The Familiar and The Unexpected

We know we are home when we go for one of our walks and see the things we expect to see. Expectation is not diminished by the comfort of the familiar. To the contrary, that fulfillment is essential to place and grounding.

We skipped a -3.1 tide on Tuesday. It's practically a heresy for us to do that. A minus tide is like a moon-earth-tide sanctuary of ordinary revelation. We were just too exhausted to expend the necessary energy. But on Wednesday we took a long minus-tide walk. We saw what we expected.

An eagle flew from a hidden tree and watched us as we peered up at its nest. We were longing for a glimpse of her shaggy gray babies on the nest edge, practicing with their new wings. Not yet. The eaglets are not ready for that exercise.
We saw a common seagull on the beach, its beak opened wider than our imaginations could conjure. I definitely thought of my mother admonishing her children not to have eyes bigger than our stomachs.
But all walks, and this is also why we take them, reward us with the unexpected. For most of the journey two otters followed along in the bay watching us. I could only photograph a bit of their antics.
They were quite a bit offshore, but their presence was absolutely palpable. dpr watched them through the binoculars and could see that one otter was feasting on large silvery fish, one after another.
The otters seemed to confer with each other, and simultaneously split for parts unknown.
Then, something at the shoreline caught my eye. There was a creature on four-legs and definitely scavenging. My heart skipped a beat thinking it might be one of the otters, but when dpr looked through the binoculars, he said, nope, that's a raccoon in the water. Neither of us had ever seen such a thing, but there it was.
After a few minutes it ran out of the water and hid in some fallen trees at the base of the hillside where it meets the beach. Suddenly it was quiet all around.

We continued walking down the beach. Clam siphons retreated beneath the sand and shot streams of water up our pant legs. We laughed. The clams are like little bi-valve Old Faithfuls, they spout reliably and randomly whenever we walk this beach. It has become familiar, but still that spray of cold water is always a surprise.

Day-Glo Yellow

We were treated to a flash of yellow streaking across my brother's backyard. Its intended target was the Western Scrub Jay that was eating almonds out of my SIL's outstretched palm. The Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus) was having none of that. Not the almonds, nor the jay, nor the hand. The jay flew off in a blur of blue before we had any idea what was going on.
It's nesting season for the Oriole, and this behavior was all about territory. They do not want to share the yard with the Jays or Mockingbirds. Several Orioles gathered, males and females, and flapped around making quite a ruckus. They were claiming territory, and all the other other birds yielded to their insistence.
We had an opportunity to see these birds fairly closely as they flew from tree to tree. They were a flashing yellow light show. Straight out of a day-glo paint swatch.

Nourishment

After eight days and seven nights on the road, I can safely say for us, life is all about food. In that time we only went out to eat once, and that was to have dinner with dpr's mom, so we could spend some alone time with her. Except for that one meal, we ate home-cooked food every night. And here's what seems particularly interesting to us, we cooked all of those meals.
We cooked for my brother and his wife on Tuesday night, the night we arrived in Santa Cruz. We made a local Santa Cruz favorite Tempeh La La (we have the secret recipe) with Indian spiced green beans and tomatoes, over rice. We even brought our rice cooker with us to make this meal! We cooked for dpr's brother and his wife on Wednesday. We sauteed onion, garlic, red peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, chicken and fresh italian herbs over pasta. We cooked for the big dinner (16 people) on Friday night. dpr did most of the cooking for this. He barbecued a whole salmon. It was served with salad, baked potato and francese bread. On Saturday we made homemade pizza for my family. We buy fresh pizza dough, which dpr rolls out while I saute the veggies. We like pizza without tomato sauce, so when the dough is rolled out, I brush olive oil on it, then layer fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and the veggies which have been sauteed lightly with pesto. Pop it in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, and voila, dinner! We cooked our butts off!

RA's and dpr's family gathering

So, it makes us wonder: Why, do you suppose, we do this? Could it be that hanging out in the kitchen crushing garlic and slicing vegetables is a small reminder of home? Or is it that there's some emotional grounding in being in any kitchen cooking up a favorite meal? Or is it a way to stay creative when you're away from home? Or is it just safe to be in the kitchen while everyone else is talking and socializing, a way to stay apart while pretending to be part of the party? Or are we (really I mean "am I") simply paranoid and wary of road food and restaurant cooking? Whatever the reason, we fed and nourished our families for the past few days, and we truly loved every minute of it.

When you are on the road what food do you miss most? What do you cook when you come home that says, "Ahh, I'm home."

Long Ride Home

We're going to try to keep our eyes open for the journey home. We're as bone-weary tired as we can be. Oy. Our stop tonight is Grants Pass, Oregon. Half-way point between Santa Cruz and home. It's been a wonderful journey. Lots of photos to post over the next few days.

Today, just a pelican gliding over Monterey Bay.


See you tomorrow, whatever day that is.

Walking and Talking

We're talking in the morning, talking in evening, talking at supper time. We've seen more people in past 48 hours than we've seen in the nearly 24 months we've spent in northwest. I think we can only communicate in one venue at a time. We're talking talking talking in life, so there's just nothing left to say here. We did go for a nice hike today in a place called the Pogonip by the university. Rolling golden hills and deep redwood forest. Quiet.
Can you ever get a sense of the grandeur of these redwood giants from a photograph? I'm not sure it's possible, but that never stops us from trying. (Click on all photos to enlarge.)
There were acres and acres of rattlesnake grass. I think I must have picked up the tic here, the one we found crawling on me when we got home.
We loved this bay laurel, it was nearly as tall as the redwoods.
My twin brother and I walked along noticing birds and everything else that caught our eyes, or our imagination.
We took a close look at the coyote scat and found this tiny jaw bone and teeth. What do you think? What did the coyote eat?

What a nice couple of hours. The quiet was almost like being home. Friday is the big (BIG) party. Wish us luck.

Road Trip Day Two

We made it to Santa Cruz in the mid-afternoon. We're relishing the sultry air, the subtle flowery fragrance everywhere, the delicious moderating influence of the bay. We left Ashland at 8:00 Tuesday morning and drove 400 miles. Here's some of what we saw.

Crossing the border into California from Oregon. The fog lifts.

Mt. Shasta peeks out from behind the hills.

Shasta can be seen for nearly a hundred miles.

Ah yes, California on any day, any afternoon.

Lapis, my brother and SIL's cat, turned 20 years old on April 30th.

on the road

hawk harrassed by crow. rest stop in wa just north of vancouver.
okay. it's just about 9 pm. we drove almost 500 miles today. not a major trip, but we whine 'cause we're old. we had our dinner of rice and sauteed tofu, cooked at home last night and nuked here in our nice little motel room in ashland, and then drove downtown to walk around in central ashland. it deserves an extra chi, as in chi-chi-chi, but well done! we walked in the stunningly beautiful park right downtown along lithia creek, then shopped for food for tomorrow on the yellow brick road to santa cruz at a very nice coop. below are random pix of our trip, labeled somewhat and not in order as i'm too tired to cut and paste text. love ya all!!!





the bridge over the columbia river, carrying I5








mt mcloughlin, east of medford, ore











the columbia river, looking through the railing on the bridge between wa and ore.



our pile of stuff, ready to load. i know, not in the best focus. also, there was more stuff. taken early this am.


interesting and strange, or, interestingly strange, big sculpture alongside I5 in the willamette valley in ore. some christian symbols, but odd geometric stuff too. who knows???????