IN AND OUT

I just got in. I have been out. Pat and I went for a trip to Coos Bay some two and a half hours away but it took better than four and a half hours because of the tourists with their huge land-whales on the road. We were happy to claim our room at the casino where we usually ask for, and get, a second floor room overlooking the estuary. It was very busy this time as we saw a huge barge towed in by the little tug boat and a funny looking little fishing boat that seem to go up and down and all around looking for salmon was our guess. The huge dredge ship was out there also.

Meeting an old friend, Berta, was the highlight of the trip. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and then had some time in the wonderful hotel lounge room that is worth a picture or two but I left my camera in the car. Berta and I caught up with family news and relived a few wonderful memories of the days we lived in Carson City and shared time together. Her huband Glen and her little dog Sadie, often joined us. We found we do miss each other and hopefully we can rectify that and plan other visits before the year is out. I think we agreed we got older and wiser.

We rode back today in very dense fog. I don't think I've been in that kind of fog for many years. As we rode along the highway overlooking the ocean, each open sea area became shrouded in a blanket of fog that defied us to see the lines on the road or the scenic views we are so accustomed to. I wondered how to tell you what fog is like when it is really indescribable. The mist rolls in, then rises in a thin veil like an eerie mysticque, and the trees keep their shape but the limbs loose theirs. The sun comes out unexpectedly and it is blinding and everything is clear and bright and beautiful until you drive a few miles more and you ride back into the dense clouds of fog that covers your world again. I wanted to capture a picture for you but it would be nothing when it came out. The ride through Humbug mountains was sunny with the trees growing up into the mountains as high as the eye could see in shades of green that I tried to list,in my mind. Deep forest green, lime green, lemon green, bottle green, apple green that changed and melded into colors as the sun glistened on the leaves until thefog hid them from view.

I hope you are having a sunshine day, not too hot, a soft breeze so you can go outside and find a chair to lounge in and look at your beautiful trees and flowers. Take time to smell them . . . they are not always in view.