Meandering on the Way — August 17 to 23, 2022

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

M decided to get himself a take-out pizza for dinner. (Wed. is double stamp day!) So he called in his order and was told it would be ready in half an hour. He used that time to wash some lettuce and put together a salad. He already had a beer in the fridge. When he got to the pizza place his order wasn’t quite ready, so he paid and sat down to wait. Just a couple of minutes, they told him. The place wasn’t busy, just one person finishing in a booth and another who looked like he was also waiting for a take-out. And sure enough, after a few minutes a pizza came out of the oven and that other fellow got his pie. At this point things were looking pretty good for M. The next pizza out of the oven would surely be his! From where he was sitting the oven was partially visible, so as soon as it came out he would know. He could taste it already. Soon he saw the counterman turn and open the oven. M couldn’t see exactly what happened next but he heard a sort of muffled flopping sound and at the same time a strangled groan. He could see the counterman looking down at the floor. Not a good sign. M didn’t bother with denial or anger; he just went directly to despair. And then, perversely, a kind of joy. This had never happened to him before. It was a new experience…

Thursday, August 18, 2022

M is off on another overnight campout. He’s picked out a spot near the coast where the weather ought to be cooler. And yes, it’s another place, he thinks, to which tourists do not flock and for which locals have no use. As he nears his goal, he is struck by how different this forest is from the one in the Ochocos. The trees here are huge with an impenetrable understory of shrubs and berry bushes. The lush growth pushes in from both sides of the road, narrowing it considerably and threatening to scratch the sides of the new truck. The real problem, though, is that there is no place to park and pitch a tent. Just this endless, narrow one lane road. His map shows him a number of spur roads, but reality tells another story. In the end, though, he comes to something…

It looks like a nice grassy spot, but when he tries to drive tent pegs, M is soon reminded it’s really an old gravel road with just half an inch of soil on top. He ends up anchoring the tent by tying it off to a couple of logs he finds nearby. When he finishes he looks at the logs again. How did they get here? How is it that they are exactly the size this purpose requires? Someone has been here before.

When the sun went down, it got dark fast. M stayed in his chair for a while, musing in the gloom. It was very, very quiet, as it had been ever since he arrived. He could hear his heart pushing blood around and for a short time he could hear a roaring sound from the south that must have been wind in the trees. As it got darker that sound faded. Then, at 9:34, when it was really quite dark, suddenly a tree or large limb came crashing to the ground somewhere nearby, something heavy and partly rotten collapsing down to rest. 

Friday, August 19, 2022

Back in the Adirondacks, the annual “Cousins Week” reunion of the Chambers family is just winding up. As a final event, the family staged a re-enactment of an 1950’s photo of E, her parents and her three brothers. Some of the original participants are now departed, but Jesse, Tom and Henry–three younger members of the clan–graciously agreed to fill in for them. We regret not being able to show Henry’s handsome face, but his elegant handstand will go down in history. Photo credit to Anne, Henry’s mom, who has had years of experience dealing with the Chambers antics. Andrea and apprentice out-law Andy were also there to cheer them on.

In the afternoon brother John transported E from the lake down south to the Hillbilly Fun Park, where he handed her off to Mrs H, who had driven north to pick her up. Did they have ice cream cones while they were there, you ask? Oh yes. Stopping for ice cream on the way to and from the lake is a Chambers family tradition. From her childhood E remembers her mother insisting upon it even though it made her father grumpy. On this day many years later, our three overage youngsters broke the HFP house rules by sitting in a pavilion bearing a sign saying “FOR SEEING EYE DOGS ONLY.” No one seemed to mind.

M’s Friday started at 2:00 in the morning when he woke to hear a few tiny drops making gentle landings on the roof of the tent. Very few in number and just barely audible, you wouldn’t think they were loud enough to wake a person. M’s brain must have left a few cells on watch while the rest slipped into dreams. What to do, what to do? M lay in his sleeping bag for a while listening to the drops, realizing that he really should get up and put the fly on the tent and maybe put his chair under the truck…

The rain sounds continued all night and into the morning. When he got up, M saw that it wasn’t really rain at all, just fog off the ocean jettisoning tiny bits of itself as condensation now and again. He had no trouble cooking his breakfast and eating it out in the open. Kinda nice out there amid the big, damp trees.

Saturday, August 20, 2022

On Saturday the Andees left the lake and headed down towards the Albany airport to depart for home. On the way they stopped to see E and Mrs H, who were delighted to see them and served them a lunch of Harts’ pizza and homemade cake.

Back in Corvallis, the large and bulky air mattress found a buyer! Another $50 gets added to our vast hoard of cash. 

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Sunday was the big day for the reunion of The Ev–as E was known in college days–and her friend Botany. In between bouts of laughter, they polished off a fancy Greek lunch followed by American ice cream cones, then spent some time thinking of ways to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their friendship. Botany, aka The Plant, presented Ev with a copy of Michael Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire, and kept another copy for herself. Although far apart, they will be able to enjoy the experience of reading it and comparing notes after each chapter. The day flew by.

Monday, August 22, 2022

Today E went to Saratoga to visit again with J & J. In order to gain entry to J’s senior residence, E needed a recent Covid test. When she arrived, they gave her a kit and told her to go back to her car to administer it, wait the required time, etc. Later in the day, she went to see her high school friend F for another happy reunion. 

Twenty-five hundred miles almost due west, M went to take the garbage out and found this…

Tuesday, August 22, 2022

M thought that the Porsche needed exercise, so in the morning he took it for a spin over to the coast. 

In the evening he drove the Mazda up to the Portland airport to pick up E. Her Delta flight was on time and we arrived back in Corvallis just before midnight. All four of the flights on this trip were on time and no luggage was lost. You know what they say: Ida y vuelta, vuele con Delta.