Godgifu

Missed the parade this morning.

A Treaty of Everlasting

God might show up
Later

Today
Beside the river

I'm undressing our throes

You are pouring
Cold agate mourning against a glass bowl

It's leaking

I am
More time than trembling

A basket of holding inside
A legion of siege

Tonight, god willing

We will flay mackerels

We will spit in the eyes of anemones

Renata's Creperie

Last pic from Arcata.

We're back home.

Down to Humboldt County

Tide pool at Harris Beach State Park, Oregon
Great egret at the Arcata Marsh, Arcata, CA

Roosevelt Elk on the on ramp to Hwy. 101

Apparently trying to hitch hike

Praire Creek Redwood Park

Flora

Fauna

Flora

We took a nice three-hour hike through a redwood grove we hadn't been to before.

Last night, we received the first report from Tom. He was seasick his first day

on the cruise. They kept a bucket offstage in case he had to run off to puke.

His first gig is backing up a puppet! Sounds like the big time...

Vancouver, Portland & Hwy. 101

While Tom was making his way to San Diego on Mother's Day

we cruised the Farmers Market in Vancouver.
I would buy flowers here every week if I could.

Further down the road we stumbled upon the
Evergreen Aviation Museum
which houses Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.
We were too hurried and too cheap to pay the $20/person admission
but we peered through the glass and got a good view.


On the Evergreen's front lawn.

At Yaquina Head.

In Yachats, across the street from our cabin.

Same as above.

Walking through the woods at Cape Perpetua on Monday.
Tom made it safely to his cruise ship & we're starting to relax.

Anemones in a tide pool in Yachats, across the street from our cabin.

Mussel encrusted rocks at the shore.

Great place for a fort, until the tide comes in!

Driftwood.

West Coast Sailing

It's Sunday, I'm in Portland, and the Keranens have survived the past week. Life got better, but weirder & even more stressful. Gene & I are on our way to bring Jo home from her freshman year at Humboldt State. At 7:30 on Thursday evening Tom was hired as a cruise ship musician. This morning, he's on his way to San Diego, freaking out a bit because he's never flown alone or even ridden in a taxi. Today's the day he has to do it all on his own, albeit we're here at the other end of the cell phone. We spent all day Friday tracking down every last thing he needed for a month at sea and finding a house sitter for kitties & goats & a boarding kennel for dogs, which kept our minds turned away from the heartbreaking week. Friday was a long day. Saturday was a little better. Today is starting out not too bad. We have Powell's Bookstore & The Vancouver Farmer's Market on the schedule, but I won't relax until I know Tom's made it to his ship tomorrow morning. If you get to replay parts of your life when you die, I'm marking this week off the watch list.

Max & Good-bye

It's been a rough week. For six years the Keranen family has enjoyed the company of Max dog who Jojo adopted from Pet Refuge. During the day Max was my constant companion, my office assistant, and my friend. He was well loved by family and friends, however, he was also a fierce hunter of small animals. Many possums have met their maker at the jaws of Max.

Yesterday as I came home from walking the dogs I encountered ambulances next door at my grandfather's house. I rushed my dogs in my back gate and ran to find out what was happening. Grandfather's story is fine. He suffered a little dehydration and is on the mend. Unfortunately, the gate must not have latched properly and Max & Sylvia escaped and ran through the subdivision across the street, where Max encountered a small dog. His hunting instinct kicked in and he killed the dog in front of two small children and their mother, who it's fair to say are fairly traumatized. We had to put Max to sleep. We're all in shock, devasted by the loss of our good friend and devasted by the harm he has caused.

I would love to post pictures of our friend Max, but if I did I'm afraid I couldn't return to the blog. I hope we don't have to feel this much pain again for a very long time.