A Full-time Life

DECEMBER SKIES

 
Even though our recent  SKYWATCH FRIDAY  posts have been from other trips, we do still have skies to look at here at Fern Ridge Shores.  They're not the same Winter skies we thought we'd be looking at this month, but it is beautiful here in its own way -- and there's more than a glimmering of blue skies  -- now and ahead of us.    

    

          

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OUR CURRENT WINDOW ON THE WORLD!

 

(As always, click that blue link above to visit beautiful skies all around the world.  And click on any picture to enlarge.)

LIFE OF THE PARTY?? maybe not

    
The Oregon Lottery Commission has been running this huge ad campaign --  billboards every two yards it seems like  -- suggesting that gifts of scratch-off lottery tickets will make you the life of the party.

Am I the only one who thinks that a party where getting a scratch-off was the highlight of the evening would be the saddest Holiday get-together there ever was? 

I'll admit to not being a gambler at all, so maybe there's something I don't understand.  When I stop at the convenience store for milk and everybody else is buying a scratch-off ticket with their change, I'd rather buy the two- for-a-buck fake chocolate truffles off the counter display.  At least I have something to show for my money.  Even if it's just the extra inches on my hips.

 

(The pictures are from the OLC's webpage.)

 

 

COLD DAYS IN THE TINY KITCHEN

Puttering around in the tiny kitchen is a lot more fun when the weather is chilly and damp.  So this is definitely my year for kitchen puttering. 

We're cooking stews and casseroles -- the sorts of things that taste much better when it's gray out.   We haven't experienced this kind of weather (or this kind of food) much in recent years. 

And whether because  of the weather or because we're closer to family, I did more Christmas give-away cooking than I have for years.  It was fun looking up recipes for old favorites that we'd almost forgotten about.

But I had the most fun making a new (to me) recipe for English Toffee.  The recipe is on the Internet and I was directed to it through a visitor to this blog.  This lady:   HOOTIN' ANNI.    She visited here and sweetly left a comment inviting me over for a bite of candy.   Her blog was great to visit and virtual sharing was fun and certainly lower in calories, but I couldn't wait to try the real thing.  And didn't somebody say that calories at Christmas don't count?

This recipe was so easy to make and turned out great.  I haven't made candy in years and don't even own a candy thermometer any more -- it wasn't really at all necessary.

Here's the so easy recipe for what I am now calling:

BLOG TOFFEE

INGREDIENTS:

Equal amounts real butter and white sugar (I used one cup each). But I've made it twice now!

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.  I don't own a large baking sheet (because this is a tiny kitchen with a small oven).  So I lined two glass pie pans.

2. Combine butter, sugar and salt in large heavy-bottomed pan.  (I used my trusty cast-iron skillet!)  (Do NOT melt butter first). Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted.  Allow to come to a boil and cook until the entire  mixture becomes a dark amber color.  (If you own a candy thermometer the temperature is 285 degrees.)  But you don't need it because we all know what color toffee is supposed to be!  

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3. As soon as toffee reaches proper color (or temperature), pour it out onto the prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and let set for a couple of minutes to soften.  Then spread into a thin even layer.  Sprinkle almonds over and press in slightly.  (Put a plastic bag over your hand.)

4. Place in refrigerator and chill until set.  Break into irregular pieces; store in airtight container.  Or put on plates, wrap with plastic wrap and give some of it away quick before you eat it all.  If you are better organized than I am, your plates will have a holiday theme and the almonds will be more finely chopped.

Yummy stuff.  Thanks Anni!

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

  
From everyone at our house to everyone at yours.  Merry Christmas!

We have had this silly bean-bag Santa Claus ever since our first RV Christmas.  In a warm climate (where he could sit out on the porch), he brought just the right whimsical holiday note to our traveling home.  Most of the year, he lives under the bed, where we have quite a bit of storage.  I dug him out one evening a couple of weeks ago and, since he can't go outside here in Oregon, plopped him on the step between our "split-levels."  (The bed/bath is actually two steps above the living/kitchen in our tiny house.) 

When I got up the next morning, I found him on the chair -- apparently he was in "somebody's" way on the step.  So I left him there and started making breakfast.  When Bill sat down, I snapped this picture.  The kind of scary part is that neither of the two of them said a word when the camera flashed. 

Here's where we decided Santa could  sit for a couple of weeks -- until he goes back under the bed.  (He's up on top of the kitchen cabinets and opposite our "front" door.)

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Here are some Christmas pictures of the rest of our condo-on-wheels. 

 

       

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No decorations on the rear window, but you can see that morning's view, which is ever-changing.  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM FERN RIDGE SHORES.   

FAVORITE THINGS

   

Raindrops on roses.....

 
  

  

  

 

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And whiskers on kittens .....

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Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages (taped up, no strings),

These are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies ...

 

 

 

 

.... and crisp apple streudels

Doorbells and sleighbells and schnitzel with noodles. 

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.....

 

 

These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in (red dresses with blue apron sashes) ...

 
 

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes (well maybe not)

Silver white winters that melt into springs.

These are a few of my favorite things.

 

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad.

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Sound of Music.  "My Favorite Things", Rogers and Hammerstein

Rose:  in a yard at Fern Ridge Shores RV Park, November 2009

Kitten:  Jeff and Cyndi's house (Jeff's cat).  Sound of Music is Jeff's  favorite movie. 

Package:  Given by Andy and Denae to everybody at Thanksgiving time  (because they won't be here at Christmas) -- made us all think of this song

Apple streudel:  This past summer, our friends taught us how to make real apple streudel 

Geese:  On Bosque del Apache, New Mexico, Fall 2006

Plaid dress:  Our granddaughter Kelsey (all grown up and married now and living in South Carolina).  We missed her and Bradley at Thanksgiving and I remembered this picture, where she is helping me cook cranberries for Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago. 

RUBY TUESDAY MEME CLICK HERE: RUBY TUESDAY

MEMORIES OF SKY

We remember blue skies -- yes we do.  This is another memory from a New Mexico trip.  It is in the tiny town of Hatch, which is famous for growing peppers.  And that is what is drying on the roof of this shop.

The colors, the blue sky, the ristras and the hot peppers drying in the sun ....  everything about this memory just warms me up on a chilly morning.

FOR MORE SKYWATCH FRIDAY CLICK HERE

WINTER SOLSTICE IN OREGON

The first day of Winter  -- not a season in the Tropics this year and not exactly where we'd planned to be, but, really, Winter in Oregon ain't that bad!

True, it can be gray and damp, but where we are the white stuff pretty much stays out there in the distance looking beautiful.  No shoveling involved.

Our home is warm and on really rainy chilly days we have our own fireplace to curl up by -- or the welcoming rooms of family and friends to visit. 

Over-the-top Christmas lights are more fun in wet gray weather -- they seen kind of superfluous in warmer, tropical climates.  Here they feel just right!

Life is good no matter what State you're in.  Happy Winter Solstice.

CITY STREET SHOW

Street entertainers in downtown Portland, Oregon -- Saturday, December 5, 2009.  I'm not really sure if the guy on the right was part of the act or just a Portland character, but I loved his red outfit and the red highlights on the "marionettes."  

 

For more cheerful red pictures, click here: RUBY TUESDAY   (This is really a great season to enjoy this meme.  Thank you to Mary at Work of the Poet  for hosting it.)

 

REPORT FROM THE (no)LAKE *

* Click here to see seasonal pictures of Fern Ridge Lake 

In spite of the cold weather we've been having, the Canada geese here are not going anywhere this winter.   They fly over Fern Ridge Shores a couple of times a day, but their whole migration route seems to be from the water that is left in Fern Ridge Lake to these nearby fields -- and back again.  Perhaps they, like us, have some good reason for hanging around this year. 

This month it has been unseasonably cold for western Oregon, with temperatures in the low teens.  Of course it would have to happen this year, just to give us the full Oregon Experience.  It has been a long time since we've spent a winter here.  Our friends have been telling us for years that there is no reason we need to travel south because the weather has been mild here.  'Hmmm... and I always thought they were such trustworthy people!

We are staying quite warm and cozy.  Except that one of those extreme low temperature days happened last Sunday, the day we got back from our Portland trip.  We found our cozy little RV home not so cozy because we'd run out of propane while we were gone (having left the thermostat set on 40).  But nothing broke or leaked, so all was well -- although of course Bill had to go right back out to the propane store and I had to unpack wearing hat and gloves.  It really only took about an hour for the place to warm up.  Just long enough to make us appreciate warmth that we usually take for granted.

We have been just fine ever since then.  But I'm happy that the weather has warmed up a bit.  We're now back to more typical Oregon late Fall-early Winter weather -- gray and rainy, but temperatures in the mid-30s to upper 40s.  On those very cold days it was pretty hard to get motivated to do much of anything at all.    

 

 (I think that oddball goose in the front has wandered away from home to visit his wild cousins.)   

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY FAVORITES and FAVORITE PLACES (Flashback to another trip)

I posted a couple of these pictures for last week's Skywatch Friday, but I thought the whole thing deserved re-posting.  This original post  -- copied here -- explains more about the Acoma culture, as well as showing off the beautiful blue New Mexico skies.  We loved almost everything about New Mexico and this was one of our favorite places there.  We visited Sky City in October 2008.    SUNDAY FAVORITES is part of Cheri's blog and is meant to give bloggers a chance to re-post some old favorites.  Thank you Cheri.  And click here for Margot's Blot  JOYFULLY RETIRED .  She posts favorite places on Sundays.  

Sky City is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the country. Acoma people have lived in the Pueblo for almost 2,000 years.  It is the spiritual center for all of them and still the physical home for about 600, even though the village has no electricity or running water.  Other Acoma live in nearby villages, but return for special cultural occasions to celebrate their ancestral homes. 

Sky City is on the National Register of Historical Monuments, but it is owned and operated  by the Acoma People.  Like all of the Southwest Tribes, the Acoma trace their ancestry to nearby Chaco Canyon , a National Monument that we visited on an earlier trip.

Sky City has over 300 structures made of mud brick (adobe) and white sandstone.  The Acomas are a matriarchial society and mothers pass down the homes to their youngest daughter.  Here is a closer view of one of the homes.

 

 

  For defensive purposes, the Pueblo was built 370 feet above the desert floor, and untill 1959 was only accessed by hand cut trails. This picture was taken near the Museum and Visitor Center at its foot. It is an impressive sight looming above when you are standing on the desert below. 

We had a very good native Acoma tour guide, whose English name was Gary.  He gave us a good overview of the history of his people.  As always with Native American history, it was not something that is exactly easy to hear, but it is something that all of us should know about. 

  

The mesa in the distance is sacred to the Acoma people.  It was where they originally lived.  Their spoken history tells that once, when most of the people were on the valley floor, a terrible storm occured, washing out the only trail up the mesa.  There was no way to rebuild the trail.  A Grandmother and her grand-daughter were trapped on top, and rather than face a slow starvation, they jumped to their deaths. 

Prayer ladders are still used ceremonially, to access the Kivas (religious chambers).  The arrow near the top of this one serves to protect three Kivas that are located on this passage way through the village.

Because the Acoma still live in this village, it was a great opportunity to experience living history.  Acoma women are noted for their pottery and it was sold in the village and displayed in the museum.  Food was also for sale (homebaked bread and pies) and that is what we bought, because we don't know much about pottery, but we can always use a few good carbs.  

Here are a few more pictures from Sky City.  We really enjoyed our day; it was an enjoyable way to increase our knowledge and, hopefully, understanding of Southwest history.

To the right is a picture of one of the ovens the Acoma have used for centuries to bake bread.    The gentleman at left is pounding clay to prepare it for the women to use in making pottery.    

      
 

An Acoma family that has been living and working elsewhere and have now retired are building this new house on the edge of the pueblo, so that they can return to their ancestral home.  We were told that a lot of the residents go elsewere during the winter because of the zero to minus 20 degree weather. 

VIEWS FROM A DAM WALK

Views for Skywatch Friday taken from on top of Fern Ridge Dam, late November. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SKY SHOTS from all over the world.

This is the corner of Clear Lake and Alvadore Roads -- the corner where we turn to go to Cyndi and Jeff's home.  Still so beautiful in late Fall.  Below is just out onto the Lake, where you can hardly tell where the sky ends and the water begins.  There is a little bit more water on this side of the Lake than where we are.  But even on the Clear Lake side, the water is very shallow this time of year.

 

 

WATERY WEDNESDAY - PORTLAND AREA

Here's an extra showing of two pictures from our visit last week to Portland, especially for WATERY WEDNESDAY .  

Here is a link to the post telling more about these pictures and other outoor Portland places.  OUTDOOR PORTLAND - CLICK HERE

OUTDOOR PORTLAND

 Oregon's iconic Mt. Hood.  It's east of the City.  The wind felt like it was blowing straight off this beautiful snow! 

We took a little trip to the big city (Portland) last week.  About 100 miles from where we're staying, it is Oregon's biggest city.  We took full advantage of having our RoadTrek, which made it easy for us to move around.  We stayed in a different area of the City every one of our four nights and spent the days exploring around the part where we were. 

 
 
Float houses moored on the Willamette Slough. 

 
Sauvie Island, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, west of the City. 

Ocean-going vessels passed within yards of our window.  Here's another picture of a passing freighter -- you can see the corner of our RoadTrek Van right next to where I was standing.  Not as good a picture as the first one, but easy to see how close the channel is.

There isn't as much sea-going traffic as there used to be, because of the economy.  Sauvie Island is a farm community that is part of the Greater Portland area.  It was too late in the season to take advantage of the farm markets and too cold for many of the birds that we used to enjoy when we visited here.  But it was still a fascinating and different part of Portland -- a little bit of country within an urban area.

  

It was cold but dry the whole five days, so we were able to take some walks and get a lot of pictures.  We were happy to have our snug little van to jump back into after being outside though. 

 

These are pictures of a cold couple of evenings -- and one more of beautiful Mt. Hood. 

 

DECEMBER BERRY FIELD

We saw THIS field of dormant berry bushes along the roadside  somewhere near Portland, Oregon.  It was a beautiful early December day.  The next morning, the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees and there was no sun to be seen.  We were glad we stopped to snap a lot of pictures while it was still sunny.

 

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REVISITING SKY CITY NM

For  SKYWATCH FRIDAY this week we are revisiting Sky City New Mexico,one of our stops on last fall's road trip.   That was before I knew about Skywatch Friday, and it seems so appropriate that I decided to repost some pictures of it.  Here is the link to the original post about this fascinating and historical place.  It was a wonderful visit. SKY CITY NEW MEXICO  (click on the blue).

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Almost every place we've ever been in New Mexico is worth a second visit, and this  one certainly was.  The sky (in October) was really this blue and completely cloudless. 

GRATITUDE

Gratitude is having Thanksgiving dinner with family -- dinner that we didn't have to cook or clean up from afterwards!  All of the pleasure and none of the work. 

(Andy took the family portrait using the delayed setting.)