1. Debbie and I did not get right up and at 'em this morning. It turns out that Wednesday's drive through the Columbia Gorge snow globe from hell exacted quite a toll on us and it hit us hard today. Oh! We're okay. We were just tired. Debbie slept a lot. I just rested and drank mug after mug of coffee. I kept a close eye on Poppy who had a lot of fun diving out the doggy door into the back yard, barking, drawing the attention of a next door neighbor, and getting treats and a lot of pets over the chain link fence. I enjoy Poppy's sociability. Every time she returned to the living room, she put her chin on my lap and enjoyed my affection. Before long, Poppy needed some rest and lay down on the couch and relaxed and napped.
2. Debbie and I got ourselves moving about mid-afternoon and got ready to visit Francoise, Herb, Miles, and Bryce. I recommended that we stop off at Oakshire Brewing on our way to the Pendleton's house, but we decided that it would be a more efficient use of time to stop off at the 16 Tons Cafe.
Debbie and I each ordered an 8 oz pour. Debbie loves Block 15's Sticky Hands and I decided to SAVE THE STOUT (no porter on the tap list) and order ColdFire's Chocolate Touch, a very enjoyable chocolate stout.
I was blissed out. I enjoyed that about ten other people were in the cafe, some pairs of people in conversation, others were by themselves, drinking coffee or beer, reading, working a puzzle, enjoying the quiet and peaceful vibe of the 16 Tons Cafe.
As we left, a fellow LCC retiree called out to me. It was Dan Welton. Debbie and I talked with Dan for a little while. He perked up when we told him we had come to Eugene on Wednesday from Kellogg. Dan was born in St. Maries and knows the North Idaho landscape really well and we had a good time talking a bit about Idaho and about how we are each doing now that we are retired.
It was a fun and welcome surprise to see Dan.
3. We visited with the Pendletons for nearly eight hours! Both Miles and Bryce were elementary students of Debbie's and Francoise and Herb were highly involved parents, strong advocates for their sons. Now Miles has graduated from the Univ. of Miami and has moved back to Eugene and Bryce is a sophomore at U of Miami.
They've grown up a lot since their elementary school days. Ha! Wow!
We fell right into passionate conversation about a wide variety of subjects with our hosts -- health matters, education, the racial divide in the USA, The Wire, and riffed on these absorbing subjects at length. We talked over a sturdy and delicious filet mignon dinner and continued to tell stories and explore big ideas until after midnight.
If Debbie and I had been sluggish earlier in the day, this dinner party, this salon, this forum of intelligent and emotional conversation sent new bolts of energy through both of us and we relished having an evening together with our great friends the Pendletons.
(During our visit, my back got tired and I lounged on a recliner for quite a while. I had the house key in my pants pocket and it fell out while I was lounging. Debbie and I drove from near Delta Ponds out to South Eugene, beyond Fox Hollow Rd, got out of the car, and I realized I didn't have the house key. Debbie called Francoise. Francoise found the key. We drove all the way to the opposite side of Eugene, retrieved the key, and returned home. Poppy had been pretty excited inside the house the first time we arrived and didn't come in and was ecstatic when, upon our second arrival, we didn't zoom off, but came in the house. Poppy and we humans gave each other all kinds of most welcome attention and affection.)
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