:: The Wendy House ::

Log fire

I had fun poking that!

Things that got toasted:

• Wendy’s tootsies
• Marshmallows
• Vin Chaud
• Wendy’s nose (it’s not so short…)
• Sox pressie from my favourite SwedishTeenAngel

Poking fires fulfills a basic ‘Wendy need’ and will be cited in the to-be-written Wendy ‘User Handbook’ along with the PMT requirements for

• increasing the hug-to-no-hug ratio.
• reducing the requirement for rationality.

Waves THERE

This view was less than 2 minutes walk from the cabin door. I didn’t even have to cross the road to get there! Road-crossing is not yet one of my well-developed skills.

I was able to watch the sunset then walk home in the dark without falling over or negotiating the complexities of road-crossing!

Luxury

W toasty-hot-stand-up-gal

The Oregon coast Tsunami signs are way too common for the paranoid.

DONT PANIC  

(HitchHiker’s guide to the Galaxy,  D.Adams).

Advice provided by Oregon signs:

“Entering Tsunami Hazard zone” (e.g. consider panicing if you hear or feel rumblings that can’t reasonably be attributed to the Sea, your tummy, or a Unix critical internal contingency test)

“In case of earthquake go to high ground or inland” (e.g. if you panic run, drive, uphill)

This sign is generously posted on the coastal routes. Methinks the ‘arrow’ should point at an ‘upward’ gradient because Tsunami escape involves getting to high ground.  

 Wendy the-earth-didnt-move-for-me-did-it-for-you?

Summary impression of the Oregon coast from a British perspective, think of…

• BIG Cornwall with stone cottages replaced by wooden homes.
• Virtually no cell-phone coverage. NO TEXTING
• Big trees. Approximately 3x as tall as anything in the UK as standard issue.
• BIG waves. No surfers due to killer-Trees! Literally big-tree sized logs rolling in the surf.
• Logging. Lots of articulated lorries hauling deliberately felled killer trees inland. This IS Lumberjack country. Sing with me “I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK….” 
• The normal US stuff - wide roads with poor foundations and surfaces - uneven, prone to flooding, lots of cracks, holes, repairs and those big cars they call SUVs
• The same strange bars and cafe’s with inexplicable 1970’s decor, including fake flowers, run by locals with strange hair-styles. It felt like walking into a US centric episode of ‘The League of Gentlemen’

The two photographs below were taken within 2 minutes of each other from the same position. I just turned my body and aligned the camera…

The December Oregon sky is as dramatic as the geography.

To align with one British cultural sterotype here’s a wee bit about the weather:

• Nightly heavy rain. Rain-drops, wearing classic Doc Martens, pogo-ing on the cabin roof. I had to sing REALLY loud to make myself heard.
• River floods seeped onto SR101.
• Mystically foggy mornings. Arthurian Avalon style. The fog rolled from the hills out across to the sea likea dragons breath surrounding Tintagel.
• Vibrantly sunny afternoons with clear skys.

Wendy wet-not-weally-wild

Short vacation to the very pretty Oregon coastline begins TODAY!  

Should be stormy, dramatic, beautiful.  I’m anticipating lots of bouncing, cheese-eating, some hiking,  beaucoup de ‘hat wearing,  loud singing a la auto,  wine drinking and bookworming in a cosey cabin with a real hearth & fire…  …I’m taking my sunglasses (optimism abounds*!)…  

…I’m not anticipating an internet connection or hugs…   …room for pleasant suprises… 

W too-excited-too-sleep

*(couldn’t find any good internet entries on ‘Splogenous Abounds’,  a fabulous name for a band… …don’t actually recall their music quality,  just the band name…)