Thursday, September 29, 2022

#197 Journaling



Journaling.


I didn’t start journaling until I retired from teaching and was on my first trip to Scotland. My last student teacher had given me a journal for my trip. I found that I loved making daily notes about my travels. I have now over 40 full journals with notes and stories about the trips I’ve taken since retiring, big or small.

At first I wrote in commercial journals, but I realized I wanted something special. 



For a few trips I used special journals that I had printed and spiral bound. 



These were especially good for notes on golf courses and pubs used in writing my first books about Scotland and Ireland. Later I discovered an even better system. Called “Circa” and produced by Levenger (www.levenger.com), the basic system consists of a variety of special pages that fit into plastic-ringed binders. 




This journal system is very adaptable; it’s a create-your-own journal system. Staples sells its own system called ARC which fits with most Levenger Circa products. 

Whatever system you try, I whole heartedly suggest you try journaling even on short trips. Having journals with good notes or narratives are useful in many ways: to answer questions about past travels, to help with future travel planning, to relive past trips, among others.






My latest journaling endeavor I’ve mentioned before in my blog—a set of stories from years before I started journaling, a journal of remembrance. I’ve categorized the journal: stories about growing up, about high school and college, about speech and debate activities, about raising and racing sled dogs, about teaching, and about whatever doesn’t fit in the other categories. This post contains a couple of stories from that journal. I would very much appreciate reactions to these stories and particularly whether this type of story is worth sharing in this blog. A Big Thank You to any who do share their reactions.


Note: most of the photos in this post are just some feel-good pictures from this summer.




My Fifth College Year—What a Way to Live


After four years at Linfield College I didn’t graduate but moved to Oregon College of Education for my Fifth Year and secondary teaching certificate. At summer session I took an extremely heavy class load of 21 credit hours (normal would be 12 credit hours). I also had to survive on practically no money. After tuition and books I had about $200 for the two month term.

First was lodging. I rented a one-room apartment for $25 dollars a month which included electricity, water, and garbage. I paid both months up front so I would have a place to live. The room had a kitchen sink and stove and a separate bathroom with shower. It came furnished with a single bed, small table, two chairs, and one small dresser. The unit fit me well, but I soon realized I needed company. One day with no classes, probably a Saturday, I walked to Salem (12 miles), bought a $20 plastic table radio at Pennys, and walked home. Most likely I hitched rides both ways, but I recall walking a lot of it. That radio was my entertainment for the whole year at OCE.

For food I had several strategies to stretch my meager funds:

(1) Three times a week I would go to the college commons to have a butterhorn ($.15) and a coffee with cream and sugar ($.10 no refill) for breakfast. Tuesday and Thursday I had no early classes so I’d skip breakfast.

(2) Dinners were as cheap as I could make them—$.10 Kraft Mac and Cheese in a box, fried cornmeal mush. For meat I’d buy pork steak or bacon (both cheaper than beef) or Spam. Lunch was almost always PB&J or bologna sandwiches.

(3) Once a week or so I’d go to Shakey’s Pizza and scarf—buy a soda and wait until somebody left and clean up their spot (including eating any leftover pizza). The manager never said anything because I was cleaning up the tables.

(4) For a special treat I’d walk down to Wagon Wheel Burgers and have one of their specials—large and cheap at $1.25.



Between summer and fall terms I lived with Grandpa and Grandma Jones in Salem and worked 32 straight days at the Del Monte Canary dumping beets into a cooker (I still hate the smell of cooked beets). For fall term I shared a new apartment with Mike Harrell (my high school and college debate partner). Money lasted until winter term.

Winter term I moved back into the $25 apartment and went back to my survival living. The only difference was now how to heat the apartment. The electrical system would only accommodate my small heater on low which would take the chill off. When I needed to study in my room (most of my time was spent in the warm library) I would open the door of the electric oven, push the table up to the open stove, and turn the oven on low. When I told an older classmate (probably in her 40s) about my arrangement she gave me an electric blanket, which was a life saver.



A couple of days a week I wouldn’t have to buy coffee or butterhorn—someone would buy for me. Several kind souls helped take care of me in small ways. I got a grant for my last term—my student teaching term—which got me into a nice apartment with enough left over for real food. I have never regretted my decision to give up a college teaching assistantship to get my Fifth Year and teach high school. And I cherish all I learned in my year of survival at OCE.




The Telescope that Could Hear the Bees


On the day of the total solar eclipse visible in Oregon, August 21, 2017, I set up a couple of cameras and a couple of telescopes at Charleen and Dave’s (sister and brother-in-law) in South Salem. Their yard had spectacular view of the eclipse path and was filled with family and friends getting ready to enjoy the spectacle.



Before the eclipse, I set up one of the telescopes to view a neighbor’s cluster of bee hives about a third of a mile away. The scope was near a drop-off filled with flowering bushes. I invited people to test out the scope and as they viewed the hives I told them that if they listened carefully they could hear the bees as well as see them in the special scope.



I got reactions such as, “My God, how can you do that?” “I can really hear them!” and, “That’s Amazing!” Word spread and others came to see and hear the bees. Finally, someone asked how the telescope could do that? 

I explained that all you had to do was…and I pointed to the bank of bee-filled bushes in front of the telescope…set the scope in the correct place. 





Next: maybe a real travel post.


 

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

#196 A Return for the Travel Blog

 A Book Recommendation


I recently read No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox (Flatiron Books, 2020) and I highly recommend the book. It is humorous, uplifting, engaging, easy to read, and enjoyable whether you have an association with Parkinson’s Disease or not, although if you do the book becomes more of everything. The book details many of the ways that Fox has dealt with a life changed by PD.

No Time Like the Future has been a great help to me in the nine months since being diagnosed with PD and starting treatment (meds). I’ve had to learn

— to take my meds consistently and on time,

— to live with dreams that are acted out during the night and Anne has learned to duck my wild punches and flailing,

— to learn to keep my mouth closed and to force myself to swallow to keep from drooling,

— to learn, since both PD and the meds cause constipation, that prunes are my friends, 

— that I can still play and enjoy golf, albeit at a different level, 

— to learn to practice furniture surfing, just to keep a handle on things, and 

— to accept the fact that as my PD progresses I will face many new challenges and to accept them with grace.

For more information: www.michaeljfox.org.


To those who have told me you missed not seeing the travel blog I apologize for the absence. There was a period of creative doldrums that I hope I am now getting over. The rest of this post is the real return of my Travel Blog.


Notes and Photos from Three Nights on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula


Finished with the Packing

At Bay City near Tillamook

Bee on Heather

North Point Lighthouse, Point Disappointment State Park, WA

Anne guards the ice cream from Scooper's in Long Beach.



A Contrast in Golf Clubs


On our recent trip to the Long Beach Peninsula on the Washington State coast, Anne and I (along with several thousand other end-of-summer vacationers) were blessed with a stretch of very pleasant weather. As the Willamette Valley was sweltering in ninety-plus heat, we enjoyed sunny weather with seventy degree temperatures with only light winds—perfect conditions for golf. Across the parking lot from our timeshare digs at the Surfside Worldmark Resort is Surfside golf Club, a 9-hole course we’ve played a couple of times before.

First Hole at Surfside


It’s been a hot, dry summer on the coast and the course was feeling the effects. Fairways were hard, baked out, and brown. But they played fast and were well cared for— we got plenty of run on good shots and sometimes too much run on bad shots. The rough was whispy and inconsistent, as you’d expect dry rough to be. Tee boxes and greens were in much better nick—I’d even call most of the greens excellent.

9th Hole at Surfside


Playing Surfside wasn’t like playing our manicured country club course, Arrowhead GC, but more like playing a Scottish links course at the height of summer. Fun golf on a beautiful day.

Contrast that golf with the next day’s play a few miles down the coast at Peninsula Golf Club in Long Beach. The first hole there was an indicator of the other eight holes. The first tee shot is over fifty yards of thick (some dry, some extremely wet) grass backed by a mucky, weed-choked creek. Beyond the creek was a dry grass and bare ground hillock. When we reached the green, part of it was green, but most of it was dirt patches. A couple of shots was enough to convince us that there was no way to tell which way your ball would bounce on the bumpy surface.

Peninsula Golf Club


Most of the course was in the same condition as the first hole—dry, wet (lose your ball in the tall wet grass), wild—the only constant was the course's inconsistency. We played our round in lovely weather and I even played well, but it wasn’t fun. The most interesting thing about the contrast of the two courses was something we found out later. The Surfside course has a much smaller grounds crew than the Peninsula course. 

Me on the 7th at Surfside


On the third day at the beach, as the weather turned cooler and damper, we went back to Surfside to play it again.


A Fortuitous Stop


After playing golf at Surfside on our first full day at the beach, we did a little exploring of the area. A surprise for us was the Cranberry Museum—a historical museum, gift shop, and 13 bogs of berries run as a project of Washington State University. 

Cranberries Beginning to Ripen




We got good information, some photos, and a taste of cranberry ice cream. The find of the day, though, was at the north end of Hwy 103 (the peninsula’s main road). There we stopped at the Oysterville Sea Farm, a retail outlet and cafe with great views of Willapa Bay across toward South Bend. 


The Long Beach Peninsula and Willapa Bay


I took a few pictures from outside the store/cafe and then we went in and shopped. As we paid for some soap and crackers (no, not to use together), the cook asked if we’d like some clam chowder…for free. Since it was the end of the day they were going to have to throw it out. Sure, we’ll help. He handed us two cups of rich, creamy, clam-filled delicious soup. 

View from Oysterville Sea Farm Patio

Anne again guarding the food--our free chowder/


I got some of my best pictures of the trip from the cafe patio and we learned that sometimes it pays to be late.


Great dinners of halibut and oysters at the Loose Kaboose in Long Beach.


The best sunset we got was on our first night.

NEXT: We'll hope for some good travels soon.