Stay-cation Rejuvenated
Well I just had a rather nice 4 day weekend. I have 30 vacation & sick days to use this year so I've been taking 1 or 2 days here and there. I took the first 2 days of Ezzys summer vacation off so we could go explore some Oregon things we hadn't done yet.
On Thursday we went to The Oregon Garden in Silverton, which is 80 acres of beautiful gardens. It was quite nice and peaceful, but we didn't see everything. We plan to go back on July 3rd because they're having fireworks there. Then starting July they are doing movies in the garden every Thursday night, so I really want to go to a few of those too. Bring a picnic with some wine. Es enjoyed it, and he enjoyed the quality time he spent with me alone since Chris was at work. it used to be just him and I doing everything on our own, exploring all of San Diego, because although I was with Will, he always worked nights and weekends, so I always went out and about just me and Es.
Anyways, after the Garden we drove in to Silverton, which is where I had lived when I lived here with my grandparents before. I wanted to see the town and try to remember things I had forgot, and look at it with a new set of eyes as an adult. It's really a charming and quiet town. Only 10 thousand people live there. Adorable houses. Homes were unafforadable here, because I checked while I was house searching last year, and after driving through it I could see why the place is more expensive to live. It is quite charming and quiet and adorable.
We stopped at Silvteron Park, which has a creek run through it, so we got out and explored the creek. There were kids swimming in there since it was a warm day. I remember only 2 occasions when my grandparents took my sister and I there on really hot days to let us splash around in the creek... Maybe later this summer I will take Es to do that too. The way it's nestled on the side of the park hidden from view, it's really a peaceful place to just sit and think. Here are some of the photos from it-
So after the creek we went back into Salem and stopped at the Capitol, which is really like a park/Capitol. The grounds are beautiful, there are fountains, trees, benches, rose bushes everywhere, and a WWII memorial. We walked around and Es spent a few minutes running through the fountain with the other kids. We stopped and sat in the grass for a while enjoying the perfect weather and sunshine and our view before meandering over to the Wild Pear, which is one of my favorite restuarants here because of the quality of food and because they use organic ingredients.
When we finally got home at 7 he went off to his friends house and I spent the evening reading, and then dancing by myself to music, until I got tired of the fast melodies and switched over to Classical as a soundtrack to my reading.
Friday Chris I did errands in the morning then he went to work so me, Ezzy and my mom went bowling. It was pretty fun. We played 2 games, and I won both. Es was a sour loser because he hates losing at anything, so I told him to stop being ridiculous. Then took my mom home cause she had a date later that night. So I spent the rest of the evening reading and finished my library book.
Saturday went to the Farners Market (I LOVE our farmers market) to pick up some produce, spent some time in the garden with Es, pointing out all the new things that are growing now that its hot. Once Chris got home we went blueberry picking at an organic farm that is just 6 miles away from us.
We got 15 lbs of delicilous blueberries for eating and freezing. Blueberry season goes well into the late summer, so we are going to get some later too specifically for jam making.
Hopefully Chris is off 1 weekend day because I want to go raspberry & cherry picking at another farm this weekend. They have just come ready for picking and I want to go before they are all gone.
Newho, the farm was beautiful. We hadn't been to this one yet and were surprised how close it is to our house, in an area of Salem we didn't even knew existed. When we got home we cleaned and froze the berries, then read until it got too late to read anymore and both our eyes were tired.
Es had been at his friends house down the street all evening and he ended up staying the night there cause another friend was as well. They all played Halo late into the night, I am not sure how much sleep Es got cause even though he woke up at 10am, he was still tired and fell asleep early.
Anyhow, so Sunday we got fruit and crackers packed, got dressed then made a drive up to Portland to spend the day. We hadn't been to Portland since last year so we were overdue for a visit.
We went through the Japanese Garden then the Rose Garden, then we explored the block full of food trucks and tried out some food truck food, which I wasn't a fan of. Portland is so busy and dirty. Their downtown reminded me a lot of the dirty parts of San Diego's downtown, except without really tall buildings. Not sure if it was just because of the heat cooking trash, but it smelled like feces too along the sidewalks and too much trash litered the sidwalks and streets. After the food trucks we walked over to the world famouse "Powell's city of Books", and boy do I see why it's called the "city" of books. The place is enormous! Several levels and sections, it was almost maze like. But it was also so incredibly packed you were constantly dodging people, overhearing their conversations, and trying to find a comfortable place to stand once you grabbed a book you wanted to read the jacket of. I appreciate the fact that an actual book store with physical books is so incredibly popular in today's day and age, but it was just a bit much for me, too many people, too loud, and too bustling. I prefer my local library, which is about as big as Powell's anyways, but all three of us got some books anyways (cause how could we not?!).
After Powells we made it back to the car then drove abut 2 miles to Milo's Cafe to eat before heading back home. Chris' linguine was delicious, my chicken picatta was decent, but I have had better picattas.
By the end of the day one thing was very crystal clear to me. I HATE Portland. It is dirty, it sticks, there are too many people, and there is too much trash. I don't plan to go there again unless it is to a concert or to the Zoo.
I was thankful to leave and come back to my clean city, and my quiet street up the hill. It made me grateful again that out of all the places, I chose Salem.
I finished my 2nd library book as well early this morning. That makes 2 books finished within 4 days. The first book I read, Testimony by Anita Shreve, was a disappointment. I love Shreve's works, but I struggled through this one. I was comitted to finishing since it was a short read, and I was flying through the pages pretty quickly, so I finished it. But It just left no impression on me, and has got me rethinking my plan to read all her books cause I don't want another dud.
The 2nd book, The Story Sisters, by Alice Hoffman, was amazing. I loved that book by the 3rd page. The elements of mystical, the way she uses words, the way it so easily pulled me into their world and lives. It had it's heart break too, making me cry several times throughout the book, and it was hard to put down. On Saturday I read all the way till midnight, when usually I am going to sleep by 10:30.
I had also finally finished the Steig Larson book Girl Who Played with Fire (finally!!). It was entertaining, but overall predictabe, shallow, with the villians too overtly painted as evil charactures that were hard to believe. I am still undecided on weather I will read the 3rd book. If I do it will be for entertainment value only since it lacks the things that I usually get out of the books I enjoy.
So next in line is Andy Weir's The Martian, because the movie trailer looked so freakin amazing that it made me rush to get the book. There is a long wait for this book at my library so I bought it from Powell's yesterday. I also picked up Jeanette Winterson's The PowerBook, which I am looking forward to reading.
Anywho, that is it for now. I have so many pictures, so I'll post those sometime soon. Maybe today or tomorrow.
The garden is doing great. I've got yellow beans coming in!!! And they are getting big! i don't know much about harvesting beans, I'll have to watch some youtube videos, but I think I will be able to pick some by next week.
Also, we've got tons of potato plants... 10 at least. The first potato plant was planted by accident. We had thrown a shriveled up old organic potato at the very bottom layer on our 1st garden bed to compost, but it didn't compost, it started to grow. It has been growing since February, and since we needed that space now for summer crops we harvested it on Saturday and were blown away by what that 1 discarded shrivled potato spud gave us. I seriously could not even believe it when Chris kept pulling out bigger and bigger potatos. We easily got 5 lbs out of this.
Afterwards I made a potato, dill, carrot, celery soup, all from the garden, with chicken broth as the base, and it was the most delicous potato soup I have made so far. It was so good I couldn't stop eating it! Our celery is pretty damn good. It tastes like store bought celery but more fibrous and with a stronger scent and flavor.
Anywho here are are wonderful potatos!
On Thursday we went to The Oregon Garden in Silverton, which is 80 acres of beautiful gardens. It was quite nice and peaceful, but we didn't see everything. We plan to go back on July 3rd because they're having fireworks there. Then starting July they are doing movies in the garden every Thursday night, so I really want to go to a few of those too. Bring a picnic with some wine. Es enjoyed it, and he enjoyed the quality time he spent with me alone since Chris was at work. it used to be just him and I doing everything on our own, exploring all of San Diego, because although I was with Will, he always worked nights and weekends, so I always went out and about just me and Es.
Anyways, after the Garden we drove in to Silverton, which is where I had lived when I lived here with my grandparents before. I wanted to see the town and try to remember things I had forgot, and look at it with a new set of eyes as an adult. It's really a charming and quiet town. Only 10 thousand people live there. Adorable houses. Homes were unafforadable here, because I checked while I was house searching last year, and after driving through it I could see why the place is more expensive to live. It is quite charming and quiet and adorable.
We stopped at Silvteron Park, which has a creek run through it, so we got out and explored the creek. There were kids swimming in there since it was a warm day. I remember only 2 occasions when my grandparents took my sister and I there on really hot days to let us splash around in the creek... Maybe later this summer I will take Es to do that too. The way it's nestled on the side of the park hidden from view, it's really a peaceful place to just sit and think. Here are some of the photos from it-
So after the creek we went back into Salem and stopped at the Capitol, which is really like a park/Capitol. The grounds are beautiful, there are fountains, trees, benches, rose bushes everywhere, and a WWII memorial. We walked around and Es spent a few minutes running through the fountain with the other kids. We stopped and sat in the grass for a while enjoying the perfect weather and sunshine and our view before meandering over to the Wild Pear, which is one of my favorite restuarants here because of the quality of food and because they use organic ingredients.
When we finally got home at 7 he went off to his friends house and I spent the evening reading, and then dancing by myself to music, until I got tired of the fast melodies and switched over to Classical as a soundtrack to my reading.
Friday Chris I did errands in the morning then he went to work so me, Ezzy and my mom went bowling. It was pretty fun. We played 2 games, and I won both. Es was a sour loser because he hates losing at anything, so I told him to stop being ridiculous. Then took my mom home cause she had a date later that night. So I spent the rest of the evening reading and finished my library book.
Saturday went to the Farners Market (I LOVE our farmers market) to pick up some produce, spent some time in the garden with Es, pointing out all the new things that are growing now that its hot. Once Chris got home we went blueberry picking at an organic farm that is just 6 miles away from us.
We got 15 lbs of delicilous blueberries for eating and freezing. Blueberry season goes well into the late summer, so we are going to get some later too specifically for jam making.
Hopefully Chris is off 1 weekend day because I want to go raspberry & cherry picking at another farm this weekend. They have just come ready for picking and I want to go before they are all gone.
Newho, the farm was beautiful. We hadn't been to this one yet and were surprised how close it is to our house, in an area of Salem we didn't even knew existed. When we got home we cleaned and froze the berries, then read until it got too late to read anymore and both our eyes were tired.
Es had been at his friends house down the street all evening and he ended up staying the night there cause another friend was as well. They all played Halo late into the night, I am not sure how much sleep Es got cause even though he woke up at 10am, he was still tired and fell asleep early.
Anyhow, so Sunday we got fruit and crackers packed, got dressed then made a drive up to Portland to spend the day. We hadn't been to Portland since last year so we were overdue for a visit.
We went through the Japanese Garden then the Rose Garden, then we explored the block full of food trucks and tried out some food truck food, which I wasn't a fan of. Portland is so busy and dirty. Their downtown reminded me a lot of the dirty parts of San Diego's downtown, except without really tall buildings. Not sure if it was just because of the heat cooking trash, but it smelled like feces too along the sidewalks and too much trash litered the sidwalks and streets. After the food trucks we walked over to the world famouse "Powell's city of Books", and boy do I see why it's called the "city" of books. The place is enormous! Several levels and sections, it was almost maze like. But it was also so incredibly packed you were constantly dodging people, overhearing their conversations, and trying to find a comfortable place to stand once you grabbed a book you wanted to read the jacket of. I appreciate the fact that an actual book store with physical books is so incredibly popular in today's day and age, but it was just a bit much for me, too many people, too loud, and too bustling. I prefer my local library, which is about as big as Powell's anyways, but all three of us got some books anyways (cause how could we not?!).
After Powells we made it back to the car then drove abut 2 miles to Milo's Cafe to eat before heading back home. Chris' linguine was delicious, my chicken picatta was decent, but I have had better picattas.
By the end of the day one thing was very crystal clear to me. I HATE Portland. It is dirty, it sticks, there are too many people, and there is too much trash. I don't plan to go there again unless it is to a concert or to the Zoo.
I was thankful to leave and come back to my clean city, and my quiet street up the hill. It made me grateful again that out of all the places, I chose Salem.
I finished my 2nd library book as well early this morning. That makes 2 books finished within 4 days. The first book I read, Testimony by Anita Shreve, was a disappointment. I love Shreve's works, but I struggled through this one. I was comitted to finishing since it was a short read, and I was flying through the pages pretty quickly, so I finished it. But It just left no impression on me, and has got me rethinking my plan to read all her books cause I don't want another dud.
The 2nd book, The Story Sisters, by Alice Hoffman, was amazing. I loved that book by the 3rd page. The elements of mystical, the way she uses words, the way it so easily pulled me into their world and lives. It had it's heart break too, making me cry several times throughout the book, and it was hard to put down. On Saturday I read all the way till midnight, when usually I am going to sleep by 10:30.
I had also finally finished the Steig Larson book Girl Who Played with Fire (finally!!). It was entertaining, but overall predictabe, shallow, with the villians too overtly painted as evil charactures that were hard to believe. I am still undecided on weather I will read the 3rd book. If I do it will be for entertainment value only since it lacks the things that I usually get out of the books I enjoy.
So next in line is Andy Weir's The Martian, because the movie trailer looked so freakin amazing that it made me rush to get the book. There is a long wait for this book at my library so I bought it from Powell's yesterday. I also picked up Jeanette Winterson's The PowerBook, which I am looking forward to reading.
Anywho, that is it for now. I have so many pictures, so I'll post those sometime soon. Maybe today or tomorrow.
The garden is doing great. I've got yellow beans coming in!!! And they are getting big! i don't know much about harvesting beans, I'll have to watch some youtube videos, but I think I will be able to pick some by next week.
Also, we've got tons of potato plants... 10 at least. The first potato plant was planted by accident. We had thrown a shriveled up old organic potato at the very bottom layer on our 1st garden bed to compost, but it didn't compost, it started to grow. It has been growing since February, and since we needed that space now for summer crops we harvested it on Saturday and were blown away by what that 1 discarded shrivled potato spud gave us. I seriously could not even believe it when Chris kept pulling out bigger and bigger potatos. We easily got 5 lbs out of this.
Afterwards I made a potato, dill, carrot, celery soup, all from the garden, with chicken broth as the base, and it was the most delicous potato soup I have made so far. It was so good I couldn't stop eating it! Our celery is pretty damn good. It tastes like store bought celery but more fibrous and with a stronger scent and flavor.
Anywho here are are wonderful potatos!
