I’m not religious, but I’m fascinated with religions like I am with any culture. Some of the things we’ve been doing lately are religion-adjacent.
First of all NEWS!!! We received a letter in the mail last week congratulating us on the payment in full of our mortgage. This is something I sort of never really thought of as a future I could expect to experience. That’s a lot of words. I guess more simply I mean: I never really thought of ‘paying off a mortgage’ as something regular people could do. We did it! To celebrate, we decided to go to the Mt. Angel Abbey for a beer.
I’ve talked about this place before, where the benedictine monks brew their own beer and their goal is to worship through their work. As in the days a thousand years ago when monks brewed, these have their own well, they farm their own hops, they manage every batch themselves. Because of these small batches, the only way to get the beer is to go to their tiny bar on the Abbey property.
The place is becoming popular we could tell. In the two years since we’ve been here last, the parking and outdoor patio seating have doubled. I hope the income is helping to support their Abbey property. Upkeep can’t be cheap these days. We had meant to buy some beer to take with us because you can’t get it anywhere else. But we had so much fun chatting with the kids, we forgot. I suppose we will have to go back.
We invited Kellen and Cameron to join us because Mt. Angel is between us, and also because it was Kellen’s 28th birthday! Pedro and I both like the Black Habit. The kids ordered some St. Michael and St. Gabriel. We had some charcuterie (by law, places in Oregon that serve alcohol are required to also serve some kind of food), and after a couple of beers were hungry for an actual meal. So then Kellen chose a birthday meal of sushi, so we all drove into nearby Silverton to eat some until we were stuffed. It was an enjoyable trip all around.
I was walking through the very back of the yard the other day, and glaced up and saw this scene. Look at those colours! So gorgeous. We have a dozen roses back there, easily, but I haven’t showcased them because I do not take good care of them. I’m working my way through the back yard, slowing learning care. I love being out of doors, but I don’t have experience (or time) to manage this massive amount of landscaping. So I’m giving myself five years here to figure it out. There is always so much work. So I water the roses, and trim them down a couple times a year, and fertilize when I remember too – which is not often – and I’ll showcase them later.
Look at this guy! I spotted him also in the garden that same day. It was an exceptional garden day. He is perched on one of my bamboo stakes.
Dragonflies are also religion-adjacent, I think, because they are respected and admired in so many cultures. They bring luck, messages from the spirit world, strength, prosperity, and happiness. Here are a couple more for you:
We have been working every single day on the new chicken house, and I can hardly wait to show you. Pedro is outdoing himself! And having fun, which is important in these times of existential dread. Pedro does not have a blog, like I have, to let off steam. He just holds it inside, which concerns me. So I am more grateful every day that we made building his workshop a priority when we first moved here. It is a healthy form of therapy for a man who is holding a lot on his shoulders.
Anyway, chicken house later. But just before he began that, I asked him please to build me a support frame for the Wisteria Monster. I casually said once that it would be neat to have a torii gate. He asked what it was and I showed him photos. That’s all it took.
One day, while he was working and had left the door open, a finch went inside his shop to see if there was anything to eat in there…
In the photo above, you can see the lumber piled against the fence, waiting to be used on the chicken house. He really wanted to do that instead, but stuck with the torii until it was done. Then it was my job to paint it.
The torii is a traditional entrance into a Shinto shrine. They can be made of stone or wood. I loved the ones I saw that were made from carved granite. They can be various colours, like white, yellow, or black. Most of them in Japan are made of wood, and painted red. Their purpose is to delineate the human world from the other world, or the sacred world. Some are said to represent animal deities, or the idea of them. Wisteria are a beloved flower in Japanese culture, representing things like love and immortality. I like the idea of the two things blended, and I’ll believe that they convey their meanings onto my pretty little office.
The gate itself was too wobbly for the Wisteria Monster. I found a board the right size on the floor of Pedro’s shop, and found some brackets he was not using, and some random unmatched screws here and there, and attached the torii to my office. I think I put the board in a good place so that it’s not very noticeable.
I am pleased with the look of the red paint. I lived in Japan for almost five months in 2012, and these gates were everywhere. Much more magnificent of course. But the colour of red that stuck with me in my memory was an exceptionally bright, slightly orange red. I had to work hard to get this paint because the first paint store I tried couldn’t pull it off with the paint they had. Too much pigment, can you believe it? Anyhow, I wasn’t really sure if my memories were reliable, till I began painting, and I’m happy to say this is exactly what I was aiming for. I think it turned out beautifully.
Oh yes, my office. It’s still unfinished, but getting there. The garden and landscaping take most of my time now while the weather is nice, so I hardly ever work on the office. You can see the handpainted vines and flowers on the window trim. I am next working on the crown moulding with handpainted designs. Then I need to finish painting the trim at the floor level and around the door, and paint some more vines on the trim around the door. Then I want to install some shelving on the other side of the room. Then… I think at that point I’ll call it done. But anyhow, that is exactly where I am sitting now, as I write this. It is a magical, girly, fantastical place for me and it is perfect. Maybe tinsel and fairy lights and some wall stencils will make their way in here eventually.
I have to chop back the wisteria drastically about once a week. The thing is relentless. (Yes, you were right Derrick, when I worried it would not recover and you told me not to worry.)
Conscious Engagement 
So much of a wow Crystal 😀
1. Love the Abbey and lavender fields.
2 Torii gate is fabulous. Pedro is a great builder. He just needs to learn how to talk or find someone he can have a chat with every now and then. Here we have RUOK for men to be able to talk.
3. Train the Wisteria to what you want and it will look fabulous.
4. Severely cut back Roses once a year in winter. That’s enough for them.
5. Find a good American gardening book that covers everything. Actual books are a lot easier to pick up and read when you want to know stuff.
6 Congrats on paying the mortgage 👍🏼
One of these days I need to visit the actual Abbey. I have not seen it, just the tap room. I have my priorities… 🙂 The thing with Pedro talking is that he does not want to talk. What’s the group for men who want to hold it all inside? ha ha. I joke, but it’s a serious thing. I worry about him so much, but talking is last resort for that guy. It’s tricky in a relationship, and I’m not good at talking either, so we bumble it up usually, but we keep trying. Well. I keep trying to talk, and he keeps trying to respond to me.
I think the wisteria will be easier this winter when the leaves fall off and I can see what’s going on. Then I’ll choose a vine or two to be the main one(s), and cut off the rest. I’ll just do that each winter. I’m sure YouTube will help me out! It’s so amazing how roses like to be chopped. I wish you were my neighbor and you could come over and teach me some garden tips. I’d pay you in good coffee! Getting a book is a good idea.
Thanks on the mortgage. It’s wonderful. We took out a loan to build the workshop, so we are still paying on that. But now that the house is paid, the loan will get paid off faster.
I know it’s hard to get someone to open up especially someone you love. Maybe it has a lot to do with trust as well as prior experience. Childhood environment has a lot to do with it too. Being encouraged to talk is good as a kid. The other side is to be told to be seen but not heard or made to feel invisible in the family home is another.
If I was a neighbour I would work in your garden with you and also with Pedro in the shed. That way he would chat about workshop stuff with someone as a start.
I would prefer to be get garden produce for helping but would always be encouraged to stop for a coffee 😁
Oh of course vegetables!! Right now, you need to help us with the zucchini and cucumbers. I am getting so creative with all the ways I can prepare zucchini. Oh and eggs, you need to help us eat the eggs.
I am there 😋 Try zucchini cut into slices on a hot grill pan or BBQ with olive oil and garlic granules
It’s my favourite way!! I usually add a little salt and pepper. Yum. I also love them fresh and crunchy.
I did forget the salt and pepper part 😋
What a shame that you will have to go back to the bar. You will still need to trim and shape the wisteria, especially as it now has the appropriately placed torii. I think you may get some advice on line. Tell Pedro I feel for him.
I was thinking the same thing about going back to the brewery. What a shame. NOT. ha ha Next time, hopefully I’ll remember to bring home a few bottles, too. Yes, as I said to Brian above, I am pretty sure YouTube will help me with how and when to really shape the wisteria. But I have faith now that I can’t kill it.
Thanks for your support of Pedro. He’s a good man and feels things deeply, especially when it could impact his ability to care for his family. We all love him here. ❤
I love you guys. How you take beer, and law-abiding snacks, from religion, a pretty gate from Japan, the loveliest field as a backdrop to your wow dress. You’re doing it so right, the living. Stay well.
I love that dress too! That’s the one I wore into St. Peter’s Basilica. Thank you for the love. We have been having a good summer. I will send you volcano photos from our day with the twins yesterday.
I love this post, Crystal. I’ve been resting all day so I have set myself here once the thunder and lightning moved on. NO rain. 😦 I love the red gate and the wisteria. Your office looks so welcoming and inspiring. I was married to a silent man. It’s hard, so hard. Times are hard in too many ways and carrying that much weigh on the shoulders is just heartbreaking. We are all overloaded. I love the lavender fields.
I could copy and past Bushboy’s list. I can’t imagine paying off a mortgage. That really is something to celebrate. I agree with his list. Only prune roses once a year. I had 17 in Burbank and just a few in OC. I have a great recipe for zucchini bread if you want it. It’s a real favorite. Sending love and hugs to you all. M
Yes, Bushboy Brian usually has good input and he’s got a good sense of gardening too. I appreciate his calm approach to challenges and his joy in small daily things. I think a lot of us that follow each other’s blogs here have some of this in common. Our zucchini is about done: the plants have powdery mildew and I may get one or two more vegs this year, if any. I have researched and learned what NOT to do, and I’ll do better next year. But then, I’ll ask for that recipe. We both love zucchini bread, and I made some this year, but a family favourite recipe will probably be even better. Our fave new recipe so far was zucchini soup- it turned out jaw-droppingly delicious. My fave really though, is just quick, hot, fried spears with salt and pepper, so they are just soft, but not mushy. Ba da boom. My fave use of the cucumbers is fresh spears sprinkled with garlic sea salt. I can eat a pound of them without coming up for air, ha ha!
I have told Pedro I want to get better at communication between each other, and I have really tried hard to do a better job of being direct and clear and making my personal demands on the rare occasion when they are important. And I can see he is trying too, which helps. He is more likely to answer me these days, than to re-direct the conversation. We might have to stay together another ten years to get it figured out, hee hee.
I don’t see either of you going anywhere. Be patient. He will get there. There are rocking chairs in your futures, side by side. 🙂 I’m never wrong.
Awww. ❤