Denial and the College Road Trip

I took that picture on a road trip last weekend in Washington and Colorado where I was visiting colleges with Henry.

Did ya'll know that my boy is graduating from high school next month?

I'm blocking it out and will say no more.

Here we are in Spokane, Washington, on the campus of Gonzaga University.

We might have a basketball rivalry thing going on next year.


Hmmmmm. Just saying.

I Heart California

I drove up to Los Altos in Silicon Valley from Los Angeles on Monday and back down on Thursday. Once you hit the 5 North, there's not much until you get off and drive through Gilroy which is pretty fantastic. We stopped for gas somewhere along the 5, though, and caught these Indian folks just sitting, chatting and eating outside of an ugly old strip mall. While Oliver pumped gas into my car, I took this surreptitious photo. Oliver does a wicked Indian/British accent -- he's truly a remarkable mimic -- and cracked me up.

I'm tired out, ya'll, and plumb out of words.

I do love California, though, parched and brown and sere as it is.

Poppiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss

Oliver, Sophie, my friend D and I drove out to the Antelope Valley today to see the California poppy fields. I had read that since the heavy rainfall days in March, the wild poppies had bloomed like crazy, so we decided to take a drive and see --

Good Lord, ya'll.

 That's Oliver, above, wrapped in my red scarf -- it was incredibly windy and he had forgotten to bring a sweatshirt. Oh, sorry. I cleaned out the car yesterday afternoon and brought three dirty sweatshirts in the house to be washed. When we got to the poppy fields, which are in the high desert, and Oliver realized that I'd removed them, he blamed me. That's why I leave them in there, Mom! went the recrimination. You had to go and clean out the car. That's just great.

Anyhoo.

Back to the poppies:

Do you feel as if you're in an opium haze?

Rest your eyes on this beautiful high desert site and then those snow-capped mountains beyond.

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California --

Happy Valentine's Day, Part II

See you on the other side of the weekend! We're going on a road-trip up north!

The Weariness of Stuff

Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

I've been going through stuff these days -- too much stuff -- so when I read the Ruskin quote I thought exactly. I have felt exactly that -- weary -- of late, and beyond the usual sources of fatigue, I imagine the clutter of books I've read and clothes I've not worn and too many knickknacks and the stacks of papers are weighing me down. I've fantasized with a friend about getting rid of everything, piling the kids into a retro-fitted Air-stream trailer and taking off to see the country.

Reader, are you in?

Road Trip

I'm leaving this morning to go pick up that boy of mine from camp. I'm traveling alone, driving up north for hours and hours. If you see me, honk!