Today 11Aug2023: 33rd Wedding Anniversary

I took the day off, slept until 7:30, and woke to a day of clear skies and sun. Another day when climate change has moved us to Nothern California–every day a wonderful Golden State day here in the Beaver State. The fruit trees are loaded, and the roses (not just mine) bloom brightly, telling you you are in Oregon. We have also made it through five days without mandatory full-service gas without some Oregonian blowing up the gas station. For all these reasons, it seems like a different late summer.

I managed fifteen minutes on the non-moving bike (today, Saturday, my legs were tired, and I managed five). I made breakfast of a banana and yogurt with liberal coffee and ate that while writing the blog and getting caught up on my emails and the news. I was on vacation and left the Nike laptop out of the office, so I would not even look. Once the blog was published, I had to prepare the items for celebrating our 33rd Anniversary.

Susie loves carrot cake, especially my homemade version from King Arthur Flour’s recipe. I had baked the cake (with roasted walnuts) the night before in 9″ pans lined with rounds made of parchment (the pans and the paper were purchased from King Arthur Flour’s website during the pandemic). I did not remove the paper when I removed the cakes from the pan, and it was stuck a bit–next time, I will remove it when the cakes are warm. I placed the first round of cake on my Tupperware cake holder. I made the frosting in my mixer, having set out the butter and cream cheese soften. I then used my frosting knife and soon had a nice-looking two-layer cake ready.

Aside: I, like many folks, ordered baking supplies during the pandemic, and King Arthur Flour was my go-to. Now, I have to admit that after a week, I let my sourdough stuff move to the next life after learning how to care for it. Not something I am going to do. Somewhere in the blog history are the baking photos I sent out like the rest of us stir-crazed folks in the pandemic.

Once I had that done, I dressed and loaded up Air Volvo with the wedding photo album, Susie’s wedding hat (I found it in a closet), and the cake and another backup cake for anyone who avoids nuts, a small tort I found at Trader Joe’s. I stopped by our local party store and got some plates and matching napkins (silver and gold, as 33rd, is about 1/2 way between 25 and 50). I learned that the store, while it survived the pandemic, could not get helium and so lost its primary source of revenue (ballons) and is now closing. I will miss it. I stopped by Target and found some flowers to bring too. Soon, without loss to the cake, I arrived at Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

Susie was excited to get her party in the early afternoon. We looked at the hat and flipped through the wedding photos. We shared the cake, which everyone liked, and I helped Susie slowly eat the cake without choking. Everyone who wanted some cake had some; even Jennifer’s son, who thought it was a birthday party. Leta’s balloons arrived while the party was starting. Susie had a card for me which she even signed.

Jennifer loaded Susie into the co-pilot seat of Air Volvo, and I put the wheelchair in the cargo hold (in case we needed to get Susie out of Air Volvo), and then we headed out for a drive. We found the traffic, it being the Friday that Nike is closing for a week, and the roads were packed with folks leaving early and headed out for their vacations. I changed course, and we headed to the Columbia River using Cornelius Pass road to take the pass through the high hills near the river. Lots of curves and narrow roads. Soon we were on the road along the rivers and spotted the St. John Bridge (we were now on the Willamette River, a tributary to the Columbia). I had never crossed it, and we entered more traffic to use the bridge. It is not see-through, so I found it less scary. We drive through the town and found Cathedral Park. I have always wanted to visit the Park; the park is under the bridge, and the supports and towers remind you to have a classic cathedral. There is a safe beach (our rivers can be deadly).

Susie was uncomfortable, her bottom was sore from all the sitting, and she was exhausted from the party and the travel. I pointed Air Volvo back to the hummingbird house. We arrived there in thirty minutes, and Jennifer got Susie unloaded, and care was applied. Susie was soon lying down in her bed on her side. Susie and I watched another show, but Susie was soon sleeping. I woke her after nodding off, kissed her goodbye, and left after 5PM.

I arrived home without incident and made a complex jambalaya using a box for the rice and spices. I first cooked onions, garlic, canned peeled tomatoes, celery, and green pepper. I cut up some sausage and cooked that too. Once it started to stick to the pan, I added the rice and spices from the box mix. When that got sticky, I added enough boiling water from the electric kettle to cover it by more than an inch. It soon boiled, and I covered the mixture and set it on low. At 15 minutes, I added a bowl of frozen seafood from Trader Joe’s. After a total of thirty minutes and a stir, I had dinner.

I ate too many bowls. It was not spicy enough with all the extras–I will have to do some research. But it was good with a few bits of seafood and lots of cut bits of spicy sausages. I watched more animated Batman, which was quite good, and one was about an insurance scheme to bail out a billionaire who had spent too much on his casino. Seemed to echo the current times. Mark Hamill (Star Wars) voices the Joker and is terrific at it.

Next, I punched my new board game Davy Jones’ Locker: The Kraken Wakes. This means literally punching out the cardboard parts and putting everything in the box in some order. This game has trays and a chart to help you organize the game. A punched game is considered to be used, so if you are unsure about a game, it is best to sell it without opening and punching it. This game uses the new idea of supplying trays to hold all the components but also misses a bit. Instead of having a little tray for each player, the parts are separated into storage bins by part type, not by player; ugh! But this arrangement fits into the box and, as games go, this is a very compact box–so I think this is a wise choice. This is one of the smallest footprints for a five-person game I have seen.

Davy Jones’ Locker is a cooperative pirate game with the players preparing to face the Kraken in a battle to the death. There are also rules for your crew to survive and help another player should the Kraken sink you. You must swim to another player’s ship, or they can rescue you.

I am looking forward to trying it out.

This cooperative game fixes the issue in the board game Jaws. In the board game playing the shark is not that interesting. The human players have more actions and decide the direction of the game. The shark just tries to play hide and seek and then, in the final battle, tries to guess the players’ moves. This is more like Texas Holdem with a White Shark. It seems a more interesting game with an automated Kraken and everyone fighting.

After that, I went to bed early. I had trouble sleeping as I had drank some tea, and I had to prove that my kidney worked a few times. My shoulder also hurt, and I had to get some painkillers.

Thanks for reading. This is the last blog for a while. I will try a break and see how I feel.