Tues June 17,2008. 7:52 AM

Sitting here on a picnic table in our Manning Provincial Park campground is a cool but lovely place to greet the world.  We've come up from Vancouver Island, at sea level to 3200 feet or so and the air is bright and crisp.  I've got to eat breakfast right now, but I'll be right back.

     OK, now I'm back with granola and homemade rhubarb sauce, nuts and seeds etc in my tummy and feeling even better.

Since leaving the confines of Corvallis, I've been able to play disc golf in a few places.  I hd two intensive days in the rain with John Ross at Milo McGiver, in Estacada, and then a day at Pier Park in Portland, all while Wendy was becoming mor erudite about folk and classical music at Reed College.  

     Then as we traveled north to the Olympic Penninsula, I hit a course just south of Port Townsend which was only 8 baskets, but growing and very pleasant and technical, albeit with rather short fairways, at HJ Carroll Pk in Chimacum.

     After arriving at sister Helen and bor-in-law Bill's place in Maple Bay, near Duncan on Vancouver Island, I played the Malahat course north of Victoria once, and found it to be rough, hilly, and neglected.  I talked to the proprietress of the establishment, who told me that she couldn't compete with the free courses and planned to sell the place and move back to Victoria from the mountain location.  I don't think there will be a Malahat course much longer.

Much more positive was my experience in Nanaimo, north of Duncan, where I played 36 holes each on two separate days.  This course at the Bowen Sport Complex on a large tract of wooded, hill, mowed land was a great combination of technical challenge and the occasional longer hole.  No hole was a simple straight shot, with trees in play to challenge the skills of all.  Some would fault it for having too many shorter holes, but of course, I'm not one of those.

I'm planning to play in a one day tournament in St Paul, MN, the Kaposia Open, on June 28th and there is a course in Vernon BC that I expect to take in tomorrow.  Overall, it is a lot of fun trying the different courses andseeing how I can do on each of them.  I haven't lost a disc yet, although there have been some searches required.

I'll give you an update on my disc adventures after the 28th.

Hotel Ymir & an Amazing Art Collection

On Sunday morning in Nelson, after raining hard all night, it continued to rain. Bob and I had looked at the distance we had to travel to get to St. Paul for his disc golf tournament the following Saturday. Unless we wanted to simply drive like heck, we decided we should leave a day early. We had planned to do a serious hike in Kootenai Glacier Provincial Park, but a check of the website revealed that it was still snowed in.

We decided to provision ourselves for the next week and headed off to the local Safeway. When we returned we met Helen and Bill driving off in the opposite direction. We discovered that Helen had left her tennis shoes in our car, so after we hooked up Snoopy we went looking for them. We thought they might have gone to mass, so went past the Catholic Church in Nelson. They weren't there. So, we headed off.

As we were driving south on BC Highway 3, we saw a sign from Ymir (pronounced Eemir) and remembered that Helen and Bill wanted to look at an old hotel there. We turned off, found the hotel and saw their rig parked across the street.

We went looking for them, but couldn't find them. Finally, they appeared out of the bottom of this hotel. Helen knew the man who owned the hotel (he used to own a nursery near Duncan, B.C.). HansWilking, 76, from near Bremen Germany is a very serious art collector. He bought the hotel because he was looking for a large house in which to display his collection. The hotel is crammed with art on every surface, all original. No smoking allowed and it is protected by all sorts of video cameras. Every room has art on all the walls, the dining room is filled with art from the Polynesian islands. It turns out that he is an expert on Hawaiian art, and has served as an expert witness in various forged art trials. His taste is really good and his pictures are loaned to major museums all over the US. He has met all sorts of famous folks, including Jaqueline Onnasis who was a real fan of Richard Priest (Hans has the largest collection of Richard Priest paintings in the world, over 250). After we looked at the collection in the hotel, we were admiring a black and white picture by a modern NY painter (he collected a lot of modern art) and Hans commented that he had three more paintings by the same artist in Salmo.

Off we went to Salmo to see the rest of his collection. He bought the Knights of Pithias Hall there and it is filled with his painting, even on the ceiling. The three large black paintings on the left wall in this painting are of from that artist. The wall is covered with Richard Priest paintings. Hans is the white-haired gentleman in the red and black coat in the foreground. In and amongst the paintings are floor lamps, chairs, and bedspreads from the hotel. However, the place is all climate controlled and protected by the same kind of security. The collection is apparently worth millions and he's also a very wealthy man, though a real curmudgeon (very few people like him). He's hard of hearing, but a real character. He likes to talk and it was difficult to get away.

If you are ever in southern BC, you should go to the Hotel Ymir (rooms with shared bath $29/night, $39/night for rooms with a private bath). Ymir itself was a mining town and is along a river with great trout fishing.

The top painting is the original of the mural in Chemainus. The bottom photo was simply of a painting I liked, sitting on the floor. An amazing place.

Okanagan Wine Tour

Helen and I took off one day while Bob played disc golf and Bill fished and relaxed. We visited three wineries and an artisinal goat cheese manufacturer. The top two photos are Mission Hill Family Estate. We took a tour here. The owner made his money from inventing Mike's Hard Cider and invested $35M in building this winery. Interestingly, in Kelowna the wineries are in the midst of subdivisions (or vice versa). The cellar is dug into the volcanic rock and kept at a constant 80% humidity by misters spraying the walls. There is also a bell tower open to the sky with the above circular drain for the water that comes in. After that tour we headed to Quail's Gate because they had a Marachel Foche made from 40 year old vines. We tasted that and had lunch in their restaurant over-looking the lake. It was called Old Vines and was delicious. Later I noticed that the cover of the Kelowna tourist guide had that restaurant and our waitress on it. I had a panini with chicken and goat cheese and pesto made with pine nuts. We then continued across the lake to the east side in search of more wine and goat cheese.

Camilla's Artisinal Goat cheese south of Kelowna is amazing. It sits in the midst of an area that was burned about 5 years ago. When we got there the goats were clambering on the rocks and the logs. They make about 20 different kinds of goat cheese. We tasted them all - from soft chevre types with various flavorings to soft brie-like flavored cheeses to hard cheeses soaked in pinot noir, goatganzola and a goat gruyere. They were all delicious. The proprietors are from Israel and came five years ago, though the place has existed for many more years. They spent ten years travelling around Europe learning to make cheese. They also make goat milk gelato, but we were too full to try it.

This is the view from the goat cheese place towards Kelowna. We finally visited Summerfield Pyramid winery, the largest organic winery in North America. It has delicious wines (compared with other organic wines I've tasted). They are cellared in a white pyramid and there is some new-age sort of beliefs related to the energy of the pyramid. They are known for their sparking wines and their ice wines.

Fortified with various selections of wines, we ended our day back at the campsite.

Travels with Helen and Bill

Helen and Bill Schuckel live in Maple Bay on Vancouver Island. One day friends of theirs took us out on their 35' boat in its shakedown cruise of the year. That's it in the top photo at the end of Musgrave Landing. We motored from Maple Bay through the narrows to Cowichan Bay and tied up at the public wharf at Musgrave Landing. After a short walk we returned to the boat for lunch and a leisurely motor home past this island with the seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

Helen and Bill always have lots of activities planned. We took a walk out to an estuary in Cowichan Bay with Victoria and Oscar (our niece and her son). After the walk we went into Cowichan for lunch at the Rock Cod Cafe (excellent), followed by ice cream at the Udder Guy (truely outstanding). It has all sorts of natural flavors including rum raisin (where the raisins are soaked in rum), mandarin chocolate (orange ice cream with Belgian dark chocolate flakes), fresh cherry and ginger. We also went to Jena Gogo's birthday brunch in Victoria where all Helen and Bill's children were present for a quick visit. Bob played disc golf in Nanaimo twice.

On Monday June 16 we got up early to catch the 7:45 a.m. ferry from Nanaimo to Tswassin. As we headed off I realized I had left my purse at Helen and Bill's and we couldn't catch their attention ahead of us. Finally we turned around, went back knowing that they hadn't locked their garage and retrieved it. We made it to the ferry on time. Snoopy is very handy as he fits on the car deck instead of the oversize truck deck. Helen and Bill were the second-to-last to get on.

We started driving east on Canada 1 through lots of construction, eventually making it to Hope for lunch (mediocre), but a delightful side trip to the Othello Quintette tunnels. There was a race to build a railroad to keep Jim Hill of Northern Pacific fame from continuing his domination of railroads in Canada. The problem was that there was a canyon. The Kettle River Railroad hired an engineer who figured he could blast four tunnels through the granite by lowering people on ladders where they set the charges and then scampered back up. The top photo shows the tunnels, all in a line. The railroad is no longer as it was heavily destroyed in floods and landslides in the 60's and it is now a trail. After walking the line, we continued on to Pinticton where the above steam boat is a museum.

It was built in 1914 and sailed until 1936. It has a huge steam boiler which powered a large paddle wheel. The boat was very grand inside (teak and mahogony). At the stern end was the men's lounge with spittoons, while in the bow the women had their lounge. In between was a beautiful dining room. The wheel is so large that in bad weather, of which there is quite a bit, two men had to hold it. The timbers sticking up through the roof are the stabilizing system for the boat.

We continued on to Bear Creek Provincial Park opposite Kelowna. Unfortunately it was quite cool and windy.

More Crabbing

Here are two photos of the crabs we caught on Joe's boat (plus a comparison shot of the crabs and prawns we caught on Bill's boat. No complaints as to quantity, as we ate them all.

Foraging for Food

We went out with Bill Schuckel (our brother-in-law) in his small boat to go crabbing and prawn trapping. Setting out from Croftin, we first dropped two crab pots in about 35' of water and then crossed the bay to Salt Spring Island where we dropped 3 prawn traps in about 250' of water. The crab pots are baited with chicken parts; the prawn traps with some kind of pellets that the prawns can't even get at, though they can smell it. The traps need to stay down for about two hours, so we motored over to Vesuvius to eat lunch in the restaurant and while away the time. While there the clouds began to thin and it got warmer. We had put on three layers of clothes (long johns, clothes, and gore tex) to stay warm and dry. When we went back to pull up the pots we got 19 prawns and 1 large red rock crab.

That night Bill cooked up the prawns and crab and fried the oysters that Bob had bought in Quilicine. We ate them with a large salad. Yum!

The next day Joe (our nephew) invited us to go crabbing out of Genoa Bay. He has a larger boat with a more powerful motor. We drove over to Genoa Bay and waited. Genoa Bay has a marina, several interesting floating homes and some large pieces of art hung on boat houses and for sale. We motored over to where Joe dropped 4 crab pots. His boat is all set up with a spool to wind and unwind the rope, a device to pull the rope over as you pull up the pots and wind the rope onto the spool, etc. After dropping the pots we went across the bay to wait.

Joe knew a beach where the boat could be moored. There was a wonderful tree house made out of driftwood in a big madrone tree. Markus and Calder and Beren should take note.

When we returned to pull up the crab traps, three of them held crabs. Some were female and some were too small, but we kept 9-10 of them.

That night we went to Joe and Jane's B & B (Cobblestone Farm B & B) for dinner. They have remodeled the old farm house to create a B & B suite on the top floor with wonderful views, a huge bathroom and quiet. The farm is a working farm and Jane owns three horses (Pesto, Dijon and ?) and trains and competes with them. They also have three pigs they raise for slaughter, Oprah the large pot-bellied pig, laying hens and two dogs (Phoebe and Niles, the 3-legged whippet).

Joe fixed a fabulous dinner (asparagus wrapped in proscuitto, bread with a tapenade of sun-dried tomatoes and basil, crab risotto, salad, green beans with cherry tomatoes in a sauce with anchovies and oranges sliced with kalamata olives and sprinkled with dried roasted garlic and olive oil).

Anyone looking for a great place to stay on the island with really good food should check out their B & B. It's next door to a bistro and winery with really good food also.

Travails with Snoopy

We decided that since we are traveling with Darwin, the trailer needed to be named some sort of beagle. Since it's white and has large eyes (skylights) and is always the smallest unit in the campground, it's going to be Snoopy.

Snoopy has problems. Good old American construction (NOT). Although the design seems fine, the bed is comfy, the furnace and stove work great, the plumbing and the cabinetry are a problem. The first thing we discovered (when Bob took Snoopy out on a disc golf weekend) was that the three drawers don't stay closed while traveling. I assumed that they would drop down when pushed in (which they do about 1/4"). They come open while traveling. When we arrived in Port Angeles, one drawer had come out completely, emptied its contents on the floor (good thing we're mainly carrying plastic) and the corner was crunched. Another drawer came open and hung at an angle and bent the cheap metal rail the drawer runs on. Bob managed to fix them enough so we could travel and we jerry-rigged something to keep them closed using Bob's golf umbrella a bungie cord and cord. I had noticed that one drawer wasn't evenly set in the cabinet and that they didn't run very smoothly on the drawer glides. Sigh....... Maybe when we get to Tunkhannock and Markus we can fix them.

Then I discovered that water was leaking under the sink. Luckily I have everything in plastic boxes, but there is not an insignificant amount of water leaking from the pressurized clean water input pipes. This is the pits.

We've had the trailer for less than two months and have only taken it out for about 8 days and two serious things have gone wrong. We were both pretty bummed and crabby with each other. We debated whether we should return to Eugene to get it fixed, but finally called Bill (our brother-in-law in Duncan BC) and determined that we could probably get Snoopy repaired in Duncan. He's going in on Thursday.

Here's hoping that we can fix his woes.

Reed 35th Reunion

We began our trip on Tuesday June 3 at 3 p.m., driving from Corvallis to Roamer's Rest RV Part in Tualatin. It was my 35th reunion (having attended my 10th and 25th previously). I attended the Alumni College on Music while Bob and Darwin went disc golfing, returning to join me for dinner and the evening entertainment. Alumni College consisted of morning lectures on various topics (the history of electronic music, musical representations of cultural clashes, Duke Ellington as composer or improviser, and Frank Zappa presented by DJ Dr. Demento). The afternoons were a combination of hands-on music-making and presentations by the Williamses of the historical fiddle and dance tunes of the Oregon Trail and the mining camps.

One afternoon the adjunct who organizes private music lessons for Reed students led a tour of the historical keyboard instruments at Reed. This photo is of the French/Flemish harpsichord I donated to Reed in 2002. It has been restored and tuned and is in gorgeous shape. She played, by chance, one of my favorite pieces, Couperin's Les Barricades Mysterious. Afterwards she left me alone in her office to play (badly). It solidified my intent to take harpsichord and organ lessons when I return in November.

Reunions are interesting. The class of 1973, like similar classes at other small institutions, is never well represented at reunions. We are the lost generation, the product of the Vietnam war, the draft, and the political upheaval of the time. Only about 30 of us showed up (a pretty good showing). Despite this, we shared our memories of Reed and where we are in our lives now. Finally we have gotten to the place where we are comfortable with ourselves, where we are in our careers, where we are in our lives and are no longer out to impress. That makes for a much more comfortable interaction. I hadn't realized how much the draft (and low draft numbers) had figured in the lives of my male classmates. We also shared memories of the FBI's visit to Reed in the spring of 1971. They invited themselves and were greeted by a ragtag Reed band playing the Mickey Mouse song, cheerleaders and a motorcycle escort. During an evening symposium they fielded questions from the Reed community (students, faculty and staff), which they could not answer since they mainly related to the draft and conspiracy laws. A birthday cake was presented to one of the FBI guys (since it was his birthday) who was unsure whether to eat it or whether he would be poisoned. Although this was all treated as a farce, the Oregonian saw fit to print that their welcome was an indication that Nixon was winning the war of the minds with the students.

What none of us knew at the time was that Reed was almost bankrupt. Here we were, mainly 16 and 17 year olds, intellectually able and socially nerdy, with no student support systems in place. The academics were extremely demanding but the social interactions were completely over the top (drugs, alcohol and sex). Those of us who did not want to party hard (myself included) resorted to folk dancing. Music was also my salvation as I practiced 2 hours a day.

The reunions culminated with the world premiere of an improvisation piece by David Schiff (Reed professor), with the improvisation by another Reed alum. I also got together with the Collegeum Musicum (the audition-only acapella singing group) and we sang with our original conductor. Another example reminding me of how much music means to me and how much I have left it behind, except in concerts. The reunion ended with fantastic fireworks and it didn't rain.

Big house, little house

Here is a comparison of our traveling house and our stationary house, in the lovely month of May with the rhododendrons obscuring most of our little home. The big house we leave behind has just been painted inside and out by Top Dawg Painting, and looks pretty spiffy. When we return, the leaves will have fallen and the days will be short. In the meantime we intend to travel and play! Karl Swanson will look after the lawn and leaves in our absence. Martina will be dropping in on Mother frequently and checking on her care. Caroline Schectman will be staying in the house, and this relieves our mind about an empty house!

We will leave for Portland next tuesday, June 3rd, and plan to spend 6 nights there attending Wendy's 35th Reed College Reunion. Perhaps she will provide more pictures and narrative about that chapter. I (Bob) will be playing disc golf with a Corvallis friend, John Ross, who is planning to camp at what is the most distinguished course in Oregon, Milo McGiver in Estacada, for 3 of those days, and I will attend Wendy's festivities one day, and we will be occupied with travel the others, as we leave immediately after the celebration to drive to Port Angeles and camp, waiting to catch the ferry in the AM to Victoria, B.C. and Helen and Bill Schuckel, my sister and bro in law.