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| Long, cold winter of 2019 |
It’s been
five months since I last updated my blog. Verne and I have spent that time
enduring a long cold winter with over 18” of snow and double the normal
rainfall. It’s May and still setting records for cold (and hot) temperatures
and rain. Perfect weather for staying inside and working. We started the new
year determined to quit talking about downsizing (as we’ve done for
the past decade) and Just Do It! Yes, with a daughter who works at Nike and her
cat who won the cute pet contest there (picture below), we’ve adopted Nike’s
slogan as our own.
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| Chloe in a Just Do It sports bag - winning photo in Nike Cute Pet competition |
Using the
Konmari method Lauren introduced me to a few years ago to make decisions as to
keeping or discarding items, we’ve attacked every room in the house. Faced with
packing and at some point unpacking (in a much smaller home), the choice has
been easy. We’ve taken car loads of donations to Hospice and Interfaith
(affiliate of Amador’s Food Bank), and bags of books to Friends of the Library
(at this point we must be one of their BFFs). We’ve made repairs (lots
of little things that over the years we chose to “live with”), painted sheetrock,
re-lacquered kitchen cabinets as well as the pine walls, and, in general,
freshened the inside of the house from 20+ years of use. In early April we
listed our Volcano home for sale. Interestingly, we met with our realtor for
her first walkthrough prior to a photoshoot for the listing and she suggested
we “declutter” the place! After four months of doing just that I found her
comment a little offensive. However, I let it go and spent that evening looking
at house listings online. She was right…the houses that looked barely lived-in
photographed better than the ones that were filled with furniture and every
inch of wall space covered. We made another pass through the house and packed
personal photos, excessive artwork, and “stuff” we’ve accumulated over the
years. I feel like we’ve finally lightened our load. It feels good! Of course,
we’re far from finished as we’ve not seriously tackled the cabin and barn. It’s
doubtful the house will sell quickly, so for now we’re taking a little breather
and just enjoying a tidy home and the prettiest 40 acres in Amador County.
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| Prettiest 40 acres in Amador County |
Thanks to
a nudge from our tenant in Nevada (an email saying she could no longer afford
the rent), we listed our condo for sale the first of May. After having four
different families live in the condo over the past ten years (three with pets),
it was surprisingly clean and required very little to prepare for sale. According
to our realtor, Carson Valley is a strong market and it should sell pretty
quickly. All this talk of moving got Lauren thinking about her home and desire
to be closer to work and have a third bedroom dedicated to her crafting. Thus,
our quick trip to Portland last week (first since Thanksgiving) to meet with a
realtor to discuss the sale of the Lake Oswego condo and scope out areas for
our relocation. It was time well spent as we narrowed our areas of interest to
four communities surrounding Beaverton where the Nike campus is located (close
to work for Lauren and close to Lauren for us). The logistics of this move are
mind-boggling. For now we’ve decided to wait for the Nevada condo to sell
before we seriously house-hunt in Portland.
The
balance of our time in Portland was spent eating. That’s really not so unusual,
because Portland is a foodie town and we are foodies. Since visiting Lauren
there over the past eight years, we’ve had lots of opportunities to try different restaurants and have come up with several favorites. Some are not
particularly extraordinary, but more a family tradition. Like meeting Lauren for
Happy Hour at the Cheesecake Factory in Washington Square on the evening we
arrive in town. After dinner (no cheesecake, as none of us like it) we walk around the mall making sure we pass the
See’s Candy store for our complementary chocolate. Another evening is spent at
Manzana’s located in downtown Lake O. After dinner we walk to Sur la Table and
browse their clearance items in the back of the store. Verne always reminds me
of the time we found a Ball Automatic Jam and Jelly Maker on clearance for half
its original price because it didn’t have a box. It was during my years in the
Master Food Preserver (MFP) program when I was always on the lookout for
anything related to food preservation. I had been very outspoken about the
merits of the old fashioned long-boil method of jam making and had been
particularly critical of a fellow MFP volunteer who knew very little about the
subject and only made her jam using the automatic jam maker. Long story short,
we bought the jam maker and to this day it’s my favorite way to make jam.
Effortless and perfect results every time! Special occasions in Portland always
find us at Laurelhurst Market for dinner. It’s a combination charcuterie market
and restaurant that has no equal. The service and food are amazing. Birthdays
always end with a gift of liver pate from the market. Lucky me…I’m the only one
who eats liver! On one of our visits, we saw one of the lead actresses from our
favorite series Grimm (Bitsie Tulloch) dining by herself at a nearby table. She
was there incognito wearing a hoody and dark glasses, but her disguise didn’t
fool us. Then there’s our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Peacock, in downtown
Portland across from Powell’s bookstore. Jana and I discovered Smith tea there
when we shared a pot of jasmine tea. It was after that when Lauren and I went
to Portland-based Smith Tea for a tasting and our lives were forever changed. A
few years ago we added another local restaurant to our list of favorites, Nicoletta’s
Table. It opened in a strip mall next door to one of Lauren’s everyday favorites,
Senior Taco. I won’t get started on Portland’s lack of good Mexican food or how
Lauren and I discovered Senior Taco when we were attending an open house for
new students at Lewis and Clark Law School eight years ago, because that would
take up the majority of this blog. Instead, back to Nicoletta’s Table. Lauren
watched the buildout of the restaurant and suggested we try it. We did and
loved it! Over the past couple of years we’ve watched it expand and take on
additional space in the strip mall. Its success is warranted as the food and
service are excellent.
A gift
card to Nicoletta’s Table we received a few weeks before our Portland trip prompted
our reservation for Mother’s Day dinner. The pleasure of the gift was only
surpassed by our reconnection with the giver, a precious friend from our past. We
met Becca about thirty years ago when Jeff brought her home to meet us. I think
what I remember most (beyond her being a sweet and beautiful young girl) was
her incredible thick, curly hair. Verne used to tease her about turning her
upside down and using her as a broom. She obviously had a good sense of humor
because she kept coming back and for a short time lived with us. Later she
worked for me at PIB and then worked for Verne for about seven years at Rib
Roof. We’d lost touch until recently when Becca contacted us to share her good
news and thank us for “giving her a career.” She’d continued her education in
accounting and passed the CPA exam in one sitting. Quite an accomplishment! We
are so proud of her and looking forward to reconnecting in person when she and
her husband visit us in Portland after we've relocated.
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| Mother's Day dinner at Nicoletta's Table, Lake Oswego |
Our only
other newsworthy experience these past few months was a visit from Jana and
Andy (we call them Jandy) the first week of May. We started our time together
with dinner at Biba’s in Sacramento. We rarely get to Sacramento anymore (in
the evening, anyway), which may explain why I’d been holding onto two separate
Biba gift cards totaling $300 that the kids had given us for Christmas a few
years ago (that is, seven years ago!). Actually, only one was an actual gift
card and the other an email purchase confirmation (with very fine print that
said a” card would be mailed”). I was determined to use up the money and told
everyone to “spare no expense” and they did just that. After two hours of
eating and drinking, I presented the gift card and the computer printout to our
waiter. The general manager returned saying he would accept the gift card
(which is actually required by law), but not the paper receipt for the second
gift. The scene that followed is worthy of being in a movie (comedy for us,
horror movie for the general manager). Jana and I grabbed for the paper receipt
at the same time (I really didn’t want her to see it because the gift was from
her). As we were playing tug-of-war with the paper receipt, I tried to explain
to the general manager that I’d never received the card in the mail. When Jana
realized the gift was from her, she began scolding me while at the same time
searching her phone for the original seven-year old emailed receipt from Biba.
She found it and went ballistic (or maybe it was just lawyer mode) shoving her
phone in the manager’s face. He looked at both of us and realized he was beaten.
And, that we were causing a scene in his
otherwise tranquil restaurant. He walked away shaking his head not quite sure
if he’d just been duped, but anxious for us to leave because at this point Jana
and I were laughing uncontrollably at the outrageousness of what had just
happened. Verne and Andy just quietly watched us in disbelief (as was everyone
else in the restaurant).
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| Kennedy Tailing Wheel visitor center |
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| Picnic and cards in Volcano Park |
Their
visit was timed for one of the few non-rainy weekends this month so perfect for
getting out and walking around the property, a hike at Chaw'Se Park (Indian
Grinding Rock), and a short walk to see the enclosed tailing wheel on Jackson
Gate Road, where we enjoyed sandwiches from Andre’s Bakery. We planned to just
relax on Saturday, but received an email from the realtor mid-day saying the
house would be shown and we needed to vacate for 1-1/2 hours in the afternoon.
We packed another picnic lunch, beer and wine, and were off to the Volcano Park
where we spent the next few hours playing cards and having a great time. Twice
over the weekend I was the Big Winner at 500 Rummy! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! Jana, if you want to claim
victory, you’ll have to write your own blog! Hehehe!!! As often as we’ve passed the park, Verne and I
had never taken time to picnic there, so it was a first time for all of us. What
fun. Another Moser Good Eats and Good Times!
A few more photos from the last few months that are too good not to share...
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| Jana in Austria |
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| Maria and Ruben in Norway |
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Trish and Jeff with son, Parker, soon to graduate high school
and then off to University of Connecticut to study digital art |
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Our last barn cat at the house for a visit -
not friendly, but very curious |
