Sunset as spherical sand grains fail both pizzas and cliffs
“Seasonal, Dan?” Nazy asked “It’s January.”
“On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, the sun will shine, science and reality will replace cults and conspiracy. It will be..”
“… a happy spring morning in America.” Nazy concluded.
In last week’s letter, I described, in detail, the challenges associated with making an adobe pizza oven. Undaunted by adversity and calamity, we’ve begun the second attempt.
“We’ve begun?” Mitra asked.
“Eh, eh… you’ve begun — with help from Tom,Tiger and Arrow.”
After additional research, Mitra discovered
“…that there are many different kinds of sand, Dad.” She explained.
“Different kinds?”
“Yes. I bought sand that had spherical grains — and that sand doesn’t pack together well. Now I’ve ordered sand that is randomly and roughly shaped.”
“How did you find out about the different kinds of ..”
“.. I read the instructions, Dad.”
“You read the instructions? After you built the one that collapsed?
“That’s right.”
“We are clearly related, Mitra.” I concluded.
Later that week, while Nazy and I were walking along the ocean, we heard a loud ‘crack’ and then saw part of the cliff sliding down on the beach.
“… that cliff must be composed of sandstone with spherical sand,” I thought,
Note: There was a much bigger cloud of dust when the slide began, but it took me a while to get the camera out of my pocket. I was explaining the ‘good old days’ to Tiger..
“… and the only thing you could do with a telephone was talk to someone else. It didn’t take pictures.”
“What about games?” Tiger asked.
“Nope. And it was bigger than a Kleenex box and it was hooked to the wall with a wire. That’s the way it was when I was growing up.”
“That doesn’t sound very good. Why were you born then?”
While Stefan was here, he found a house near the local preserve that had a giant Tom turkey and a flock of chickens. I took Azelle to see the turkey. It wasn’t a particularly easy sell…
“Why does it say ‘Go’ on the street, Dan?” She asked me.
“It doesn’t say ‘Go’ on the street,” I replied. “Sometimes it says ‘Stop’.”
“No, Dan. I saw…”
“She saw a pink arrow painted on the sidewalk, Dad.” Mitra explained. “It pointed to a rosemary plant.”
“Rosemary, Dan.” Azelle repeated.
“Look Azelle, the turkey is white.” I concluded.
On a recent walk, Mitra was chatting with the boys about pine cones.
Aside: We are ‘big’ on conifer debris (cones). Nazy made a giant door wreath from cones she collected while we were living in Vancouver. And we stored (for 25 years) several cartons of lovingly selected cones. So..
“A few years ago,” I recalled, “we found some giant pine cones on Gibraltar Peak.” I recalled. “Let’s go there.”
“How long will that take?” Mitra asked.
“It’s only six miles away,” I replied. “As the crow flies,” I thought.
As we were driving, Mitra googled the park..
“ … it’s closed,” Mitra reported.
“You can’t close a mountain top,” I replied.
“Have you heard about COVID?” Mitra thought.
The area where we had found the giant pine cones was, in fact, closed. Mitra would have commented, but she gets car sick on narrow, windy roads. Luckily, we had time to enjoy the view.
I realized as I prepared this issue of the weekly epistle, that I had written twice about Tiger’s second Tiger talk. I had, in fact, even used the exact same photograph. I had made a mental note to write about Arrow’s talk, but..
“… now I’m wondering if I should begin to supplement mental notes with written reminders,” I thought.
“Maybe you should write things down,” Nazy interjected.
“Are you reading my mind?” I asked.
“I enjoy light reading.”
Arrow Talk 2
Arrow talked about his favorite Christmas things and he was confident and articulate.
As I am writing, there are only a few days left before the inauguration of a new, eh, of an actual President. It is sunset for ugly chapter in American history. Sunsets can be beautiful, but this one particular one is surrounded by debris scattered by sociopath in denial. It has been a disgraceful time in the country. I look forward to sunrise in America.
So, although we’ve learned that the dark side of the force is strong, it succumbed to a New Hope. The sunset photo includes an image of a new Moon, representing New Hope.
Finally, good news on the immigration front. Christiane has finally received notice that she will be scheduled for her in person chat with the State Department. This is the final step before she gets a Green Card.
For last week's letter, please click here
Arrow 