I took this picture in the late afternoon during a lull in the weather when it was actually dry for a change, but you can see those dark clouds already gathering again in the distance.
It made for a strange light-effect there ..

As I said, rain, rain, and more rain .. did I mention it rained?
I didn't go out much at all, but from the comfort of the RV I have a great view of the pond directly in front of us where I noticed these Hooded Merganser ducks diving and chasing after their favorite food .. salamanders!

 

These 'diving ducks' probably spend as much above as under water ..
The females are dark grey-ish with a brown 'hood':

          

                                        

Whereas the males, of course, are much more showy  .. showing off as usual!
Sorry, the pics are a little blurry, I guess I should clean my windows ..

I'm also happy to say that some birds have found my new feeder:

         

That little Hummingbird on the right was the first followed by a whole flock of Black-headed Juncos:

So far I haven't seen any others, but like I said before it takes a while before the word gets out.
Besides that the weather hasn't been freezing and we haven't had snow yet, so I think there's still enough food laying around.

Here's a shot of the beautiful Christmas card my sister send me:

She bought it in Germany last summer at one of the Christmas-shops of which there are many over there.
It arrived folded flat, but than it opens up like this:

Isn't that amazing! What an ingenious design. So pretty!

Yes, Christmas. I blinked my eyes, really only once since Thanksgiving, and bamm .. there it is!
As usual we celebrated with some extra-special food, although nothing too fancy, like Panettone with some eggs and a side dish of Ambrosia for breakfast:

                                                        

Now normally this would have been followed by my famous apple-cranberry pie .. well, famous in our house at least .. which I baked, but we were (last minute) invited by our landlords to come over for an early dinner(late lunch) at their place so I saved the pie to take with us for desert.
Don't worry though, two slices of chocolate mousse pie quickly de-thawed from the freezer substituted as our coffee time treat!

Lax with bagels for lunch .. actually, come to think of it, that was lunch for Christmas Eve-day .. but who's counting?

                       

 

As I said, we were invited by our landlords, so at 1:30 we gathered the cranberry pie as well as an overnight salad I made and climbed the hill to the 'big' house'.
Their son Josh and Serena's mother were there as well and there was plenty of food!

  

We had a great time together. Last year we were with my family in Holland of course and Doug and Brenda have moved to Arizona, so it was nice to have a stand-in family literary at our doorstep!

The day after Christmas James took off for a 4 day golf-extravaganza at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, OR, which had been on his 'bucket'-list for some time.
A group of guys he plays with go there almost every year and when they had a cancellation due to Covid they called him to see if he wanted to join them.
Prices are greatly reduced during this time of the year ('only' $120 a round, whereas during high season as much as $289!).
So, after some deliberation, we decided it was a great opportunity if he ever wanted to play this course, and off he went!

         


Bandon Dunes has six courses to choose to choose from, built on a beautiful stretch of sand dunes perched 100 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
As you can imagine there's a lot of ocean exposure and the wind can blow!

                                                     

They stayed one night in one of the village hotels but the other 3 at the resort's which was nice and comfortable with a (gas) fireplace, sliding glass doors to a small balcony and Scandinavian style furniture ..



The view out of the window showed one of the ponds on the property :

                                                    

Coffee is free, they serve a breakfast buffet (which costs extra) but you can get a huge breakfast burrito at the caddie shacks on the course.
The restaurants are crazy expensive but the Irish bar serves good bar-food for much cheaper.

But of course this whole trip is about golf.
People claim the courses are as close to the Scottish style and experience that you can play over here and overall much better than the Pebble Beach ones.
Each course is different and most come at least close to the ocean on a couple of holes, like such:

Here's a few more pics:



And one of some of the guys:

That's a caddie by the way there on the right. I didn’t mention that unless you have 5 doctor’s excuses you will be walking but fortunately the courses are fairly flat, except for a few shallow dunes here and there.
For $100 bucks (and a $50 tip) you can hire a caddie though!
Although the weather was rather bad (rain of and on and the last day they only played 9 holes because they got soaked) they had a blast and I strongly suspect James will be signing up for next year ...
I guess it's true what the brochures say: Bandon is all about the location, views and camaraderie that you get from a kick ass golf trip!

In the meantime, back at the ranch .. I stayed warm and dry and spend my time puzzling, reading and binge-watching to my hearts content.
I also managed to do some cleaning-up and throwing-out of stuff in drawers and cabinets I forgot I had and obviously never use ..
I googled and picked up some (small) stuff I wanted to buy and scored these very pretty, fluffy (fake)furs to cover the seats of our new recliners:



I thought the dark brown of the (p)leather was a little too stark and these furs break that up nicely. Besides that, they look so cozy and inviting!

And that was it for this Christmas-week. Next blog will come to you from the next year. See you in 2024!

 

The fog was back this week, almost every morning started like this ... you got to admit, it's rather beautiful!
This gnarly old oak tree next to the pond in front us is especially photogenic and spooky looking: 

                      

The last few days the temperatures came down at night to almost freezing which in combination with the fog made for a pretty layer of frost on the grasses and reeds around the pond ..                                             

  

It usually takes until midday for the fog to lift but than often the rest of the day will be crisp and clear albeit rather cold!

On such days we're able to see Mt Hood!

And a little to the right of that Mt Jefferson as well! How cool is that?

I do have to use my zoom on my camera to get these pictures but they are clearly visible with the naked eye, especially on a clear and sunny day like this.

And this is us on a sunny day, for a change .. I have not been able to make many pictures where this is the case lately ...

Since it's officially winter right now, I started to look at how and where to hang my bird feeders. This new site doesn't have trees right next to the RV to attach the wire I hang the feeders onto so I had to come up with another plan.

After some research I decided to buy a so-called 'bird-feeder station'.
I was a little concerned the pole and metal might be on the flimsy side (since of course I bought the cheapest, but largest, one I could get) but when it arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and sturdiness of all the different parts!

 

It came complete with feeders and trays which I don't really need since I have many (larger ones) as it is, but they were included so hey, you can never have to many (or spares).
So far, no takers, but I know from experience that it can take a while before any birds will discover them and feel save enough to start eating.

Let's see, what else .. I baked more cookies! No Christmas without gingerbread-men:

They're so easy to make and I always get a kick out of giving them that smile ..  and cuffs and buttons.

This year I also made some Biscotti again. I love biscotti but James is not too fond of them. It's mostly because the store-bought ones are usually very hard but the one's I make are much softer.
Biscotti dough is twice-baked, which gives them their extra crunch, but you can just bake them a little shorter if you want to.

       

I also added dried fruit, which gives them a festive Christmas look, but it's another thing James doesn't like very much. It reminds him too much of fruitcake which is a very traditional staple around the Holidays in America, but weirdly enough not too many people like it!
I actually do like them, but I'm not a born-and-bred American, am I?

      

And there we are .. almost Christmas .. where does the time go?
I made a little Midsummer Solstice wreath to celebrate the return of the light at the 21st:

                   

Winter is only just beginning and these are the dark days before Christmas but from now on the days are getting longer!
Here's a little blessing:

                                      

The rain finally stopped this week and with clear skies and temperatures in the high 30's we had some nice colorful sunrises again ..

We don't really see the sunrise, to make that picture above I have to step out of the RV and climb the little hill in front of our door.
But after about 10 minutes the sun has traveled above and to the right of the barns and will peak through the trees to set the 2 ponds next to us aglow with it's morning light ..

And a couple of minutes after that, it will hit the RV:

So pretty!

Now the weather had cleared a little (although that particular morning we woke up to a thick fog), we'd picked Tuesday to visit the little town of Silverton, and more specifically their Christmas market and lights show.
We'd come close to Silverton a couple of times in our travels to and From Salem and surroundings but never got to really visit, so we thought we'd 'kill two birds with one stone'.
Actually, we added another 'bird' to the list by taking the opportunity to pay the close-by Silver Falls State Park a visit as well!

This park we had seen before, but that was probably about 20 years ago during which we only saw the South Falls.
So, this time we planned to go and see the North and Winter Falls.

People call this park the “crown jewel” of the Oregon State Parks system and for good reason.
It is the largest state park in Oregon with an area of more than 9,000 acres, and it includes more than 24 miles of walking trails, 14 miles of horse trails, and a 4-mile bike path.
Its 8.7-mile (14.0 km) Canyon Trail/Trail of Ten Falls, a spectacular, nationally recognized hiking trail, runs along the banks of Silver Creek and by TEN waterfalls, from which the park got its name.

                                      

The park's most visited waterfall is South Falls, a 177-foot (54 m) cascade, which as I mentioned we saw last time, but in July 2023 the North Rim Trail was opened which includes a viewpoint of the North Falls.  
It's only one-mile in and out and easily accessible with a width of 6 or more feet of compacted surface.

By the time we got to the park the thick morning fog was only just lifting but it actually added some interest and mystery to the short hike through the forest:

         

Due to the latest rainfalls the Fall was quite spectacular:

 

This more or less double-barreled segmented waterfall plunged and thundered some 136ft over its overhanging lip, which made it pretty awesome!

Driving towards Winter Falls, a little further down the road, we met two little does.
They weren't too impressed with us and kept on grazing the grass that is still growing thick and lush everywhere .. compliments of the recent rains.

At the Winter Falls trailhead a 0.7 mile hike brings you down to the valley floor some 100 feet below, through a beautiful grove of old, moss-covered oaks and pines:

Winter Falls gets its name from the fact that it only runs in the winter. In reality, it runs year round, but in the summer and early fall, it shrinks to a mere trickle.
It has the lowest volume of the ten major waterfalls in the state park and is definitely at its best in the winter or spring.

The water plunges for close to a hundred feet, then slides down the basalt wall to complete the 134 foot drop:

And what goes down must come up again ... or something like that .. you can see the trail was rather slippery but do-able.

                                  

All that hiking (well, not that much actually) had made us hungry for some lunch so our first order of business was to find some food.
We drove the 14 miles to the little town of Silverton and ended up in 'Mac's place':



Which turned out to be an excellent choice. It's  is the oldest building on the Silverton National Historic Registry (1890) and is a fun, funky dive bar with great food.

We shared a plate of fries with bacon, blue-cheese and chipotle sauce:

                                                      

                                                       

As you can see, we didn't like it at all! 😂 Man, it was good!
And if that wasn't quite enough we managed to share one of these house-smoked BBQ pulled pork po-boy as well:

All of that was washed down with some cranberry and pear cider. We were stuffed!

We sat inside because unfortunately it was rather cold and wet outside, but this bar actually has a deck on the backside overlooking pebble-bottomed Silver Creek as it rolls through town.



A little further down the street there's even a cute covered pedestrian bridge over the creek. it's not old by any means but it's a nice place to watch the creek go by .

Afterwards we strolled through town for a while, visiting some of the many antique and art stores the town is known for:

  

Another thing the town is well known for are all the murals, depicting scenes of the Silverton area heritage, industry, beauty and more.
The Murals are curated by the Silverton Mural Society, a local nonprofit, dedicated to preserving the town’s history through art ..

There's even one for Bobbie the Wonder Dog, a legend in his own time who warmed the hearts of a nation:

                                  

This Scotch collie mix was lost on a family trip from Oregon to Indiana in 1923 and walked all the way home, a six-month and almost 2,800-mile journey, to return to the people he loved!

Finally at 5 pm, last but not least, it was time to head to the Oregon Gardens for the Christmas market.



Due to overwhelming popularity of this event in previous years they're now trying to spread out the amount of people a little over the evening by selling tickets for a certain time-slot online.
We'd booked tickets for 5pm (at $15 pp). This didn't include parking but there was a shuttle that picked us up in town for free!

The market is based on a traditional European-style, German Christmas Market, where you can experience the sights, sounds and smells of the season ...



There's a heated and covered beer garden, food and craft vendors and pictures with Santa.

                       

Or a visit with his counter-part, the Krampus, a devil figure from European Alpine folklore, that scares naughty children back onto the path of good behavior.

                                                 

Those more adventurous will enjoy snow-less tubing. Yes, there's such a thing:

But the biggest attraction is to stroll through the garden's lighted walking paths featuring more than a million Christmas lights!



I didn't count them but yes, I'll say that's easily a million lights .. and than some!

Here's me, as a Christmas ornament ...

                                                  
         
And James, still wearing his Texan cowboy hat whenever he gets a chance .. oh well, fashion isn't his forte .. but he's cute. 
       

           

We spent about an hour walking through the gardens, checking out the boots, taking pictures and eating a piece of bread-pudding ... hey, that lunch was hours ago and we didn't have dessert yet!

All in all, a most delightful day, full of Christmas magic .. and food!

Talking about food, and desserts .. I started baking my yearly Christmas-cookie extravaganza .. or something like that.
First up, one of my all-time favorites 'Hungarian butter crescents':



This disk, cut in pizza-like slices and rolled up like croissants, which than become these:

                                                                  

Followed by a close second: Chocolate crinkle cookies ..

Made with that famously #$%@$^! sticky dough, but totally worth it! I gave them a festive cherry on top this year.
I used a different recipe this year, only using chocolate powder and omitting (melted) baking chocolate, but wasn't totally happy with it, so I'll revert to the old-and-tried one which does use this next time.

And that wraps up the Christmas special for this week, but stay tuned ..
who knows what we'll do next week?!