Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Not Wanting to Go Home


I went to a League of Women Voters this afternoon and had a grand time. I really like this organization. I will be joining it after my theater trip in April. The men and women who come to it are very civic minded and active in the community. The guest speaker was the head of the county public health department and he gave a very good talk about what causes some of the deaths in Shasta County. I did not know our county had some of the highest amounts of lower respiratory deaths in the state.

When it was over, I just did not want to go home. I grabbed some coffee from Starbucks and some cookies from a nutritional store. I went up to Whiskeytown Lake. Although it would rain now and then, the park was stunning in its snow capped mountains and full lake. There were birds everywhere and few people. I think it is the best time to go there. I had stopped by the library to get a book that they were holding for me. I did some writing in my journal and enjoyed the clean and clear air as I never have hay fever problems there. It must be high enough for whatever ails me not to grow there.

At one point, I took a nap and slept so well that I forgot where I was until some rain fell mixed with hail and it's sound on the car windows woke me up. I grabbed my cup and the coffee was still warm as I had put one of those green stoppers on it that Starbucks will give you if you ask them for it. Ah, it tasted great. I listened some New Age music from my phone and just watched the sun break out on the mountain sides across the lake.

Whiskeytown is only 20 minutes out of town, but with the high cost of gas I don't go out there as much as I would like. I love the beauty of the place and the emptiness and of course the absence of my hay fever symptoms. I got a phone call from a friend and another from a printer telling me that my cards were ready.

I don't like to stay at the lake too late because strange things happen when the sun drops behind the mountains. People will play games up there that are different from what happens during the day and it can seem a bit creepy, so as it was getting a bit dark I went ahead and started home. There are a few marijuana patches in the park and maybe that is connected with what happens at night. The rangers clean them up ever so often but they always come back. I got depressed thinking I had to come back to my house until I remembered that I knew things would be hard for a while once I returned from Korea. I had the feeling that eventually if I stay on my own personal track and just do the work that needs to be done I will be fine.

I had a friend a long time ago tell me that you can only sleep in one bed at a time, drive one car at a time, wear one pair of pants or dress at a time and live in one house at a time. I know that is not original but sometimes we forget it and we want to accumulate a bunch of stuff. I live in one room with one bathroom and it suits me for right now. My propensity to hoard has gone and I really am glad of that although I still mourn for my books. Checking them out of the library is fine although I have to read fast. I can only live one day at a time.

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