Hippie Heaven

When you step into Eugene, Oregon, you step into another world. Not in a geographic or ecological sense, but in a Rocky Horror Picture Show sense. No transvestites, but please, “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.” You are immediately back in the 60’s. As one who came of age in the late 60’s, this is great. It has a very laid-back look.

Eric and I spent 3 days in Eugene so we could see our niece, Julie, and her 3 men. As always, I got pictures of everyone but her husband, Adam. Believe me, he is a good-looking guy. I’m not sure how he is missed by the camera. We went to bookstores and the library, before having this lunch with Julie and Torin, her youngest. He is a high energy cutie. Eric was gob-smacked by him. That’s good because he has a bit too much energy for me, I need to observe him from afar. They played and Eric read books to him.

Palmer and I cooked breakfast one morning. Actually, Palmer cooked it. I just helped. He has a very precise and unique way of cooking. He explains every step and poses to make sure I get a good picture. I’ve never seen anyone crack an egg with a fork. That must be something learned in this house. He made his world renowned French Toast. It was very good. He puts cinnamon in it and usually adds vanilla, but there was none that day.

Later in the day, he and Julie worked an experiment. Julie’s patience is amazing. Wow. Wow. Wow. She was fantastic. Not just patient. She let Palmer do everything. The experiment was to purify old coffee to make clean water through evaporation and condensation. Palmer set everything up, Julie just helped when needed. She let him strike the match to light the little alcohol burner. He was no more successful at that than I would have been at his age if I had been allowed to light a match. But he did everything else, including lighting the burner. Bravo, Julie, I know he will appreciate this when he looks back on what helped him to become a great scientist.

All-in-all, we enjoyed our trip back to the future. The boys are happy, Julie is doing well at University of Oregon, and Adam works hard. As I love to say when chatting to my friends, LIG. Life is Good, especially in Oregon.

A Day of Pampering

Karen and Peter had treated me to a massage as my birthday present last August. It took me until June to finally get the massage. Karen joined me on the Wednesday before our departure. We had body scrubs, wraps, massages and facials. Not all of those, but we each had some. My masseuse must have hated me. She used her little medgley knuckles over every inch of my body. I hurt for days after.

Then we had lunch at the Claremont’s fancy restaurant. The room overlooks the San Francisco Bay. Here is Karen after her facial and wrap, being a little silly because I didn’t want to take a posed picture. The picture of the bay does not show the bay. I’m sure I’m not doing something right when taking these pictures because the view was stunning.

The reception for Eric’s first marriage was held in this hotel. Neither Eric nor Karen remembered that. You can imagine that neither, therefore, remembered where the wedding took place. Only one person probably remembers and it may be some time before I have an opportunity to ask her.

The next day, Eric and I drove north to Eugene to visit with our niece, Julie and her family. It’s a beautiful drive. We passed Mount Shasta. It looked so pretty for so long. Then when we got to the spot where you can take pictures, clouds decided to shroud the peak. Next stop, Oregon

I Live

I have certainly been in the land of limited Internet access. I am now on the Alaskan Cruise segment of my journey. I have internet access at $.40 / minute. And it is slow. Am I spoiled? Yep. So I will write about all the books I've read, people I've seen, and places I've been as soon as I can get a more reliable Internet connection.

But let me say this: The Holland American Cruise Line is very comfortable. Lots of places to sit and look out at the beautiful scenery. A fantastic library. Food is okay and plentiful. I have quibbles about some of it, but on the main, it is varied and interesting. The spa is fabulous. I was wrapped and warmed then massaged without the knuckles the woman used at the Clairmont in Berkeley (more later.) We will see Juneau later today.

Cindy's brother is taking fantastic pictures. I'll put them on my laptop and share those. Take care, my friends.

Dinner at Eight, or Was that Five

Karen asked our niece and all the nephews over to the house for dinner on Sunday. We decided to cook a few appetizers and not have a dinner. That way it would be more casual.

We had no idea just how casual it was going to be. Tara came over early to help us cook. Our brilliant lawyer is totally unsure of her cooking ability. She is capable of doing anything she sets her mind to, but I like her company and enjoyed the time cooking together so we can pretend that cooking is hard.

The menu we selected was huge. Look, 12 items. What were we thinking?

• Proscuitto Wraps (I failed wrapping proscuitto around arugula, gruyere and apple. Gabriella took over and they were beautiful.)
• White Bean and Aritchoke Dip (Tara and Karen made this)
• Roquefort Dip (Tara and Karen made this, too. Late add and the easiest thing of the evening.)
• Cheddar - Cayenne Coins (I made these. Karen said they were too salty, but I liked them. The Cayenne was good.)
• Crudities - (Tara helped with the prep on these vegetables.)
• Savory Palmiers - (Tara made these. They use puff pastry. If you can cook with puff pastry, you can do anything, right?)
• Mini-Clafoutis - (like little quiches. You could add any herbs, cheeses or stuff to the batter when it's in the pan. We added MANY different things, thereby complicating this menu even more. But they were all good.)
• Stuffed Mushrooms - (Karen and Tara made this. Stuffed with pancetta and sage. I was so happy everyone doesn't eat mushrooms so I could snag one of these.)
• Tri-color Polenta Cups - (what a fiasco. Trina got stuck with cutting up the sheet of polenta. Not worth all that effort, and we have a ton left.)
• Chicken Satays - (Great. Karen made the peanut butter dipping sauce and broiled these at the last minute. That was the 7:00 finale.)
• Spicy Mediterranean Meatballs - (lots of interesting spices in a tomato/vinegar sauce. Good.)
• Bite-sized Ginger Cupcakes - (wonderful ginger flavor. They went well with the lemon ice.)
• Lemon Ice - (Fabulous)

Then Karen had invited half the people for 5:00 and the other half for 6:00. It didn't matter, because we were cooking until 7:00. Everyone ate as it came out of the oven. These are a great group of people. It didn't matter and all the women helped. We had a lot of fun talking and tasting. I'd emptied my wine cooler when I left Pasadena. We drank some of it with dinner. They were kind enough to leave one bottle for us to consume later in the week.

Peter, on the left of the picture above, made the best lemon ice with Karen's new ice cream maker. Gabriella is a wonderful woman who is dating my nephew, Chris. They make a great couple.

Eric has been going for walks every day. We almost killed him yesterday. He went for a long walk and then we sent him out to get cake flour for the mini-cupcakes. Today he checked if we needed anything before going for his walk. He bought a puzzle. Karen finally settled down long enough to help work it with him. She is the movingest person I know. The puzzle should be done tonight.