Black Friday

Woke up this morning to partly cloudy skies and no wind at all. The waves still seem bigger than usual, but as I’m looking at them I wonder if it’s a perspective thing – the tide is very high in the mornings, so waves that would normally be much further out are close in. Who knows? It’s odd, though, to have the wind completely gone. We did get up twice last night at the expected times with the alarm, and one time when the wind was blowing the heavy rain in through the open window (although that could have been one of the times we were already up with the alarm, I don’t remember). Winter weather at the coast really is moment by moment.

We got milk yesterday, so I could have some cacklin’ for breakfast, which was yummy as usual. We had two gulls on the deck, so I went out & shared some cacklin’ with them also – one of them was willing to sit on the railing and try to catch them when I threw them. My aim’s not too good, and the gull was not that in to it, so many just flew past onto the yard. Maybe when we come back in the summer there will be a cacklin’ bush! I started reading Tomatoland, an actual book I took out from the library. I’ve been reading books on my kindle or phone or kindle app on my laptop, and I have to say that a physical book is not as convenient, and certainly requires more dexterity. So far also I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy the book – the writing isn’t very engaging. I’ll work on it a while longer.

Dave got up not long after I did and applied himself to the alarm issue. He found the alarm manual online by doing a google images search, and according to the manual when it does the 5 beeps it means “trouble”. Yeah, we kind of figured that out already. He also set the time correctly so now if it beeps it will do it at 8 am, 6 and 9 pm – much more civilized. I called Debbie, and she said she’d call the alarm company. I went in the bedroom to do some stretching and Dave kept working on the manual, and eventually found out how to get the alarm status. He got the status, which said everything was ok – apparently there was not really any trouble. Interestingly, the asterisk which had been flashing on the display went away – so maybe we have solved the problem. Dave called Debbie and told her never mind.

All the calling and beeping woke Tim up, so he got up and showered and we headed to Bill’s for lunch. We got there a little early – they don’t open until 11:30 – so we walked up to Bruce’s to see what was happening, and also to see if any restaurant had gone in where JPs used to be. Oh boy oh boy, Newman’s is opening a Japanese/sushi restaurant! I can’t wait to go there with Josh and Jen in January. Of course Josh and I may have to try it out before then. At Bruce’s they were not doing anything interesting, which seems to be the case lately, hmmm. Maybe they’re outsourcing? But they did have a 1 lb gummy bear on a stick, possibly one of the most disgusting candy items I’ve ever seen.

After a short stop at the toy store we headed to Bill’s, which had its usual pre-opening line. They opened up at about 11:35, and I’m thinking the perfect arrival time is 11:45, so you’re not in the bubble. They had a cherry porter, which Dave tasted and found a little strange, so he ordered his usual 2x4 instead. Both last summer and today he wondered if they have changed the recipe for 2x4, because it used to be his all-time favorite stout, and now it’s not. Has the recipe changed, or has he found others he likes better? We didn’t ask. Tim was starving and grumpy, so I didn’t even try to take the traditional picture. But then it happened – we ordered too much food. Tim didn’t even finish the onion rings. So maybe he was just grumpy and not starving. While we were at Bill’s the weather continued to clear up, and it was only partly cloudy when we left – nice!

After lunch we went by the Wine Shack to see who will be tasting tomorrow, but there was no sign up and Mr Wine-Know-It-All, the proprietor, was on the phone. Although we wandered around the store for what seemed like a long time he never got off the phone or asked if he could help us. Oooo, that makes me mad! Eventually we just left, and hit the Mariner for cool whip and Oinkin’ Orange Hog Wash. We wanted to give the Hog Wash another try, but it turned out to have the exact same ingredient list and be not quite as yucky, but yucky just the same. Tim wants to keep trying other flavors though.

We came home and I called Margaret, and then we headed out for our annual shopping trip to Nehalem. While I was on the phone it had completely cleared up and it was nice to drive in the bright sunshine. Nehalem was a little disappointing because my favorite store, which had wonderful hats and clocks and bamboo purses, has closed and is now some funky new-age shop. But Dave found an excellent wine colored sweatshirt-weight garment, so the trip was worthwhile. Also we visited Hal’s Emporium, Hal’s dollar-ish discount store, and Hat’s general store, which taken together are the most amazing, wide ranging, amusing, horrifying, spectacular collection of junk ever assembled. From fake gladiator helmets to expired bags of that weird candy they have at dollar stores to evening wear, if Hal doesn’t have it, it’s not been made. My personal favorite was “The Patriotic Blue Star”, a large plasma globe with a flag backdrop and a blue star centerpiece where the plasma lightning would come from, billed as “an interactive symbolic light sculpture”. It was reduced from 19.95 to 9.95, and I almost went for it. Maybe we’ll go back tomorrow.

By the time we were done in Nehalem the fog was starting to roll in, and it was completely foggy by 3:30. So it was nice that we had that sunny interlude (and we got gas at the Shell station by Nehalem Bay State Park, which was also nice). We headed home for afternoon nap and typing and buckyballs.

Tonight’s dinner venue was the Stephanie Inn, which we knew ahead of time would be the weakest of our weekend dinners. Tim had decided in advance that it would be his home alone night. I just can’t understand why a teenage boy would want a night away from his parents. Anyway, my spinach salad and Dave’s seared scallop appetizer and curried lentil soup were both very good, but the entrees just didn’t measure up to the past two nights. Both very good, but missing that whatever that takes food from very good to excellent. One of the things we really like about the Stephanie Inn is that they have optional wine pairings with each course, and the pairings are very well done – in particular, my spinach salad paired so perfectly with the prosecco it came with it was a little like a primer on pairing wines – both the salad and the prosecco were good on their own, but together they made something special. I had a huckleberry sorbet for dessert that was not just very tasty (and not too sweet, which was a surprise) but also visually entrancing – gorgeous, deep purple wine colored spheres.

On the way home we had to listen to some crow’s nest music – they’re in Ensenada tonight. It was so good we ended up sitting in the car finishing up Marc Cohn’s Walking in Memphis. This also gave Tim time to hide so we couldn’t find him and he could oink like a pig when we got in. He had enjoyed his pesto dinner from home and even done all the cleaning up. After changing into my loungewear I very much enjoyed getting on facebook and seeing pictures of Josh with practically all my east coast family (ok, no aunts or uncles or cousins, but how much can you do in one day?). Then it was game time. We started with pepper, which I usually don’t enjoy very much but I won the first game very fast. It even worked out how I visualized it, which never happens. So I was in a very good mood through the next many games, all of which I did not win. Tim won more than Dave, but Dave won plenty. Dave’s heart was not totally in the game, because for some reason even though he won the first game of trouble we played a couple of nights ago, his loss in the second game has totally bummed him out. It was winner take all tonight, and Dave won, but it was a completely hollow victory because Tim and I were locked in a totally epic trouble battle – I had 2 men still in home, and he just needed a 1 to get his last piece in for the second place win. I got all my men out and ended up sending his one man back to home and winning second place – but it was such an exciting game that I feel that I was the overall winner and Dave still feels like he needs a rematch.

Afterwards Dave and Tim had Oreo time, but I have eaten enough today already. We’ve got Christmas music on the jambox, and I’m going to make a cup of tea and try to get in to Tomatoland.