Getting ready to head home

It's Wednesday 16th October and, for the first time since we came to USA the weather has suddently turned autumnal. We had some fairly heavy rain overnight and earlier this morning but it seems to be drying up now and the temperature, although well down on the 80's and 90's F that we've seen so far - "just" 70 F (21 C) this afternoon - is still very acceptable for mid-October.

Anyway, we'll be organising our packing today as we're now leaving tomorrow (Thursday) - one day earlier than initially planned. I changed our flights last week, so, instead of flying Medford - Denver - Chicago - London - Aberdeen, leaving here at silly o'clock on Friday morning, we're breaking the journey and are stopping overnight in Chicago tomorrow, leaving Medford on a much more civilised afternoon flight.

Now to the diary:

Wednesday 9th October

Cade duly arrived and attended his eye appointment then helped/watched as Scott bled his car's brakes. He stayed overnight as he had an appointment with the tattooist on Thursday.

A Voters Pamphlet arrived at Delsie Drive:

It's a huge exercise in democracy - over 100 pages outlining details of all the resolutions being discussed at local and national level. Admirable - but the size of it makes me wonder how many people actually read it and respond. There are regular adverts on TV about a couple of the local proposals - introduction of a sales tax in Oregon and a proposal for proportional representation.

Thursday 10th October

Cade returned with his new tattoo (on his back) feeling a little tender. Audrey and Kendall arrived for a few days and in no time there were toys everywhere and Kendall was in her element:

I took a ride to refill one of the growlers.

Friday 11th October

I went out on the bike again, stopping at The Haul to rehydrate with a rare pint of cask ale - it's 95% H2O isn't it?:

Scott was on the BBQ again - ribs for dinner - even Kendall joined in:

Saturday 12th October

The day of Audrey's (slightly premature) birthday party with family and friends arriving in the afternoon, but, first, Scott and I had an early appointment with golf. Scott's friend, Stan, picked us up at 7:15 am and drove us to Stone Ridge golf course. It was a surprisingly cool start to the day but, as usual, it heated up by mid-morning. The wildlife was plentiful - lots of deer and large wild turkeys which both seemed to co-exist quite happily:

Here's Scott and Stan watching playing partner Steve tee off:

We made it back from golf before 2 pm - well before most of the guests arrived. The Oregon Ducks were playing an important (American) football match so many of the males present gathered round the TV while the girls sat at the dining room table:

I managed to get the family 4 generations together for a photo - only Cade was missing:

Sunday 13th October

The big fridge/freezer in the kitchen had come to the end of its life and needed replacement so Scott and Lucy headed off to Medford mid-morning. Kendall was on her nap but when she awoke Audrey drove the rest of us down the I-5 past Medford to Phoenix and the relatively new Phoodery (https://phoodery.com/), a street food type place. Scott and Lucy met us there and we had lunch and beers:

Monday 14th October

Sadly, it was time for Audrey and Kendall to return to Salem but before they headed north, Audrey kindly set up a photo shoot:

(Lucy still wearing her dawn dog walk gear).

Scott took his mother to her hospital appointment and then to lunch with her while Lucy took me and Jo on a Jacksonville area wine tour. First stop was the beautiful Hummingbird Estate (https://www.hummingbirdestate.com/) where we discovered they had a brewery too!:

Next stop was Rellik (https://rellikwinery.com/):

There was some lovely home-made ice cream there and we shared a pint of the Turkish Coffee flavour.

The 3rd and final stop was Dos Mariposas (https://dosmariposasvineyards.com/). We parked the car and walked through the vines to the tasting room:

Tuesday 15th October

Scott's father, Bill, arrived early to pick him up for their annual 2 week hunting trip. They would be on the road for about 9 hours, including stops - still in Oregon. All of a sudden the house was quiet again - no Scott, Audrey or Kendall.

It was Audrey's 25th birthday today - I'm 3 times her age!

Jo chose today's activity - she wanted to go back to the Jacksonville Woodland trails (https://jvwoodlands.org/) that we'd been on last year:

The return trip to Grants Pass took us through the Applegate Valley and past Pennington Farm (https://www.pennington.farm/). We had to stop for a quick bite - pear and apple turnovers and a cookie, plus another takeaway family strawberry and rhubarb pie for dinner - lovely.

That's me up to date again but to close this post here's a few more random photos:

Philly - lovely to look at but sometimes her enthusiasm gets the better of her

From a recent camping trip that Scott and Lucy took. Note new, smaller trailer and Lucy's Jeep

Kendall loves to do this with Lucy

Table Rock - Upper, I think

Hot off the press - we thought we would see Kendall walking before they left on Monday - she was so nearly doing it - but yesterday Lucy sent flowers to Audrey. Kendall loves flowers so Cade tempted her to come and get them - and she did, taking several steps to get there. Another milestone.