How we humor ourselves in the smokescape

<----------Walla Walla is just east of Kennewick in a basin against the Blue Mountains-- yellow today/red a couple days ago
http://wasmoke.blogspot.com/

Just about like our arrival in Oregon last summer, all of Washington state has been suffering from wildefire smoke the last 2 weeks . Also, like last summer, locals tell us, "this is the worst we've ever seen it."  My work issued respirator masks to anyone who had to walk outside between buildings (mostly everyone .) The beautiful Blue Mountains, in fact the trees one block away, became invisible. The sun became a burning orange basketball.  Everyone had a headache, scratchy eyes and throat and grumpy disposition. So on the weekend, rather than a hike, we found a winery and other local festivities.

We had been given a bottle of  Canoe Ridge wine from a friend in Oregon -- it was her favorite and she was jealous we were moving to Walla Walla.  The winery is down town and they make the wine in the old trolley car barn.  We sat outside the tasting room under a brelli and watched kids and dogs come in and out.  Apparently dogs are welcome at tasting rooms (and some  live there) and we've seen several coffee table books of "vineyard dogs." We don't own a coffee table presently, so we don't have a book.  The Canoe Ridge logo is from a Lewis and Clark reference--in their travels, they came across a land mass that looked like an overturned canoe.  We find that a bottle of wine fits perfectly into the metal wine carafe that fits in our picnic backpack, given to me by my office mates in Oregon upon my departure.  We leave the pack in the car, ready to fill and fête at a moment's notice.  Our notice that day was seeing posters for the roller derby (Jammin' for J.U.G.S. ) vs. a sign that said Shakespeare would be in the park. We chose a picnic.  We stopped at the nearby Safeway and got some cheese, crackers, pistachios (already shelled) and chocolate and headed for Whitman College outdoor amphitheater.  

Whitman College is the small, liberal arts college in Walla Walla.  The Walla Walla Community College has the enology program  (and where we belong to the wine club) and College Place (12 minutes away has Walla Walla University. WW is quite the educational place. The Tempest performance was free (or by donation.)The cast included "the Rude Mechanicals, a premier Shakespeare theater company" although we couldn't tell the mechanicals from the local performers.  This Pe-Wa-oo-Yit monument dots the lawn where the performance was held.  WW is also a very historic place. ...a couple more  photos below...

https://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/we-such-stuff-dreams-made

Travel IS for the feint of heart! [sic]

I was on a recent work trip to Dallas (yes, Dallas in August; Minneapolis in February--it's the way work saves employee travel dollars for the taxpayers-- you're welcome.)  One can only fly one airline:  Air Alaska, and in only one direction from the Walla Walla:  Seattle.  For the 11 am departure, you can get to the WW airport at 9:00 but the ticket counter and TSA don't show up until 10am--no snack bar; no coffee. Not since viewing my last Indiana Jones reruns have I seen an airplane with a propeller! (Mt. Rainier in the background.) The trip was uneventful. The conference was illuminating.  The food choices were legion.  (I taught myself how to download an UBER EATS app and had Kenya food delivered to my hotel room !)  Sometimes technology works for me. 

On the return trip, I snapped a pic at the airport of what must have been employee appreciation day--a lunchtime BBQ was going on for all the outdoor airport crew.  How cute was that? And then sitting in Seattle airport (for a 3 hour layover to take the 10pm flight back to WW,) my work friend and I get texted by Alaskan Air that our flight is delayed 30 minutes.  We go to dinner and get another text that our flight is delayed 2 hours. And then my colleague gets texted by a friend at home in Walla Walla who asks if we're okay because of the hijacking in Seattle and all that she saw on Facebook.  We look up at the TV news flashing silently in the restaurant and see that an Air Alaskan Horizon jet (empty) plane had been stolen for a joy ride by a TSA worker. We both surmised that it was OUR PLANE TO WW.  (Not sure, but we're sticking to the story.)  And sure enough, next, we get a text from Alaskan Air that our flight has been cancelled.  We finish dinner and go stand in line for 45 minutes to reroute ourselves and get 2 hotel rooms so we can sleep for 5 hours. The next several flights to WW were already booked (until 10 pm THE NEXT DAY) so we routed ourselves to Pasco airport (an hour drive from Walla Walla) and Judd picks us up at 7am the next morning so we can recover some of our non-working weekend.  Quite a feint maneuver!!

If you haven't heard it, you can listen to the hijacker talking with air traffic control. Guess the TSA -employee appreciation in Seattle isn't as robust as in Dallas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeYVtVg6aGs

feint / faint | Common Errors in English Usage and More | Washington ...

https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/22/feint-faint/

feint : A feint—whether in chess, boxing, fencing, or on the battlefield—is a maneuver designed to divert the opponent's attention from the real center of attack. A feint is a daring move. Do not use this very specialized word in the expression “faint of heart” (or “faint at heart”), which implies timidity.May 22, 2016

and this:

Paul Larkin, studied at University of London

Answered Jun 19, 2017 · Author has 2.9k answers and 1m answer views

Hi,

Fascinating question. This saying originated from a Middle English saying, round about 1545 A.D. A coward verely neuer obteyned the loue of a faire lady. [1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus' Adages (ed. 2) 10]

In 1614 A.D., this was refined to become: Faint heart neuer wonne faire Lady. [1614 W. Camden Remains concerning Britain (ed. 2) 306]

And later in 1754A.D., it was phrased in today's recognizable English: Then, madam, we will not take your denial. ‥Have I not heard it said, that faint heart never won fair lady. [1754 Richardson Grandison I. xvi.]

Chief Joseph Days and BBQ

From rolling hills to snow capped mountains to dry canyons in a day!

One weekend from our Hampton Inn month, we went back to Oregon for Chief Joseph Days. It was a 2 hour trip and we arrived in Joseph just in time to park off Main Street—the entire town was blocked off for a parade.  And what a parade! We had never seen so many horses, piled high with floral arrangements and girls in glittery chaps.  They just kept coming.  We watched candy being thrown by politicians, musicians, kids on floats and Native Americans in blanket-covered cars. It was longer and better attended than any parade in recent memory, not that we’ve attended very many recently. We walked the length of town looking for a food truck billed as “BBQ” but surmised that it must be over at the fair grounds for the apres-the-parade festivities. We never really found it, so took our hummus and veggie picnic lunch another 20 min up the road to the Wallowa Lake park.  We had heard of it from a friend back in Jacksonville who called it the little Alps of Oregon.  We were stunned by the snow covered peaks in many layers behind the lake. The tiny town plays up the Alps theme and several hotels are in the Swiss village style.  All were sold out due to the Chief Joseph Days weekend. But we had a plan B and C up our sleeves.  Plan B: drive 2 more hours north to Lewiston or Clarkston and get a hotel, or Plan C: drive 4 more hours home via the Joseph Canyon.  We ended up home in our own hotel bed.On our way out of Wallowa Lake, we stopped at Chief Joseph’s tomb. Reading the history is very sobering.  The drive home was astounding, going from the tree filled valley and snow covered peaks past the canyon which seemed as big as the Grand Canyon…

The first Monday of the month is Food truck night at the airport.  Judd has been waiting patiently all month.  After work we drive out to the Walla Walla airport  (6 minutes from our house) and drove around not seeing any trucks.  Then we start to see a line of cars, all turning the same way.  We followed.  When we got past the 6 wine tasting rooms and brewery, we found a crowded parking lot with about a million cars.  Well, not a million, but a gosh-darn lot more than we thought resided in Walla Walla.  And then there were the lines of people, at nearly every food truck. It was like summer fair in Windsor. Judd found two trucks of BBQ and it was hard to choose which had better food as the lengthy lines were equal.  I offered to stand in one line  and have Judd stand in the other and see who got served first, but we declared Best of the Blues line-waiting worthy.  The three meats and three BBQ sauces were ok. The coleslaw was nothing but poorly shredded cabbage, a lot of it, with some watered down mayonnaise. Judd can do better. We sat on the grass and swatted bees and I thought about the much better time we’d just had on Friday at Recess Monkey.