Dear Friends,
Just when I am overwhelmed with sadness, loss and details, I see something beautiful and it turns me around. Here, it is often the sky. Today I saw the most beautiful rainbow in my life — and you know there are gorgeous rainbows (sometimes double ones) in the Florida Everglades and out on the water. What made this one different was that it was large, intensely colored, yet blurred. I would have taken a picture for you but I was driving on I-80. No taking photos — not even of rainbows — while driving in California!
Zing was at the gym again; it was his new playmate’s last day, and I had six hours to myself. I was feeling a little lost, so I decided to start with a nice, relaxing walk the few blocks to get a library card. I tried to get one a couple of months ago, but didn’t have any papers then to show I was a resident. They told me to come back with something with my address on it, but then I became aware of Zing’s separation anxiety (SA, as they call it at the UC vet school), so since dogs can’t go to the library I’ve been putting it off. (I know, library cards seem rather quaint, don’t they? But I still want one.)
The walk was supposed to clear my head, but I hadn’t strolled even a block when I noticed all these people lining the sidewalks by the federal building and also across the street. They were milling around in their shirtsleeves. There were no political signs. Somewhere inside a building a siren was screaming. There were several Homeland Security vans at the curb, and even a UC Davis Vet School van that said Attack Dogs, Stay Back. (Hi, UC! Remember me?) It didn’t seem to be a protest, but it wasn’t calm either. “Is this a strike?” I asked a man. “No,” he said, “a fire drill.” Hmmmm.
When I got to the library, over on I street, there were a few straggling people lounging on the steps. Homeless, maybe. Inside, I learned that the system had scrubbed my initial application and I had to start over. Then I presented my California driver license and got the library card. Meanwhile, a woman was coughing and then throwing up into a waste basket nearby. “You can’t do that here, ma’am,” a guard said politely. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” We both left about the same time.
It hadn’t been a very relaxing walk, but at least I now have a Sacramento library card!
Next, I went to the food co-op (which is a kind of local, cramped and friendly Whole Foods) to check on Thanksgiving turkeys. Then, instead of going straight to my car, I walked around the block, which has a restaurant, wine bar, coffee shop, gluten-free bakery, meditation center, creative services agency, and I’m sure I’ve missed something, but you get the tone. Across the street behind the store is the Sacramento Food Pantry, with a long line of people.
These contrasts can be disconcerting, but I always said I don't want to live in a bubble.
This evening I drew some pears, and then I cut them up and made pear crisp with almonds. It smelled delicious.
Love,
k
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