The Willamette River |
Oregon's wet season, during which most of it's yearly 51 inches (!) of rain falls, runs from November through March, when the jet stream is strongest in the Northern Hemisphere.
This year doesn't seem to be any different than others, but of course there are some sunny moments too!
Like last Sunday, when we went to Newberg's Fall Bazaar and Crafts Fair at the town's Cultural Center, the sun was even out!
Which was nice because some of the vendors were set up outside but most of them were inside the 'ballroom'.
Pretty much everyone was wearing masks, but keeping any distance wasn't really feasible.
We try not to attend too many of these 'mass'-events, but every now and than we'll just take the risk ..
James
isn't that much into arts and crafts but he's a good sport and goes
along for the ride, and of course there's always food to find at these
events .. like these mini donuts!
Afterwards
we walked it off (a little) by driving to the Willamette river which,
in the late afternoon light, was absolutely gorgeous ...
Apparently this little park is part of the Willamette River Greenway program which is "a cooperative state and local government effort to maintain and enhance the scenic, recreational, historic, natural and agricultural qualities of the Willamette River and its adjacent lands".
A number of trails exist along the greenway, although there are still a lot of gaps, and we will certainly pick some in the near future to go for a nice hike.
Like always, Thanksgiving snuck op on me (again) this year, but in my defense it also was an early one, being 'only' the 25th of November ..
Our usual traditions were observed .. there was a nice breakfast (pumpkin/spice French toast with a warm banana-walnut sauce) (Yum!) and I baked a cranberry-apple pie, which you cannot go wrong with, ever ..
Of course we watched the Macy's Parade which was 'back to normal' this year, as in spectators lining the streets again. Almost nobody was wearing masks ..
The rockets danced there hearts out once again, and the Big Guy appeared like he does every year, Covid or no Covid.
The National Dog Show allowed it's spectators back also, and best in show was won by one of those unlikely dog breeds that in the eye of most don't look 'pretty' enough to even come close.
She came the closest to being perfect to the standard of her breed though, and that's what it's all about.
I personally really like this breed, the Scottish Deerhound, and I thought she was gorgeous, but she would never fit in the RV!
We
almost didn't get to see the show by the way because Dish Network,
which we use, has boycotted and cancelled NBC that airs the show, but
we were fortunate enough to be invited over for dinner at Brenda and
Doug's, who (even more fortunate) were watching it also.
The
dinner almost didn't happen either though, and was overshadowed by the
fact that Brenda's mom had passed away on Monday morning .. she had
broken her hip (and dislocated it) 2 weeks ago and quickly deteriorated
afterwards.
Everybody was thankful that her suffering was over, but of course she was very much missed by everyone.
But
life goes on, and so the (delicious) Prime Rib was cooked and cut, a
gazillion side-dishes prepared, the table set, the guests seated and a
feast was had ..
That's
Brenda's dad in the back, who attended despite everything (and some
health problems of his own), and that's Becky, Brenda's sister, taking
that dish from James, and of course Noah and Sarah and Doug and Brenda.
It was good to be together, and also a special treat for us, after being on the road and not able to attend for 10 years!
This way they hopefully won't freeze this winter! We've had 2 nights of 33F so far, but mostly temperatures are still holding around 40-50F. We'll probably never have a deep freeze around here, but it's better to be prepared or we'll be in deep shit .. pun intended!
Usually I would have some nice pics from my walks to show here, but my foot is still not getting any better so I'm trying to stay completely off it at the moment.
I even borrowed a cane! Oh my god .. I'm getting so old!
From behind my desk the only wildlife I see are the deer that sometimes come by, or there's the occasional bird. I don't know where they all went, but it's not here .. this little White-crowned Sparrow and a few Spotted Towhees are all I could 'shoot' this week.
James has promised to string me a wire from the RV to a tree, in front of the window by my desk, to hang some bird-feeders from.
Hopefully he'll have some time this weekend, and hopefully it will attract some birds!
This week's dinner took place in Mcminnville again, this time at Los Molcajetes, a nicely decorated and colorful mexican restaurant on main street.
We
split the seafood burrito, 'Burrito de mariscos' which was stuffed with
shrimp, scallops, crab and octopus in a really delicious sauce. Man,
was it good!
We'd also ordered a Margarita and a flan for desert, and were in and out for only $30! Great atmosphere, great food, great price! We'll be back!
At our own colorful Casa, we'd run out of preserves, so besides doing a lot of puzzling and reading this week (and working in the office almost every morning), I defrosted and crushed up some of the frozen raspberries I so diligently picked this summer, and made 2 jars of freezer jam.
Previously
I'd followed the instructions on the Ball pectin jar and froze the jam
immediately after making, but it just never set enough to my liking. So I
googled around a bit and learned that most other (freezer) pectin
instructions call for it to sit out for 24 hours before storing, since
apparently pectin doesn't set very well when it is too cold.
I must say, that makes sense, so I'm trying that this time. Keeping my fingers crossed!
OK.
I think that's about it for this week. Here's one of those 'the end'
pictures .. the sunsets seem a lot more colorful now it's cooler: