11-30-2023 November Beauty

Yes, I am writing about November on the 30th of December, but you won't know it because I can set the posting date back in the past.  In the blog book, which is the main reason I have to keep up the blog, November will be in the proper order.  This will be a bit shorter post than the one I wrote yesterday about December and Christmas. 

It is quiet here this morning and Mo and I spent a few hours early in the day running MoHo errands.  We are planning to travel in early January and before our Fred Meyer fuel discounts expire tomorrow, it was important to get the MoHo fueled before we leave for California where fuel prices will be exorbitant.  Thirty cents per gallon isn't small change, and with the new expiration of fuel points in the works we didn't want to lose our credits.  Along the route to Freddies, we pass the local station that sells propane and pull in.  It isn't the cheapest propane in town but it IS the most convenient, with an easy in, attendants that know how to run the propane delivery system, and an easy out back into traffic.  It is the little things that count.  

A nice little addition to my life in November was my new membership to a local fitness center.  Club Northwest has lots of cool stuff  I will never use but the best thing they have that I WILL use is the saltwater swimming pool.  At 85 F it is fabulous.  The facility is clean and beautiful, and when I swim a couple of days a week early in the morning the pool is nearly empty.  I love my Garmin watch that has a "pool swim" function which keeps track of my laps, my strokes, my time, and all the other fitness stats of interest.  It is wonderful and is the best exercise I can do for my legs and back. A funny little thing about my membership is that to shave 20 bucks a month off my fee I am required to send a photo each month of this sign posted in my yard.  Worth it for sure.

It is raining again today, with the heaviest downpour behind us but more to come.  It seems that the atmospheric rivers that spin toward the northwest and California are stacked up and keep dumping their wetness in our world.  December has been very wet, and as I look back at photos from November preparing to write about that month I can see that most of those photos include gray skies as well.  

Funny thing, there is a thin line of moss growing on my pickup in the space between the roof panels. I might need to use some kind of pick to get it out of there, but I don't suppose it is causing any harm. I drive the truck to the dump and back and sometimes to the store.  She is a perfect truck at 21 years old, and I bought her new.  No rush to replace the little Dakota, she has served us well. I guess you know you live in the Pacific Northwest when moss grows on your truck.

She served us especially well in November when the truck was often used to haul the leaves to the local area compost facility.  Someone asked if I could then get free compost.  Nope. No matter how many loads of leaves I deliver for 8 bucks a load I will still have to pay 30 bucks for a pickup full of compost.  Still worth every penny.  When we first moved to Grants Pass we thought we could wait for burn days to burn the leaves.  

It didn't work out well.  Either the burn days came too rarely, or the leaves were too wet to burn well and the pile would smoke into the night, irritating both us and our neighbors. 

Mo and I used to share the fall raking job but this past year Mo is the one who does most of the raking.  I can still manage the blower, getting everything into piles that she can then load into the trailer for going to the dump.  Some years the leaves are nice and dry, but this year we had many more wet days than dry ones.  It didn't help that I sprained my back attempting to transplant some roses and was down for a couple of weeks with all sorts of meds, unable to even turn over in bed for a time.  It wasn't fun, but now thanks to Celebrex for the arthritis in my back and muscle relaxers, I am almost functional, at least most of the time.  

In the fall, even without doing the raking, I can still get in 9 or 10 thousand steps just walking around the property.  Weeding trimming and clearing flower beds keeps me busy.  The fall colors this year were truly spectacular.

Mo and I didn't do a lot during November, and for the first time in many years, we skipped a month going out in the MoHo.  With the wet weather, it just wasn't high on the agenda. 

Instead, we spent Sundays with daughter Deborah, making Sunday omelets and having a little shot of brandy together.  On the 11th, we took advantage of Mo's military service to get a free meal for her at our local Applebee's.  

This time Deborah joined us, driving to Grants Pass in her brand-new Subaru.  Deb decided that it was time for a new car and she once had a Subaru that she loved.  I think she is going to love this one.  I know I love it!  Her previous car was an adorable little Mini-Cooper but I had a heck of a time dropping into the very low passenger seat. 

Going to Applebee's is another tradition that Mo and I have upheld for at least ten years now.  Funny thing, we rarely go to Applebee's except for this one day each year.

Thanksgiving was a treat of a different sort.  When Mo and I visited Deb at her new home in Trail, we exclaimed at how adorable it was, and yes, how very small.  With rents being completely ridiculous in our area, Deb found a little place that was something she could afford now that she had chosen to live alone.  Housing in Southern Oregon is nearly impossible to find.  When we helped Deborah as she was looking, we found horrid apartments in horrid neighborhoods, with dirty carpets and tattered plastic window shades for 1500 a month.  It is simply crazy.  So Deb was delighted to find this lovely, creative, artistic tiny place on top of an old barn in a rural area that was affordable.

Back to the story of Thanksgiving.  When we walked into her small space, I made a joke, "Oh gee, maybe we can have Thanksgiving here this year!" We laughed a bit, and then the laughter turned to delight when we realized that yes, we COULD have TG at Deb's home.  There would only be six of us and Deb was tickled at the idea.  Deb is a lover of all things miniature, and we threw out the idea of creating miniature food that would be easy to eat without a big table where we could sit.

We spent a bit of time planning our tiny food, and Melody and Robert chose to join us in the tiny community of Trail on Thanksgiving day, a three-hour trip for them.  

The day was a complete success with some of our tiny food choices a bit bigger than planned, but everything was easy to eat and small enough the still qualify as tiny food.

Deborah's son Matthew

Turkey sliders with cranberry dressing and a hot honey mustard drizzle

Tiny baked red potatoes with toppings

Deb made some miniature sweet potato treats and created a do-it-yourself Waldorf salad in a cup.  I made turkey sliders that weren't that small and were very messy but very good.  Melody and Robert brought his famous hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies for our meal.  Melody made some delicious apple hand pies instead of her traditional regular apple pies.

It was a sweet afternoon sharing Deborah's space, enjoying the beautiful late fall sunlight pouring in through her windows, and appreciating every family moment that we had to share.

Melody and Robert left Deb's place and followed us home to spend the night here in Grants Pass.  The next morning Deborah showed up so that she could check in on a neighbor she worries about and bring her some food.  We all spent some quality time trying to untangle yarn.

The month of November closed with some truly gorgeous sunny days for me to begin preparing for Christmas.