Pictures I wish I'd taken in Oregon.

There's a whole list of photos I wish I had taken to put up here. I'm still learning the blog thing.

1) The COG by the Mini. He loved it.

2) A picture of the moon viewing, while it was still light, just to set the scene. However, the COG took one and sent it out to family members, so that's OK.

3) Just for the sounds, a little film of the Japanese garden in the dark, with flute music and the sound of the waterfall in the background.

4) COG and Sister of The Bride and I tasting various things at the Clear Creek distillery. We ended up buying pear brandy, Marc, eau de vie de blue plum, and an eau de vie de douglas fir. Apparently this last is called eau de vie de bourgeons de sapins in Alsace. The woman who we met with for the tasting (just the three of us) told us that the whole company of 8 people went out and picked the little fir shoots early in the spring from the farm of the owner.

5) The dinner at Sympatico - I wish I'd taken a picture of each course. I loved the first course -- a corn souffle with a wonderful herb salad made from dill weed, flat leaf parsley and tiny mint leaves with a light vinagrette. Possibly made with walnut oil. Then we had a pasta dish -- a rough, irregularly shaped hand-made pasta with a light sauce of confit of pheasant in a ragout. This was most people's favorite. Then beef shortribs and hot slaw and blue cheese mashed potatoes. The potatoes were especially wonderful, just exactly the right amount of blue cheesiness. For dessert, honey ice cream and a peach half bruleed with some sugar. I loved this last course, but others felt their peach was too hard and should have either been riper or cooked longer.

6) The takeoff from Portland, as we flew above the heavy cloud cover, there was Mt Hood and farther away Mt. Jefferson (I think) in the sunshine, sticking up over the clouds. Breath-taking and memorable.

7) a couple more pictures of my lovely niece and nephew.

We're home now, getting back to normal. Had a great time.