DON’T SAY “Piece of Cake”!

July 10, 2021July 16, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 12 Comments

It’s a line from the RomCom Forget Paris about a couple who fall in love and then suffer a series of (eventually fatal) hardships—each time after they start something that looks like a “piece of cake” aka “easy.” That’s called tempting fate.

Gary believes in fate; I do not. Both of us are probably average in terms of superstition. We step on cracks. We laugh about Friday the 13th. But when we are beach-combing we have our superstitions. If Gary announces he’s going off to check out something a hundred feet or a hundred yards away, I will find glass. [Yeah, right, Gary walking away brings me luck finding glass.] It’s happened just often enough that we smile when it does.

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JULY 5th

July 5, 2021September 28, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 6 Comments

***Or perhaps the best part was this morning’s coyote tracks on the sand, the black oystercatcher pair, and Gary spotting the first hummingbird in our garden since April or May.***

Gary says the best part of the 4th of July was when it was over. I’d argue that the best part was at 5:30 yesterday morning during our walk. When we got home, we opened up the house—every window and skylight. Then, in early afternoon, when people started beach fires, we shut everything back up to avoid the smoke. If we’d had company, we likely would have gone out and built a small fire on the beach. Instead we watched two episodes of a British procedural, and ignored the booms as much as possible.

Good news: The booming didn’t start until dusk instead of trailing out across the entire weekend. The bad news: The explosions were too close and didn’t end until well after ten last night. Even the echo was horrific.

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“I Wave to Whirligigs”

June 30, 2021July 16, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 3 Comments

It’s been a wild, hot, and anxious month. On this last day of June, we walked north to the headland and then south to the creek. As we approached our southern goal, Gary pointed ahead. “There’s Tammy,” he said. “She’s waving.” He waved back.

“Where?” I said.

It turned out to be a whirligig he was waving at, and we both laughed. “Don’t tell Tammy,” Gary said. But you know I can’t keep a secret.

***Many pelicans fishing beyond the breakers.***

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NOT A BAD DOG

June 27, 2021June 27, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 13 Comments

My intention has been to post on days of the month that are multiples of five: fifth, tenth, fifteenth, etc. Today is not on my schedule. But this morning I had a distressing experience.

So first a beautiful photo, and then the rant, in case you are interested. No dogs were harmed . . .

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FOGGY FOGGY DO

June 25, 2021July 16, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 8 Comments

When our firstborn boys were tiny, a friend in a community just fifteen miles or so north of us used to call me every morning to ask if we had fog. I would look west to the roll of clouds lying on the horizon over the water and admit we didn’t. have fog Then, between puffs on her cigarette, she would complain about the fog. She lives in the high desert now where it gets hot in summers and icy and snowy in winter but is sunny nearly every day. If I lived there I would surely complain about the heat and cold, but that’s why I chose a climate I enjoy.

***This morning at the waterfall on Hug Point beach.***

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MORNING WALK

June 10, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 4 Comments

Every morning there is something to see.

What is this? They were all over the beach.

This one I know. We see one or more eagles every morning.

There is often a gull on the north edge of the old Hug Point road.

The ashes of my family are on that rock, in theory at least.

FINDING QUIET

June 5, 2021July 1, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 12 Comments

Here we are.

I finally upgraded my account and paid for service, but everything is weird, changed, and I might just call this done. I have no idea why blackish blocks appear on my editing screen below. Asking questions has not helped. And a “Happiness Engineer” reaches out to help—got to be kidding. I do not want my “free domain name” that I would then have to pay for next year. Everything suddenly works differently. Again.

I just wanted to post a couple of photos and write about how today is a day Gary acknowledges every year: June 5, 1969 he flunked his draft physical.

We took some stunning photos, but you will have to be content with a view of the Cape, a sand castle, and the back of a new sweater. This is nothing more here.

Most days we walk at least this far from home. (Yes, that is the moon in the upper left.)

Beach paths through the rocks and sand castles.

I remember building sand castles like this, using bits of driftwood and razor clam shells just like this. Sand dollars too.

The back of a new sweater I am knitting for myself, pinned out for blacking. The single-ply hand-dyed wool is from South Africa. The silk/mohair I am carrying along with it is from a Portland company. I already have the front cast on.

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NUMBER 5

April 10, 2021April 16, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 9 Comments

To put this into perspective: We have lived in our family house since 1979, and in that time I had found only three glass floats before this week. We have many floats in the house because my family summered here since 1911, and my grandfather lived here year around since the mid-1940s. So most of the floats we have are not only very old, but old in their finding.

Gary has always been lucky about finding things. He has found floats the size of basketballs. But that was years ago he last brought home a float. Yet, twice he’s said, “Wow, you found that! I’m so glad it was you.”

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ON GIVING UP

April 6, 2021April 8, 2021 / janpriddyoregon / 10 Comments

We walked north all the way around Hug Point and into the next beach last week. All the wave-swept stone was coated in green, like matching jackets. I would have walked to Arcadia, another half mile, but we’d have had to come home on the highway and there are a couple of dangerous stretches I know too well from when I was running.