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visitor from the west

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visitor from the west

Posted by Jim H. [4489.8052] on September 04, 2009 at 09:48:24:

California drifted into town the other day, Walt, in the form of hazy
smoke that was dense enough to hide the mountains at the south
end of the valley.  We are in the perfect line of drift to receive
California’s fine-ash-particles from the big forest fire we have been
seeing on the newscasts. It has made for soft red sunrises and
sunsets here.

The wind has died down, and now the smoke is rising and lingering
above California’s San Gabriel Mountains, some three hundred miles
west, just waiting for a breeze to carry it our way. In the meantime,
the stars have returned.

I can hear Charlie in the next room, snoring in the dark like the pug
he is.  Not long ago the sun would already have been risen at this
hour, and Lilly would have been pestering me for food. The days
grow shorter because we are also in winter's eminent line of drift.

I rationalize my grudging acceptance of the shorter days by
reminding myself that soon it will be cool and we can go outside
and sit on the patio. At this point that seems like a good trade-off.
The heat has worn out its welcome here. We are tired of being
housebound.  It is true that summer is our season for cabin fever,
but at least we don't have to shovel sunshine off the walkways. 


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Re: visitor from the west

Posted by Walt Stoll [93.7902] on September 04, 2009 at 18:01:57:

In Reply to: visitor from the west posted by Jim H. [4489.8052] on September 04, 2009 at 09:48:24:

Thanks, Jim.

I feel for you poor people going through hell. It makes me glad to live in the hurricane belt.

Walt


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Re: visitor from the west

Posted by Jim H. [4489.8052] on September 05, 2009 at 10:17:56:

In Reply to: Re: visitor from the west posted by Walt Stoll [93.7902] on September 04, 2009 at 18:01:57:

Thanks, Walt, but no pity party for us please.

We have total cloud cover and wet sidewalks this morning. The
entire valley was alight with storm last night, and rain was of flash
flood intensity, even Noah-esque. There were occasional jagged
strikes to the ground, but most of the bolts stayed within the clouds.
It looked like the gods' flickering florescent bulb needed replacing.
Thunder rumbled and crashed with the fury of Grendel's mother
outside a mead hall. And the bravest of the Vikings quaked.

When the ruckus subsided, the roads below us reflected the street
lights, and the impersonal look of those glistening empty lanes
matched my lonely unease in the silence of the house, a silence made
deeper by contrast to the rage that went before.

The dark uneasiness of night dissipates, and so arrives the
exigencies and pleasures revealed by the morning light. So many
repeated mornings, so many repeated seasons, so many chances to
get it right.




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