27May - 3rd and 4th days

raptor over the Renegade Ridge vineyards of Archery Summit

sun rising, casting Mt Hood in sharp relief.

standing in a vast field of hay.
thanks to jennifer, snakes were on my mind the whole time

a cement, egg-shaped fermentor from burgundy that archer summit uses to make their extremely limited production of pinot gris.

the barrel room of st innocent

bottle of Remy Wines Sangiovese from the Rogue Valley that Jack from Noah's Wines opened for us. nice cherry and dusty, dry darker fruit notes.

Leigh relaxing at noah's in McMinnville

relaxing over a glass of Broadley 04 Pinot Noir, with beautiful earth and strawberry notes, while catching up on my L'Ecole no.44 spec sheets provided by Jack.

24May- 2nd Day

The dessert menu from the Dundee Bistro. Very well-informed, albeit sporadically available, server. I hope we're not described as "sporadically available" too much.

This was the Vande Rose bacon with the triple cream and hazelnuts. and a strawberry compote. This was extraordinary. I've never had bacon I've enjoyed more. Deeply flavored, rich. So wonderfully fatty, though structured. just amazing.

the approach to Erath. Much bigger than I thought. And so many people there. So many drunk people.

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Slow-cooked mushrooms in a red wine, butter sauce with freshly-picked rosemaries and oregano. Slightly cheaper than eating out and, frankly, i just like to cook. Although I did overcook the steaks a bit. And Brad of Dundee Manor was a dear to let me cook in his kitchen. I hope he finds a use for all the Tillamook butter i bought and had to leave in his fridge.

23May - 1st day back in Oregon
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Through Leigh's loving generosity, we're spending this week in Oregon. Right now, for instance, we're in Oregon.
As we've been on the go since 2.30 this morning (I opted not to sleep last night, as I still had to pack), I'm getting a touch weary but not so much that I can't thoroughly enjoy this wonderful B&B in which Tom C. from Southern Wine was kind enough to put us up for a couple nights. Leigh's enjoying the patio on our room right now while I'm pecking this out along with a bottle of Lange Winery's Kissyfish Rouge, a mysterious blend that is bright and fruity with a touch of spice. Talked a bit with Jesse Lange about finding a distributor in South Carolina, as I fell in love with their Pinots, only to have them disappear.
Flew through Minneapolis, after having missed our morning flight as a result of the airport being choked with people this morning, including not one but two people we happened to know. weird. The woman ahead of us, so annoyed by the prospect of having to wait and possibly miss her flight (which, at that point, was a given) was full of snarkiness and bile. Who thinks that attitude will help at all? I don't know.
We wait now and enjoy the peace that a clement Oregon day has to offer before dinner and much needed sleep.

is my hairline receding? kind of looks like it's receding....

had a beer here in the minneapolis airport. friendly bartender.

13May- random jazz manouche video
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for those of you who want to sing along:
Ménilmontant mais oui madame
C'est là que j'ai laissé mon cœur
C'est là que je viens retrouver mon âme
Toute ma flamme
Tout mon bonheur...
Quand je revois ma petite église
Où les mariages allaient gaiement
Quand je revois ma vieille maison grise
Où même la brise
Parle d'antan
Elles me racontent
Comme autrefois
De jolis contes
Beaux jours passés je vous revois
Un rendez-vous
Une musique
Des yeux rêveurs tout un roman
Tout un roman d'amour poétique et pathétique
Ménilmontant !

Quand midi sonne
La vie s'éveille à nouveau
Tout résonne
De mille échos
La midinette fait sa dînette au bistro
La pipelette
Lit ses journaux
Voici la grille verte
Voici la porte ouverte
Qui grince un peu pour dire 'Bonjour bonjour
Alors te v'là de retour ?'

Ménilmontant mais oui madame
C'est là que j'ai laissé mon cœur
C'est là que je viens retrouver mon âme
Toute ma flamme
Tout mon bonheur...
Quand je revois ma petite gare
Où chaque train passait joyeux
J'entends encor dans le tintamarre
Des mots bizarres
Des mots d'adieux
Je suis pas poète
Mais je suis ému,
Et dans ma tête
Y a des souvenirs jamais perdus
Un soir d'hiver
Une musique
Des yeux très doux les tiens maman
Quel beau roman d'amour poétique
Et pathétique
Ménilmontant !

10May - an aside
.

It's interesting. I suppose in many ways it's a matter of perception, but when I find satisfaction in getting through a difficult night, such as Saturday night, it isn't in terms of having succeeded in getting through it but in having succeeded in not having failed at it.
Despite my suspicion that things would be busy, I had allowed myself to be surprised when, in the course of ten minutes, we went from a single table of 7 to a full restaurant (including another table of seven) and a short wait. Things went a bit blurry for a while but I did find some satisfaction in not responding to the situation as I'd be inclined to and as I had in a recent nightmare of mine, which was rather like Saturday night. In my dream I stopped, announced that i was going home to lie down for a minute, and that I'd be back.

Stress is interesting. How we deal it it. How we don't. How we might need it sometimes to feel alive.

Maybe we can start advertising an evening as a server on a busy night as an extreme sport.

05May - some thoughts on this weekend
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well, this weekend will be both graduation and mother's day.
I just wanted to remind everyone that we don't accept reservations. Also, for parties of 6 or more, we don't separate checks.
Should there be a party of more than 6 people, two tables need to be put together, which naturally means that they'd have to be available.

On the plus side, I understand the new Depeche Mode album is pretty good.