No more 100's!
Back in Phoenix now, in my disordered house and my not yet re-ordered life. What a relief to drive into town mid-afternoon Monday to find it about 20 degrees cooler than when I left. It seems that 3-digit highs are gone until next summer, and I will surely be far, far away by then.
I think my best strategy will be to rent an apartment in Portland while my dog lives out his natural lifespan and I figure out whether I really want to move to Europe. Sale of my mother's farm should close in January, giving me some money to sock away for the future, maybe a home someplace or maybe not. I have very little enthusiasm for playing the mortgage game again. I'm convinced it's an elaborate con. Better to rent, keep my freedom, and let someone else worry about yard and plumbing.
I'm lucky and thankful to have a partner who is willing to go along, who doesn't fence me in.
Too bad I didn't have my camera together and missed getting pictures of Big Sur. Ye gods, it's so beautiful there it can't be real. I actually dropped my jaw and moaned aloud, again and again, with the impact of all that beauty.
I had forgotten to bring the charger for the digital camera I'm used to, and I wasn't yet oriented to the digital SLR my son passed on to me when he upgraded. Two cameras, no pictures. But in Portland, with his help, I finally got the hang of it, more or less. And here I'd show a couple, but I can't seem to upload them. Oh, well.
On the way home, I took a side trip to the Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon. First I went in from Fresno (north entrance). I visited the General Sherman tree in soggy rain but chickened out when I started up the road into Kings Canyon and the rain turned into sleet and snow. So I retreated part way and cut across to Visalia where I came in by the southern entrance, still raining but at least it wasn't freezing. I got as far as I could before dark, enjoying the gentle rain, the thick mist, and the great silent forest. The next day, I came in again and made it all the way through the puzzle-piece parks, forests, and monuments designated here. Saturated with treescapes, I then drove to the end of the Kings Canyon road which first rises then descends to the stream at the bottom where hikers can day-trip or get wilderness permits. Sunny skies and breathtaking mountainscapes kept me high and happy all the way.
Another night in some little California town, then I hightailed it for home, letting a Salman Rushdie audiobook distract me from the endless stretches of desert I'm so sick of. Soon I'll be out of here for good.
I think my best strategy will be to rent an apartment in Portland while my dog lives out his natural lifespan and I figure out whether I really want to move to Europe. Sale of my mother's farm should close in January, giving me some money to sock away for the future, maybe a home someplace or maybe not. I have very little enthusiasm for playing the mortgage game again. I'm convinced it's an elaborate con. Better to rent, keep my freedom, and let someone else worry about yard and plumbing.
I'm lucky and thankful to have a partner who is willing to go along, who doesn't fence me in.
Too bad I didn't have my camera together and missed getting pictures of Big Sur. Ye gods, it's so beautiful there it can't be real. I actually dropped my jaw and moaned aloud, again and again, with the impact of all that beauty.
I had forgotten to bring the charger for the digital camera I'm used to, and I wasn't yet oriented to the digital SLR my son passed on to me when he upgraded. Two cameras, no pictures. But in Portland, with his help, I finally got the hang of it, more or less. And here I'd show a couple, but I can't seem to upload them. Oh, well.
On the way home, I took a side trip to the Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon. First I went in from Fresno (north entrance). I visited the General Sherman tree in soggy rain but chickened out when I started up the road into Kings Canyon and the rain turned into sleet and snow. So I retreated part way and cut across to Visalia where I came in by the southern entrance, still raining but at least it wasn't freezing. I got as far as I could before dark, enjoying the gentle rain, the thick mist, and the great silent forest. The next day, I came in again and made it all the way through the puzzle-piece parks, forests, and monuments designated here. Saturated with treescapes, I then drove to the end of the Kings Canyon road which first rises then descends to the stream at the bottom where hikers can day-trip or get wilderness permits. Sunny skies and breathtaking mountainscapes kept me high and happy all the way.
Another night in some little California town, then I hightailed it for home, letting a Salman Rushdie audiobook distract me from the endless stretches of desert I'm so sick of. Soon I'll be out of here for good.
posted by Cranky Ol' Lady at 11:26 PM
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