kyotesue

December 2020

The sun is shining brilliantly through the office windows. After a morning thick with heavy fog, it seems almost a miracle. Maybe that is what we need. A miracle to come after the difficulties of the day before this one. We need some sunlight to shine on us. On all of us. Some optimism, a reason to hope for a better year ahead. I have struggled with trying to write this post. It is easy to write about travels and camping trips, fish and chips at the coast, rain on the roof of the MoHo. It is easy to be in the moment when traveling, maybe that is why we love it so much.

The rare sunny afternoon at Sunset House in December

The break in fog and rain gave us a chance to rake and haul the last of the oak leaves

It isn’t so easy to write about family gatherings, holidays that have been quite different than past years. December darkness, more days of deep fog and dark skies than I remember even in Grants Pass. We wake in the morning and it is dark, with light penetrating the fog only after 7:30 or so. By 3:30 we are surprised to see the darkness descending again and by 5:15 it is pitch dark.

This is actually a bit better than it was two weeks ago when it was pitch dark at 5. Solstice has come and gone and the days are getting longer, miniscule second by second. I guess that is why a day like this, when the sun bursts through illuminating every tiny green blade of grass with a golden halo it seems like a miracle.

The Christmas season for us started even before Thanksgiving when I put up the outside Christmas lights. Once again, we had help from Grandson Matthew, young and agile enough to climb our tall roof and line the edges of the gutters and the roof shingles all the way around the house. Even though our home is just one story, the western side of the house is more than 18 feet off the ground, thanks to our sloping lot. I know I wouldn’t manage to get up on the roof and even though Mo was a famed roof climber not so long ago, she isn’t about to climb up there either. If Matthew moves away we are in big trouble.

Here in Southern Oregon our restaurants opened enough that one of our favorites, The Twisted Cork, advertised a special Sunday brunch, reservations only, limited indoor seating. We were excited, made reservations for a birthday celebration downtown with friends Maryruth and Gerald, who celebrate December birthdays, and Daughter Deborah and Grandson Matthew to join us for the party limited to six guests. Sadly that all fell apart when the numbers in our county began rising and once again dining was limited to outdoor seating only. The Twisted Cork decided that with the cold and very wet weather, it was too much, and cancelled the party.

Mo and I decided the heck with that and I called Deborah and said, “Let’s do our own brunch for Maryruth and Gerald!” Daughter Melody also drove south from Eugene for a Christmas time visit. Her honey Robert had to travel for two weeks, returning before Christmas so she decided to quarantine at home for Christmas Day rather than taking a chance on Robert carrying the virus with him from Texas on an airplane. We had our little bubble of six and Deborah and I had fun trying to make the Sunday brunch as decadent as possible.

We made real eggs benedict, and had lots of fruit and fruit dip choices, and Deborah made homemade pastries and we had lots of very cold champagne to wash it down. It was such a simple but lovely way to spend a day with our friends. In fact, we all decided that it was much more fun that it would have been in the restaurant.

The next week before Christmas we made a date with Maryruth and Gerald to drive around town to see all the Christmas lights. It was great fun, and there were some truly fabulous light shows to enjoy. I must say that the winner, a computerized laser light show with music to match, left me unmoved. It wasn’t very Christmasy, and while quite loud and glitzy, it didn’t feel right.

We discovered that the people in cars piling up all around in the tiny cul de sac where the lights were blaring didn’t agree with us. It was incredibly popular. We tried to follow the newspaper printed maps, tried to use google, but the four of us wore out before we could see all the various neighborhoods that were recommended.

Grants Pass isn’t very big, but it was too big for us to cover it all that night. Maryruth and I both grew up in Southern California, with amazing memories of Christmas Tree Lane and Story Book Lane in Pasadena, and the most amazing Christmas light neighborhood ever in a high end housing development that at the time was called Hastings Ranch. Every single street was decorated with a matching theme for each one, It was something to see and one of my best kid memories. Maryruth felt exactly the same way. Still, we loved our lighted evening in Grants Pass and topped it off with hot chocolate from the downtown Dutch Brothers, just a block from where the chain was first established.

When Christmas actually came, Mo and I were perfectly content to enjoy Christmas Eve with just the two of us and probably the very best clam chowder I have ever made. It’s a tradition for us, the closest I am willing to get to my childhood Christmas Eve oyster stew, which thank goodness I was never forced to eat. We topped off our evening with another drive around Grants Pass, finding the neighborhoods that we had previously missed and noticing with surprise how many homes were surrounded by many cars as people were gathering for the holiday in spite of the warnings.

On Christmas Day I invited Maryruth and Gerald and Deborah again for Christmas ham, another tradition that we seem to repeat each year. I buy ham once a year, either Christmas or Easter, and the leftovers in the freezer are enough for some bean soup and scalloped potatoes and ham throughout the year. We sat around in the living room together with whatever YouTube channel was Christmasy and enjoyed the company until early evening when Deborah decided to brave the heavy rain to drive the hour long trip back to Shady Cove and Maryruth and Gerald retreated the short mile back to their home.

The day after Christmas, with no more company to come for a meal, we pulled out another great puzzle. The Paint the Town series by Eric Dowdle is great fun, and he even has a PBS show about each town that he visits. It only took us a bit less than 3 days to find all the little people and figure out the many high rise buildings in the beautiful Portland puzzle.

New Years Eve was even more quiet than Christmas, with no visits and no real celebrations except for the local fireworks and gunshots that in our somewhat rural neighborhood started up around 9 and kept going until long after midnight. I think I woke up for a minute or two at 12, and thought about the New Year to come. The calendar is such a man made thing, and the days just shift as they will do. Who knows if the energy of a year changes just because a man made number has changed, but this afternoon in the sunlight I can feel a bit of hope. Vaccines are coming…eventually.

One more Christmas behind us and look at that sunshine

Our travels for the coming year have already shifted in spite of the hope of 2021 being a bit more free than 2020 was. We had planned to travel south to California for our annual desert trip toward the end of January, but have put that plan on hold. I just can’t get really excited about traveling through California yet. I called Catalina Spa and learned that the pools are open but the spa and showers are closed as are most of the other amenities. With restaurants and movies and such being closed in Southern California, and COVID numbers off the charts, the trip just didn’t seem very smart. We will wait, and maybe travel south in March. If things in California haven’t improved by then, we may slide south through Nevada into wild places in the desert where we can boondock without worrying much about running into too many people.

Our other big travel plans included a May cruise to Scotland, cancelled last year but still on the books to depart from London on May 22. We will wait for Oceania to cancel this one before we make any big decisions about it, but something tells me our cruise to Scotland will not happen again this year. It takes a long time for cruise ships to get going again, if they ever do. I spoke with my doctor this week during a virtual checkup and was told that I shouldn’t expect to get a vaccination for weeks and possibly months in this part of Oregon. Each state has their own priorities, and for Oregon it is health care workers with folks over 75 a bit farther down on the list. I guess, just like 2020, 2021 is still a wait and see year.

12-15-2020 through 12-19-2020 Another December Escape

When winter comes, our best option for a short getaway is to head for the coast. We had barely returned from our Thanksgiving trip when Mo said, “Can we make a plan to go somewhere again before Christmas?” Ummm….took me an overnight minute but by the next morning I was ready to search Harris Beach for a reserved campsite. Harris Beach is beautiful, and close. Just a bit over 2 hours for us from Grants Pass. I guess that is why you will see more photos and blogs about Harris Beach than just about any other location we have traveled. So be it. If you are bored…just move along.

With all the sites being full on our last trip, we didn’t want to take a chance. Reservations are so easy, and for me personally it is much less stressful to know I have a place to land. Especially when the weather is stormy I really don’t want to be wandering around hunting for somewhere to by dark.

The weather report for our four days at the ocean was grim. Wind warnings, gale warnings, high seas and king tide warnings were many. Still, we have camped at the coast enough to know that in between all these dramatic events the skies can clear unexpectedly and the sun will break through. We planned accordingly. I think I packed more outerwear and footwear than I have in a very long time. Four days, four weeks, if it is cold and variable, I need all those alternatives to being wet. Glad I did.

As we departed from home around 11, the skies were that gloomy gray dull that I like least of any, and the rain was spotty. Just enough to be wet and boring, but the trip down the Smith River past the Jedediah Smith redwoods is a familiar one. I usually like to drive home from the beach since the steep drop-off to the river is on the passenger side in the east bound lane. Mo was happy driving to the beach that morning. We switch off as needed, taking turns. I function better earlier in the day so usually leave later trips to Mo. We avoid night driving most of the time anyway and especially when traveling in the MoHo. Lucky for me, Mo is still a great night time driver if need be.

Much of B Loop and part of C Loop are closed for the winter. We are in A2

We arrived at our site in the A Loop and were delighted to see that most of the row was still empty. I was relieved to see that unlike our last campsite at Harris Beach, the campfire ring was a decent height. Mo had loaded up enough wood for four nights of campfires, in spite of the rainy forecast. After settling in we put on our coats, including Mattie, and braved the inclement but still dry weather to go check out the beach.

It was just a little short walk to the overlook and we managed to walk down the path toward the big rocks before I had to give up. Steep rocky stuff is out of my range now, especially when wet and slippery.

Mattie did NOT want to turn around.

The view was great from that spot, and we could see that the beach was almost completely empty. After walking back to the MoHo we picked up the car and drove down the steep road that leads to the main beach at the park.

Mattie was in heaven, running wildly the minute there was space for Mo to let her off the leash. The high tide had brought in some interesting tidbits that someone decided to arrange into a lovely still life that just begged to be photographed.

Mattie ran and played and climbed rocks, her favorite thing to do other than running wildly in soft sand.

Back home we settled in with some TV shows cast from the phone and a nice little steak on the BarB as the rain held off a few more hours. By dark, the rain was coming steadily. The rain drumming on the roof was as soothing as ever and we slept in much longer than usual the next morning.

We knew that Wednesday, the 16th, was to be the most intense day of the storm and we planned accordingly. Snuggling in with hot coffee, some news on the TV and cozy sweats we enjoyed the indoor day completely. I had come fully prepared with all my handmade Christmas cards ready to address and mail. It was much more fun writing little notes and stuffing the envelopes in the MoHo than it would have been back at home.

I started making Christmas cards back in the early days of COVID in the late spring. The most fun is deciding which cards go to which friends. The worst part of this is that if I make a similar card in the coming years I might not remember who got which ones the last time around. I guess I need to keep better notes!

It rained all night but the next morning on Thursday the skies had cleared somewhat. I decided to see if the Brookings Post Office was open and was delighted to find not a single person in the line and a friendly postmaster who checked each of my cards for weight and thickness.

The skies were clear and beautiful as we piled into the Tracker for the short trip south to Crescent City and our favorite fish and chips restaurant, the Chart Room. We stood in line with Nickie and Jimmy last September for our outside dining only fish and chips.

It was still outside dining only but the big difference was the weather and the lack of the long line of people waiting to order. Although the sun was just as brilliant, the air was chilly and we wore coats. Very few people in line and we had no trouble snagging a nice picnic table with a view.

We decided to check out the beach that we had attempted to visit last September. At the time, it was too crowded and there was no place to park. This time there was plenty of parking, but with the high tide coming in quite close there wasn’t much walking room. We weren’t impressed with this particular beach, actually called Crescent Beach. The sand is more like dark brown silt and while the surfers are fun to watch, the homeless tents and garbage strewn around was less enjoyable.

After lunch we drove north of town along the coastline to the remote headland trails at Point St. George. I have written about the amazing historical lighthouse that is just barely visible from this point in a previous story here. There were a few people parked but only a few hikers walking along the beach. The beach was gorgeous, wide open and clean with big breakers roaring from the high tide to keep us company.

Home again to a lovely evening with the rain holding out long enough that Mo built us a great campfire to enjoy before retreating to the cozy MoHo. As usual, Mattie had to have her own camp chair and blanket for fire time.

Most of the next day was sunny and beautiful with enough time to walk the beaches once again. We were surprised at how the temperatures moderated after the rain and the winds were almost non existent. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Mattie found many mini mountains to climb

For our last night in camp Mo once again built a beautiful campfire and we opened a bottle of champagne to enjoy by the fire and to drink with our truly delicious fish and chips. It is great when a good dinner is enough to last for two great meals. I am pretty sure that the Chart Room fish and chips at 14.95 each is one of the tastiest and best deals ever.

Saturday morning dawned gray and foggy once again and we took our time getting ready to leave. Even though we have an RV dump station at home, it is a bit easier to dump right there at Harris Beach. It is a good dump with a perfect angle for a complete clean dump. RVr’s will know exactly what I mean. It is also easy to get to and rarely busy. It’s the little things that matter when out traveling!

The trip home was uneventful, except for one minor detail. In Kerby, about 25 miles west of Grants Pass, there is a fair style food booth with hot dogs, hamburgers, curly fries and yes, corn dogs! Best corn dog I ever ate was at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in 2019. Mo said, “Hey, want a corn dog ?” I didn’t exactly slam on the brakes in the middle of the highway, but I did find a way to turn around and get back there. Yup…Albuquerque quality corn dog. Once every year or so isn’t that bad for some truly delicious junk food. Then again, I might have to be sure to remember that place is there on our next trip to the beach!

11-24 to 11-27-2020 Bandon Thanksgiving and a night at Harris Beach

Don’t forget that you can click on any photo if you wish to see if full resolution in my gallery

Site A47 had more privacy than we
expected

Between the time we made our reservation and our trip to the coast, COVID numbers began rising in Oregon and the governor once again shut down restaurants for indoor dining. One of the reasons we chose Bandon over Brookings for this trip was to have an opportunity to spend some time in the little shops and restaurants that make Bandon so charming. The weather forecast was for rain most of the week, so we wanted to have other things to do than walk the beach.

We traveled north via I-5 toward Roseburg and turned west toward the coast via Highway 42. However, instead of following the Google Girl directions to stay on Highway 42 all the way to HWY 101 and then back south, we thought the quicker route along 42 S made more sense. In hindsight, Google Girl sometimes gets it right and we don’t. I spent most of the time hanging on while Mo navigated the very narrow, very winding road toward Bandon. It was not fun for me, but I think it might have been for her. She used to drive a TR7 among other sports cars.

Don’t try this route in a motorhome

It rained a bit along the way, but the afternoon was dry enough that we had time to enjoy a walk along the beach after we settled into our site.

The campground is about a mile from easy beach access at the Coquille River Lighthouse

We were a bit disappointed in the condition of the lighthouse

Adjacent to the town of Bandon, the Coquille River empties into the Pacific Ocean. The river extends inland a great distance and was a natural link to the virgin stands of timber in the area, but the bar at the mouth of the river, formed by the interaction of the river and ocean, was a major obstacle for ships entering the river. At times, only a few feet of water would cover the bar, but vessels still attempted to navigate the river in hopes of reaping the rewards that lay upstream. In 1880, Congress passed a bill funding the construction of a jetty on the south side of the river’s entrance that created a deep channel, resulting in a rapid rise in the number of ships entering the river.

A lighthouse at the entrance to Coquille River was the next logical step for improving navigation. Congress appropriated $50,000 for the project on March 3, 1891, but it would be four years before land was purchased, plans were solidified, and the construction crew was assembled.

In 1939, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for Coquille River Lighthouse and decided it was no longer needed. An automated beacon was placed at the end of the south jetty, the dwelling was disassembled, and the lighthouse was abandoned. The lighthouse stood neglected for twenty-four years, until Bullards Beach State Park was created on the north side of the river. The grounds of the original eleven-acre light station were included in the park, and the park assumed responsibility for the lighthouse.

Over the years there have been several attempts at restoration, since park funding isn’t sufficient to maintain the old lighthouse. In normal years, the lighthouse tower is open for visitation from May through September, however at the moment the old lighthouse looked quite sad.

The air smelled so incredibly fresh, and the surf was loud enough that we could hear it in camp across the dunes at least half a mile from the beach where we were camped.

There were high tide and surf warnings posted for the next couple of days so one evening we drove through town in the dark to the south jetty where we could watch the huge noisy waves breaking over the jetty rocks. Lots of warnings for “sneaker waves” kept me alert and when a big one came roaring in I immediately jumped back into the car.

It rained off and on that first night and the next morning dawned cloudy and wet. We settled into the MoHo for a cozy morning before driving the a mile south to Bandon to explore the small town. The rain came and went all day, usually with a downpour at just the moment we would head for the car after visiting a shop. About half the shops in town were open, with masks and social distancing, and we especially enjoyed the beautiful Second Street Gallery, Winter River Bookstore, and the Coastal Mist Chocolate Boutique, where we had two tiny cups of creamy drinking chocolate, to go of course.

This photo is from last year when there was still inside service

The rain poured down as we ran to the car with our little cups of chocolate. I also purchased my first ever macaron (not a macaroon). I wasn’t impressed, although I do think that maybe the high humidity at the ocean makes it hard to make a light crispy meringue cookie. Who knows. I don’t have to try again.

We then meandered around the famous Cranberry Sweets. The store has been in Bandon for more than 50 years and specializes in all sorts of cranberry confections. I learned that more cranberries are grown around Bandon than anywhere else in the west. Although Bandon is referred to as “The Cranberry Capitol of the World”, more research informed me that most cranberries come from Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Five states grow almost all of the country’s supply of cranberries with Wisconsin producing more than half of all cranberries in the US. Massachusetts harvests another third, and New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington produce most of the rest. So much for “Cranberry Capitol”.

Still, the shop was charming and old fashioned, with lots of candies and confections behind the counters. The hostess told me that they usually had lots of samples around the shop but due to COVID we had to settle for a little bag of free stuff.

I decided it was time to get some fish and chips to go and tried out Tony’s Crab Shack where I was politely told that Tony didn’t fry ANYTHING, and perhaps I might like to try to fish tacos. Made with fresh caught crab and halibut, they were delicious. Everything in town was take-out only, with all the restaurants closed for inside seating. We returned home in the pouring rain and it continued to rain all night long. Funny how wonderful rain on the roof of a motorhome can sound, especially when accompanied by the roar of the ocean. Great for a good night’s sleep!

The next morning was Thanksgiving, and we woke to beautiful clear skies. I had precooked much of our dinner, and simply had to reheat the turkey, bake the sweet potato, mash the potatoes, cook a pot of Stove-Top stuffing, and open a jar of gravy. It wasn’t gourmet, but was completely and totally delicious for the two of us and our socially distanced Thanksgiving dinner.

On our first day in camp I discovered the tsunami evacuation trail. The path is narrow with signs leading to an area high on a heavily timbered hill behind the campground where people are instructed to assemble if the tsunami warning horns go off. It would do no good to attempt to drive out of the campground in that situation since most of the highway is in the tsunami zone.

It was a lovely little trail, with moist moss, and lots of mushrooms in the duff under the trees.

On this beautiful morning it was a perfect time to share the trail with Mo. Mattie loved the trail and we enjoyed walking in a place where there were no dogs or people around. Mattie gets so excited when she sees other dogs and always wants to “play”. That entails lots of energy and training time, trying to get her to sit and calm down. Walking around the campground can be challenging sometimes when all I want is a nice simple walk. The trail was perfect for that.

It was surprising how full the campground was on this holiday weekend. By the time Thursday rolled around, all sites were full and everyone seemed to be having a great time celebrating. We even saw an outdoor TV broadcasting a football game.

After our early afternoon dinner we went for another great beach walk, and were amazed that the weather was so perfect. There was very little wind and the temps must have been in the 50’s. Beautiful day.

Home again to the MoHo where after many years of hearing about it, I actually figured out how to cast the phone to the TV with the included app on my Samsung phone. We turned on Netflix on the phone, and with our unlimited Verizon plan we were able to watch movies and even live television on the big TV with the right apps. My daughter Deanna told me about this capability a long time ago, but I never managed to figure it out until this trip. On a chilly evening having some TV was great entertainment. The Verizon signal in the park was perfectly adequate to stream a movie.

Bullard’s Beach State Park has some beautiful picnic areas

On Friday morning we took our time with a lazy breakfast, a little bit of news, and some reading time before packing up. Checkout time wasn’t until 1PM, and we only had a little over two hours to travel along the coast south toward Brookings and Harris Beach State Park. I didn’t make a reservation for Harris Beach, thinking that winter on the coast would be open without a problem. We planned to arrive around 2 in plenty of time to snag an open site before evening. Things have changed in the camping world! When we arrived the park was completely full except for one site, the only ADA site in the park, number 37 in the B loop.

I must say I was grateful for once to have my little blue disability card to hang from our windshield. We settled in to enjoy our last evening on the beach and Mo built a nice big campfire. Only problem with the campfire is that the ADA site has a very tall metal fire ring, I suppose so that it is safer. It took a very long time to get that metal warm and I spent campfire time in LOTS of clothes and blankets trying to warm up.

One of our favorite holiday treats are the wonderful lights at Azalea Park in Brookings. We knew that this year the big light show wasn’t happening, but the city of Brookings was attempting to do something at least and made arrangements for businesses that usually displayed their lights at Azalea Park to put lights up on both sides of Highway 101 and down into Harbor. We hopped into the Tracker at dusk to go check out the show. I must say that it was a bit of a bust. There were a few nice lights near Fred Meyer, but the rest of them were scattered along the road with lots of space in between displays. Oh well, at least they tried. We heard the next morning that someone had stolen one of the big displays on the very first night of the show, the 4 piece Dragon. So sad. Maybe that is why so many businesses chose not to display their lights in the unprotected lots along the highway. Eventually the dragon was recovered.

Here is a photo of the dragon from the park show last year

The next day we didn’t have to check out until 1PM and with no rush to get back home we enjoyed every last minute of park time. I took Mattie around the campground, and walked out toward the overlook that has such a beautiful view of Harris Beach. I felt no need to climb down to the water.

There were so many people on the beach I was amazed. More people and dogs running around on Harris Beach than we have ever seen even in summer. I guess as many people have said, RVing is the great COVID escape and everyone and their dog or dogs is on the road and filling up the campgrounds.

We left in brilliant sunshine, driving as far as Cave Junction about 30 miles west of Grants Pass before we encountered the fog. Grants Pass is often foggy in winter, sometimes without any lifting in the afternoon. This was one of those days. I always say, if we must have fog, we might as well have it at the beach. It was nice to get home to our cozy house, the steamy hot tub, and TV without having to figure out the casting thing. It was a great four days of ocean time, and a perfect way to handle a quiet Thanksgiving for just the two of us.

12-08-2020 Writing About November

It seems that as we travel through almost a year of COVID-19 life, I am lucky to get in one blog post a month. It isn’t as if I don’t have time. It has to do with inspiration. Every day runs into the next, bleeds over from the previous day, moves slowly through time only to completely disappear into one long running sentence.

I realized a few days ago that I hadn’t even processed the photos that I took throughout the month to mark the changing of the seasons. The leaves remained on our huge old oaks long into November, and now in early December there are still some clinging to the branches. Sitting in the hot tub in the dark, we see one or two flutter down, illuminated by the nearby Christmas lights. They look ever so much like lighted butterflies. The next morning there are more on the ground, slowly littering the work that Mo completed the previous day.

Mo seems to be the one doing almost all the raking this year. I have managed a bit here and there, and we travel together to the compost facility to empty the trailer, but raking times for me have been rare. I try to make up for her extra effort with house chores but it isn’t much of a trade in my opinion. Leaf raking really needs to be a two person operation.

Early in the month we needed to make a quick trip to Portland to meet with the new neuromuscular specialist at Oregon Health Sciences University who will be taking over my case. We are lucky that Mo’s brother Dan and his wife Chere live in the Portland area and are kind enough to let us stay at their home. We arrived in time for dinner, which I provided as a way of saying thank you and spent a great evening visiting and laughing together. My visit at 8am the next morning went smoothly and the drive through morning traffic in downtown Portland wasn’t difficult.

In mid November, restaurants in Oregon were still open for inside dining with social distancing. We decided to take a chance and made our annual trek to Applebee’s to enjoy Mo’s free dinner for veterans. We wore masks, as did everyone else entering the restaurant, and the servers were all masked as well. There were plexiglass barriers between booths and every other table was unoccupied. I was a bit nervous at first, but it seemed safe enough. We had a simple meal and enjoyed it thoroughly. We don’t eat out all that often, but when we can’t, I notice how much I miss that small bit of entertainment. It was a good day.

The weather was till nice enough mid month that we were able to plant the tree that the girls and I bought to mark my son’s passing last year. We chose a beautiful sweet gum tree will honor his life. Deborah and Matthew were here to help Mo and I dig the hole and set the tree, but with COVID rampant in Oregon and Washington Deanna and Melody decided that they would stay home and stay safe.

(The funny part about this part of the story is that we actually planted the tree in late October and I somehow lost track of the day and the photos until now)

We originally planned a small Thanksgiving dinner celebration at daughter Melody and Robert’s new home, looking forward to her turn to host the big family dinner. Then COVID reared it’s ugly head in a more personal way, with Robert required to travel by plane to Texas for his work two weeks prior to the holiday. All plans were put on hold. There wasn’t time for Robert and Melody to quarantine before Thanksgiving Day.

Mattie LOVES Robert and Melody and LOVES being at their home

Mattie has learned to be calm around the cats and they do great together

Instead, we made hasty plans for an early celebration on a Saturday before Robert left. Mo and I drove the MoHo to Brownsville, where the city administrator was kind enough to let us park overnight in the city recreation parking lot, right in front of the “no overnight parking” sign. Deborah came, but her son Matthew couldn’t make it at the last minute, so we had a lovely turkey dinner with just the five of us. Melody, Robert, Deborah, Mo and me. We enjoyed all the yummy traditional foods with an extra dose of sweetness because we knew we were lucky to have even this small celebration.

Wonderful table with Melody’s Spode China

We got a lot of laughs getting this photo is the big dining room mirror

Melody and Deborah enjoying the front porch on Sunday morning

Deb stayed in Melody’s guest room, and Mo and I returned to the MoHo where a sheriff was waiting for us in the pouring rain. Somehow he hadn’t received the message that we were approved to stay there. It was a little bit of a touchy moment, but he smiled and said all was good and we could stay. The pouring rain kept us company throughout the night. The next morning Mo and I joined everyone for a wonderful breakfast and some more visiting time before we returned home to Grants Pass.

Once home again, we returned to our daily schedule of raking and hauling leaves, and Matthew and I started the annual Christmas lighting project. This year we opted for replacing our white icicle incandescent lights with old fashioned looking lights, modernized with LEDs. We replaced 13 strings of hundreds of lights with 8 strings of LED’s and according to the packaging, our power output was about 10 percent of what it had been in previous years. It is a good investment and will help considerably on the power bill.

LED Christmas Lights 2020

Christmas Lights from 2018

I also decided to put up the Christmas Village even before Thanksgiving Day. Usually it doesn’t go up until early December. Deborah stopped by for one of her Sunday visits at just the right moment, and was a great help with unpackaging and placing all the little “stuff” that makes the village so charming.

It started with just the village, but within a few days the house was filled with all our Christmas decor and the outside was sparkling with lights on all sides of the house. It makes for a bit of cheeriness during the darkest time of year, both literally and figuratively. I love Christmas lights and decorations, and it matters not that there will be no visitors this year, once again, COVID is keeping our family celebrations to a minimum.

Mo and I decided that rather than sit home for Thanksgiving, we would pack up ourselves, the dog, and our Thanksgiving dinner and head for the Coast. We made reservations at Bandon, where the choices were slim. There are three loops at Bullard’s Beach State Park, and 2 are closed for the season. We were lucky to get a spot on the inside of the loop, something we usually avoid.

It was a great way to spend a few the holiday isolated in our MoHo Next post will tell the story.

10-31-2020 A Colorful Halloween

Remember to click on the photos for a larger version.

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine. It was especially sweet when I lived in Klamath Falls very close to the historic neighborhood on Pacific Terrace. Every year throngs of people from all over the city would flock to the wide parkway lined with decorated historic homes. We would get trick or treaters at our house, but the most fun was going with kids and family on “the terrace” to people watch and see all the kids and eat popcorn from the house with the outdoor popcorn machine and watch movies projected on garage walls. It was a great time for me and for my grandkids who later grew up in that house on The Terrace.

Halloween on Pacific Terrace in Klamath Falls

Here at Sunset House, we live on a somewhat narrow rural road, with very few children around us. Most folks in our open neighborhood are older, and many are retired. We also have no sidewalks, and in the three years that we have lived in Sunset House we have never had a single Trick-or-Treater come to our door. Most years I do a lot of decorating, both indoors and out. Somehow this year I just couldn’t get in the mood. I put up some “fall” decorations, lights and pumpkins, but left the Halloween stuff I have collected over the years in the big orange bins that I store in the mezzanine in the RV shed. Ah, well…what can I say. This year has been so demanding in so many ways and so mentally exhausting.

Still, yesterday I felt like Mo and I needed something to add a bit of cheer and variety to our days. How about a picnic?! On the previous day and on many others I pass our beautiful Riverside Park on the way to various errands. I often think, “Why don’t we take Mattie walking in the park more often?” Even from the car the brilliant colors of all the beautiful mature trees in the lovely park caught my eye. Time for a picnic and a walk along the river.

We planned to go on Saturday afternoon at 3. The time was rather specific because from my previous day passing the park I could see that the colors were most brilliant in the late afternoon light. Before 3 was too flat and after 4 the light would be too low in the sky to illuminate the leaves. I packed an egg salad sandwich picnic (our traditional picnic favorite for the last 18years) and we packed up the dog and drove the 2 miles from our home to the park.

I also wanted Mo to see the brilliant color of all the street trees that line both main streets of downtown Grants Pass. Sixth and Seventh Streets are one way thoroughfares that link the southern and northern parts of the city and the color right now is gorgeous. I am more often the errand runner in town, and knew that Mo probably hadn’t had an opportunity to see the town street trees.

As we approached the park, I suggested that we drive the town streets before going to the park. I had seen on the news that Grants Pass was due for a truck parade, said to begin at 3:30 pm, and I thought it might be smart to drive through town before the hoop-la began. Oops.

Turning north past the park on 7th street, we were suddenly right in the midst of the big truck parade. You all know which ones I mean, but I am not going to talk about that part. Neither of us would have chosen on purpose to get caught in the middle of this parade, but somehow there we were.

My liberal friends will be aghast and my conservative friends will cheer, but we actually got a big kick out of the whole thing. It was loud and the trucks did spew a lot of diesel, but in general most drivers were polite, and were simply excited by their cause. I saw no guns, although many of the trucks did have gun bumper stickers. I was thrilled to see that there was not a single confederate flag anywhere. I would have never chosen to participate in this parade, but simply wanted to see the downtown trees. I will be glad when all this is over, to say the least.

I thought about how parade deprived we are in this stupid COVID year. Grants Pass usually has at least half a dozen parades and many amazing events throughout the year that have all been cancelled. I love parades and I found myself laughing out loud.

Then the best part came as we approached the main business section where we discovered throngs of kids and families trick-or-treating along the sidewalks. Business owners (the ones that are still open) were passing out safe treats in safe ways to the kids.

It was so encouraging to see them having fun in their costumes as they walked along the streets. It was a great alternative to door to door trick-or-treating that has been discouraged in Grants Pass this year.

It was a gorgeous, blue sky day with temperatures around 70 degrees, much warmer than the icy Halloween nights my kids grew up with in Idaho and even on Pacific Terrace. The street trees in town were amazing. Many of them much taller than I ever noticed in their summer green cloaks.

When we got to the park, all was quiet, as most of the big flag draped trucks were continuing around the city loop. We parked and then walked along the river to find a perfect picnic table with a view for our late lunch/early supper.

Riverside Park is truly a treasure, and the mighty Rogue River was deceptively quiet on this lovely fall day. We thought once again that someday we might launch at the park and try this quiet part of the river in our kayaks.

Whomever is responsible for this beautiful city park should be commended. The plantings are wonderful, and among the big giants there are new plantings to take over when needed.

There were several varieties of oaks, maples, and sweet gums in addition to some beautiful old redwoods, pines, and firs. The expansive lawns allow for lots of play area and the playground for the kids now has a new spray park that was added this year. The ducks, geese, and pigeons were as happy as ever to hang around the picnic areas hoping for treats.

Mattie was thrilled with the entire day, especially the parade part. She sat in the middle of the Tracker console watching everything intently. She never barked, but she was very excited about the whole thing.

Of course, kids and ducks in the park were exciting to her as well, and she loved every minute. It was a surprisingly lovely afternoon and left both of us in a happy place.