Catching up

November 16, 2023 to November 19, 2023

It’s been five or six days since our last post here, probably the longest blog break in half a year. It’s not like there’s been nothing happing here - in particular, we should heap some praise on Rachael for getting out for a long walk every day, covering 56 miles in the last five days. I’m impressed, proud of my partner, and envious.

In contrast to that I can claim credit for seven miles, if I round up. Pretty pathetic - barely a mile a day, including walks to the coffee shop and back. I had my reasons though. On Wednesday I drove down to Salem for visits with Carl and Frank, so that took up most of that day. I did manage to get out for a walk along Salem’s waterfront between visits though, so there’s three miles right there.

In the Governor’s Cup, waiting for Carl to arrive. I’ve been coming to this comfortable coffee shop off and on for forty years (half my life!). It’s surprising how little has changed - same coffee roaster, same bikes on the brick wall, same table filled with the morning codger klatch. Different codgers, some old klatch. The skeleton’s new though, probably for Halloween.

I wonder what the history of this Ken Evans bike is. Must tie back to the original owner of the place, perhaps. I can still picture him stirring beans on the roaster first thing in the morning.

The Union Street Railroad Bridge, a vertical lift Pratt through truss design built in 1912.

In 2003 Union Pacific sold the unused bridge to the City of Salem for a buck, and in 2008-9 it was converted for bike/pedestrian use. Giving an easy, safe connection to West Salem, it’s a revolutionary change to Salem’s waterfront. I wish it had been open during the years we would bike to the Wednesday night bridge game in West Salem and bike back after dark.

The Willamette River from the Union Pacific Bridge.

The new Peter Courtney Bridge, opened in 2017, connects Waterfront Park to Minto Island - another revolutionary change. The City of Salem notes that connecting the waterfront, Minto-Brown and West Salem parks with these two bridges has resulted in a park with 20 miles of off-street trails and a combined acreage larger than New York’s Central Park.

The view toward Minto Island from the Courtney Bridge.

And here’s the third revolutionary change since Rachael and I moved from Salem over 20 years ago - the demolition of the Boise-Cascade paper mill. In its place is an enlarged waterfront park and new condominiums. If the city had looked like this twenty years go it’s conceivable we would have stayed here.

And Thursday I picked up a couple more miles on another casual bird crawl - this time out to Hayden Island. No short-billed gulls, but I did see the largest gathering of western grebes I’ve ever seen in one place; and, out in the middle of the river, a pacific loon. The first new species in almost two weeks!

Western grebe, one of about 50. Reading up on this bird that I’ve long been aware of, I was surprised to see there’s a second, very similar species - the Clark’s grebe - that was split off in 1985. I’ll need to start watching out for it.

By midafternoon though the slight sore throat I’d noticed the evening before had worsened and it was clear that I was coming down with something - something significant enough that we scrapped our plans to go over to Mississippi Studios for the Caitlin Canty concert we’d been looking forward to for the last two months. Pretty sad.

The symptoms - sore throat, headache, congestion, apathy - were pretty standard for a common cold, but that also describes my symptoms last winter when I came down with Covid after we returned from Nice. To be on the safe side I scheduled myself for a Covid test Friday morning, and was relieved when it came back negative. So - just a cold, or flu, or maybe RSV. I settled in on a waiting game to see if it was going to get better or develop into a longer lasting bronchial infection as has too often happened with me in the past. Other than the outing for my Covid test I really didn’t do much but sleep for the next two days.

Sunday morning though I awoke feeling better; and in fact I subconsciously expected to because of a series of upbeat dreams I had in the early hours of the morning. In one, I was planning out a route for us to take in Tucson with Suzanne and Janos who were flying over from Munich to look for some components for their e-bikes. Odd enough, but the one I’d really like to remember is the vision of looking down at an animal on the ground beneath my feet - a completely transparent sheep it looked like, with a butterfly trapped inside. I advanced forward to get a better angle for a photograph and then realized it actually a large tortoise, the outlines of his plates clearly visible even though the animal was completely transparent still. Quite beautiful, especially with that fritillary fluttering inside trying to get out.

Certainly sounds to me like a vision of returning health.

And in mid-afternoon I drove over to pick up Bruce and Andrea to drive them to the airport for their flight to Ho Chi Minh City and the start of their next Asian adventure. I’d warned them earlier that I was sick in case they wanted to make other plans, but they chose to go ahead with it anyway. They showed up masked, sat in the back seat, and I held my breath all the way to the airport except for whistling a few bars of Unchained Melody in honor of their new journal, which you definitely want to follow. I’ve always loved that earworm of a tune, ever since hearing it on what’s probably the first LP I owned as a young teenager - hit songs performed by the Fantastic Strings of Felix Slatkin (and thanks Frank, for finding the actual album for me!).

And today? Nearly normal. There’s still a cough but it’s minor and my energy level is coming back. My three week bike ban after the ablation procedure is up tomorrow, so I’m thinking Roddy and I will get out for an easy spin along the waterfront tomorrow afternoon to see if I still remember how to ride a bike.

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Patrick O'HaraGood luck on your first spin! Are you going to test your ticker on some hills?
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5 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Patrick O'HaraYes, but not right away. I’m going to ease into things, and besides it’s chilly enough here that climbing doesn’t sound appealing. We’ll be down south soon enough.
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5 months ago

Suzanne GibsonTucson in the winter wouldn't be bad, unfortunately not a prophetic dream.
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5 months ago

Carolyn van HoeveWelcome back, it’s been disappointing not finding any new entries the last couple of days! Glad you’re at the end of the bike ban and the cold. Enjoy getting back on your bike
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5 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Carolyn van HoeveOh my gosh! It’s so great to be out again. I went out for a relaxed ride along the river today and it was incredible. It feels like I’ve been made whole again.
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5 months ago

Andrea BrownScott, thank you again for the ride to the airport. I’m so happy you’re back on two wheels again!
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5 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Andrea BrownYou bet. It was my pleasure, and a chance to pay forward the times friends drove us out in the past. You left a few days too soon though! Yesterday was incredible here.
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5 months ago