The wind—cooler wind, how great is that?—is up and the evening has barely begun. Wind chimes welcom me home and my cat lazing with a feather bungee toy on the kitchen braided rug. What a joy to return to the smells, the sights, the cooler air of western Oregon after my eleven days in the humidity of “back East.” With the exception of a chilly fog those few days we were up in Tadoussac, Québec on the St. Lawrence River, that part of the world, even in that part of Canada, was stinking hot. I learn now it was the throes of some gripping heat wave just about everywhere in North America. Last night, the flight down from Vancouver, British Columbia was spectacular. Wooded islands with patches of farmland, boats in bays bobbing about, shores and beaches and ribbons that are valley rivers that open up into the Columbia and the Portland airport and what has become my version of home sweet home, eight years into this Pacific Northwest adventure. There are vegetables in the garden—chard, peppers, tomatoes, and Italian pole beans. Flowers, too, cut-and-come-again zinnias and snapdragons. And shadows on the sliding window screen. Home sweet home. Bliss oh bliss.
The public domain image above is the Tadoussac Hotel in 1868, Québec Province, Canada drawn by Charles Sweetser.
Interests: Reading, writing, not arithmetic. The art and craft of poetry. Photography. Vegetable and flower gardening especially heirloom bulbs and dahlias. Movies in real theatres. Theatre on real stages. Art in real galleries. Crossword puzzles and, of course, Wordle. Singer-songwriters like Aimee Mann and Patti Griffin. All kinds of music especially 1930s jazz. Venice, Italy! The Dude abides.
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