Bright lights

Last night I went to go see the Esparto High production of Alice in Wonderland. Today I felt like I was living in some sort of modern wonderland:

Pulling up to my oh so familiar driveway in Berkeley this morning I felt a sudden surge of emotion to see my faithful little yellow house waiting just where I had left it. I felt happy to have come back just in the nick of time to experience my favorite time of year at the Francisco house. Just like at the farm, all the flowers were popping and the green garlic that I had planted months ago resembled the plants I had just harvested the day before for the CSA boxes.

As soon as I arrived (of course only after showering my dog with infinite kisses), I quickly changed into my city appropriate attire so that we would be on time for our San Francisco tea party invitation. After a long day of chatting and then being stuck in the city's traffic we came home a bit exhausted only to see that I had left my car windows down and my ipod in the middle of the seat. These days at the farm I've become accustomed to leaving everything everywhere. As soon as the engine turns off, I toss the keys in the cupholders and fling my purse and ipod onto the passenger seat. I would never even think twice about leaving my brand new laptop sitting out in the backseat or my cell phone on the dashboard.

Similarly, Rawley said he was baffled when he came to Oakland last weekend for a backyard grill party only to find his best friend grilling eggplants over the coals. "Our eggplants are only four inches tall right now!" He explained as he wondered at the silly concept of those large purple lumps he saw grilling.

Secret

Every time I think I'm starting to know everything like the back of my hand around here, I find something I haven't discovered yet. Today while filling flats in the old barn, my big bro showed me where the barn owls live. My eyes searched the rafters where Rawley had pointed to and I finally located the serene being.

She sat poised at the very far end of the barn, next to an opening where the light streamed in. In the instant I saw her, it felt as though she understood everything. I stared at the creamy tan owl as though in a trance, watching her as she sat soaking up the day. It was stunning to look at her there by the window, her beauty and grace both absolutely hypnotizing. I felt her royal poise emanate and it felt as though I had been let in on a big secret.

paying the river

The deep green water rushed by quickly as tiny trickles of gravel occasionally fell from the menacing cliff face that dropped directly into the water. Digging my toes into the sand, I watched as the kids splashed in the water and the adults chatted around the sizzling grill. With the sun still high and bright, clouds of swallows flew at the cliff walls gathering bits of mud in their beaks to use for their nests.

We ate chili covered oranges and our faces grew sticky with the juice that dribbled down our necks. We jumped in again to wash it all off and lay back out in the sun for a few minutes to dry, lying on the warm sand as we inhaled the lush smell of the forest that mixed with the smoky smell of the carne that was azando.

After spending enough time at the picnic we drove with the kids to Guinda where the kids could play more easily in the shallower water. Standing up to our knees in rushing water, Mary and I held onto the kids as they dove around looking at fish and stones. Little Hector found the round stones and held them in his hand, calling them monedas. He threw each of them out to the river in payment for all the fun he was having saying, "here you go, sir" before tossing them downstream.