty of magenta pink, baby pink, rose pink hats everywhere.  It made me cry to see the national and world participation pics after Sunday.

We beat the crowds to Organic Cafe with the "best salad bar" and while we were downtown, walked to the Medford Library.  Our card gets us to all 17 Jackson County libraries with reciprocity to pick up or return books, tapes or DVDs.  

--2 library cards
--2 book stores (one at the library, one in downtown Ashland)
--whiskey tasting at Immortal Spirits (whiskEy with an E--so not the Scotch we're used to but distilled right locally and quite good)
--shopping at Sew Creative and The Web-sters (a quilting store and knitting shop) in search of a device to pick up lost knitting stitches  (I have an order for more pussy hats)
--wine tasting with live music at Belle Fiori (a chateau of a winery on the hills above Ashland)
--home to make pico de gallo but no tortilla chips so--a walk to Ray's at 7pm for shopping

Quite a full day!   AND Judd also has no homework for Sunday..... What shall we do?

Razors, lasers and tasers.

.....ok, there weren't any tasers--I just like rhymes in threes.


Friday  I took a Sick Leave day to accompany Judd.  Physicians where I work are "day employees" i.e. not hourly, so to take time to go to the doctor or dentist, you are docked an entire day. So heck, I'll take the entire day for family medical leave.

We had time for Judd to stop at the J'ville Barber on Main Street for a hair and beard trim.  He comes to discover that the barber is a section hiker such as himself and the barber's books on hiking in southern Oregon and the Pacific Coast Trail are for sale in the shop. They chat through the entire cut while I play my five different "Words with Friends"-Scrabble on line games--four of which are with Carol. This is about the only time when I get a ping that she is playing in real time.  It usually takes a day or two to bridge the 3 hour time zone gap.  We generally play asynchronously, usually days apart. It was almost like being there.

The appointment for Judd was his second eye date in two days.  On our Hot Springs-Crater Lake hike last weekend, he developed sudden onset floaters in his left eye.  I poo-poohed it as I've had a gnat-size floater in one eye for a few years.  Yeah, I say, it sucks to get old.  But he describes his floater as a crescent moon taking up a quarter of his visual field.  Of course Monday was a holiday, so by the time he calls his PCP Tuesday and gets an eye appointment, now I'm freaked he'll be blind from a retinal detachment. Indeed, it turned out he had a retinal tear which needed to be laser-ed to prevent the 50% chance that it would detach. The retinal specialist fits him in saying to come back at noon.  We had 28 minutes to run and get lunch and the closet place was a Dairy Queen.  We haven't done that in about 20 years but there we were with grill and chill. We had greasy chicken nuggets and a wrap and they gave us an unsolicited "fudge sundae."  Apparently no one buys ice cream there anymore and they have to give it away.

The laser-ing only took about  5 minutes. I drove home, Judd's eyes mostly uncomfortable from being dilated for 3 hours and the sun shining brightly.  He did require a big nap when we got home and when he woke up feeling better, we spontaneously decided to go to the opening night of Singing in the Rain at our local Randall Theater. It was very well done and I made a point of getting every actor to sign my playbill.  I always like the joy it seems to bring them when I ask for their autograph, even though I come home and throw the playbill in paper recycling. The managing artistic director, and in this case, the lead actor, is a Downward (brother to Randall Joseph Downward for whom the theater is named. Another Downward topped the cast, Deborah, but not sure her connection.  It's a great family theater with many talented actors. It's pretty convenient that it's a 10 min walk home from the theater. 

And still, we had time to start our protest posters for  the Jan 20 march.......

Crater Lake in the winter

Last Sunday we awoke to a massive feast  prepared by our Inn keeper: eggs to order, sausage, grits, fruit salad, yogurt, pastries. We drove the varied landscape out of the flat, mountain-circled, sunny valley, into the thick forests with just snowy patches on the ground and within 30 minutes were at elevation  6,178 ft at Crater Lake with 4 feet of snow everywhere. Where last summer we took pics behind a guard rail, we now stood above the height of the guard rail with no protection from the rim except your own good judgement. Rangers told us that about 50% of the time in the winter, the lake is obscured by clouds, but we had a wonderful clear sunny morning and minimally cloudy afternoon.

In the distance across the lake the craggy point is Mount Thielsen.  We'd seen the back side of it the day before on our drive to the springs.  It looks like the mountain the Grinch slides down to Whoville. (bottom picture) This week was even busier!  Just wait.

Mt. Thielsen

"You look happy. Judd looks happier." Umpqua Hot Springs

Mandy, Peggy, Amanda

We did it!  We found new friends in Oregon. Actually, they found us. We researched "soakoregeon.com" -- SO many natural hot springs in the state.  For our weekend to Crater Lake we found the closest springs we could hike into: Umpqua Hot Springs. Since the snow is so scarce this year, the hike was only .25 miles not 2.5miles. The 8 cars in the parking lot should have been a herald that it would not be a quiet/yoga/mystical soak.  We arrived awkwardly to scope out who was already clothing-optional, who was soaked into a prune from a sunrise-to-brunch soak, who was hoarding the best-temperatured tubs, who knew where to drape boots and gloves while getting undressed, etc. We rocked our Phil hat and Pussy Hat in our underwear and found enough warm water in which to sit and enjoy nature.  Some springs were shallow and cool, some so hot you could only stay 10 minutes.  We were rescued by the trio in the "best pool" who invited us over to get out of the hottest water: new friends Mandy, Peggy and Amanda. They were gracious hostesses and invited us to hang with them, took our picture, tried to convince me to get a nose ring, and we all bashed the attempted-ukulele musician who thought we all wanted to see his ding-dong bouncing in the breeze. (We didn't.)

 Aprés the hot spring-ing, Judd and I had a short 1 hour drive to our Inn: Crater Lake Bed and Breakfast in Fort Klamath. Janet, the Inn keeper, welcomed us with her dog Remi and we were allowed to microwave our soup we brought.  Some bizarre rules allow Janet to make us breakfast, but not dinner.
 Our evening included a walk into town, (which looked like a ghost town,) and not playing cribbage while Judd read Fort Klamath history to me.

  We were apparently in the "Asian Room" --  it cheered me exceedingly, to move Janet's chachkes to different shelves: Budda, here, geisha, there. We made photo ops with Clyde, our Ryley-made sock monkey, and the Asian maiden...... Judd's cell-phone-in-a-dish playing Pandora favorites.

  It was  especially nice to meet  new people in Oregon today, with shared visions (i.e. too many ding-dongs at hot springs; appreciating pussy hats)  

Go see: 

manda2strong.wordpress.com

How to break a NY resolution in 6 days

Co-Resolutions:  Only eat out once a week
                            Only do a hotel vacation once a month 
                            Walk every day
                            Only 1 after-dinner drink

Well, that went well.  Guess which one we broke first. We're redoubling our efforts to be healthy in 2018, so we do walk every day.  We walk to breakfast restaurants, to bars, to cemeteries, to dog parks, around the blocks to local tree-libraries--it's been 39 to 59 degrees every day--no shoveling--so haven't broken that one yet.

In 7 days we broke it 7 ways--Eating "out"
Sunday - J'ville Tavern  (home of "Husband Day Care")  drinks and live music for NYE
Monday- spontaneous lunch at tiny Siam Cafe (cuz you shouldn't grocery shop hungry)
Tuesday- Lemongrass Thai restaurant take out (so there'd be leftovers for Wed lunches)
Wednesday - ribs from Ray's Supermarket which you have to drive by on the way home
Thursday - artichoke dip from Ray's because roasting the big chicken will take so long
Friday - BBQ'd Tritips and cheese from Ray's Supermarket (well, cuz it's Friday Happy Hour)
Saturday- Mustard Seed for breakfast before we hit The Last JEDI at TInseltown Movies--me trying to tell Judd, yes, that is the REAL Carrie Fisher, her last movie, not digitally imagined, but not able to prove it until we power-up the phones after the movie. It's exhausting being right so often.

Really?? Does it count as eating out if you bring home restaurant food and eat it in ?  Does it count as eating out if you *just* get an appetizer from the grocery store because no one feels like the Iron Chef when you get home in the pea-soup-thick-fog-work-all-day-and-now-it's-dark?

Tomorrow, we're signed up for a new yoga class.  But we can't walk to it!!!  Might have to break a second resolution......  What were yours?

HaPPy NeW YeaR!