Greetings Friends,
Another year full of visitors and flowers, a few trips, a rich life. Here are a few tidbits in images as well as words.
During a February snow, we got to see the back yard in an unusual light.
U-wood back yard in February
Also in February, we spent time in Ashland, Oregon, almost but not quite defeated by the city’s hills. We stayed in a boutique hotel in a room with a bed so high that June needed a stepstool to climb in and out. We attended a silly play at the cabaret theatre and enjoyed being away from the Portland precipitation.
Boutique hotel in Ashland
In March, Mike and Kitty Oechler, June’s brother and sister-in-law, made the trek from their home in Pennsylvania to various parts of the west coast, starting with Portland and environs.
Mike and Kitty at the Barley Mill Pub
During their three-day visit, the Oechlers got to the Columbia Gorge with its waterfalls, snow, sleet, and rain, as well as to Pastini’s Restaurant, where Kitty introduced June to the pleasures of Riesling wines, and the Barley Mill Pub, where Mike got to taste further of Pacific Northwest brews. The easterners also left behind another critter for the U-wood collection; a stone cat joined the terra cotta slug, goat, pig, frog, and chicken that line our south walkway.
Stone Cat Lounges in the Sun
In early summer, June published her book about aging, Sculpting the Mist: Reports from Elderhood, 2019 – 2021. Groups of aging readers have used the book to discuss their own aging processes, and our friends may have learned more they wanted about how we navigated the pandemic. Sculpting the Mist is available in paperback on Amazon and in electronic form on multiple e-book sites, including Kindle. In November, a group of women made a pilgrimage to Monti’s Café (which is featured in the book), where June joined them for an spirited discussion about the book.
Sculpting the Mist: Reports from Elderhood 2019 – 2021
During the summer, we had a visit from Ruth Underwood Cannava and Marilyn Gottschall, Jerry’s cousin. Ruth, Jerry’s niece, took the photo below.
Jan, June, Jer, and Marilyn (on the right)
In August and again in October, we visited the Metolius River, on the east flank of the Cascade Range, staying at the Metolius River Lodges. Jan and Sam, our grandson, joined us there in October to help celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary.
Jan and Sam biked and hiked while we watched large numbers of salmon and trout, including bullnose trout, swimming, leaping for insects, and, in some cases, heading for their spawning grounds.
Jer, Jan, and Sam on a bench along a trail near the Metolius headwaters
Also in August, we took a quick trip to Dayville, Oregon, to meet friends: Barbara Littlefield, who was RVing from New Mexico, as well as Lia Vella, Bo O’Connor, and Maya, their daughter. We met Lia not quite 20 years ago when she was a ranger at the John Day Fossil Beds and June had an artist’s residency there.
Moon over “Davy’s Slide,” from the South John Day River near Dayville, Oregon
Our Christmas gift to one another this year was an art print, Let’s Make Our Own Clothes, by a new neighbor, Hibiki Miyazaki. You can see more of her work at http://www.hibikimiyazaki.com/. The print is now a focal point in our living room, talking nicely to prints by our long-time neighbor John Saling. His work can be seen at Twin Dragon Press http://www.twindragonpress.com/.
Let’s Make Our Own Clothes
The gardens used the rest of our time in 2023 (along with eating, drinking, sleeping, and reading).
Front yard: double daylily in June
Dogwood blossoms in May
Our front yard in September
We are remembering with great fondness many who are no longer with us, including as of this year June’s sister Mary, Jerry’s brother Mark, June’s favorite cousin Doris, and good friend for more than 60 years, Bette White.
John Saling’s The Moonlight Bear Christmas card from 2022 plus a persimmon from our persimmon tree
Happy holidays to one and all. – J & J