Saturday, 24 October 2015
Yesterday, I had gotten a message from a Canadian Facebook friend, Karla, saying that she and her spouse planned to be passing through Long Beach and wondered if we could have dinner with them. We’ve been imaginary friends since August 2008, the year that I was obsessed with playing Scrabulous. When the game of Scrabulous was discontinued, we continued to be imaginary friends. Karla and Gary had some car trouble and did not make it here yesterday, so today I was waiting for a phone call saying that they had arrived so we could meet them for lunch. That call came at 12:45 and Allan and I left immediately to meet them at the 42nd Street Café.
We all found it easy and natural to converse as if we had known each other for a very long time. Our friends had come all the way from near Toronto. As Karla said, she loves meeting old friends she’s never seen before, and as they continue down the Oregon Coast and then across country to their winter home in Florida, they might visit more Facebook friends.
After lunch, we had the pleasure of accompanying them to the Seaview beach approach where they saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
The tide was out, making it a long trek over tire tracks to get to the water. They agreed that it is weird and not very nice to see vehicles driving on the beach.

Looking back from the shoreline: I was a wee bit embarrassed that they had to cross this ugly mess to get to the water.



Karla and Gary left to go down the Oregon Coast where they will get to see miles of spectacular beaches (with no cars on them). We will be following their journey on Facebook. The visit was joyous and too brief. I wish we had a guest cottage where we could have put them up and taken them round to see all the sights…and yet they do need to get across the country before winter, and we do have a lot of sights.
At home, we spent the late afternoon working on the Corridor of Spooky Plants for Halloween. We cannot assemble it all now in case there might be a windstorm. It’s good to get the basic structure done a week in advance to avoid a last minute rush.

Evening brought the task of B&O taxes and state tax figuring, and I give myself a gold star for taking care of business.
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Monday, 26 October 2015
I had hope for another rainy day so I could read the next in the Dog Lover’s Mysteries. It was not to be and so became a gardening day. Allan took the opportunity to paint the trim on the front fence to match the new arbours. This made me very happy.

And lots of buds on my Eupatorium hernandezii , a plant from Todd that should bloom in winter. (With Mary)
I decided to clean up the back garden middle bed.



I also kind of hoped Allan could move our “park” sign which does not show well with a passion flower and clematis growing over it.
It turned out that sign was attached with bolts that had rusted tight. Allan managed to remove it and is going to rust proof the sign so the fine details do not not wear away.

I had added more material to the Corridor of Spooky Plants. (Much rain is predicted for Halloween, sadly.)

In the evening, we began a visit with another friend from afar. Carol (my friend for 37 years!) was here from Seattle and we had dinner at the Depot Restaurant.
After dinner, we took take-out desserts to Carol’s home for the night, the Zelmar Cruiser at the Sou’wester Lodge. When I entered the Zelmar Cruiser, which I had cleaned many times during my year of working at the Sou’wester (1993), I found myself hugging the round wall at the back of the kitchen!
Next: Carol and I tour Cannon Beach, followed by Allan goes boating.
Enjoy reading about your garden and gardening on the peninsula. Especially enjoy your photo journal. Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you, Lori!
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Always good to meet virtual friends in real life. I am sorry that you had good weather (not really).
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