"I dunno, Angie. What do you wanna do?" - 8/27/15

Or: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Lately, things have been slow; very, very slow. Just warm weather and a general willingness to sit back and let the hours slide by. It's been easier to idle away the hours than get up and get out.

But even these good times begin to wear on a person and so today, well, today it felt like it was time to rouse ourselves into action. We've been so pleased with the bird walks around the town at the Open Spaces that we thought we'd visit another one and so it was off to the Agnes Creek Open Space for us.

And that short opening leads me into my explanation for this edition's title: "I dunno, Angie, what do you wanna do?" I was kinda feeling lost and at sea...sorta like Marty in the movie of the same name. And now, I will let the Fun Facts do the rest of the explaining....

Fun Facts: Marty (1955) is the poignant, simple character study of a lonely, unmarried, lovelorn middle-aged, 34 year old-son who works as a Bronx butcher and still lives with his love-smothering mother. By films end, he and a homely 29 year-old Brooklyn schoolteacher and female wallflower are liberated - both are triumphant over their limitations.

The film's screenwriter, Paddy Chayefsky, transformed his own original teleplay into a successful major motion picture - and the modest film remains one of the best examples of the cinematization of a television play.

As a feature film, it was one of the biggest 'sleepers' in Hollywood history. A modest, black and white film in an era of wide-screen color epics, its critical acclaim and box-office success were phenomenal - its $340,000 production budget yielded over $5 million in gross proceeds. And it was the second Best Picture Oscar winner to also win the Golden Palm at Cannes - The Lost Weekend (1945) was the first.

Marty was nominated for eight Academy Awards - and was awarded four - Best Picture, Best actor (character actor Ernest Borgnine in a role quite different from his menacing, sadistic villains or murderous 'heavies' in From Here to Eternity (1953) and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Best Director (Delbert Mann for his debut film), and Best Screenplay (Paddy Chayefsky). It was also the shortest Best Picture winner at 91 minutes.

Besides, you know it's good...read the endorsements in the poster below.

It's just a damn good movie and Ernest Borgnine totally deserved the Oscar. I've seen it several times and from it I've gotten the catch phrase, always given in my very best Bronx accent, "I dunno, (insert appropriate name) whadya wanna do?" which, I admit, no one has ever caught yet. But I still keep pitching it.

And so, we packed up our Ol' Kit Bags and headed out the door to the faithful Mini. Past the Lighthouse Wind Sock hanging outside our front door and into this glorious Oregon Summer day.

With a quick stop over at the ol' mailbox...it's so cool having my own mailbox. I am enjoying having the mail delivered where I can get to it every day...except Sunday.

Hahaha, I am a simple guy.

And then, just a couple miles down The 101, we were at the Agnes Creek Open Space.

First time for both of us and we didn't know what to expect.

But, to be honest, we, at least I did, expected something a bit...well, better. I guess we've been spoiled by the other Open Spaces. This one is....rough. It looks a lot better here in this picture than it did in person. 

And I finally figured out what was off with this Open Space. The ground! There was very little ground cover. I just looked at some pictures from other Open Spaces Walks and there is a lot of foliage on the ground but, here, in this one, there is just deadfall. That's the thing that was so off-setting for me. As Carol said, "It's like walking into an office where they haven't put in the furniture yet." Bottom line, it was off-kilter.

This area was cut down back in the 60s and then left to its own devices for reforestation. What was an area that should have sustained 80 or so trees per acre grew up into a mess with several hundreds of trees per acre. Too many.

And now that it is an Open Space, they're trying to get it back to a manageable state. Cutting down some of the trees and trying to turn it into something a little more park-like.

There wasn't much to it, really. But, one good thing about it is that they took a LOT of wood and threw it into the chipper and then used the chips to create the footpath. It was, honestly, like walking on a mattress, spongy and soft.

They started the thinning project in 2013. The trees they selected for thinning were the smaller and less vigorous trees. By taking out these trees, the larger, more established trees have less competition and are benefiting from the healthier environment.

It's only been a couple of years and you can see the canopy is still waaaaay up there. Somethings take a while to fix themselves.

They've come in after the thinning and planted a lot of small shrubs and ground cover that is trying to establish itself now. And here's another example of what's happening after the thinning...a mushroom, pushing up out of the forest floor.

Speaking of things that spend most of their life in the dark and covered with crap...here's Jackie!!

You can tell by my attire that I am an experienced and intrepid mountaineer.

CB

While we'd been walking through the Open Space, we'd been talking about Ian Keene, the Open Space Coordinator for LCO, and what he probably did and what he should do...Hahaha, we're opinionated like that.

As we were nearing the Faithful Mini, we spotted a bunch of kids around the trail head and then Carol spotted Ian.

He had a bunch of kids out there for a nature project. What a surprise it was to see him there. We had a pleasant conversation with him and, as always, we learned a bit more about the Open Spaces Program in LCO. 

And since I am a muy bueno kinda guy, I offered to get a picture of Ian with the kids before I left. I told him I'd e-mail the pictures to him when I got home. And, so I did. Here's one of them. You can see the Open Space and Ian, on the right, and the kids.

When we left, I took a turn towards the ocean and we motored on through a new housing development called Olivia Beach Estates. It's a really good-looking development, they're still working on it. Then we found ourselves coming onto The 101. 

The 101 is always so busy that it is easier, when you want to turn left, to turn right and then find a place to turn around and head back the way you wanted to. As we approached the intersection, I didn't even think about trying to turn left onto The 101 and automatically looked to the right, where I saw this commercial strip in Nelscott.

Fun Facts: Nelscott was named by combining the surnames of Charles P. Nelson and Dr. W.G. Scott, who founded the community in 1926. Nelscott post office ran from 1929 until incorporation as Lincoln City. Nelscott Reef is known for its surf and was in Surfer Magazine (I didn't know they had a magazine for surfers!?!) in 2003 as one of the Pacific Ocean's best places to surf. (Wow!! I didn't know that either!! I never see anyone surfing near our section of beach. Never!!) (See how much you learn reading these blogs!!)

Now it's mainly a row of trendy little shops anchored on the north end by a Marijuana Clinic and a Christmas Store on the south end. 

Yeah, I know...it's Oregon.

And, in between, they have a Mexican restaurant, a Cafe and a candy store. 

I was getting mixed signals from this Cafe. The sign said closed but the lights and the open door with people inside said something entirely different.

Oh, we'll be coming back to the candy store. Believe me.

But before we get to the Candy Store, let's go visit the Christmas Cottage, shall we?

And, BAM!!! all of a sudden it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

With loads and loads of ornaments.

They have a wide range of Christmas ornaments...from a Dumbo Disney to a slightly spooky Santa there on the right.

"Gosh, are you OK, Mr. Santa?" Dumbo asked, innocently.

And a piece from El Dia de Los Muretos. There, in the Christmas Cottage. A decorated skull. 

Makes sense to me.

At least he looks happy.

Let's gather up our courage, pick our brains and show our heart for fun with Dorothy and the Gang. It must be that they celebrate Christmas in The Land of Oz.

As I remarked to Carol, I don't know that I could make a choice here. Not a rational one at any rate. I'd probably just get fed up and grab one just to escape.

I was just reminded, as I reread the last few sentences, that I am a victim of a form of Future Shock. And, as I think about it, that helps to explain my growing unease with the way America has been changing in this new century.

My small form of Future Shock today was from being inundated with way too many choices for a Christmas decoration. The mind becomes so overwhelmed with what should be a relatively simple process that it either rejects all the choices or, as in my case, simply grabs the nearest, least objectionable one and calls it quits.

Fun Facts: Future Shock, a book by futurist Alvin Toffler written in 1970, defines the term 'future shock' as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. His shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of 'too much change in too short a period of time.'  The book, which became an international bestseller, grew out of an article 'The Future as a Way of Life' in Horizon magazine in 1965. The book has sold over 6 million copies. It is, simply, too much, too fast. The rapidity with which the modern world is changing is faster than some people's ability to adapt to it; to keep up with it.

Wow!! I'm relieved I thought of that. It goes a long way to explaining my angst. I think I'll just start blaming my anti-social and childish behavior on my inability to cope with all the freakin' changes being shoved DOWN MY THROAT!!!

ARGH!!  

Ahhh, breathe....Ok, Ok...I'm calm now.

Good grief!! More choices. I can see where you might have to spend a lot of time here just to get a couple ornaments...unless, of course, you knew what particular genre of decoration you wanted.

Because, these good folks have kindly sorted many of the ornaments into themes. 

Smart!!

Uh, oh!! Man, I had to beat back my sudden impulse buying urge here. I mean, who would want a Camera Christmas Tree Ornament!?!?!

Totally!!

Hahaha!! I know!! I am such a schmuck!! I saw this picture and the first thing I thought was all I have to do is write Merry Christmas across the top and I have my Christmas Cards done for the year.

Hahaha, I have been more than a bit insufferable with creating memes from my pictures and then posting them on FaceBook.

Fun Facts: An Internet meme is an activity, concept, catchphrase or piece of media which spreads, often as mimicry, from person to person via the Internet. Notable examples include posting photos of people lying down in public called planking or putting some catchy phrase onto a picture.

The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, as an attempt to explain the way cultural information spreads; Internet memes are a subset of this general meme concept specific to the culture and environment of the Internet. In 2013, Dawkins characterized an Internet meme as being a meme deliberately altered by human creativity - distinguished from biological genes and Dawkins' pre-internet concept of a meme which involved mutation by random change and spreading through accurate replication as in Darwinian selection. Dawkins explained that Internet memes are thus a 'hijacking of the original idea,' the very idea of a meme having mutated and evolved in this new direction.

#myheadhurts

Oooft, way too much information there. Because they go on to say that an Internet meme doesn't qualify as a meme until it gains some kind of celebrity. Well, that sucks. 

Oh, and they invented a new name for Technological Memes like these...they're called Temes. 

Way too much information.

Ah, Santa. Now that's something I recognize!!

And Mickey!!

Quick!! Name the cartoon this Mickey character starred in.

Quiz Answer: Did you get it? It's a 1938 American animated short film titled The Brave Little Tailor. The cartoon is an adaptation of the fairy tale The Valiant Little Tailor with Mickey in the title role.

And Goofy!! As a Bird Watcher!!

Hahahaha, I'm not gonna touch this one!!

Ahhh, Mickey and Minnie.

I'm a Yankee Doodle Mickey...

Hahaha, I have a thing for Disney.

Hey!! Look!! Lighthouse playing cards!!

I can think of one little girl who might enjoy these!!

And these. 

Lighthouse ornaments.

Terrible Tilly

The store caters to all kinds of different hobbies and interests.

Fishing...

College Football....

And everyone's favorite Lean, Mean Fightin' Machine!!

Semper Fi...

Gung Ho, Sir!!

And the Army, of course.

I'm gonna step out and let you skim through the rest of the pictures in the Christmas Cottage.

Needless to say, we had a good time in there. Of course, there's always that problem of wanting to buy one of nearly everything. It would just be a waste for me as I haven't put up a Christmas Tree for years and I sincerely doubt I will put one up this year, either.

So, that was fun. As we were strolling back to the Mini, we passed by the Candy Store and...

,,,,I spotted a small sign in the window that read: Frozen Bananas

What could we do? We went in!!

There were lots of other goodies in there...

Plenty of tempting delights to consider...

Sweetness all over the place...

But....

This one had to have her Frozen Banana!!

And she did.

Hahaha, we've been looking for nearly a year now for a frozen banana and here it was and we almost walked by it. I mean we've stopped in at least three Candy Stores in LCO asking if they had frozen bananas and here it was. And we almost walked by this one because, well, we didn't think they had them, either.

And, since I showed you one end of the strip mall, I'll be fair and show you the other end. 

You can get healthy and get high all in one place!!

Since Carol had gotten her treat, I thought I'd get one for me and so we stopped by the Cruise Inn on the way back.

A nice neighborhood bar with reasonable prices and good, greasy food.

And they're patriotic, too. 

Semper Fi, Tubby!!

CB

And so this day went by. The Agnes Creek Open Space needs a lot of work and time but it was interesting getting out there to see it. We had expected to see more birds but that didn't work out. We did see a Steller's Jay and some small birds way up high in the canopy that we couldn't see well but that was it.

The real treat was visiting the Christmas Cottage. Oh, and the Frozen Banana. And, generally, the day. It was a good day. We got out and saw some new things and learned some new things and enjoyed ourselves.

And, y'know, life is good.

     Hooah!!