the day after

It can’t be that time passes without mishap. I’ve not known it to proceed that way, ever. I was so very aware of that on our last day on La Franqui beach near Sorede in France, when I stayed in the sea water and stayed some more, thinking that if I leave it – this moment of bliss, the time of bubbles and  perfection will be a thing of the past and life will take over in its normal way again. With bumps and bruises. I remember noting here, on Ocean, that you must learn to love non-bliss to stay happy.

So I’m getting a handful of bumps – it is to be expected after all. I’ll mention them more if they become major stumbles. Mere bumps don’t deserve Ocean time. I am, however, surprised at how easy it is to maintain calm, to strategize with new factors in place. I think getting older is a great thing – the drama is really muted. Calm is easier to attain.

So, let me tell you about some of the high points from this day: first, the beautiful bike ride to the Oasis Café. Did I mention that if you are ever so watchful, you can, for a fleeting second, catch a glimpse of this? And by this, I mean a view of our Capitol, introduced by a field of corn. Wisconsin, I do love you so!





At the Oasis, I met up with an old friend of Ed’s. She gave me his photos from years back – a treat, since Ed keeps no photos and I have no visuals to help me construct the story of his years before he knew me.

I looked at the photos afterwards and I thought – man oh man, this is not the guy I know now. He has this roguish strut there that I recognize, only now it is tempered and weathered, so that it is almost always accompanied by a smile. As if time has mellowed the need to be sharply defiant.

I pedaled back and was reflecting on all this when a creepy guy in a car pulled over to the wrong side of the road. When I glanced at him – to see what he was up to and to figure out a way that I could circumvent his presence, he spat out some nasty sounds. I hoped he was on a cell phone and that they weren’t directed at me, but I guess they were, because he then sprung forward in his car, passed me, shouting obscenities and throwing something (a branch? ) at me. He missed, but I thought – Jesus, there are a lot of creepy people in this world.

Up our road, the road that leads to the farmette – I finally paused to take one out of the two photos that I have wanted to take for a while (the other will follow, not today, but soon). I want to spotlight it because you should know that almost just across the road, every single day of this summer, whether biking or driving, I can look over my shoulder and see this:





So perhaps that is why I can be calm. And quite happy.