Back home in the Lovely Coastal Range of Oregon

Arriving, yesterday, we were met by tall grass and the property desperately waiting for some attention.

So, Sunday morning I got the mower and went to work. The area looks so beautiful now, and I thought I'd share some photos of the beautiful place we are so fortunate to inhabit...

The blueberries are many and we're looking forward to enjoying them. The grapes are just shooting up.

Spring Birding & Boise Odyssey - continuing on to Boise

The drive to Boise was amazingly beautiful. A minor auto problem had us stop for diagnostics and we actually solved the problem after which we bought a new computer data reader. And when we arrived in Boise we checked in and quickly zipped off for dinner and the '60s musical at the Boise Little Theater, "She Loves You". Great performance! 

You must get to see this theatre, it's beautiful! Watch some of the performance here!

Saturday morning we went to the Boise Zoo.

Uhh...

... and Saturday night, the new Star wars movie at the Boise IMAX...

On Sunday we caught brunch at "Foodland Market (a Mediterranean market)" owned by a Turkish family and catering to a very Iraqi neighborhood. 

In the next block of this "Istanbul neighborhood of Boise", we  saw a production of "Murder on the Orient Express" at the Stagecoach Theater. 

One of our discoveries about Boise is that the Basque population do not hold sole claim to the city at all. In addition to South Asian people from Thailand etc., there is quite a large Eastern Mediterranean population from Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria area here, also. -and a huge collection of Italian restaurants from one of which we are going to have pizza tonight!

And it's Red Bench Pizza!

Pizza so good we're coming back on "Lasagna Tuesday" night.

Well, Monday started and ended  amazingly. Breakfast at Blue Bench Brunchette (we're not early risers after late nights.)

And, after short naps, we stopped for what ended up being the most expensive (especially since quitting booze decades ago), fruit/veg drinks at Boise Juice Company ringing in at $10 for each 10(?) oz. drink. The liquids were to bring with to the Westside Drive In where the food was okay and the music was yet another droning "oldies" collection which seems ubiquitous in Boise and I had hoped would go away after repeated playing in the '50s, the '60s, and the '70s, - over 50 years ago. Younger folks, some of whom must be brilliant musicians, have certainly been ignored by boomers.

Thankfully,  we could not have been more enthralled, nicely welcomed, and thoroughly entertained than we were at the location of the beautiful Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation site of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.  

The evening's "Noche de Serenatas" included an opening special appearance of the Basque Choir, followed by the Boise Orchestra, flamenco dancers w/musicians,  traditional Spanish folk dancers, and a magnificent 11 piece Boise Mariachi band! 

 Also, the special soloists were a woman and man operatic singers who returned again to sing Mexican folksong late into the night!

The Basque Choir performed lovely and unique folksongs that even most of them can't understand!

Flamenco singers and dancers performed.

The soloists first performed Spanish classical arias - and then Mexican songs!

Mexican dancers.

And the Boise Mariachis!

The encores kept coming at the end. The last piece was "Amor eterno", Watch Rocío Dúrcal sing it here on YouTube: 

That was a late night! After midnight by the time we went to bed!

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Tuesday morning & afternoon we rested in late so Mary could care for the asthma that has been holding her back for days. Tonight we've planned lasagna at the Red Bench Pizza and a movie at Rick's Flicks. We'll packed in tonight for two nights in Burns, so tomorrow we leave Boise🧳.

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Friday after getting to Bend we had a wonderful dinner with Will, Mary's nephew, and his belle, "Sam". They treated us to an exciting and delicious Korean restaurant!

On Saturday, May 30, after visiting in Redmond with friends 

Peggy Glass and her lovely grand-daughter, Dahlia, we arrived home safely. It was a lovely day for driving.

Spring Birding & Boise Odyssey - the "Boiding" Portion

And off we go on our adventure

It's over the Cascades Range to the high plains of Central, then Eastern Oregon. Mt. Hood was clouded over...

We stopped at the Painted Hills unit of the John Day fossil beds in Central Oregon.

Our visit to the Malhuer Wildlife Field Station was very enjoyable and we didn't take many pictures, but couldn't resist capturing the sunrise from our tiny house.

We did get familiar with a new bird, for us, called the Ibis. We drove all the way down to French Glen, where again we didn't take any pictures. We hope to return to this great place. 

And now, off to Boise...

The End of April and pruning, finally.

 Oh, the grapes are ready for budding (actually, they are well along, this post is a couple of weeks late, so I'll catch you up, but as of then,...), the trellis has been cleaned of the old stalks and the new are ready to bear fruit...

I have also completed pruning the pear trees (2, see below), ...

apple trees (3, see below), & plum tree (hidden behind), 

and kiwis.

Now the grassed areas need mowing, again!

A Musical Christmas in April

Sure, it's April but this is our cold time of the year, having spent our winter in Mexico. I guess this is a music blog because today we are visiting Lynnwood and staying in a motel for two nights while we spend today at the Petosa accordion studio. I hope and expect to pick out an accordion today and I feel like I did on Christmas morning 1960 when I was eight years old and woke up with One of the new portable  tiny transistor radio in bed with me. The radio did not need to be plugged into the wall and was the size of the cell phone I'm holding in my hand right now! A new life of opportunities awaits me!

Well, I have picked out an accordion and will have to wait until it comes to me because he's going to do some fancy tuning on it. Someone might find this interesting, it features four reeds (LMMM) in the right hand. One low reed and three medium reeds. Of the three medium reeds one will be at the actual pitch to match the low reed but an octave higher. One the other two reeds will be tuned 8 cents low and the other 18 cents high. With the ability to use any combination of those reeds I will be able to play in many styles. I hope to demonstrate some tunes on this blog after I get the accordion and record some pieces. By the way, I do have a microphone in the instrument for an amplifier!

Now, to wait!

Adjusting to the Northern Climate

Monday Night

Short entry: It's been a slow week adjusting to the climate (colder, wetter) and recovering from the almost obligatory head colds we caught on the train. My mistake was to let myself be compromised riding with the passengers in the chilly observation car through the beautiful Siskiyou mountains. (It's a gorgeous trip, but you won't see the mountains unless you are on the Coast Starlighter northbound.)

Hopefully, we'll feel more perky in a couple of days. Laying low for now.

Flying North Thursday

Sunday

Cleaning up the apartment, getting ready to fly early Thursday morning to Tijuana, cross to San Diego and board the AMTRAK Coastal Starlighter for Portland. Then it's the Tillamook Wave to bring us back to Lee's Camp where our cat and hummingbird friends await our arrival (and the rain shall continue until at least the end of June).