Category: Uncategorized

Brett and I are still feeling restless, and not ready in many ways to again take on the responsibilities that come along with settling down in one place. The biggest argument against us stopping our travels is still that there are too many places in the world we want to see and experience!

Below are some of the places we’ve talked about wanting to visit in just the last three weeks:

• Botswana photo safari (it’s too expensive really, but we still love talking about it).
• Capetown, South Africa
• Morocco
• Kenya (Brett has visited before but would like to go again – me too!)
• Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland (we’d also like to see Iceland, but it’s not as high on our list)
• The Benelux Countries (Belgium, Netherlands, & Luxemburg)
• Germany
• Austria
• Czech Republic
• The south of France
• Spain
• Northern Portugal
• Naples and Sicily – Brett has been to both, courtesy of the navy, and would love to return
• Greece (yet another place Brett has been before and we both want to visit)
• Ireland
• SE Asia: Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Singapore
• Australia (to ride The Ghan from Adelaide up to Darwin)
• The South Island of New Zealand
• Mexico
• Costa Rica and Panama
• Argentina (including Mendoza, Patagonia, and the Iguazu Falls this time)
• And, just because, a trans-Atlantic cruise on the QE2

Of course, we also want to continue to spend time in Japan with family, and we’d also like to visit some parts of China we haven’t seen yet.

This continues to be an ideal time in our lives to travel, and even with helping out YaYu for the next couple of years, if we’re careful it’s doable. And, we ask ourselves, with a wish list of destinations this long how can we possibly think we’d be happy settling down?

And yet . . . from the We Did Not See This One Coming files, our daughters let us know the other day that they would like it very much if we settled back on Kaua’i again. That was a surprise! While Southern California is still high on our list, we’d love to live in Hawai’i again but up to now hadn’t considered just the two of us going back. They’ve given us lots to think about there.

So, everything is still on the table, with good arguments on both sides. For now though, we feel our plans for after June will be a good compromise between the two . . . stay tuned!

After two frustrating months of being over budget while we were in the UK, we had a very good month in November and ended up with a daily spending average of $29.93! We had an overall daily spending average for our entire three months in the UK of $38.30, not where we hoped to be but not as bad as it could have been.

The main reason November was a less expensive month was that other than our quick trip to Bath and another over to Stratford-upon-Avon, we really didn’t go anywhere. We didn’t even get out that much in Blockley! While the gloomy weather was frankly depressing and kept us indoors much of the time, it also meant there were fewer chances for spending. Winding down our food shopping at the end of our stay helped to keep costs down as well. Our daily average was low enough that our (expensive) dinner at the village cafe, our travel day spending, and a quick trip to Trader Joe’s after we arrived in Portland didn’t take us over $30.

We’re sticking with our $35/day spending average in December. While food spending is going to be higher than usual this month it’s really our only expense other than gas for the minivan. Being very careful and sticking to our list is going to be key to not going over budget this month (we’ve done a good job of this so far). I’ve made a menu for when the girls are here, but they all still have big appetites and I hope everything I’ve planned will be enough for them without us having to overspend. We hope to be able to go out together once for dim sum, but a trip over to IKEA for some Swedish meatballs may be all we can afford (thankfully the girls love those meatballs).

Our Thanksgiving travel day turned out to be not so bad, although it was still a very l-o-n-g day and very, very tiring. However, we are back in Portland, rested (somewhat), and ready to turn our efforts toward getting ready for Christmas and the girls’ arrivals.

Our travel day did not start well though. When we got on to the platform at Moreton-in-Marsh there was an announcement that our train had been canceled! This was not good, but we got on the next train (which was late) with our heavy bags, crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. We changed at Oxford and got on another train which ended up arriving 10 minutes late into Reading. We had to literally run through the station there to catch the train to Gatwick, climbing on board less than 30 seconds before the doors closed. If we had missed that train our travel day would have turned out very differently than it did.

We arrived at Gatwick with less than two hours to check our bags, go through security and get to the gate, and there was a very, very long line at check-in (there were other flights besides ours going out). While we were waiting though we saw a sign announcing that upgrades for our flight were available. Brett and I made a quick command decision and a few minutes and a few hundred dollars later we had premium seats (Norwegian Air premium class is a sort of a blend between first class and premium economy). The upgrade meant we didn’t have to pay extra for our overweight luggage and also allowed us to go quickly through the premium security check line. We had just enough time to grab some coffee and food at Pret A Manger before heading to our gate. We had been warned we might not get any meals on board because of our last-minute upgrade (and apparently Norwegian won’t bring meals from economy up to premier) so we bought enough at Pret for two meals, just in case. The plane was boarding when we got down to the gate and the next thing we knew we were buckled in our seats and on our way.

Upgrading to Premium was the right decision and worth every penny, especially since if we hadn’t done it we would have most likely missed our flight and spent a LOT more for tickets on another flight. We had bigger seats with footrests, increased recline, and lots of legroom and along with a very smooth flight our 11-hour trip to San Francisco was very comfortable. We both slept for a long stretch in the middle of the flight which made the time onboard speed by, and while we didn’t arrive in San Francisco feeling refreshed and perky, we weren’t dragging either. They did have a meal for us – a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving (!!) – and we ate a couple of our Pret A Manger sandwiches for a later snack. The layover in San Francisco didn’t drag as much as we thought it would (we ate a third Pret sandwich there so didn’t buy anything in SF other than some coffee) and before we knew it we were on our way to Portland. Things got weird again though once we got to the car rental agency because there was no car for us in spite of having a reservation (there were no cars at all)! We were initially offered a pick-up truck instead – NO THANK YOU – but we stood our ground and ended up with a seven-passenger minivan at no extra cost. All’s well that ends well.

It’s December 1 and time to announce the winner of the Afternoon Tea giveaway as promised! Chosen out of 87 entries using a random name selector, the winner is:

HELEN! Come on down!

Congratulations! I will email you in the next day or so to get your mailing address and plan to have your package on its way by the middle of the week. I again want to thank everyone for all the fantastic travel tips you sent – I will be pulling them all together for a post later this month! I was very happy to learn a few new things I can use going forward!

This morning I am:

• Reading: Because of the packing we had to do, and a general case of pre-travel nerves toward the end of our stay in England, I found I couldn’t concentrate on all the names and places in The Guns of August, so I downloaded Stephen King’s The Shining because I knew it would keep my attention. I finished it last night because once again I was scared enough that I couldn’t put it down (I read it when it first came out and stayed up all night to finish because I was so scared). I’ll get back to The Guns of August later today, after we’re settled in our long-term rental.
• Listening to: Brett’s getting his breakfast ready in the kitchen, and the heater is blowing overhead but otherwise, it’s very, very quiet here. The heater has been on constantly since we checked in on Thursday night because it is COLD outside, below freezing last night. This rental has been very quiet and comfortable overall as we have worked through the jet lag and a crazy sleeping schedule, but we’re looking forward to getting into our long-term rental later today.
• Watching: We haven’t been watching anything the past few days because there’s no TV here! I didn’t watch anything on the plane either, a first for me; the flight was smooth enough that I could read instead. We’ll get reacquainted with American television once we get to our new place.

  

• Cooking: For now all I’m planning to fix this week is Thai red curry chicken with sweet-sour coleslaw; chili rellenos with avocado; tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches; and breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, and fruit). We picked up a few things from Trader Joe’s on Friday and are going back again this morning to do a bigger shop before we move over to the rental, but it’s a little hard to know what to get because I don’t know yet what cookware or utensils there will be in the kitchen there (Are there baking pans? Casserole dishes?). Brett and I will be sticking with low/no-carb eating once again during our Portland stay (it’s back to cauliflower rice for me!). Shopping trips to Costco and Winco will be next week to get ready for the girls and their appetites, and then we’ll hit the Asian markets with them when they’re all here.
• Happy I accomplished: A successful travel day is always an accomplishment, but with trains being canceled or late, making it in time to catch our flight felt like a miracle because of so many things going wrong when we started out.
• Thinking of good things that happened: We came out ahead getting the minivan for our car rental – we now have more than enough room to carry everyone around and Meiling’s boyfriend as well when he’s with us for a couple of days. I can be very assertive when I need to be – Brett says I scared him a bit at the rental agency because I wouldn’t back down LOL.

  

• Thinking of frugal things we did: We had a fairly low-cost travel day as those things go, spending only $71 for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffees (which is pretty low for airport spending, all things considered – everything in an airport is expensive, no matter where you are in the world). We still had two pieces of cake leftover when we arrived in Portland which Brett ate for breakfast on Friday morning before we could get to the store (I ate the free Kind bar we got on the Alaska flight up to Portland). Paying for upgraded seats cost extra but still less than we expected, and the upgrade covered our overweight luggage. We also ended the month under our daily spending average!
• Grateful for: Brett and I were especially thankful to make our flight because if not we would have had to book with another airline at the last minute which would have been beyond expensive in so many ways. We are grateful we had the funds to cover the upgraded seats, although our travel fund is now practically at zero. All of our upcoming flights are covered until the end of next May though, which gives us a few months to build up the fund again.
• Bonus shoutout: I want to give Norwegian Air a huge shoutout for their service. First, flying Norwegian almost always costs half or less than half of what legacy airlines charge for the same route. This was the second time we’ve flown with them back from London Gatwick and once again we had a very good travel experience for a very reasonable price. The service is superb and the cabin crew top-notch (they hire from throughout Europe). If you’re taking a long-haul flight to Europe and back I can’t recommend Norwegian enough for both price and service. They are a low-cost carrier (LCC), so have tough weight limits for baggage, but if you’re traveling with only a carry-on the low fare ticket prices are amazingly low (they charge for everything extra though). The Low-Fare Flex option in coach is the way to go if there’s a bag to check, and with this fare, upgrades are sometimes possible for exit row seating (more legroom), and meals are included in the price of the ticket. However, based on last week’s experience, paying a bit more for Premium seats for longer (7+ hour) flights is well worth it. Norwegian Air only operates out of a few airports in the U.S. on a somewhat limited schedule, but most of these flights use the 787 Dreamliner. The 787 is quieter, the air is humidified, the lighting more subtle, there are bigger windows with dimmers instead of a shade, more bathrooms, and more overhead luggage space too, all of which make for a much more comfortable flight.

The past couple of days in Portland have been cold but clear and sunny, a much-needed respite from the gloom we experienced our last three weeks in England. Those weeks were a very hard time for me, and I could feel myself slipping deeper and deeper into seasonal depression, not wanting to get dressed or do much of anything. I actually had a few days in a row where I stayed in my pajamas on the sofa and wasn’t able to muster the enthusiasm to do much of anything, not a good sign. Thank goodness we had the packing and such to do, but I’m not sure how things might have turned out otherwise as much as I loved our little village and being in England. Weather is going to be a key factor whenever and wherever we end up settling down. I can take the gloom for short periods of time, but extended periods of gray skies and incessant rain have a very negative effect on my well-being these days.

It’s a cliche to say so, but I honestly can’t believe 2019 is almost finished. It’s been another great year for us, and we have much to look forward to next year as well. In the meantime, we still have plenty to do before the year ends and our girls will be here before we know it. So, here’s to a great week and a great month coming up!

We’ve had another week of weather extremes, from bright sunny days to rain and wind. The only constant has been the cold. Because of the nicer days, we were able to check another couple of things off our list, including fish and chips from a neighborhood chippie in Moreton-in-Marsh on Monday to a wonderful visit to Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday to a long walk in Blockley yesterday. The rest of the week we spent indoors bundled up and with the fire going, trying to stay warm!

Monday was Armistice or Remembrance Day in the UK, although unlike our Veterans and Memorial Day, it was not a holiday, or at least as far as we could tell. Buses ran on a regular schedule, kids went to school, and so forth. The war memorial in Moreton-in-Marsh was covered with poppy wreaths, and we sat there while we ate our fish and chips, and talked about how many more names there were for WWI versus WWII and later conflicts. Over 700,000 British men were killed in WWI (2% of the population) and another 1.675 million were wounded, many grievously. A whole generation of young men was lost, and the British have never forgotten them.

We woke up to glorious weather on Wednesday so bundled up and caught the bus over to Stratford -upon-Avon, about an hour away from Blockley by bus. We bought Full Story Tickets (yeah for senior discounts!) so that we could visit Shakespeare’s birthplace, the New House (where he lived at the end of his life), and Hall Croft, home of his daughter, Susanna, and her husband, Dr. Hall. Both the birthplace house and Hall Croft buildings are original from the 16th century and have been preserved, but the New House deteriorated to the point it was demolished in the late 19th century, and only the gardens remain now. Actors presented soliloquies from Shakespeare’s plays or recited sonnets so we requested a sonnet and heard the 18th (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”), and another visitor requested Marc Anthony’s eulogy of Caesar from Julius Caesar (“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar not to praise him.”). Both performances brought high school English roaring back for me – I was surprised by how much I could remember from both the sonnet and the speech. The New House gardens (Shakespeare and his wife had gardens here back in the day) were lovely and filled with stunning modern sculptures representing many of Shakespeare’s plays. Hall Croft was an amazing opportunity to experience the layout of a Tudor-era home from the kitchen to halls to bedrooms. The whole place was fascinating and beautifully preserved. Afterward, we shared a sandwich in a nearby pub while enjoying fancy gin and tonics. We had planned to visit the Guild Hall after lunch, but it had become colder and was getting darker at that point so we instead headed for the bus stop and the long ride home, a good thing as it began raining shortly after we started. We had a great day and are glad we made the effort to get over there – below are a few pictures from our visit:

Finally, don’t forget to enter the giveaway! It will be open through November 29, and you can enter once a day to increase your chances of winning. Thanks much for all the great travel tips that have been submitted so far (if you’ve already posted a tip you don’t need to leave another for future entries). I will announce the winner on Sunday, December 1 so I can get it mailed out quickly to the winner in case they want to use it for a holiday gift.

This morning I am:

• Reading: I finished both Code Girls and  A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, this past week. Code Girls started off sort of slow, but by the time they were in the thick of the war I couldn’t put it down. How they broke so many codes was (and is) pretty amazing all on its own, but these women’s success rate was nothing short of impressive. I also read A Single Thread straight through this week. It was a real page-turner and I’m so glad it was recommended to me. Today I’m going to begin the next book in the Inspector Morse series, Service of All the Dead. By the way, when I finished A Single Thread I achieved my goal reading of 52 books for the year!
• Listening to: We woke up to the sound of rain hitting the skylight windows, so it looks like another day indoors for us (but that’s OK; we have laundry to do). The church bells have rung but otherwise, all is quiet. We haven’t turned the fire on yet though – that’s a near miracle these days. It’s cool inside but not chilly yet while outside it’s just plain gloomy.
• Watching: We finished up the new season of Doc Martin this past week – there was a surprise ending – and are still watching Endeavour with one more episode to go. Tonight we’ll begin the new season of The Crown – I’m excited about that!

  

• Cooking: We’re having breaded cod and roasted root vegetables for dinner tonight, two of our favorite Aldi products. We’ll head over to Moreton-in-Marsh one last time this week to shop at Aldi for the last time. It’s been a great resource for us while we’ve been here and saved us a bundle too. I usually have a shopping list made at this point but have been unmotivated so far this week to make one. 
• Happy I accomplished this past week: Getting to eat authentic fish and chips from a chippie and getting to Stratford were two big accomplishments, as was our walk yesterday. Having to walk almost the whole way on pavement though aggravated my bursitis once again – walking through fields and pastures has been much easier. Another accomplishment was getting my carry-on bag packed with things to go back to the U.S. on our flight and am so happy that’s finished and ready to go. We found out that paying to check the bag to San Francisco cost less than paying $$$ for postage. We will also have to pay to check it from San Francisco to Portland, but even with that, it’s still less than postage would have been.
• Looking forward to next week: We have nothing planned for next week except for a special dinner on Friday evening at the village cafe. They do a three-course dinner every Friday evening, and we have been saving that experience for our last week here. If we get some breaks in the weather this coming week we want to take more walks through the village – I don’t think we could ever grow tired of this place.
• Thinking of good things that happened: The two beautiful days we enjoyed this past week allowed us to do a couple of things on our list as well as grocery shop, and they also cheered us up. We were also glad for the somewhat warmer temperatures yesterday that let us get out for a long walk. Brett is almost completely over his cold, thank goodness. It could have been worse, but between medication, lots of liquid, and staying warm he’s been able to get over it fairly quickly. I have thankfully stayed well.
• Thinking of frugal things we did: We saved nearly £10 on our visit to Stratford by purchasing the Full Story tickets for the Shakespeare locations and using the senior discount. Other than having a simple lunch while we were there we didn’t spend anything else. We spent a bit more than usual when we went grocery shopping this past week but bought extra to get us into the coming week in case the weather is bad enough that we can’t go shopping tomorrow. I used up all the odd bits of vegetables in the refrigerator to make a big pot of chicken and vegetable soup, and we’ve eaten all other leftovers and not thrown away any food. Our daily spending average is and has stayed below our limit of $35/day.
• Grateful for: We may be confused or unsure right now about what we’ll be doing after the middle of next year, but we are very, very thankful that we have choices. So many in the world, including the U.S., do not and we know we are fortunate to have several paths we can potentially take. I’m also exceedingly grateful for all the feedback we received from readers this week – it has helped us to refine our thoughts on what we should be looking at and thinking about as we go forward.

  

• Bonus question: What are the top three places you still want to visit? For me, number one remains a visit to Botswana, in southern Africa, to visit the national parks and the Okavango Delta to see as many animals as possible. I’m still trying to figure out how we can do this but it may take a while. Numbers two and three on my list are Amsterdam and the Benelux countries, and Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland – I want to visit all of them!). Germany tops Brett’s list, but otherwise, he agrees with me about the second and third.

Yesterday we took what may have been our last “big” walk during our time here – a trip out to where the old Blockley Station used to stand. The skies were overcast, but the temperature was a bit warmer than it has been so the three miles was doable although we had to walk most of the way in the road as the paths on the side were too muddy or even underwater. Once again we discovered parts of Blockley we hadn’t seen before, from the village garden allotments to the cricket field to more beautiful stone houses. We imagined what it must have been like back in the day walking to and from the station to go shopping, or to school, or even to work at the mills. Back to the village from the station was uphill the whole way.

It’s almost hard to believe but this coming week will be our last full one in England, and ten days from today we’ll be up early and off to Moreton-in-Marsh station one last time to catch the train to Gatwick Airport for our (long) flight back to the U.S.

I hope everyone reading had a great week. I’ve seen several pictures of snow falling back in the U.S., and hopefully that’s a good (or at least an OK) thing for most people, although it seems rather early. Wishing for good things happening for everyone in the week ahead as well as good books, good food, and good friends!

When we moved to Hawai’i back in 2014, we only shipped 4500 pounds of household goods over with us. We were ready for a simpler life, and during the four years we lived on Kaua’i we only added five small pieces of furniture, a washer and dryer, and not a whole lot more. It was enough.

Still, Brett and I often asked ourselves if we could make do with less. The answer was always no though, mainly because we still had two of our daughters living with us, and we were using everything we owned. However, when it came time to prepare for our last daughter leaving the nest, and for us to begin our Big Adventure, we began shedding items again and eventually got our possessions down to just 1500 pounds. No furniture other than two small side tables, one made from an antique hibachi and one from an antique Japanese kotatsu, and two small rugs made the cut to be put into storage back on the mainland. We sold it all.

As Brett likes to joke, these days we carry our net worth in our suitcases. While that’s not true, we do move around with very little these days. We are living a very stripped down, minimal life now, especially so this summer. Our Airbnb apartment is nicely decorated and has everything we need, up to and including a slow cooker and small hand mixer, but there are no extras, no frou-frous. We are living without a car as well, and have found that to be less hassle than we expected. Going with out a car has actually been quite freeing.

We love our life right now. We can’t get over how free and light we feel living with so little. There are no geegaws or tchotchkes to dust or maintain, no books to keep track of, no car insurance to pay or gas to buy. We’re producing less trash these day. We have a basic set of cookware and enough utensils, but our cooking is simpler these days and we eat less. There is a small set of dishes but enough that we usually can get away with running the dishwasher only every other day. All purchases, clothing included, are made with purpose, and after thought and discussion.

We are also not tied down these days with loads of obligations. While we miss our family and love spending time with them and our friends, our days and our time are for the most part our own for a change, with the freedom to decide what to do each day or even if we want to do anything at all.

The best thing though about our simple, minimalist life in Portland is that we’re getting to experience and contemplate how small we can live after we eventually settle down in our own place. We may not want all those things we thought we couldn’t live without when we left Hawai’i, although I suspect we will keep most of them. But maybe not. We can see ourselves living in a much smaller space than we first imagined, even a studio apartment, as Brett and I have learned this past year about how to carve out our own spaces. Being in a truly small place doesn’t scare us any more. Being able to live without owning a car would be the icing on the cake.

Less truly is more these days. 

We departed for Eugene at a little after 7:00 in the morning on Monday, had an easy drive down, and arrived around 10:00 with one stop for coffee/tea in Albany. Parking near the UO campus was already a nightmare by then, but we eventually found a timed spot somewhat near to Meiling’s apartment. A little before noon we had to move the car again, but this time found a metered spot and gave ourselves enough time to attend her ceremony. The Department of Computer & Information Systems ceremony was lovely. A bagpiper led the graduates in, there were a couple of short speeches, those winning awards were recognized, and finally students were presented with their diplomas. The whole thing was over in a little less than an hour, a good thing because it was very sunny and quite hot, although thankfully there was a breeze from time to time. Meiling’s department graduated 113 students this year (although not all attended the department ceremony), but only 13 women, including graduate students. In spite of all the female computing genius characters on TV shows, associations like Girls Who Code, and so forth, CIS appears to still pretty much be a boys’ club, but hopefully the number of women in the field will continue to grow over time. After the students recessed (again to bagpipes) we were entertained with live music, with the lead guitarist an adoptive dad we knew through the campouts we used to attend every summer! There was also a lovely buffet provided for everyone. We mingled a bit but didn’t eat much so we could enjoy a post-graduation lunch with Meiling at her favorite spot, where we all ended up ordering breakfast for lunch. By late afternoon Brett and I were still feeling full, and tired, so we headed down to our hotel in Cottage Grove while Meiling got together with friends for the last time and finished up cleaning her apartment.

On Tuesday morning, before picking up Meiling, Brett and I drove a bit of the Cottage Grove Covered Bridge tour and visited four bridges. I had known there were a couple of them in the area, so was a bit surprised by how many there actually were. We picked up Meiling and her cat around 11:00, she turned in her keys, and we headed back to Portland where she rested at our apartment for a while. In the late afternoon we took her and Sophie to the airport (through horrific traffic), dropped off our rental car, got her and the cat checked in with the airline and said our goodbyes. She got bumped up to first class for her flight to New York (!), although she apparently fell asleep the minute she got into her seat and said she didn’t get to enjoy any of the amenities. She is now happily settling in to her new life in New York City!

On Wednesday afternoon I saw the dentist again for what was to be crown prep for the molar that broke last December. However, when she took off the temporary crown she discovered things were much worse than expected. There were some heroic actions that could be taken to save the tooth but they would have cost thousands of dollars and taken loads of time, so I made the decision to have the tooth extracted. She took care of the second filling while I was there (and discovered yet another cavity – no!), then made an appointment for me with an oral surgeon and early Thursday morning I had a second extraction done. This tooth was a big molar so not as easy an experience. On the plus side, the extraction costs less than a crown, and our insurance covers more for an extraction than a crown as well, but down the road I am going to have to get an implant. At least I have some time now to save up for that. I just got the first bill for the initial x-rays, comprehensive exam, two fillings, and first extraction: $504 after insurance, although insurance hasn’t paid for the second filling so really more like $350. It’s still awful, especially with another filling, the second extraction and then the lower bridge to come.

Later Thursday afternoon Brett and I headed back downtown to meet reader Pat, and to give her the obi she won in the first giveaway. Like us, Pat had previously lived in Portland, and we had a delightful time chatting for a couple of hours. I have always had the best experiences when meeting readers and this time was no exception.

On Friday I pretty much collapsed, so no Japanese and Rose Gardens again this week. My mouth still hurt quite a bit from the extraction that day and both Brett and I felt tired and worn out. So, we stayed in and read, relaxed and recuperated. I mostly did the same again yesterday, but Brett went his calligraphy class in the afternoon and we took a short hike when he got back. We don’t have any plans for today other than to take a nice, long walk in the forest – this tooth thing knocked me out and I’ve also now got a cold. Life is good though.

This morning I am:

• Reading: I finished with two more books last night: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy and a Collision of Lives in WWII. The second book is about a tank division stationed in Europe near the end of WWII. It’s been a fascinating book for two reasons: 1) although I have seen tanks operate in every war documentary, film or mini-series I’ve watched, I have never really had any idea of how they worked, the tactics of using them, and their vulnerabilities, and 2) the book also delves into the German side of tank warfare, and includes information and opinions from both soldiers and civilians, which makes the story all the more interesting. The best part though was the reunion at the end of the book of an American and a German tanker who had fought against each other – it was a wonderful finish to the book (they became good friends). The Tatooist of Auschwitz came off of hold this past week so that’s what I’m reading next as well as continuing to pour through the Cotswold guide book (I renewed it for another three weeks).
• Listening to: Another quiet morning here, although both Brett and I are coughing quite a bit. It’s going to be another lovely Portland summer day so we plan to get outside later and enjoy it as later in the week rain is expected.
• Watching: Brett and I finished the miniseries The Pacific, and then for something completely different have been watching Father Brown. It’s been fun seeing places around the village where we’ll be staying.

• Cooking: My mouth is still a tiny bit sore today from the extraction, but getting better and I’ve already returned to eating regular foods. Because I had to go with fairly soft foods for the first couple of days Brett was eating leftovers and such, but tonight I’m going to put together the Cobb salads I had on the menu last week. Also on the menu this week will be CookDo mabo dofu, Polish sausages with sauerkraut, Scotch eggs, and a Friday evening chicken fajita pizza. We have a lot of food on hand that we need to use.
• Happy I accomplished this past week: It was a good week even with the surprise dental work, but just getting through it all took a lot of coordination, and there were still lots of regular chores, like the laundry, to fit in among everything else. We were able to book a Zipcar for two days in late July and made a reservation for a night at a wonderful B&B for a getaway out at the coast (we got the last available room at the B&B), something we wanted to do while we’re in Oregon this summer. I somehow managed to get my goals card completely filled in for the week – the only thing I missed was a walk on Friday. Even though it doesn’t feel like we walk very much some days, by the end of the day our tracker usually shows we’ve done over two miles so I’m happy with that. I have arrived at the end the first section in the kanji workbook and can now read over 40 words! I am getting ready to take the first big review test in the book, but that probably won’t happen until next week. It’s humbling to remember I’m still struggling with characters and words Japanese kids learn in the first grade.

• Looking forward to next week: We will have a less-busy week coming up, and I’m also excited about finally getting over to the Japanese Garden and the International Rose Test Garden. Brett starts a beginning Japanese conversation course at Portland Community College on Wednesday. Mostly I’m looking forward to not having a whole lot of stuff on our calendar.
• Thinking of good things that happened: Both Brett and I greatly enjoyed Meiling’s graduation ceremony – the smaller departmental gathering was so much nicer than having to sit through a giant all-school event like big universities traditionally hold. Our short drive through the area around Cottage Grove on Tuesday morning to see the covered bridges was delightful as well, especially with the beautiful weather and blue skies. Our meet-up with Pat on Thursday was great fun, and I hope we will be able to get together again some day. Not entirely sure having another tooth extracted was a good thing, but the procedure didn’t take too long and if it had to go, sooner was better than later. All three of the girls called me on Friday to see how I was doing, and they’re all having a good summer so far. YaYu has started getting out on her own – a big step for her – to visit places in Japan. She went to Harajuku one day this week and then to the maneki neko (lucky cat) temple another day. We’re very proud of her initiative as she’s the least adventurous of the three girls.
• Thinking of frugal things we did: 1) We thought we’d be eating out a lot in Eugene, but our affordable post-graduation brunch orders were so large that there were plenty of leftovers. Meiling took those with her and finished them off for her dinner and breakfast, and Brett and I were full enough that we skipped dinner and then ate the free breakfast at the hotel on Tuesday morning. 2) The rush-hour traffic was terrible when we set out to take the car back to the rental agency on Tuesday (even though we left more than an hour early), and we had no time to top off the gas before dropping off the car which cost us an additional $23. That was the more frugal choice though – bringing the car in late would have added an additional $67 to our bill. 3) We picked up 30 cents in pennies on the ground in front of a ticket machine at the Max station when we went over to the dentist on Wednesday – apparently someone discovered the machine would not take their pennies and dropped them all in disgust. 4) We ate all of our leftovers and didn’t throw out any food this past week. 5) I closed the Amazon Prime account so that I wouldn’t get charged following the free trial period. 6) We put $18.52 into the change/$1 bill bag – along with the week’s change I also discovered a small stash of $1 bills I had hidden away in my wallet!

• Grateful for: It’s difficult to pick any one thing this week as so many good things have happened and are happening. I have so much to be grateful for these days, including my children; my health (bad teeth and all); having good health and dental insurance; the opportunities we have this summer to enjoy Portland and other parts of Oregon and be close to friends for a few months; the time I have to read and relax these days; an abundance of good, healthy food; and our upcoming travel and opportunities for adventure. I am feeling especially blessed right now.

• Bonus question: Do you have any “must order” items when you see them on a menu? Yes! Eggs Benedict are always a must order item for me. The restaurant we ate at in Eugene had ten different varieties of Eggs Benedict to choose from and they all sounded delicious so the decision of which one to choose was not easy. Other “must order” items for me have always been Reuben sandwiches, French dip sandwiches, or patty melts. If two or, heaven help me, all three appear on a menu I will do rock, paper, scissors to decide which one to have. Since I’m not eating starches this summer, the sandwiches have been easy to avoid so far, and in Eugene I asked them to leave the eggs off of the bread this time (which Meiling ate). Otherwise than these items I go with whatever on the menu looks good!

It’s almost hard for me to believe that we’ve already been in Portland for six weeks, and have two more full months to go. The time seems to be going very quickly here though. I’m also enjoying using the buses and trams more than I thought I would, and it’s been easy to reserve a car when we need one. I am especially enjoying living on the west side of the city, and being able to easily get down into downtown because Portland’s downtown is so pretty, easy to navigate and walk around in. I think if we ever came back to Portland we’d settle somewhere over here.

Here’s hoping all of you had a great week and are looking forward to the one coming up, that you got a lot accomplished, have a good book to read, and had lots of good things happen for you. Finally, don’t forget to enter the Kitchen Set Giveaway!

There were 109(!!!) entries for the Supermarket Favorites from Japan, and after inputting all the names the random name generator chose:

JAN!

Congratulations!

Jan: I will be contacting you by email to get your mailing information, and will send off your package at the beginning of next week.

I also want to thank everyone for entering and for your lovely comments – I enjoyed reading all of them (and some of them made me very hungry). If you have a large Asian market near you, or a big section in your supermarket, you may be able to find some varieties of CookDo sauces and/or Kewpie mayonnaise there if you still would like to give them a try. Finally, I promise to offer more of these giveaways after our next trip to Japan – I had no idea it would be this popular!

Just a reminder that today is the last day to enter Giveaway #2 for some of our supermarket favorites from Japan. The giveaway is open until midnight tonight and the winner will be announced on Friday.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! It’s going to be a fairly laidback day here, but we will be heading out in a while for lunch at a nearby cafe to celebrate Brett’s day.

Metaphorically speaking, it seemed like we traveled from Alaska to the Bahamas all in the space of week. Brett and I were bundling up the week before this past one, trying to stay warm, and then this week it got HOT. On Tuesday the temperature climbed to 95 degrees (over 100 degrees west of the city), and on Wednesday it was up to 98. We had planned to visit the Oregon Zoo, the Japanese Garden and the International Rose Test Garden on Thursday, but even though it had cooled down some it was just still too hot for us so we decided to postpone that visit and not risk getting overheated. We did go out for a walk in the forest in the early evening which turned out to be very pleasant and cool. By Friday temperatures were back down in the 70s so all is well again, at least for the time being. While our apartment does not have air-conditioning we thankfully have three efficient fans so we were able to stay fairly comfortable inside.

This evening Brett is picking up a rental car at the airport, and early tomorrow morning we will head to Eugene (about two and a half to three hours away) for Meiling’s graduation. She is not participating in the university’s big ceremony but instead only in her department’s (Computer Science), which will happen at noon. Afterwards we will take her out to lunch, then head back to her apartment to help her finish up the last of the packing. We’ll pick up something light for dinner, then Brett and I will go to our hotel for the night while she spends the last night in her apartment (to stay with her cat). On Tuesday we’ll take Meiling and her cat to the vet to get the last paperwork ready for their flight to New York, then leave for Portland in the early afternoon. We’ll drop her off at the airport and say our goodbyes after she gets her cat checked in, then return the rental car and take the tram/bus home. So many memories are floating around in my head and heart right now about this beautiful, smart girl and what she has overcome and accomplished to get where she is now. We know (and hope) she will continue her almost-daily calls and messages and let us know how and what she is doing. I know she is going to do great things going forward, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.

For many months WordPress had been sending me a notice to “try out” the new editor feature, but I had resisted and stayed with the classic editor. But last week for some reason I decided to see what the new editor looked like so I clicked on the “try out” button . . . and am now permanently stuck in the new editor! Grrrrr – I hate it! I can now only get back to the classic editor if I purchase an upgrade (for $96, so that’s not happening) and I am having to work with features that I don’t want and are not as easy to use as well as the loss of some I had in the past (especially the special alphabet, although I think I have figured out a workaround to access it). The new editor also refuses to let me preview my posts even though there’s a live button that says “preview.” Images are a pain to insert compared to how easy it was with the classic editor. Anyway, if you see some odd formatting changes or other weird things going on in the next few weeks (like when WordPress out of the blue inserted their own generic photo in my header for who knows what reason), that’s what’s going on. Also, I still cannot comment on blogs using the Blogger platform, not even anonymously.

And, another reminder: There are four more days remaining to enter the giveaway for a few of our favorite items from a Japanese supermarket!

This morning I am:

• Reading: I have read a LOT this past week, and finished four books (Small Fry, Anatomy of a Scandal, The Unquiet Dead – which was excellent – and Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.) The last book was recommended by reader Laurel and had lots of food for thought. Currently I’m reading Distant Echo by Val McDermid (in the evenings) and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb, during the day, another book recommended by a reader. It looks like I may accomplish my reading goal of 30 books by the end this month – when I made it at the beginning of the year I was having trouble fitting reading into my day while we were traveling. If I do finish 30 books by the end of the month, I’m going to increase my goal for the year to 52.

• Listening to: Brett is studying Japanese and enjoying his morning bowl of oatmeal, and there’s not a sound coming from outside. We love how quiet it is up here in the hills.

• Watching: Brett and I finished Band of Brothers and are now watching the companion series, The Pacific. One of the actors in the series, somewhat of an “unknown” at the time, is Rami Malek, who won the Academy Award for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Tonight we’ll also be watching another episode of Big Little Lies.

• Cooking/baking: I’ve got turkey pepper pot started in the slow cooker for our dinner tonight after Brett gets back with the car. Also appearing on the menu this week will be sausage and pepper pizza, pork chops with fried cauliflower rice, Mediterranean night (spanakopita, feta cheese, hummus, cucumbers and tomatoes), and we’ll have a big Cobb salad one night.

• Happy I accomplished this past week: We went to the OHSU Farmers’ Market on Tuesday, and bought a flat of Hood strawberries and some other produce. It was a very different experience from the markets on Kaua’i: only two farms were selling produce, but there were lots of other interesting products and several booths selling some delicious-looking meals, from Mexican to Indian to Chinese. Brett and I think we’ll go back one week for a lunch date – a stand making Mexican-inspired dishes looked particularly appealing. I filled in all of my goals card although I missed two days of walking because of the heat (I drank a whole lot of water though!). I finished the first section in the kanji book, and have committed 20 words using the characters in the section to memory. I’m still working my way through the first grade though. We used ZipCar for the first time on Friday to pick up my prescriptions at Costco, and bought a few other things while we were there, and also made a stop at Trader Joe’s so we’re good to go for the next few weeks.

• Looking forward to next week: Of course the number one think we are looking forward to is Meiling’s graduation tomorrow! Also, on Friday we’re going to have coffee with reader Pat, the winner of the obi, and hand over her prize. She just happens to be visiting Portland right now – how convenient is that? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every meeting I’ve been privileged to have with my readers and don’t expect this one to be any different. Brett and I are going to try again to go to the Japanese and Rose gardens on Friday, so fingers are crossed for some good weather and decent temperatures that day.

• Thinking of good things that happened: We had an absolutely wonderful evening at our friend Joan’s house last Friday evening, and were privileged to meet another set of traveling nomads, Sarah and Chris, who are staying at Joan’s while they visit Portland (Joan hosts an Airbnb room in her home). We enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner and traded travel stories – Brett and I were impressed by how light the two of them travel compared to us (backpacks only for them). They are currently on an eight-month haitus in the U.S. before taking off again for more international travel. Yesterday afternoon we attended Brett’s calligraphy class’s annual summer potluck hosted by one of the students up in the NW Portland hills. Although attending a party of strangers is worse than going to the dentist for me, I did have a good time and also got to try speaking a little basic Japanese (and did OK). Guests brought a wide variety of dishes which included several traditional Japanese ones (we took an Asian-y chopped salad which was easy for me to carry on the bus).

• Thinking of frugal things we did: Even though we bought groceries at Costco and Trader Joe’s, our monthly spending average is still below $50/day – we did not go crazy this time. I rarely buy books, but the wait at the library was so long for Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (like months) that I decided to go ahead and use a Kindle credit I had with Amazon before it expired, and saved $2.25 on the purchase. I made one last small order with Amazon (some vacuum space bags, new socks, and a couple of other things) and closed my Prime account once again before the free trial expires and we start getting charged for it. We didn’t put anything into the change/$1 bill bag this week – we used our debit card for our few purchases so no change.

• Grateful for: I am so very, very grateful not to have to deal with humidity here in Oregon. While last week’s high temperatures were a bit uncomfortable at times, I was never miserable like I was when we lived on Kaua’i because of the low humidity here. I am loving being able to take care of daily activities and chores, or go for a walk or hike, and not end up sweating like a human fountain.

• Bonus question: Do you recycle, and if so how much? Brett and I got bit by the recycling bug during our last tour in Japan (1989-1992), where recycling was already a big thing, and we’ve stuck with it ever since. I think we still have plenty of room for improvement, but we make an effort every day. One of the biggest changes we made years ago was cutting back on using items that wasted resources (paper products, over-packaged items, plastic bottles and so forth), but some of it we just can’t escape. We haven’t given up anything completely (for example, I would love to give up Ziploc bags but we have found them invaluable when traveling), but we try as much as possible to purchase only what can be recycled. We’ve been able to get our trash down to one bag every two weeks. We did lots of recycling in Hawai’i, and lots when we were in Japan, and tried our best when we were on the road. We’ve set up a “recycling center” in our Portland apartment, but have noticed they’ve changed some of the procedures from when we lived here before, and are also not accepting many items that were taken in the past (especially plastics) because of the changes worldwide in who will accept recyclable items these days.

Finally, a BIG shout out to our son who completed his fourth annual walking challenge yesterday. M walked for 12 hours and completed nearly 34 miles (54.3 km), and with a few other friends and co-workers who walked part of the way with him, raised over $6500 for a charity which supports children suffering from severe and often incurable diseases and their families.

I hope everyone had a great and productive week, that you’ve got a good book to read, got to eat lots of tasty food, had lots of good things happen for you and you’re looking forward to the coming week. Thank you all for reading and for all your comments – I have the best readers! On Thursday I’ll be announcing the final Japan giveaway, and the winner of the supermarket giveaway will be posted on Friday.