Why we love Oregon

One word...berries. Well, all fruit, and Oregon has an abundance. There are plenty of u-pick farms to indulge us since we love picking them almost as much as eating them. I swear there is some cereal beneath this pile.

As an aside, the vintage Vera placemat in this photo was a wedding gift 39 years ago next month. I hope I remembered to thank whoever gave them to us since we have definitely gotten some use out of them.

Another breakfast staple: home made waffles.

Of course, Bryan wouldn't let a chance to make a berryrita slip by.

Cheers.

Curstock 2009

We returned to the coast this past Saturday for the reunion of a rockin' group, Teddy and the Rough Riders. The band was a hit at the Pypo Club in Seaside, Oregon in the 60s and was an equal hit at the reunion. Several hundred fans, most about to turn the big 6-0, and their families and even grandchildren reunite annually for this excuse to eat, drink and boogie.

I checked for publicity for the early band. The Pypo Club was a stopping place for for several bands of the time, including The Kingsman but all I could locate for the band was this from the Seaside Signal:
Teddy and the Rough Riders played good, popular stuff, and all the guys in the band were from Seaside High School,” Ter Har said. “They were popular kids involved in athletics, just all-American band kind of guys; Tom Greenough, Mike Herrin, Ted Thompson and Dave McClure.” Wish I could have found a photo of these All-American guys.


Brother-in-Law David was the bass man and this year his son, Spencer, took his place in some of the songs. Here is Spencer going solo between sets.














And here is the band with Spencer
And with David


Here I play the groupie with David, the famous Tommy Rocker, formerly known as Tom Greenough, and Mike Heron on the keyboard, smiling for the fans.


Rock On!

Back to our Roots

This lovely photo was taken in front of the home where Bryan and his brother and sister were raised in Gearhart, Oregon, right on the beach. (Can you spot my photoshopping? You might need to click on the image to make it larger.)

We enjoyed a wonderful week-long stay in this home June 22-28, 2009. Not quite all of the cousins made it and two grandsons were unable to attend but this photo includes Charlotte and Del McClure's 3 children, 2 grandsons and a granddaugher and two great-grandsons. Also a niece and nephew and grand-nephew, assorted significant others/spouses and one very enthusiastic labradoodle puppy.

On Saturday this entire group went to the beach to spread Charlotte's ashes in the ocean where Del's ashes were consigned 25 years previously. Needless to say there was plenty of reminiscing and finding traces of the "old" house in original wall paper in the back of a closet and old yearbooks that were left behind by mistake. Also clamming every morning, spirited tennis, lots of wonderful food and drink, two birthdays and a wedding toast to Melissa and Tim.

Melissa brought her camera so I left mine behind. She is the professional, after all. Here are links to two of her blogs with photos from the week: On the Oregon Coast and Oregon Trip Wrap Up
Enjoy

Saturday in Beaverton

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer and a look out my kitchen window this morning shows how much the garden has greened up already. This gentlemen and his dog are tending 2 plots of corn.

Usually on a Saturday we wander around the Beaverton Farmers' Market and sample local treats, but this morning it was just too chilly to drink our coffee outside. Instead we wandered over to the Beaverton Bakery, which has been operating in this exact place since 1925. The building it inhabits was built by the family in 1887 and the movie theater next door was converted into offices and production space several years ago. Their pastries are always fresh and tempting.



























By the time we finished it had warmed up enough to return to the Market. As you can see it is cherry, strawberry and just beginning the raspberry season.

I love it when these locally made chocolate covered cherries appear. Samples, anyone?
And Bryan is fond of the Cherry Chipotle and Spicy Cherry Habañero (their spelling, not mine) jam.
Just to prove that we Portlanders are not all low-fat snacking granola munchers, along comes the ever-popular Fetzer's German Sausage. The line for this booth at breakfasttime is sometimes 20-strong. This is another original business that has been in Beaverton since 1978. According to their website, they have been using the same old world recipes in their Beaverton Deli that were created by Grandfather Fetzer in 1880.
There are always flowers at the market, of course. I was amused that these miniature colored calla lilies are similar to ones we get on the street corners in San Miguel. SMA residents will appreciate the sticker-shock of a $7US a bunch.

And finally, Peace out friends.

Got Berries?

One of the main reasons we love being in Oregon in the Spring is the joy of berry picking. This year the strawberry season started June 2nd at one of our favorite fruit farms, Baggenstos Farms; we were there at 9am. After several very hot days, today was slightly overcast with a hint of sprinkles so we were lucky.

Here we are with 5 pounds of strawberries, and that doesn't count whatever we ate while picking!
We have enough to eat and share until the next trip.

Happy as Clams

Of course I am talking about us, happy as clams clamming, not about the poor little clams. Bryan was raised on this stretch of beach and followed his mother out as soon as he could carry a shovel. This is fun for us.

For some reason the low tides for the best clamming usually occur on some dark and rainy early morning. That doesn't stop us. We used to use the traditional shovel method but last year we gave in and now use a "clam gun." This misnamed tool is a large pvc tube, closed at one end by a handle but with a small hole next to the handle. When you insert the gun near a likely clam "hole" and cover the small hole with your thumb, a vacuum causes the sand and, hopefully a clam, to be sucked from the sand.


Our haul: the limit is 15 razor clams per day on one license. Guess who doesn't dig clams?

Wednesday Weekly Walking

Photo by Jane of Sherwood Merry Walkers

Within a few days of our move to Oregon several years ago, our friends Anila and Nere invited us to join them in a weekly walking group. Anila is in the black jacket, two to the left of my orange jacket and Nere is over her right shoulder. Note that I am the only one wearing gloves, wimp that I am about cold weather.

This group is part of a larger organization, American Volkssport Association, which sponsors walking clubs throughout the US. Our Wednesday group is informal and the number of walkers varies each week, although the distance of the walk is always 10k, or about 6.2 miles. The reward is that we always end near some pleasant, not too expensive, restaurant for lunch.

We are not walkers by AVA standards. The majority of the conversations involve meeting the club challenges of walking in all the state capitals or towns that have bridges or rivers or museums or whatever. Since we aspire to none of the above and we just enjoy the walks, we chat about other things and get to see interesting parts of the Portland area on our way.

We should get these people to walk on the hills and cobblestones of San Miguel. Now that is a challenge!