THE DUST WILL WAIT

  You can contemplate.   It changes nothing. That was my thought on my walk yesterday when I decided to cross the bridge to the other side.  Because of the many months of work on the fish ladder the other path had not been a good option.   Yes, it took us to the same goal, but the detour was tiresome.   I don't even know if that is a good analogy to 2020.  Is there even such a thing?  The detours of this year may not even get us to the desired goal.  And what the heck is the goal anyway? I've so hunkered down into hermitville that I even had to make up that word to describe it. My husband and I have so far avoided the menace of the pandemic.  But other family members, who work in positions that welcome exposure, have not.   I told my daughter via cell phone this morning that my worrying would not worry her and my grandchildren well .  And, I cannot worry it away from our door either if it presents itself.  ...

I needed a notary.  Getting a notarized signature meant a trip to my bank.  I can count on one hand how many times I've been there in the past 10 years.  Fact.  Which means I wasn't surprised that the young man truly needed to see my ID.  He was so young I wondered if he was even born the last time I was there.  Well, silliness aside, I was super embarrassed when he informed me that my Drivers License had expired.   (Later sifted through a pile of mail that my husband had daily stacked  and I daily ignored while it lay next to my computer.  The renewal notice was down there several months deep. )  Fortunately our state allows drivers to restore their rights on-line,  plus a hefty monetary fine for being a tardy numbskull.  You don't ever have to go in for a new photo! One doesn't need to fill in any information.  But... you can update.  Which I didn't do.  So I just left the ugly pounds discrepancy on my wei...

My Husband accompanied me on the creek walk two days ago.   He stopped and shouted to me, "Hon, grab your camera!" Although my eyes didn't find it, there was a fish swimming dangerously close to the heron that was motionless on the berm. BAM!  The heron jumped into the water and caught the fish before I could even focus.  But, I did capture some lovely shots that followed.  Well, lovely for the heron.  Not so much for the fish.

 Construction and completion of a new fish ladder has discouraged my walks on the creek this summer and fall.  So I was surprised when my car turned in that direction yesterday when I thought I was headed to the other walking path nearby.  The parking lot was nearly empty and there was a sign that said closed.  However, the park ranger who happened to be standing on the sidewalk called out that it was indeed open.  I happily crossed the bridge. This time of year gives me some apprehension for walking alone.  Several years ago this season was when I encountered the beautiful Bobcat that pretty much seemed indifferent to my presence.  This is the time of year when cougar sightings are common as well.  Quite a few years past I saw a bear after hearing it rushing away through the underbrush. Only a few years ago  I came across a person rising from his sleeping bag partially hidden in the bushes.  I had the advantage of already being in boots...

 A week ago we had rain and then sunshine.  A grand and totally delightful end to eight days of being smoked like a rash of bacon.   Thus the title above that might make you want to do some memory moves with The Platters. The Air Quality Index runs from 0 to 500.  I was shocked to see the red line hit that and rise beyond the measured quantity.  Mentally and emotionally taxing as well as physically harmful. Rain has blessed us once more the past two nights. Hopefully enough to be a wild firefighters wet dream. Now I can take walks again if my right foot agrees.  Surgery on the left foot in late February put me in good standing to stay seated and home in the early days of the you know what.   To keep on the right footing I am planning another surgical round of  "The Hokey Pokey" with the podiatrist this winter. Meanwhile it seems like all my "annuals" have somehow coagulated into a September sludge of visits to every medical professional ...

 Our kitty cat needed us.  We struggled with the decision.  But we knew she needed us to make the right one. We miss her. ***** ElGee was born in a litter of kittens in an apartment complex where a friend of our youngest daughter lived. Amanda already owned a young cat named "Baby" when the friend contacted her in an effort to save the kittens.   "I'll take one," our daughter committed to be part of the unorganized rescue.  The teeny white male she named McGarnigal.   The even tinier black and white female, that she temporary dubbed  'the little girl',  was also delivered to Amanda's apartment.  Little Girl had been promised a home by a third friend.  The promise was never kept and "Little Girl" became family.   Whispers from the first friend indicated the remaining kittens disappeared and she was pretty sure they'd been dumped.   A year passed and another little girl joined the family;  my now 16 year ...

I don't even know what to say about the repairs on the asphalt.   I see them every morning on a particular street.  Early because I want to exercise before the old sol furnace kicks in.  It's been blistering hot. I wonder who is the artist that swirls the stinky hot substance into such awesome designs.  I wonder if the designs are done with intent or just with abandon.  I wonder if the person is working in a very toilsome job because being an artist just didn't provide for a home or a family. I wonder what more wise and contemplative people might say about the markings that will soon be worn away by tires and the eroding weather. The one that probably satisfies me most was from David Henry Thoreaus: "The world is but a canvas to our imagination."     

My 70's music choice in Pandora was playing in the background while I loaded the dishwasher the other day.  I think listening to music can be considered multi-tasking and I needed the company anyway. Just as Desperado  by the Eagles tugged on  my ear,  I willingly turned up the volume.  I leaned up against the sink, but when I closed my eyes they filled not so willingly with unexpected tears. That song debuted 47 years ago. I know that because I know how to count to 99 on ten fingers.   I could not stop my mind from drifting through all those years, and those thoughts kept my fingers busy.   When I entered high school the World War II hits were twenty to twenty five years old.  Twenty year old songs were longer than a lifetime of a teenager. I remember considering them ancient.  "The Charleston"  from the "Roarin' 20's" wasn't even thirty the year I was born. One random thought reminded me that that dance was closer in years to my ...

As the oddest of days, weeks, and months perplex and confuse, it is calming to see an early August moon peak over the mountains. The trusty cell phone that seems my constant companion takes acceptable results and gives me the false sense that I have figured out how to take night time photos.  I haven't.  This was luck and the only one with minimal blur and that interesting reflected fence provided by the neighbors security light. Earlier that day the excitement came from finding someones parakeet feeding with sparrows.   The little buffet on the ground is provided for the quail and dove that visit our backyard at least once a day. But they have not presented any young.  I've assumed they were meals for the feral cats and several hawks that hunt relentlessly in our neighborhood. A  Cooper's Hawk grabbed a squawking young sparrow when I was standing nearby, so I know they aren't shy about my presence.   Little parakeet did not return this morni...

Spring in the valley teased its way well into June.  Even July has not breathed its summer dragon in the foothills of the mountains.  (I have a narrow comfort zone so I say restrain the beast as long as possible.) And,  as the unseasonably cool breezes prompted me to wear a sweatshirt over my worn garden togs,  my eyes were drawn to something strange growing in the Physostegia Virginoiana,  aka Obedient Plant.  I studied the leaves carefully as I touched them with garden gloves.  (Why do I wear them?  I still get dirt beneath my finger nails!)   There was something very familiar about the narrow leaf and the stem that was stretching with impatience to reach the mid morning sun.  (The morning shade is a result of the neighbors ancient towering silver maples. They are a love hate relationship.) With recognition, a childhood emotion swept over me.  Memories of racing through meadows surrounded by towering firs and cedars....

There are Cedar Waxwings! And it is okay with me.