A Full-time Life

Happy Spring!

March 23, 2025

Ah Spring! That time of year when it's apparent we aren't in Oregon any more! There's really not a lot to mark the change from winter here in the subtropics. So I'm celebrating the season with golden memories. And adding a few photos I managed to recover from the end of our season in Oregon. Actually that was last December, so I guess every photo in this post is an oldie…. golden or otherwise.

Oregon daffodils, 2021

Farmers grow a lot of grass seed in our part of Oregon. We don't miss the Spring sneezes and wheezes that come with the start of grass season. But I do miss my favorite Spring flowers. We see some beautiful blooms here in Florida of course, but they tend to be more flamboyant and just not quite the same.

In the following photos we were still in Oregon, but not quite so long ago. These photos from last December were still on the camera when we downloaded it here last month. We went on a day-trip to Florence on the Oregon Coast. About 60 miles from our Oregon home, this charming coastal town is a favorite getaway.

Siuslaw River Bridge, Florence December 2024

It was a gorgeous day — actually fairly typical of December in our part of Oregon. We had a few chilly days before we left, but mostly blue skies and mild weather. The icy days came in January after we left (not by coincidence). That actually is typical weather for the region, although it definitely seems like the January ice and winds have gotten more severe in the last few years. We count our blessings when we miss out on those days.

Hooded Merganser, Siuslaw River, Florence Oregon

During this December day trip, we did check to make sure the Pacific Ocean was still there, knowing we wouldn't see it again for a few months. However, the pictures are from the coastal Siuslaw River where we always stop to walk when we go to Florence.

It was exciting to see several Hooded Mergansers enjoying the sunny day. I've never before seen that many of them in one place. They were swimming quite near the shore and were fun to watch.

Oregon family photo, December 2024

These two live with our daughter and son-in-law. It never fails to amaze me the way their pets always get along so well. And here's another golden oldie from the same household:

Literally a 'Golden Oldie' since we always called this tree a Golden Chain and the photo was taken quite a few years ago. Sadly, it's a memorial picture now because our daughter told us that one of those recent winter windstorms completely uprooted it — the golden chain is no more. When I posted this exact picture years ago, I learned from fellow bloggers that the tree's official name is Laburnum. Blogging is an educational experience — I appreciate all the help I can get.

Just a bit more color for my virtual memory scrapbook:

Yellow flowers always seem like little spots of sunshine.

Here's to more golden spring days ahead. Thank you to all who visit and to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS;
Back again —

March 14, 2025

In our real (full-time) life we're back again at the Florida Canal Cottage. And back in blogland after too long an unexplained absence. I've always hated it when bloggers I follow disappear without a trace and I really wish I hadn't done the same exact thing. This post is my attempt to catch up a little bit. All pictures the are from the current season here in Florida. But not all the words.

I've missed blogging, but it has been hard to get started again. We've been busy since the last time I posted at the end of October, but honestly the real reason I haven't posted has more to do with the disastrous result of November's election. I've always thought of the blog as my "happy place" — where good memories are stored. Although I don't dwell on the state of the world every moment while we're living our lives, whenever I thought about putting a post together for the blog, it somehow seemed shallow to be chronicling only happy times when our whole country honestly seems to be falling apart.

Black-Crowned Night Heron at Ding Darling

He looks cranky, but I think its just because of the photographer and not because of the state of the world

I hate the feeling that there's really not much we can do. But wallowing in depression certainly isn't good for me or for anybody else, so I am back to chronicle the good memories and to share them with anybody who happens by. Even though I'm afraid the nation's problems aren't going away anytime soon, further posts will, I hope, be more about our personal life and less about worry.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Looking up — at Six Mile Cypress Slough in Florida

We stayed at home in Oregon longer than usual this time, enjoying lots of happy times with our Oregon families including two of our "kids"* , our grown grandchildren, the five great-grands who live in Oregon, and even our grand-family of three from Europe who visited for almost a month while we were also in town. A big bonus was spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas with family, for the first time in quite a while.

Loop Road, Big Cypress

Another happy, but harder, kind of busy happened because we moved our Oregon "home-base" to a newly-opened independent senior community. We enjoyed our shiny new "lock and leave" home along with the amenities the community provides and look forward to taking even more advantage of those when we return this summer.

Roseate Spoonbills, White Pelicans and Night Heron at Ding Darling. Little Blue Heron at Six-Mile Cypress

Although feeling barely settled in our new Oregon digs, in early January we made our semi-annual cross-country migration. We spent the majority of that month opening the Canal Cottage and happily getting re-adjusted to the subtropical winter here in southwest Florida.

Green Heron, Big Cypress Refuge

We had a joyful week in February, when we had a visit from all three of our sons. They came from Colorado, Texas, and Oregon for a brothers' reunion and to see the old folks (and for two of them to visit us here in Florida for the first time.) We loved showing them around some of our favorite places. We missed our Oregon daughter and son-in-law and our daughters-in-law, but it was a delight to see our boys* all together. Almost all of the family pictures I took, both here and from Oregon are on my phone and somehow those don't seem to want to upload easily to the blog.

*All four of our children are old enough to be eligible for residence in our senior communities, although none of them are remotely interested in such a thing just yet. But it's sure a reminder of our own advanced age!

Great Egret in front of everybody's favorite (?) Florida icon in the background , at Big Cypress

It always seems to happen that we see several of one certain species whenever we go to one of our 'nature places.' The Black- Crowned Night Heron is that one so far this season, as we've seen at least one on every outing. Below is just one more picture of this pretty heron.

Black-Crowned Night Heron. Big Cypress

It's good to be back to blogging again . Thanks to everyone who reads, visits, comments, and hosts.

SATURDAY CRITTERS; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; ; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY
October’s End

October 28, 2024

Happy Halloween

And Happy November

These are the kind of October decorations I like… not a fan of the scary graveyard stuff at all. Easy to guess the age-range where I fall.

This is the Farmers Market just outside the small town of Peoria (the Oregon one). It's one of the best Farm Markets we've ever seen — but sadly at about 50 miles from home, just a little too far for weekly shopping.

But what a great stop as long as we were in the neighborhood anyway.

Here's some of the bounty after we unloaded it at home.

Last week we made stuffed green peppers, roasted broccoli, and eggplant pasta sauce. But first, the day we got home from the "harvest" we dined on the last of the year corn-on-the-cob. A joy of the season! We still had enough ears of corn (not shown) for an old favorite — Summer Vegetable Chowder. In this home, that recipe becomes Autumn Chowder because it takes until then for us to want to put fresh corn and tomatoes in the soup pot instead of starring as themselves on our dinner table. The chowder recipe we use every Fall is from "Household Searchlight," a good old depression-era cookbook. Interestingly, we (informally) inherited copies of this cookbook from both my mother and Bill's grandmother. (But my mom had given me this recipe in person many years before that time.) Good fresh food and sweet memories — what could be a better combination..

Almost every October day this year has been beautiful. I'm sure we need rain, but it has been lovely to feel the Autumn sunshine.

Shades of orange and amber aren't the only colors associated with Autumn here in Eugene. On nice days, everything seems to be a perfect combination of blue and gold. Those days make me happy! And grateful.

We've been very busy doing non-photo-bloggable stuff lately, so most of the photos above are from the week before. The pictures in the mosaic below are from even earlier than that. I'm including it because I love looking at birds and I think these are photos I didn't use earlier.

But I'm also including it because I'm using a fairly new app for my photo editing and I'm afraid if I don't include a mosaic every week I'll forget what I've learned so far. Honestly, I am grateful (usually) that I can still learn new things.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts. MOSAIC MONDAY;

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS
October color and a visit to Mary’s Peak

October 20, 2024

Mary's Peak in Benton County is the highest peak in the Oregon Coast Range. It's about 70 miles from home — well within our range for an occasional day-trip. But somehow over all the years we've lived in the Eugene/Springfield area we'd never visited. We needed to remedy that, so the travel planner made it our destination last week.

It was a beautiful day for an October drive. We passed what seemed like an ocean of pumpkins almost as soon as we got out into the country. No question about what time of year it is!

Muted Autumn color and some very interesting skies as we headed west.

We found a waterfall! In fact, there were several lovely tiny falls just after we turned off the highway onto the road to the Peak.

And then there was this just before the top of the road. "Layered" hills are my favorite kinds of mountain views. ("Layered" is my own totally unscientific term for this effect.)

We were lucky in our timing, because the skies clouded over rather suddenly while we were still admiring this view. We jumped back into the car but by the time we reached the end of the road, it was raining and growing gray (and cold). At 4,100 feet, Mary's Peak certainly isn't the highest mountain we've ever visited, but it is high enough to make a difference in temperature from the valley floor that we're used to.

Views from then on to the top were somewhat limited, so the Peak itself was a bit of an anti-climax.  This is a view of the Valley from the viewpoint at the top of the road. (This photo is color-enhanced because otherwise it was just uniformly gray beyond the evergreen trees.)

It was a good day for a drive because of the lovely views and Autumn color. And Bill got his mountain-driving fix while we saw hardly any other cars at all. But it would be good to come back during the busier summer, just for a better view from the top and a more comfortable walking temperature,

Here is some more October color from the week:

Pictures 1, 3, and 7 are from our daughter and son-in-laws' garden taken earlier last week. Pictures in the center row are from our day-trip, and the bins of pumpkins and gourds are from a stop at the Peoria (Oregon) Farmers Market, on our way home.

October is such a great month here in western Oregon. We are grateful to have the time to enjoy it.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY
Ponds of a different color

October 13, 2024

In past years, I've posted a few pictures taken on walks around Delta Ponds. We are so fortunate to have this lovely natural area within the city limits of Eugene. The Ponds are pretty close to where we live here and we pass at least one of them every time we go anywhere at all. Last month we were surprised — and a little worried — to notice something different about the water.

A few days after we first noticed the red color we were pleased to read an article in our local daily paper explaining the change. It said people have called the City Parks Department asking if it was due to autumn leaves or paint or dye. We didn't think it was any of those, but I had wondered if it was an unhealthy algae growth. It was great to learn that this red growth, called Azolla Fern, is actually beneficial to the Ponds and our local ecosystem.

The plant goes dormant in Winter and needs many sunny days before it blooms again, making it an occasional seasonal bloom here in Eugene.

Lauri Holts, the City employee responsible for the Ponds, said that Azolla actually helps to combat climate change by processing carbon dioxide and providing oxygen and shade for the aquatic life that lives below it. As Eugene's Ecologist (and who knew our City even had such a thing) Ms. Holts is in charge of ensuring that Delta Pond's plants and wildlife thrive along with human use.

Azolla is also known as 'Duck fern' or 'mosquito fern' and is a genus of plants that can be found worldwide. Ducks and geese eat it, so that nickname is obvious. It has potential to reduce mosquito populations, but only if it covers more than 70 percent of the water, reducing the surface area in which mosquitos can lay their eggs. (We didn't measure the percentages, but can only hope.)

Delta ponds is a 150-acre waterway that began as a part of the Willamette River and remained so until the late 1800s. Human use and urbanization changed the area and today's ponds and islands were formed by gravel mining for highway construction that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The City of Eugene bought the Ponds in the 1970s and has constructed pedestrian trails around the ponds. A new loop trail funded by a city bond is nearly complete.

It's good to live in a City where nature is valued. We are grateful.

On my nature walk last week, I was so busy concentrating on the red water in the ponds that I forgot to look up, so here are some blue skies and fluffy clouds left-over from our summer:

Skies and boats — a few more of my favorite things. These pictures are from the working harbor at Coos Bay.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts:

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS
Last of the summer, first of the fall

October 6, 2024

At home here in Eugene, trees are beginning to turn, skies are blue, leaves are beginning to fall…..

Eugene Oregon, October 5

… and someone has abandoned the rake because there is no foreseeable end to their job anyway. A walk in the neighborhood reminds me to give thanks that these days we can enjoy the beauty of Autumn without any of the yard work!

Finishing up our summer camping trip here in blogland today — we weren't away from home for as long as it has taken me to finish blogging about it. I take a lot of pictures because Oregon is blessed by so much natural beauty.

Brookings Oregon

From Arcata in Northern California we headed back toward home, taking our time along the Pacific Coast Highway. A round-trip is more fun, especially when you can marvel at the redwood forest one way and even more amazing views of the Pacific Ocean the other.

Southern Oregon Coast

The beautiful Harris State Park is not named for our (hoped for) next President, but after an Oregon pioneer who owned the property at one time. ….. We could see the Army Corps of Engineers dredge boat at a distance from our camp spot in Brookings and the next day we drove around to where we could watch it work up closer.

The boat was dredging this channel. If you click to enlarge you can see a very small motor boat between the work boat and the rocky shore. Too close for comfort in my opinion. The crew on the workboat really shouldn't have to keep an eye on little boats that could go elsewhere to play.

We stayed in Coos Bay on the last night of our trip, spending just a little time the next morning at the working harbor. It was time to go home – only a couple of hours away.

People were hard at work pulling up and loading oysters. It is always interesting to see where our food comes from and how much work it entails.

We couldn't resist this sign. Fresh tuna is the best. It is hard to believe it is the same food you get in a can. (Even the best variety.)

We admired this young man's knife skills as he fileted and wrapped the fish we bought. He said he has dock duty on his father's fishing boats right now, but hoped to take his own boat out next season. The last of the tuna packages we brought home are still in the freezer. A taste of summer awaits!

We had fun this summer here in Oregon, but every season has its joys. We look forward to enjoying the rest of Oregon's beautiful Autumn.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; SIGNS SIGNS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY
Stone Lagoon

September 30, 2024

We stopped at California's Stone Lagoon State Park on our way to Arcata (previous post). I had so many bird pictures from there that I ran out of space, so this is a bit out of chronological order.

The Lagoons along this section of the Pacific Coast are shallow bays between rocky headlands. Wave action forms sand bars that separate each lagoon from the Ocean.

click picture above (IMG_7367) to enlarge

Stone Lagoon ( Chah-pekw O'Ket'oh in the Yurok language) is a place that has been sacred to the Yurok Indian Tribe since time immemorial. Today, the Visitor Center and the Park are managed cooperatively between the State of California and the Yuroks.

It was spa day for the lady Elks at the edge of this Lagoon.

We were away from the ocean on a backroad here . The country-side was beautiful too.

I never get tired of seeing Great Blue Herons

In real-time, I'm grateful that the days here in Eugene are cooling down to better temperatures for rambling photo-walks in the neighborhood and Fall colors are beginning to appear. On the other side of the country, Hurricane Helene and her water surge caused no damage to or around our Florida Canal Cottage. For that we are grateful, for the next storm we are hopeful, and for those who were in the path of the destruction we are so very sorry. Thank you to fellow Florida-blogger Dina who has an excellent post about the damages that the water surge caused near her home. Click here for a link … the words in her very first picture are perfect.

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following, with gratitude to the hosts:

NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS
Northern California with Birds

September 22, 2024

In last week's blog I wrote that we took an in-state trip to celebrate our August birthdays — I should have written "regional trip" because on that same trip we spent a week on the Northern California coast. The northern part of that big state just south of where we live still seems like part of the Pacific Northwest. California changes when you get further south.

Crescent City

We spent a couple of nights on the beach in Crescent City. We left from Eugene in extremely high temperatures (for Oregon) and it was even hotter in Ashland but the ocean breezes cooled it down once we crossed the border. We walked along the rocky shores, listened to the waves and the birds, and just relaxed — we were at the Coast and that's what y0u do.

All of the places on this getaway are "old stomping grounds" and our next familiar stay was in Arcata, one of our favorite places to visit. We enjoy the laid-back ambience of the area, the good weather — and the birds.

Willets

Except for the Crescent City collage, all of the pictures in this post were taken on our walks at Arcata Marsh. Here is a link to an old post that tells more about the marsh.

Mid-August isn't the best time of the year for birding and California has been in a drought situation for a long time, so we weren't sure what to expect when we got to the marsh. We were not disappointed.

Brown Pelicans

The weather was perfect for walking. It had been quite a while since we'd had a birding day, so I was a happy camper.

Another older couple passed us going the opposite way on one of the trails. She said "aren't we the luckiest people in the world to be able to spend a day like this." I agreed wholeheartedly.

A beautiful day at Arcata Marsh!

THANK YOU to the readers who told me about the photo editing programs they are using to replace our beloved Picassa — I used Photoscape for this post and it seems to be working the best for me so far.

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY (HAPPY HOUR WITH PICS); THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS
The Oregon Summer that was (part one) — Ashland

September 15, 2024

It feels good to be blogging again. My "digital detox" during July was planned but I really had meant to start again last month. However, when I was ready, my old PC was not. It is so sad when the motherboard dies (and to find out what it costs to repair). So I'm working with a new computer which is lovely, but the program I used to edit my photos (Picassa) is out-dated and unsupported and would not transfer. It feels like I'm starting over, as if I were photo-blogging for the first time, as I really did about 18 years ago. I've been experimenting with editing programs to substitute. None so far are anywhere near as user friendly. Well.., it is said that learning new tricks is good for aging brains. We shall see.

As planned, we arrived at our Oregon home early in July, after mostly uneventful flights (if I remember correctly back that far). And as if Florida wasn't hot enough for us, we made a planned stopover in Arizona on our way home.

Arizona

This stop was to visit Bill's sister who for several years has lived in the Phoenix area near her children and grandchildren. We hadn't seen Marilyn for a long time and it was good to get together again. It really was extremely hot when we were there and we are all getting older so we spent most of our time visiting in their comfortable family home. I never remember to take pictures of the people we love unless we are all visiting some scenic attraction, so sadly the only photo remembrances of our time in Arizona are a few road-shots as we drove our rental car between our hotel, their home and the airport.

Phoenix AZ

From Phoenix we flew to Eugene where we spent the rest of July catching up with most of the three generations of our family who live here. (Now that we're home, it's four generations when we all get together!). We got our Oregon apartment reorganized, pantry and frig restocked and so forth. That's much easier done here in Oregon than at the Florida Canal Cottage.

In early August we took an in-state trip to celebrate both of our birthdays. I'd planned to get back into the blogging routine when we returned from that trip. Better late than never, so here's the start of that trip.

Our first stop was Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Ashland Oregon

One night we saw Macbeth in the indoor theater and on another, a dramatic performance of Jane Eyre in the outdoor theater (below). We enjoyed both. It was still quite hot here in Southern Oregon and there was some smoke in the air from one of the many forest fires around the state. The morning of the day we had tickets for Jane Eyre we got a text notification that the outdoor play would be cancelled if the smoke didn't lift. Fortunately, it did and the evening was actually very pleasant.

Outdoor stage, Ashland

The white on top of this picture of the stage set is the night sky believe it or not! Even in the outdoor theater we were of course asked not to take pictures, so this was taken before the cast of Jane Eyre hit the stage. It was a suitably Gothic setting for this play.

Downtown Ashland

Ashland is quite a charming mountain town, with many of the shops and restaurants taking advantage of the famous drama festival in their themes and names – I took this picture from the Festival Square while we were listening to an outdoor concert before the play began. There are live, free music performances there early on every theater evening. It appeared that many local residents also took advantage of the free concerts.

We enjoyed some exploration during the two full days we spent in Ashland and of course we ate! The pictures in the collage above are from the Winery where we had dinner one night — beautiful place, delicious mostly locally sourced food and good wine.

When we left Ashland, we took the Redwood Highway into Northern California. It's a beautiful drive.

The magnificent and huge trees are hard to photograph though. Its difficult to get the full effect.

It was dusty on a scenic loop off the highway — we think part of that was probably from the smoke. Fortunately, this area itself was not affected by the summer fires.

Trip to be continued. It's good to be back home in real life and in blogland. We are grateful.

Thank you for visiting and thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities.

MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY ; MOSAIC MONDAY
Off to Oregon

June 30, 2024

Our boat got a little ride on the way to its summer home (storage for the season). It's always a little scary to see it fly through the air, but the people at the Marina know what they're doing.

The Canal is empty — ours was the last boat to be taken out. And next week we will be just about the last seasonal resident to head for home as well.

Time to say good bye to the Canal for another season.

Taking a blog break for travel, recovery, and reorganization.

COMMENTS FOR THIS POST ARE OFF. We hope everybody has a wonderful month of July!