Autumn harvest

For us, fall is a busy time for catching and gathering.  Here is a look at our harvest.

My chanterelle mushroom spots are drying up, but I've gathered a bunch, including some large ones lately.

Huge chanterelle

Due to the dry early fall, king boletes have been slow to appear, but I gathered a couple of small ones this week.

Small king boletes

Fishing for salmon seems to be done for the season, but lingcod are still an option.

The last Chinook of the season

Lingcod

Crabbing has been slow, but we came home with 9 earlier this week.  So we now have a tray full of crab cakes in the freezer.

Bori with some of the catch

Before cooking

After cooking

A day on the beach

Not exactly the kind of day most of us would plan on the beach.

Today, while fishing alone, Bori got lost in the fog, and when he realized where he was (in the surf zone), his best option was to head straight for the beach.  So, he beached the boat, a couple of hours before high tide.  He made a bunch of calls, and learned that the nearest towing company that tows boats off the beach was in Florence.  He called them to retrieve his boat from the beach.

Because of summer traffic and a wreck near Yachats, it took them over an hour to arrive in Waldport.  They brought 2 4-wheel-drive tow trucks.  Bori hooked up his boat trailer to the bigger tow truck, and they headed to Seal Rock to access the beach.

The truck with the trailer backed up in front of the boat, and the other truck lifted the front of the boat high enough to roll the trailer under the front half of the boat.  Then they connected the boat to the winch on the trailer, and pulled it forward.  Then lowered the boat, and pulled the boat all the way up onto the trailer.   Then they connected the trailer back to the bigger tow truck and drove (very slowly)to the beach access.

Very efficient job.  Kudos to Mast Brothers Towing.

Hope your day was sunnier!

Summer at the beach

Highlights of this summer so far have been family, fishing, foraging, and flowers.

First: family

Selfie at Smelt Sands beach

The A, B, Cs 

Second: fishing:  Both Chinook and Coho salmon

Chinook (king) salmon

Coho (silver) salmon

Third: foraging:  Fungi (chanterelles) and razor clams

Chanterelles

Foraging for razor clams at Agate Beach at low tide this morning

More clam diggers

Razor clams (hard work today)

Fourthly: flowers:  Lucifer Crocosmia have been feeding the local hummingbirds.

Lucifer Crocosmia

Enjoy the remains of the season.

Color on a gray day

Paris was foggy this morning, so we headed to the Centre Pompidou for some modern art and lots of color.

Foggy day in Paris

Marc Chagall was one of the artists featured on the 6th floor exhibit.  Very interesting show, the works were created just after the Russian revolution.  Here is a glimpse of what we saw.

Of course, many other artists were featured as well.  Here are two more.

A couple with masks by Jean Lambert-Rucki

A 1901 portrait by Pablo Picasso

A portrait in a rocking chair by Picasso in 1947

Adventure du jour

This morning, Paris had rain for several hours.  But by late morning, the clouds dried up.  So, we rented bikes, and headed for our usual bike path along the right bank of the Seine.


We rode to the Jardin des Tuileries, then crossed the Seine on a pedestrian bridge.  From the bridge, we could see a ramp down to the river level on the left bank, so we rode down the ramp, and followed the path to the Tour Eiffel.  That was a surprise!

Jardin des Tuileries

Pedestrian bridge across the Seine

The Musee D'Orsay as seen from the bridge

Tour Eiffel

Bori with his bike

Selfie at the Tour Eiffel

Tonight, thunderstorms are forecast, and more rain is forecast for tomorrow, which is why we seized the moment to cycle today.

Time for a little religion

But first, a sculpture in front of the church.

The flip side of the sculpture.  Much more interesting.

Today I visited Eglise Saint Eustache, a lovely church about 6 blocks from our hotel.  Very striking from the outside, with some of the architecture reminiscent of Notre Dame, and the inside is a huge space, with great ceiling structure.

Leaving the south

Today we are packing up for our train trip to Paris.

We've had a great time in Provence, in spite of the crazy spring weather.  I will miss the warmth of the people that we have met, the look of the place, the terra cotta roof tiles, and the expanses of green virtually everywhere you look.

We plan to return!