dog days redux
Back in Texas, it’s dog days. Definitely not chicken days. One of our chickens died yesterday, probably just from the heat. I feel terrible about it. I think she got trapped in the shade island out there and didn’t want to go out in the sun even for the short time it would take to get to the water supply.
She’s in the freezer now, poor thing. Not to be eaten, but we can’t bury her in our rocky yard, and interment in the trashcan on a Monday is not going to happen when trash pickup is Friday and it’s hotter than fsck outside.
This is a dishonorable end for our Frieda. I think I need to move somewhere with dirt and a family graveyard.
The only thing thriving around here is the unknown cucurbit taking over one of the garden beds. It won’t set fruit in this heat so we don’t know what it is.
insert pics here
Good motel room coffee. Ever hear of such a thing? It’s not fabulous coffee, but it’s fine. That’s because, or so I presume, I’m in Oregon.
I stayed overnight in Yachats, on the coast. I love this place. It’s a motel opening up right on the rocks and the surf. Not luxury accommodations, but, as it turns out, sharing the beach and many of the amenities of the luxury spa place next door, thus adding the satisfaction of a good bargain to all its natural blandishments. There’s a trail running along the shore that goes on for miles and has been used for at least 1000 years, so they say. I left the window open last night and woke up a few times, kept thinking I was hearing the “natural surf” sound from my gradual alarm clock at home…but it’s the real thing: ceaseless respiration of the planet, against which my cares are grains of sand.
And even better, I am blessed to have family homes open to me, so this solo piece of my trip is only for one night. Just about enough to be therapeutic instead of lonely.
I’ve dropped most of my original plans to see a lot while I’m out here. Instead, just soaking up wherever I am. I did the three capes loop yesterday, driving down the coast from Portland, and then pretty much ran out of steam, slept forever, will walk here and take pictures until they kick me out at 11.
It’s glass heaven up here in the northwest. Yesterday I drove past two blow-your-own studios. There’s actually a lampwork store here in this tiny town, and an art gallery heavy on glass. I’ll check them out, then move on to Cape Perpetua, then down to Coos Bay. And then I’ll turn back into a social animal again. Right now, I’m a silent creature on the beach. Let’s be honest: a crab. I like it that way. As long as there’s good coffee.
my precious
Oh social networking, where would we be without you?
T swims and snorkels often in our fabulous San Marcos river, and frequently finds Stuff. Especially after a holiday. He must have twelve pairs of sunglasses by now. He finds jewelry, keys, lighters. He brought home a twenty dollar bill the other day, wet but legal tender. This morning it was a class ring. My heart gave a little pang when I saw it said 2009 on it: a high school treasure barely owned before lost.
It fit me perfectly, or almost–just loose enough that it might fall off my finger if I were swimming in cold water. It had a first name on it, and then engraved inside a full name, not a very common one.
I took it to my real-life social network, my cronies–some real pieces of work these ladies, and connected one way or another with everybody in town. But all they could say was that it wasn’t from the local high school.
No ad on Craig’s list in the lost and found. Nor in the local paper. So I took a stab at Facebook. You can’t see much about people on Facebook unless you’re an official friend, but there was the name, and a high school affiliation, class of 2009. Hometown hours away but it was worth a try.
So within 6 hours of being found the ring was in the mail on its way back home. Amazing. In retrospect, perhaps it was unwise to slip the thing on, a ring lying there in the river muck. But nothing noticeably evil happened. Except, y’know, that big blue stone looked pretty good on my hand there. I’m going to have to hint around to T.
