1. When the Deke and I decided to leave Eugene back in 2014, we kept telling ourselves, tongue in cheek, that we were the stupidest people around -- we'd tell each other than no one leaves Eugene. This town has everything we love: longtime and really good friends, excellent food both in grocery stores and in eateries, lively music of every genre, a plentiful variety of beers and tap houses and breweries, terrific yarn stores, convenience -- nothing is very far from anything else, a wealth of trees and flowers, and superb libraries and parks. But, we love that we left here and lived in Maryland for three years, that we've settled down in Kellogg, and that we can visit Eugene.
I decided a week or so ago that I wanted to have as much time today with the Deke as was possible. In all my other visits to Eugene, I've either come by myself or the Deke and I have gone our separate ways doing things. I got up this morning and strolled over to New Frontier Market and bought myself a paper cup of their reliably strong and dark coffee -- they have the same coffee available now in the same push top thermos containers that has been there for about twenty-five years -- and I bought some day old pastries. I enjoyed the cool Eugene morning by sitting in front of the market and watched the neighborhood at 8th and Van Buren start to wake up.
The Deke looked at a studio apartment at 9:00 and I stayed in our cottage and relaxed. The Deke returned and took a quick trip to a resale store with Ritta and found a pair of wedding shoes for eight dollars! She returned and we piled into the Sube and headed out to Kohl's in Springfield and I bought a new pair of black shoes for Adrienne's wedding and between Kohl's and Target, the Deke bought some cooler clothes for comfort in the current Eugene heat wave.
2. We decided we were hungry for Thai food and so we went to Ta Ra Rin (a.k.a. ThaiHop -- it's located in a former IHOP building) and the Deke settled into a bowl of beef noodle soup and I ate a crab stir fry. I needed to do some shopping at 16 Tons for Oregon beer, mead, and cider as Beer Club offerings and the Deke wanted to browse down at Cozy, a yarn store on Fifth. Slowly and deliberately, I scanned the shelves and cooler at 16 Tons and bought a box of Beer Club libations, and sat down with a short pour of pFriem's Hazy IPA. Soon the Deke rejoined me and we had the good fortune, before long, of being joined by Tim Shaner who had a lot on his mind about teaching English composition and I listened with great interest as he updated me on what's happening these days in that world.
3. The Deke had a 4 o'clock appointment at Cornucopia with her former teaching partner at Charlemagne, so I dropped her off and went to the cottage to put the Beer Club box in the fridge and to grab a quick nap. The Deke and I made plans to meet up at 6 o'clock with Jay and Sherri at Claim 52 Kitchen. Am I ever glad we did! Claim 52 brews adventurous beer -- hazy IPAs, milkshake IPAs, and a variety of other styles -- and they feature what might be called Korean fusion food. I nursed a couple of short pours of beer and I had a plate of three tasty spicy, subtly sour and pickle-y Beef Bulgogi Tacos and two hoisin bbq-y, quietly sweet Pork Belly Steamed Buns. We had fun yakkin' more with Sherri and Jay and were beaming when we left Claim 52 Kitchen.
The Troxstar is painting his house after work and is ready to go out for a beer or two when it gets dark. I suggested we walk down to Sam Bond's Garage and take in the Tuesday Bluegrass Jam.
We arrived and inside Sam Bond's was sweltering and the music hadn't started, so we each grabbed a beer -- mine was a refreshing and crisp Kolsch -- and sat out on the porch looking out on the buzz of activity on Blair Blvd. Some time after 9:30 or so, the jam got underway and we slipped back inside where the cool marine air of evening was beginning to take over and we plopped down at a table and spent an hour or so listening to Sean Shanahan host/lead the collection of guitar, dobro, harmonica, washboard, bass, and mandolin (and other instruments) players in a bunch of bluegrass, old-timey, and rockabilly instrumentals, sung songs, and breakdowns. Back in 2014, not long before we left Eugene, I had discovered this jam in the spring and popped in a couple or three times to listen and it was among my favorite things to do in Eugene when I had the energy/staying power to stay up past my bedtime. That joy and pleasure all came back to me tonight. If the Troxstar hadn't had to get up to go to work in the morning, I'm certain we would have stayed until the end of this soaring and mirthful jam.
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