02-02-2022 January Journal

Most of January has been introspective. The fog lingered from the beginning of the month to almost the very end with only a day or two of respite. I have spent many moments lost in attempting to figure out the meaning of the complex dreams that have haunted my early morning hours of sleep. Dreams that are filled with people and work, landscapes familiar and unknown, roads that go nowhere, and lost cars, keys, and even homes.

I wake to darkness, checking out the window to see if the fog has lifted, and make small attempts to find meaning in the purpose of each season of my life. In one dream I was training young soil scientists to do what I used to do in ways that I did it, and they showed me new ways that they are doing the work I used to do. On that particular morning, I also dreamed that I was running, strong and lithe, running for miles, enthralled by the strength and stamina of my legs and breath. Those kinds of dreams can bring a shock when the waking me attempts to hobble to the bathroom in the darkness.

The fog is often freezing, and I have to remember to bring in the hummingbird feeders in at night or to thaw them out in the morning. The one or two little birds that depend on this feeder throughout the winter need me to pay attention. We traveled nowhere in January, except for one short day trip to Klamath Falls.  I have no exciting stories or photos of trips to beaches or mountains or deserts to share with you this month.  Just a few random thoughts here and there.

Mo spent many days working on a damaged door of my sewing table, coming back inside at dinner time with frozen hands and red cheeks. She is much better at weathering the cold than I am. It takes every bit of internal discipline that I can muster to get me to go outside when it is cold.

On one day, the sunshine came out by noon and the temperature got up to 50 degrees by 4PM. I managed to get outside long enough to rake and clear a couple of flower beds. Pretty sure that is the extent of my accomplishments for the month, but maybe if I search around I can find a couple more. I am lucky.  I still enjoy bi-weekly coffee dates with my newest friend, Kristin, and Sunday visits from my daughter Deborah, often including a late Sunday breakfast to share.  I have phone conversations with Maryruth, and talks with friends here and there.  I do the shopping and cleaning and other household stuff that keeps me feeling at least a bit useful. I made a small table cover for a living room side table after drumming up enough energy to put out a very few decorations for the coming Valentine’s Day season.  A flag, a wreath, nothing like my crazy all-out décor for Christmas, or for fall.

Yesterday, the sun was once again shining and even in the cold temperatures, Mo stayed outside for hours raking the last of the leaves that had accumulated in our roadside drainage ditch and loading them into the trailer. Tomorrow we will go to the compost facility and hopefully, that will be the last load of debris that we haul to the dump from 2021.

My solution to the cold and fog of January is to start another puzzle, clean the living room end of the house on Friday, wash the sheets and clean the bedrooms on Monday. I cook dinners, and while we are eating, I am trying to think up what I will cook for the next day if we don’t have enough for leftovers.

Toward the end of the month, my book group met at the home of one of our members for a great discussion of the books we each gave and received at our December Christmas meeting. It was a bit of a mish-mash, with everyone talking at once sometimes, and too much to discuss. Made me glad that most of the time we have only one book on the agenda, and the reader's book club questions are reasonably straightforward.

Laura on the left was our hostess for the evening.  Joan is our eldest member.  Kristin on the right.

Robyn, our youngest, brings the perspective of youth and art, trained in Portland

Sarah, our fearless leader of the group, willing to herd the cats (women) into coherent discussions

The next day, I told Mo I had had enough of the fog and that weather cams were showing brilliant sunshine in the Klamath Basin. All we had to do was go up, and we could be out of the fog. We left early, still in a frosty fog, but within a few miles toward the mountains with a bit of a rise in elevation, we found ourselves in brilliant sunshine. Even with the recent snows, the roads were clear, with icy spots in the shaded parts but nothing to worry about.

I wanted to see the birds. I knew there were geese and swans somewhere in the refuge south of town. We weren’t in a big hurry, though, and took the time to revisit our old homes.

Last photos we took of the Rocky Point house when we made the final move in 2016

The road that Mo used to plow leading to her past home in Rocky Point was shaded and still snowed in. We spun a bit in the Lexus but managed to get turned around and back down to Rocky Point Road without getting stuck. Neither of us missed that old drive and plowing and shoveling that snow.

Continuing east toward Klamath Falls, we drove into town and up to the Pacific Terrace area to see how my old house on Painter Street was doing. It makes my heart so happy to see that little house so very much loved and cared for by the sweet couple who bought it. We stopped in the alley to check it out and they were in the yard. Kind and friendly as always, they asked if I wanted to come in. I had already seen what a great job they did with the little house a few years ago so didn’t need to bother them. Still, Mo and I were tickled to see how much they had done to the outside as well, with new fences and landscaping, new deck, a new roof, new air conditioning, a new gas fireplace. So many things that I didn’t have the resources to do when I was living there. It was a sweet visit.

 
New owners of the Painter Street House

Same spot back in 2003 right after I bought this sweet little house. Sold in 2015.

We then drove north of town to check out Mo’s apartments. She bought them in the mid-’90s, and we lived in them for two years while we were transitioning from the Rocky Point house to our Sunset House here in Grants Pass. Old blog readers (not many of you left anymore) will remember the months we spent with 4 properties, driving between all of them with our trailer filled with the tractor and lawnmower and yard tools trying to keep everything maintained.

The apartments looked very full, with lots of vehicles parked about. We kept cars contained when we lived there but now this area is lined with vehicles. The guy who bought the apartments is part of an extended family and I am sure everyone is happy to have the five apartments to park their relatives and space to park their cars. In addition, the old abandoned warehouse across the street is abandoned no more, with tons of big equipment and vehicles and what appeared to be a lot of noisy activity going on. Nope, we don’t miss the apartments either, although they served a wonderful purpose for us over the years.

On the way to the refuge, we stopped at the cemetery to place some flowers on the spot where Mo’s parents are buried. Later, I stopped in at Tater Patch Quilt store in Merlin, one of the greatest quilt stores in the state of Oregon. I do miss being close to Tater Patch, but it no doubt saves me a lot of money to not have that temptation closer then a full 4 hours drive.

By the time we got to the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge, it was afternoon. We drove the entire west side of the sump areas, usually completely flooded and filled with birds. Not a bird in sight.

Same location in 2015 when Judy the Bird Lady of Blogland was a volunteer at the refuge

I was heartbroken when I saw the drained wetlands of the Tulelake Wildlife Refuge until I did some searching and found that the cracked, dry bottom of the wetlands aren’t completely caused by drought. Every few years, to keep the wetlands healthy, they need to be drained so that emergent vegetation has a chance to grow once again. The drought is ever-present and even with the rains from last fall, is still extreme. There isn’t enough water for all the birds, fish, rivers, and people who need it. Too much allocated and not enough to go around, all beginning with the days back in 1906 when the wetlands were drained and the Klamath Project was created to make productive farmlands out of a magnificent wet wilderness, once called the Everglades of the West.

Back then, it never occurred to anyone that eventually there might not be enough water to go around, that the climate might change, that the rains might not continue as they did back then during a historical wet period. It is an ongoing story, an ongoing fight. I was thrilled to see a recent article reach the national news in the Washington Post. It was probably the best article I have read in all the years I have studied and worked in the Klamath Basin, presenting the problems from all perspectives: the fish, the lake, the rivers, the salmon, the Tribes, the ranchers, the farmers, the people just trying to live on land where the wells are going dry. The story as always made me cry inside. Fabulously written and beautifully photographed, it is worth searching out if you are inclined to do so. Here is the link: Klamath Basin Crisis

I thought that perhaps there was still water on the east side of the refuge, and later photos from birders in the area confirmed my suspicion. Still, we were getting a bit tired, and neither of us felt like driving the dusty miles across the refuge to see if maybe there were some birds on the other side by the petroglyphs south of the town of Tulelake.

Instead, we drove back to Klamath Falls and enjoyed a truly fabulous late Mexican lunch at our old hangout, Sergio’s. Despite all the wonderful restaurants in Grants Pass, we have yet to find a Mexican place with the perfect ambiance and good food that we have had at this little spot in Klamath Falls.

We knew we could find birds in Veteran’s Park, and sure enough, when we drove there we found pigeons, ducks, some geese, and lots of seagulls hanging around the park docks. On the way back home, we found more birds on Upper Klamath Lake, but they were far from the shoreline, beyond the ice covering the shadowy edges of the lake. At least we saw some Canada geese and of course, hundreds of coots.

We headed back over the Cascades, over the High Lakes Pass, and as we dropped down into the Rogue Valley east of Medford we watch the sunset over the mountains to the west. We were home by dark, and after a long day in sunlight, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle a few more winter days in Grants Pass.

Later in the month, my eldest daughter celebrated a birthday and her only desire was to have a long lunch at her favorite spot, The Twisted Cork. This small, somewhat intimate restaurant in downtown Grants Pass is upscale in a good way, with beautiful wine flights, and a fabulous appetizer menu. Deb’s favorite thing is a wine flight, a bunch of appetizers, a great salad, and of course the dessert that Twisted Cork has made famous, their hot caramel toffee pudding. They were kind enough to add a candle for Deborah’s day. The sun came out for Deborah on the 26th as well, and we haven’t had a single foggy morning since then.

Mo just rolls her eyes at me when I complain about the fog, because she remembers me complaining about the heat as well. Yeah, fog is icky and so is 110 degrees! I know I shouldn’t be a slave to the weather, but it is definitely one of my less desirable qualities.

Daughter Deborah helped us finish another puzzle on one of her Sunday visits

At this moment, as I begin to attempt the process of writing about January, the sunshine is pouring through the windows of the office. It isn’t warm outside, but the skies are clear and blue, and Mo is outside doing whatever outside things have caught her fancy at the moment. It will be time to make supper soon, and the afternoon shadows on the lawn are waning.

I managed to get through January here without losing my way completely. Still, it seemed to be a long month, one that stretched on and on without much to mark the passing of the days. After the last couple of years of craziness, I have to say that a month that seemed to be in slow motion was much better than months that fly by so fast you can’t catch them.

12-31-2021 2021 Ends as December Comes to a Close

We didn’t have a completely white Christmas this year, with just a skiff of snow dusting the grass on Christmas morning. Late in the afternoon, however, the snow began to fall in earnest, and by the time we wakened the next morning, we had several inches of snow on the ground. Mo and I were happy that we had a warm home, plenty of food, a fire, and that the power never went out. Three days before Christmas Eve, we started another puzzle, possibly a new Christmastime tradition. With the snow keeping us inside most of the time, we finished it in just three short days on Christmas Eve morning.

The Christmas to New Years' snow event broke records all over the northwest and I have loved seeing all the photos and stories of people enjoying the winter fun. I especially enjoyed it since I didn’t have to shovel snow or walk around outside on ice or go anywhere. Our vehicles do fine in snow and Mo and I have both driven in snow for years, but why bother if we don’t have to do it? Our home was a perfect place to be during that cold snowy week.

The beginning of the month was shrouded in chilly fog. I thought it was the worst fog season ever until I looked back on my calendar and blog of 2020 in December and read that I thought the fog was the worst ever. I guess winter fog is a given when we live in an enclosed valley just 2 hours from the ocean.

 
Despite the fog and chill, I spent the first week of the month putting up outside Christmas lights. It is a bit of work, but I do love the brilliance all those lights bring on long, cold, and very dark winter nights. Christmas is just an excuse. Grandson Matthew showed up toward the end of the week to do the part that neither Mo nor I are willing to do: climbing the ladder to put up the big colored lights that line the edge of the roof.

I began making Christmas cards in July, but by early December there was still much to do to finish up the 60 or so cards that I try to send each year.

I set up the Christmas Village right after Thanksgiving. To conserve energy, I made a promise to myself that I would wait until December 10 to set up the Christmas tree. When I mentioned this idea to my friend Kristin on our biweekly coffee date, she said she would love to come and help me decorate the tree. Such a delightful time we had decorating together with Mo providing helpful suggestions.

As I pulled out all the stored Christmas decorations with Kristin’s help I finally came to the conclusion that much of the beautifully romantic Della Robbia decorations that I have had for 20 years or so no longer fit with our current home. I packed them up for Daughter Melody who was delighted to know they would be coming her way and would fit right in with her romantic somewhat French-style home. Daughter Deborah also chose a few items that she loved to add to her collection.

Friends Maryruth and Gerald both have birthdays in December, and I made a chocolate cake from Janna’s recipe to help her celebrate. Of course, it was also great that Maryruth couldn’t eat the entire thing and sent a third of it back home with us.

A few days later, the four of us drove downtown in the rain to enjoy the lighted Christmas parade. The city no longer sponsors these kinds of events, but many dedicated volunteers and participants made it happen. Despite the heavy rain, there were large crowds gathered along the main streets. Many had umbrellas, and some were snuggled under canopy tops to protect them from the rain. Oregonians don’t allow rain to interfere with outdoor activities.

We were incredibly lucky to find a perfect spot to park right where the big lighted cars and trucks turned from 6th street toward 7th street. Even with the fogged-up windows, we all agreed it was much better watching the parade from a warm car than in the cold rain. After the parade, we enjoyed driving around to view a few Christmas lights and some traditional hot chocolate from Dutch Brothers.

Once the Christmas cards were finished and mailed, I had a bit of time to quilt. I loved the pattern for this topper and when I took the fall version off the side tables, I decided it was time to make a Christmas version. It was so pretty that I decided to make two. I was very happy with this winter project. It was quick and easy and the toppers fit our oak side tables perfectly.

I keep track of the Azalea Park light show in Brookings on Facebook and was thrilled to learn that the show was a go this year after skipping last year due to COVID. We planned ahead by making reservations at Beachfront RV Park and Maryruth and Gerald made reservations at Beachfront Inn across the street from the park.
Mid-month we got our first seasonal dusting of snow. We didn't know at the time that we were in for a lot more snow before the month was over.

The week of our reservations, the weather cooperated with just a bit of snow on the highway to the coast. We headed west in the MoHo. Maryruth and Gerald waited until the next day to travel when the roads were completely clear.

The Festival of Lights at Azalea Park in Brookings is one of the best light shows in our part of the country, and once again we weren’t disappointed. Even though it rained the previous day, there was no rain on the night we planned to go to the show with Maryruth and Gerald. I enjoy sharing something I love with friends who are seeing it for the first time. Somehow I see it again with fresh eyes.

Mo and I walked the beach during the day, and in the evenings shared a couple of great restaurant meals with our friends. We enjoyed the Beachfront Bistro, just across from the Beachfront Inn, nicely remodeled and with great food and service. The next evening we had martinis and interesting and tasty food at the Superfly Martini Bar in Brookings. From the outside, the place looks rather nondescript, but inside the vibe was super cool and the clientele was quite varied, with people young and old enjoying the upbeat atmosphere.

As always, our time on the beach with Mattie was wonderful. I had to laugh out loud when I got back home and compared photos of Mattie last year and Mattie this year on exactly the same day in exactly the same spot. Do I really need to write a blog? Maybe I can just link to blogs from the past. At this time in our lives, it seems we do tend to enjoy repeat visits to our favorite places. You might have to click on each picture to see which gallery is from 2020 and which one is from 2021. 

Our last evening in Brookings we were treated to an incredible sunset, something that doesn’t happen often with fog often rolling in at the last minute to obscure the colors, even on a sunny day.

On the morning of our return trip to Grants Pass, we stopped in at the Beachfront Bistro for a quick visit with an old friend from Rocky Point. Chrissie Hathor has been following us along on Facebook ever since she moved to Brookings and has invited us to visit several times. It may have been short, but it was a sweet visit.

The day we returned home I had only a few short hours to make cookies and prepare for the Grants Pass Book Club Christmas get-together that evening. The gathering was at Kristin's home where we shared gift books, good food, and lots of fun conversation.

The entertainment for the evening was gifting a wrapped book with only a hint on the cover of what that book might be, and no name of the person giving the book. Each of us picked one and will talk about our book at the next monthly meeting. This book club has turned out to be so much fun, with a great group of diverse people sharing laughter and thoughts. I received a book I might never have chosen. I’ll wait to talk about it until after the end of January when we all get together again and review our books.

Two nights before Christmas, we once again enjoyed our annual tradition of driving around Grants Pass looking at Christmas lights with Maryruth and Gerald. Before it got dark, Maryruth treated us to a great spread of appetizers and some fun Jell-O shots to fuel us for the evening. It stopped raining long enough for us to enjoy several neighborhoods following the maps I had downloaded from our local newspaper.

Christmas Eve at Sunset House was quiet and lovely, with a bit of snow to add to the festive feeling of the Holiday. We often spend Christmas Eve with just the two of us and enjoy it thoroughly. We followed tradition and let Mattie open a Christmas Eve present. We also enjoyed our annual tradition of Christmas Eve clam chowder. The funny thing about Mattie, she was entirely too polite to rip the paper from her wrapped present. She held it in her mouth and looked at us as if to ask what she was supposed to do.

On Christmas morning we woke to an almost-white Christmas with a light dusting of snow. There was too much snow on the roads for daughter Deborah to make it to brunch, but Maryruth and Gerald managed the 1 mile trip to our house. It was a lovely day and for some reason, I completely forgot to take photos of the four of us. We had real eggs benedict, an easy meal since there were only four of us. Poaching eggs for a crowd can get a bit challenging. After brunch, we settled in for some rousing rounds of dominoes, a game Maryruth and Gerald hadn’t played before. By the end of a few games, they were hooked. Nice for us, since we do like dominoes.

With the telephone, Facebook, and emails we connected with friends and extended family throughout the day. Daughter Melody and Robert had a wonderful Christmas at home in Brownsville with their kids. Deborah and Bob enjoyed movies and fresh crab at home in Shady Cove where the snow was getting deeper by the minute. I loved a great photo of Jeanne in Vermont with the gorgeous wreath she made from wild cuttings from their property. Some friends sent E-Cards, others texted greetings, Tracey sent photos of my great-grandkids in their Christmas Jammies that I send each year to their home in Northern Washington. All in all, it was a very satisfying day.

As I wrote at the beginning of this story, we had several days of record-breaking snow. Daughter Deborah was snowed in. With snow being a rare occurrence, many people don’t bother with snow tires, and Deb has a cute little mini-Cooper, not a good snow vehicle.

By Wednesday morning, I knew that if I were going to get north to Melody’s house for even one night, it needed to be that day. I hugged Mo and Mattie goodbye and packed up an overnight bag. My trusty 2002 Dakota is a 4x4 and was perfect for a possibly sketchy drive over the 6 passes between Grants Pass and Eugene. Melody lives north of Eugene. The drive was fine and when I arrived at Melody’s in the afternoon the rain had let up a bit. We had a great afternoon with all the mother-daughter fun silly conversations that happen when no one else is around. Taking silly photos made us laugh so hard.

Later, when Robert came home from work, Melody finished up the fabulous risotto and butter-basted filet mignon steaks for our supper. We snuggled into their huge recliners in the tv room and watched a great movie. More laughs and conversation before I settled in for a comfy night in their upstairs bedroom. I had to return home the next afternoon.

New Year's Eve was the next day and I didn’t want to be driving on the Interstate on Friday. Thursday the rain was heavy but the traffic wasn’t horrible, but I was still grateful when I pulled into our driveway safe and sound after that trip.

Mo and I don’t often do much for New Year's Eve, but Mo had a little trip that she had wanted to do before Christmas but time and weather didn’t cooperate. Around 4 we jumped into the car and drove south through the gorgeous Applegate Valley toward Applegate Lake. We have visited the McKee Covered Bridge in the past, but this year the volunteer society for McKee Bridge had decorated the bridge with greens and lights. It would all come down on New Years Day, so it was our last chance to visit the bridge all lit up for Christmas.

The sun came out enough to light up the surrounding snow-covered hills and at this time of day, traffic was quite light. It only took us about an hour to get there, and we were happy that we could see the lights and still get home before it got really dark.

Mattie loves to sit in the front seat and make sure we are going the right way.

I like to think that is how we ended New Year's Eve, but instead, we made the mistake of attempting to watch “the ball fall” at Times Square. We both decided that the whole thing was horrendously stupid and that we never had to try that again. Seems like some things have just deteriorated into inane junk. We went to bed to the sound of guns, cannons, and fireworks, around our neighborhood, not a good thing for most doggies. Lucky for us, Mattie could care less about fireworks or gunshots. She just takes it all in stride.

I finished out the night watching videos of the magnificent fireworks put on in Sydney, Australia. Mo enjoyed seeing them as well, remembering her visit to the Sydney Opera House and her visit there many years ago. I never made it to Australia. My bucket list is getting thinner as the years go by. Pretty sure Australia has slipped off the list by now. Watching videos of the uplifting shows all around the world was a much more delightful way to end the year than whatever they call that mess in Times Square. And to think, I used to wish I could spend a New Years' Eve in Times Square?!! What was I thinking??!!

So often on New Year I muse about the past and envision the future, but this year it was enough to simply revel in the present. There will be plenty of time to reminisce, worry, and plan in the days to come.