New Years in Pacific City

Pacific City is a small town. You know that, and that's why we and we hope, you like it. Here is what I suggest for a perfect end and fantastic start to a new decade. We even have the perfect Salt & Pepper shakers for the occasion.

Champagne and an ice bucket.

First, book a room at The Craftsman B&B, we still have an opening. When you arrive, we will have the cookies out at check in time and the coffee machine will be ready for Nespresso or tea.

Then it's off to Twist, the local wine tasting room for a New Years Champagne Tasting. They will be pouring 4 or 5 champagne and sparkling wines, blind. Can you tell the difference? We helped them taste a few they wanted to pour, so it should be interesting. A good rule of thumb, the tinnier the bubbles, the better. And you'll be drinking out of Craftsman B&B flutes. Twist closes around 7, so get in there early.

Next on the plan is The Delicate Palette Bistro for dinner. The are doing a special menu for the night with or without wine parings. I suggest a reservation for the dinning room. We have guests checking in, so I hope there still a spot for us after our guests are settled in. There was talk of lobster mashed potatoes, check out their facebook page for the menu, when they post it. We can also make reservations for you, let us know when you book.

The last item for us is a house party here at the B&B. We are planning on starting at 9:00 p.m. so our friends from Twist and the Bistro can join us. We will be playing wii, poker and snacking on whatever Laura thinks up, if you've heard about Laura's party menus, you know it's going to be good. This is a casual BYOB kind of event, you can try your luck at whatever people bring or what you can find around the house. Our personal cellar will be closed, but we will have champagne at the ready for the strike of midnight.

Then it's off to bed, hopefully early as I need to make breakfast in the morning.

New Years Day has something going on here too. It's the Rose Bowl. I know, college football. I'm not a fan, but the local twins talked me into hosting so they could see the game in HD. All are welcome, again BYOB and I'm sure Laura will have something good to nibble on. Game starts at 2:10 p.m., all hype before that, I'm sure. Oregon is playing Ohio State.

We hope to see you in town for the year end fun.

Whale Watching Week

Hey, the end of the year. You know what that means, right? Of course, the whales are migrating down the coast. You should come down and see them spouting as the swim by. The last few days have been fantastic as it has been clear and calm. There will be trained volenteers at all the good spots for watching. The State even has a web site dedicated to these part time residents, check the locations here.

OK, I do not have whale Salt and Pepper shakers, this is as close as I can get.

I'll now have to be on the hunt for some whales. Do I need a permit?

So the number one tip on seeing the whales: They are swimming from the North to the South, so you should always be looking North. When you see a spout, just follow with your eyes a few hundred yards south and you should see more spouts. If you look to the South, they've just swam past you. 61 were spotted on Saturday!

Take advantage of our Storm Watcher Special while you look for the whales. We are also hosting the locals for New Years Eve and the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. Come join us.

Another funny thing happend, well, I think it's funny. We rely on 2 newspapers for events going on around Pacific City. They both ran stories on whale watching week. That's not unusual, it is, after all, a big deal. The funny thing is they both used the same photograph on the cover, oops!

Post Christmas, what to do.

We hope you all had a great Christmas. We did here at The Craftsman B&B. The Christmas tree was a big hit with our traveling guests. Because they were traveling for the holidays, they didn't decorate their houses, so they liked that we did.

When I turned on the tree this morning, one string of lights was out. At least it waited until after Christmas.

The other thing that happens after Christmas is you discover that missing present. Sometimes it was forgotten when all the wrapping is done. Sometimes it's just hiding under the tree, or still in the trunk of the car. Well I didn't forget this present, I just wanted to wait until today to it to show you.

These Salt & Peppers are from Gump's. They even come with their own shopping bag.

They are Sterling Silver and need to be polished often. Well, they get polished when my parents are visiting. My parents like to help with projects around the house, so polishing silver is a good one.

So living in San Francisco, I learned a few things. One is Gump's is the place where the elite brides of the City register for their wedding china and gifts. It's not like they carry items other that no other stores do, it's about service. Remember service when your shopping? I know, it's not around anymore. Kind of why you choose to stay in a B&B rather than a hotel. We provide service. OK, back to Gump's, Laura and I visited the store on our honeymoon. We had some wedding cash and wanted to get some nice things, so we checked them out. We ended up with these S&P's and mini-presents that are place card holders.

We even saw the famous San Francisco Twins! These ladies are "San Francisco." Always dressed very well and alike. They are more common the Bigfoot we get sightings of in the Pacific Northwest. Usally found around Union Square and Nob Hill. They are very friendly and always willing to be photographed. Living in the Bay Area for 10 years and I never spotted them. It was when I was a tourist, showing Laura the City that we lucked into the encounter.

We will have the tree and decorations up until after New Years Day where we are hosting 2 parties, more on that later.

This is also the prime whale watching season on the Oregon Coast. I write more about that tomorrow.

So check under your tree and in the trunk of the car or back of the closet to see if you have forgotten the last present of the season.

Merry Christmas!

Well the sleigh made it to The Craftsman B&B in Pacific City. The skies were clear last night so his flight should have been pretty smooth in the Northwest.

Hopefully our new chimney didn't slow him down. Today is a double day for the Salt & Pepper collection. We have the loaded sleigh,

and the unloaded sleigh.

Now that Santa is all done with his year long job, he's back at the North Pole with his lovely wife.

They are singing Christmas Carole's for the last time.

Next for Santa is some sunscreen, board shorts and a well deserved vacation to the tropics.

We hope you have had a great Christmas with your family and friends and as we look forward to the new year, we hope to see you in our still tiny beach town.

Happy Festivus!

Another year has gone by and the most famous holiday of the season is nearing. Today at The Craftsman B&B, we will celebrate Festivus! A holiday celebrated by those frustrated with the commercialism and pressure surrounding the Christmas and Hanukkah season.

Snowmen are still an acceptable holiday icon, regardless of which holiday you chose to celebrate. Me, I like the Winter Solstice and Festivus the best. I still celebrate Christmas but I am more in tune with the Festivus traditions.

First off we have the Festivus pole.

During Festivus, the pole is displayed unadorned, "I find tinsel distracting." Plain and simple, see yesterdays blog post. Made from aluminum, with a "very high strength-to-weight ratio."

The pole is easily stored in the crawlspace.

The Festivus dinner is again, plain and simple. I prefer meatloaf, but tonight, I think we are having pork chops and applesauce. No alcohol is served, but you are welcome to drink from a hip flask.

After the meal is served, the traditional "Airing of Grievances" begins. It consists of lashing out at others and the world about how one has been disappointed in the past year. You know this happens in traditional family gatherings anyway, so you might as well make it part of the celebration.

The "Feats of Strength" is the final tradition observed in the celebration of Festivus, celebrated immediately following dinner. Here is how it works: The head of the household selects one person at the Festivus celebration and challenges that person to a wrestling match. The person may decline if they have something else to do, such as pull a double shift at work or clean the kitchen. Tradition states that Festivus is not over until the head of the household is pinned. Failing to pin the head of the household results in Festivus continuing until such requirement is met. My brothers and I used to wrestle my Dad, until he faked an injury, usually his ribs, until one time when we really did crack his ribs.

So how ever you decide to celebrate the season, try Festivus this year. It's so easy, all you need to do is find an aluminum pole.

Is more, better?

That's a good question. Let's debate: I an a more, simple is better kind of guy. You can tell by how I did the interiors of The Craftsman B&B, the original "no lace, no doilies" B&B.

Form follows function. Ever hear that before? It means make something work, easy to use, first, then design in nice aesthetics. Michael Graves in the master of this in our era. He is the father of post-modern design.

Of course the Craftsman movement did it pretty well. I've written a lot about this in past blogs, but quickly, they ditched the ornate machine made Victorian "decoration" for simple hand made arts.

The Shakers had it almost all correct. Make useful items with your hands and your heart. Function and multi-use above all else. The celibacy part of their religion was a mistake.

But sometimes more is better. Automobiles are a great example of this. The first car I drove didn't come with a radio. Now, any car I buy must have: heated seats, dual climate control, Xenon headlights and an auto-tinting rear view mirror. 10 years ago, it was rare, now almost all cars have them, even micro cars.

Now let's talk about Christmas. I like a few gifts. I grew up on getting socks and underwear for gifts and Santa brought us toys. Seven people in the family and we were done opening presents in an hour. Plain and simple. Then I meet Laura, the first few Christmas' were insane. I thought it took all day to open presents, that was until the grand kids showed up, then it actually did take all day. Which is better?

Now we get to today's salt and pepper shakers.

Is more better? These came from Neiman Marcus. Known for being over the top, these fit the bill. Let's break the design down. First, they are S&P's. OK, simple right? Nutcrackers, very Christmas'y. But let's look a little harder, they also snow globes. Now I like a good snow globe. I have one depicting the car roll over scene in the movie Fargo. So we have nutcrackers in a snow globe that are also S&P's from Neiman Marcus. I'd have to say more is not better!

Play in the snow?

A lot of people like to play in the snow, animals and snowmen too. With the threat of snow in the coast range tonight, I thought these snowmen playing would get you in the mood.

They look like they know how to have fun. Me, not a big fan of the snow. I grew up in the stuff and I made the best of it when I was a kid. We would get blizzards every year and the snow was so light and dry, the wind would clear open spaces and cover the house with drifts. Yes, snow up to the eaves of the house! Thirty feet away from the house, no snow. We lived near a park, so when we got these drifts, it would bury the houses that faced the park. The neighborhood kids would build snow forts and an inter-network of tunnels. We would work all day and throw snowballs at the passing cars. Our mom's were pretty resourceful as well, we would wear bread bags on our feet and tuck our pants inside of them to keep dry. Years later, I discovered gaiters in a mountaineering store.

From skiing most weekends in Colorado to living at the beach. I got to say, I love the weather at the beach here in Pacific City, even though it's hailing right now. The local weather forecasters always give you the snow level. When we lived near Portland, we were at 600 feet, so if Portland got snow, we got snow. Tonight they say it will be around 1,500 feet. So when you are sick of the snow and cold, come visit us at The Craftsman B&B, we are at 18 feet.

Hey, it's the shortest day of the year. Happy solstice, and axial tilt. Still time for me to send your Christmas wishes with a Craftsman B&B Gift Certificate.

Miseltoe and Christmas Sweaters

So Mickey and Minni Mouse are getting into the Christmas spirit under the mistletoe. According to a custom of Christmas cheer, any two people who meet under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss. The custom is of Scandinavian origin.

Mickey is all embarrassed, 'cause he just got kissed or that he is wearing a Christmas sweater and a Santa hat.

We have all seen crazy Christmas sweaters, what's their origin? I'm guessing it's from grandmas wanting to be cruel to their grand kids once a year. They're always nice, so this gesture may seem nice, but it's not. Just go to a Goodwill store. They have a section just for Christmas sweaters, no joke! Here is a blog about the ugly sweater style. There is even an online store that's all about the ugly sweater.

As you have seen in the past posts, I have a salt and pepper collection and have been blogging about it, just like this blog. I photographed the collection in one day to have a consistent look to the photos. Someone else had the same idea, but for his Christmas Sweater Collection. His collection includes sweatshirts, vests and turtlenecks too. More sweater choices for your closet are here.

Have you been to a sweater party? We have, that's how we found out about the Goodwill aisle.

We know you have a crazy Christmas Sweater, let's make it pay. From now until December 30th, The Craftsman B&B will give you a 20% discount on a nights stay. All you have to do is mention this blog and show up for breakfast wearing, you guessed it, a Christmas Sweater! Just like our S&P collection, the uglier, the better.

How's your list?

Santa must be pretty close to getting his list together. He has time to play with the reindeer, well this kind of looks like a moose.

If you have your holiday lists mostly checked off, you should reward yourself with a visit to Pacific City and The Craftsman B&B.

Our cold snap seems to be over and a nice little storm blew in during the night. Storm watching season is on. The surf has been pretty good as well.

So before the crazy of the season take you into its grasp, take a break and revive your spirits for the next round of the family get together and holiday parties. If Santa can play around, you can too.

Enough cold stories, almost.

It's been cold here on the Oregon coast beaches. You are tired of hearing about it, I know, but it's rare for it to be this cold this long. Every year we've been running The Craftsman B&B, this winters have had unusual weather, colder for longer periods of time. I remember we used to get about 2 nights of below freezing. That was enough for the plants to die off to rejuvinate in the spring. The dahlias would stay green all year unless there was a frost. No time for them to build up energy to bloom in the Summer. The fuchia bushes hold flowers until a frost. I cut them to the ground every other year and they do great on the North side of our house.

We have has snow here every year, but until last year, it melted by Noon. Last year it stayed around a few days. We saw ice in the Nestucca river this year. The banks held ice all day and the surface would freeze at night. We had no rain during this cold snap so the water levels remained fairly even. When the tide came in is when the ice broke up. Thin layers of ice flowing down stream was interesting to see.

OK the story of the week is of the frozen squid that washed up onto the beaches this past week. I saw this story on Oregon Coast Beach Connection: Dozens of really large Humboldt Squid are stranding on the north coast – and they’re making a rather spectacular sight by freezing immediately on the beaches and staying intact.
What makes this incident unusual is the cold temperatures of the beaches are freezing these creatures where they land, and the rather spectacular size of many of them. The squid were 4 to 5 feet in length and weighed a little over 25 pounds. One was as tall as aquarium employee Tiffany Boothe, seen in the photo below.

Because they’ve frozen on the sand, each has been remarkably preserved. Usually, shore birds go after the eyes – but they’ve left them alone so far. They’ve also left interesting prints frozen in the sand, with icy sea water all around them.

“These squid typically reside in warmer waters off of California and Mexico, but every once in a while they will follow an offshore warm water current,” Boothe said. “When these currents dissipate, the squid get caught in water far too cold for them to handle and they get hypothermic and die."

This summer we had very warm water on the beaches here in Pacific City. Mid 60's, when the normal temps are in the low 40's.

Baby, it's cold out there!

Well the cold snap continues here at The Craftsman B&B in Pacific City. I still haven't got the down vest out, but I am wearing gloves when I go outside. I knew it was going to be another cold morning, so I slept in a little bit and when I got up with the sun just peeking over the coast range, it was 25º. That's the lowest I've seen here.

The snow men are still safe in this weather. The high yesterday was below freezing! This is one of the reasons I didn't open the B&B in Bend or Sisters, Oregon. I really like our mild temperatures we have at the beach. The bright spot is we haven't had rain, or in this weather, freezing rain.

This Salt & Pepper snowman is in two parts, I like the two part kind. They take up less shelf space and are creative.

As most of you know, I rarely drive in a car now that I live in our, still tiny town. Yesterday I needed to get black oil sunflower seeds from the farm store in Cloverdale, the next town up Highway 101. Because I don't drive, the battery doesn't get recharged often enough so starting is a slow process, but it starts. The cold has taken its toll and the car required a charge for about a half hour. I'm so glad I have the tools to get this kind of stuff done, so are the birds. I also unhooked the hoses and put the foam covers on the spigots. I'm glad I did, a few friends had some frozen pipes this morning.

So the East, off shore, winds that are rare here in Pacific City are partly to blame for our cold spell, but they do bring good surfing waves. 6 footers predicted for Friday, come on down and get your surf on!

Snowman Saftey, sort of!

We have had a few clear skied nights in Pacific City over the last few days. With the moon around it's full stage, the nights have been bright. One thing I learned growing up in Denver is that clear skies equal cold temperatures. Our first freeze was a few days ago and the dahlias are the first to show it. I cut the grass the other day and parts still had the morning frost.

As we are in for a cold snap around the Northwest, it's a warmer cold snap at the beach. I'm still only wearing a hoodie, last time I wore a "winter" coat was 1983, when I moved away from Denver.

Santa and the Snowman must have the same tailor, or stylist, as they are in similar outfits with this set of Salt & Peppers.

That's not the only good news for travelers wanting to visit Pacific City and stay at The Craftsman B&B. With the air temperature as low as it's been, it makes the water that much warmer. It's not often that the air temps are lower than the water temps. So all you surfers need to get out here, catch a wave and warm up in the water. The downside, as always, is putting on a wet wetsuit is still one of the worse experiences ever, so I'll dry your suits in our heated garage.

So come on out this weekend, surf or just watch the sunset, it's awesome when it's this clear. Watch the crab boats at night from the beach and attend our town's Christmas Tree lighting tonight at 6:30 PM.

Christmas Season

The Christmas season is here. Mot people like to start the day after Thanksgiving. That's OK, but I like to wait 'til December. The Christmas tree is up at The Craftsman B&B and the house is nearly all decorated.

Here is the first of the S&P's for the season. All the holiday S&P's are out, normally they are not part of the collection during the year. They are hanging out with the snowmen Laura has been collecting on the banquette in the dining room.

I will add the garlands to the house when: A) we get a good wind storm that blows branches out of trees, or B) before Laura returns from a week in Hong Kong.

So if you don't feel like decorating your house but want to spend some time in one that is, come pay us a visit this holiday season. Still no lace, no doilies.