Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pinestraw Welcome

The seat of the John James Audubon swing was covered with a four-inch deep fluffy mix of pinestraw and leaves when we returned from our trip to the west coast. Beautiful colors. Twelve days away. A thousand observations worthy of blogposts. No way to catch up. Unless---a list---a name-only list---as a way at least to trigger my own mental reflection, however incomplete. Oh joy---I relish a good bulleted list. An efficient short-cut.
  • The Los Angeles homeless population and I, waiting together for the downtown L.A.Public Library to open/we lined up in orderly fashion when the security guard opened the doors/entered in single silent file/we shared the second floor/I in my carrel, writing/they in theirs, sleeping or reading/a kind of solidarity/we did not disturb each other/I love that public libraries are open to the homeless/more open than most churches/how is that?
  • Big Sur/OMG/Big Sur
  • The thing about Big Sur: that its carved rugged beauty, ever moving, has been there for millions of years, since long before we evolved to admire it/we're not the reason it's there/why the beauty?
  • Sunset over the Pacific Ocean/view from Nepenthe/nice photographer
  • Torrey Pines/cone from Moe's golf outing/this pine cone deserves its own blog post/as does Big Sur/but I cower in the face of their magnificence/the pine cone's one-in-a-millionness/Big Sur's one-and-onliness/my pencil goes still
  • The Redwoods/OMG/and the Sequoias/like Elaine of Seinfeld again/describing hell:-)
  • Olallieberry Inn/olallieberry jam/the word as delectable as the fruit/a berry's berry
  • Biking across Golden Gate Bridge with eight revised chapters on my back to give to editor in Sausalito at Cibo
  • The views from the bridge/the sun on SF/on Alcatraz/on Sausalito/a fogless morning
  • The good pinch of muscle/leaning into SF hills
  • The sea lions on Pier 39
  • Savoring the food in Chinatown and North Beach
  • The woman who wanted only 25 cents/her scratched and bleeding throat, her twisted limbs/her rheumy eyes/her Chinese accent/her satisfaction with a quarter/A QUARTER/when my wallet was full
  • The vast table of clouds from the Airtran window/BEING above the clouds/IN the poetic welkin/not the first time/yet the first time
  • Yellow cast of fall light through the color-turned woods welcoming us home
  • Leaves/green when we left/red on return
  • Air/transformed from mushy to crisp
  • Pinestraw cushion on the swing
  • dkm

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Deb, we missed you :o)

It looks like you had a marvelous time. Though the homeless and the scratchy throated lady sound sad and scary. I will look forward to the more detailed blog posts :o))

re Nano chick. They were fertile eggs given to me. I put them under a broody hen who kept them warm until a couple of days before they were due to hatch. She decided she had had enough of sitting and took off. When I found the eggs they were cold but in hope that they may still be alive I put them under another hen. Only 3 out of 6 chicks hatched and the hen left the nest with them in tow. I cleaned out the nest and that's when I noticed the unhatched egg with wee crack in it etc... Nano. Once she had recovered she was put out with the hen and 3 chicks. Mother hen welcomed her and everyone was happy. Although one of the others did die due to being sickly and the dark one in the photo escaped the pen and, I would imagine, ended up as cat tucker!

dkm said...

What an amazing life you lead---so closely connected to the earth!

Pukeko G said...

You are clearly someone who appreciates the whole spectrum of what is presented to you .. from the amazing large .. to the seemingly less significant. Well done. :)

dkm said...

Takes one to know one! It's a trait I suspect can also be found in a person who thinks about earthworms after an earthquake :-) It's also why I'm looking forward to your blog!

Ellen said...

Big Sur from Nepenthe. Oh my. Heaven on earth I think. So glad to share this memory with you!