Late Winter/Early Spring in the Umpqua 2010
Well, time had moved on to the weekend between Valentines Day and President’s Day. It rained miserably on Sunday, but Monday was such good weather that I was literally forced to mow the lawn and make a dump run. The ground was so wet in the side and back yard I created mud just by passing over the grass with the mower. You have to realize that there was standing water in the yard. Really. What a mess, but now the lawn looked good, and I could tell how much moss killer I hade to buy. Anyone from the northwest knows what our winters are like; dark, wet, and usually cold, and, yes, we do hibernate.
Oh and Fog. Did I mention the fog? Winters in the 100 valleys of the Umpqua are--simply--foggy. The closer you are to the river, Umpqua (Uh-mp-kwah) the more fog you wake up to every day--and drive through, and look at until noon--or 2 PM--or 4 PM when it gets dark. Some days the fog doesn't every leave. So when you add the cloud layer, and at times, the inversion layer, it's just dark, grey, and depressing. No wonder the word Umpqua means "the dead'. It truly seems that it's all lifeless and bleck--grey. It's a 'special' time of year in Southern Oregon. That year, the fog and warmer weather did a great job of growing moss. Moss is everywhere--in the lawn, on the sidewalks, on the blacktop, in the tress, on the walls--you name it and it had moss on it. See, Oregon is green year-round. Lovely.
However, when we experienced spring the second week of February, and all the bulbs came up, sprouted and bloomed, everything budded, and there was no way I couldn’t get out in my yard. Now I knew I couldn’t touch the soil until late March, it’s a rule here in Douglas County, but I had to weed, rake, and clean up some things from the short winter. And don’t forget the roses—they had to be severely cut back by President’s Day. With the full sun shining and the temperature in the 60’s (February 15th!) how could anyone stay inside?
Hotel Sileo is one block nord of Roma Termini stazione. It is on street full of albergos, hostels, etc. Besides Sileo there’s Fawlty Towers, Hotel Blu, and Hotel Marco Polo sharing the same entrance, and many others up and down the street. It seems to be the street where tourists go after getting to Roma. I liked their emails and honest replies. I couldn’t wait to actually meet them. We confirmed our reservation and ask about sending our passports (copies) to the apartment managers in Firenze. They replied:
hello thanks for the message yes you'll came in june and of corse when you arrive in roma came in the hotel no problem and for the passaport yes we need to have just for registration one second whenyou came thn we'll we give you back soon for the person who asked you now we think not correct mybe he wa't make sure that you go ther since for low we know that when the person arrived must give the passport by anna for to pay in money by I was so please with the progress of our trip plans I ‘Facebooked’ my former high school teacher, turned writer Marianne Love:
Mrs. Love, it's David Jones. I turned 54 (I can't even believe it) on Tuesday...Doug did too.
Marianne (my wife) and I are going to Tuscany in June!!! We decided to take the 'plunge'. There goes retirement. O, well.
I have been blogging (to myself only) about the year-long process of planning the best (not the perfect) three week trip money can buy. We have a week with a guide and a B & B in Magione, Umbria (Assisi, Spoleto, Perugia, Montalcino, Siena, Pienza, Montepulciano), then a week in Florence in a small apartment, and the third week we are going to drive from hill town to church, exploring. It's like I'm following in the foot steps of Francis Mayes (she doesn't take your emails), Ferenc Mate (Hills of Tuscany, Vineyard in Tuscany, and Wisdom of the Tuscans) who does take emails and wants to show us their winery, and Phil Doran, who wrote Reluctant Tuscan (he volunteered his wife to help us with tour plans).
I've written about 100 pages so far...and we don't actually leave until June 10th. Yes, Marianne thinks I'm nuts. You would probably be appalled at my writing. I do go back occasionally and clean it up; Marianne helps me.
Olympic Opening Ceremony--Long. Technologically Brilliant! Curse NBC for running it so late!
I had to mow the lawn today. All my bulbs are up and starting to bloom, flowering trees are flowering, everything is budding. It's been a bizarre winter, and an extremely early spring.
I'll stop now,
David Jones
RVSP
Re: Tuscany Bound...
She replied: David, First, Happy Birthday to you and Doug, albeit late. When you start feeling old, always remember I'm ahead of you by nine years. Will be 63 in June, but I don't feel that old----most of the time. What's really awful about my age right now is having lived in my hometown forever. This past week the deaths of people I know reached an all-time half dozen. That gets a little depressing, especially when many of them are younger. Your trip sounds wonderful. It sounds like you've had time to explore every possibility. I've heard nothing but good about that area, so I'm sure it will be a huge life memory for you. Every time I travel, I always stew over the money spent, usually beforehand and while letting it slip through my hands on the trip. That said, my opinion changes completely after all bills are paid and time has passed. I believe traveling gives us the best bang for the buck of virtually any other investment because the memories last a lifetime. And, they get only sweeter with time. Two memorable trips for me, where I figured at the time I was spending too much money, were with my daughter. One was to visit her while she was an exchange student in New Zealand, and the other was this past December when we went to Maui. Both were life-altering experiences, simply because both places were so
different and friendly and beautiful. The only problem after such big adventures is building up the bank account to do it again. Keep me informed as you get closer to your trip and keep writing that blog. You'll love going back to read and remember. Happy Valentine's Day The Other, Older Marianne The question that still remained in my mind was what part of Tuscany was I going to really identify with most? I grew up in southern Idaho, so the large, flat expanses of farmland, with volcanic plateaus and dry summers, would probably be most like the Crete Sense and the Val d’Orcia. I spent my teens and early adulthood in the green hills, and mountains of the Idaho panhandle—maybe like the hills of Chianti? And of course the family lived on the shore of a large fresh water lake (Pend Oreille), so would lago Trasimemo be most appealing to me. Or would the green rolling hills and valleys, with vineyards dotting the landscape—like the Umpqua, make me feel most “at home”—like Umbria.
I really wanted to know. I was four months away from finding out and I could hardly wait.
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