Yesterday I headed towards Fir Island, with the vague mission of finding snow geese. Other than some flocks flying overhead, and in a field far away, I did not see any snow geese. But I did find some other cool magic.
I started my adventure with a quick walk on the Padilla Bay Dike Trail. This is where I saw some snow geese flying overhead, and saw a flock out in the distance, on the other side of the water.
After my walk, I stopped at the La Conner-Swinomish Library to see if I could find my books there – and look! I’m shelved right next to Anne Lamott! How cool is that?!
I also stopped in to see Jolyne at the broadband office while I was in La Conner. Jolyne and I are on different sides of the political divide, but we’ve managed to maintain our friendship through all the ups and downs of the last several years, and I’ve really appreciated her thoughtfulness to me as she’s seen me struggle with current events. This time she went back into her office and came out with a little journaling book for me, and then we exchanged a much-needed hug. A gift!
As I was headed towards Fir Island, I passed by what used to be the old Rexville Grange – a quick look showed me there were people going into a store there, and I made a note to check it out on my way back.
I got as far as the Snow Goose Produce stand. It was closed, and, alas, there were no snow geese to be seen. So I headed back, and turned in at the store I’d passed earlier. It’s called The Rex Bistro now – and it was the exactly right place I needed to get myself a mocha and a treat (a raspberry crumble bar), and to sit and ponder. There’s an outside eating area there, under a roof, and I sat by one of the patio heaters and listened to the rain pattering on the roof, and felt myself relax into the peaceful ambiance. It was mellow and wonderful.
I maybe sat there for a half an hour, just listening to the rain, and watching the flames in the patio heaters. Then I headed back down Best Road and ended up at (surprise!) Christianson’s Nursery. There was a man moving trees out into the path there – and I asked him if someone had bought them. He told me that they’d gotten too big for their little pots and were being transplanted to bigger ones. And when I looked at these trees that made sense. Jesse and I introduced ourselves then, and I learned that he had once been a teacher, too! We exchanged teacher stories – agreeing that it was the students we’d worked with who had made our jobs so fun.
My soul all filled up with the sound of pattering rain, the sight of trees ablaze in their autumn finery, a hug from an old friend, and an exchange of teacher stories with a new friend, I headed back home – where the cats greeted me at the door, ready for lunch.
A truck tailgates me and passes me going more than 60 in a curvy, no-pass 40 mph zone that has small businesses and homes on either side. I get on the freeway and a car zips around me and then pulls in front of me in the slow lane, goes past the car in the fast lane and then cuts in front of the car – so close he almost hits the front fender and the driver of the other car has to tap the brakes.
And I decide to just give up. I decide to have a crappy day. The world, I decide, is full of thoughtless, impatient, selfish people, and I’m suddenly too weary and worn to fight it anymore.
I exit in Mount Vernon and park in front of the CS Reading Room. Go inside and buy some “Quarterlies” and then walk down to the Skagit Valley Food Co-op at the other end of downtown. As I approach the door, this man going into the co-op opens the door wide for me – a big smile on his face – and asks, “Going this way?” I smile back and thank him.
I go to the other end of the store and pluck out some ginger chews from the candy rack. Then I see the Mother Earth News on the magazine rack. I pull it out and turn to the back page – knowing I’ll find one of my photos there. And there it is! I have to share this tiny moment of glory with someone. The cashier in the lane in front of me isn’t working with any customers at the moment and so I say, “Look! Here’s my photo!” And she grins a big grin and says, “No way! You took this picture?!” And we chat for a bit about how to get your pictures in Mother Earth News and I encourage her to submit her photos.
I go to the front of the store to pay for my ginger chews and the woman in front of me says, “You go ahead of me – you’ve just got that one thing.” What a nice thing to do!
I walk down to the Ristretto coffee shop for a mocha. The barista is really cheery and friendly. She asks me my name. And I often use that as an opportunity to make some quip about my name, but this time my pause is genuine. I really do not want to admit my name is “Karen.” But I finally choke it out and both the baristas and the customer next to me smile these kind smiles at me and assure me that my name might be “Karen” – but I am not a “Karen.” I give the barista a 30% tip – she’ll probably never know what she’s given me this morning.
As I’m sipping my mocha and writing this post on my cellphone, a thirty-something man goes up to the counter and starts regaling the baristas with a story that has everyone laughing. I find myself being pulled into his joy. As he leaves with his coffee, he glances over at me and grins – including me in his circle, and I grin back.
I leave Mount Vernon and decide to go to La Conner to pay my broadband bill. On the way I stop at Christianson’s Nursery to, literally, smell the roses. A begonia plant with pink flowers calls to me from its place on a table and I pluck it up and head for the checkout. The checkout man is so fun – his hair keeps falling into his eyes and he keeps blowing it out of his face, and pushing it back with his hands. He laughs and says, “It has a mind of its own.” I tell him I can relate – my own hair is always going rogue on me.
Now I drive into La Conner to pay my Astound bill – I’m hoping that Jolyne will be there – I always enjoy connecting with her every month. She makes me smile.
After I pay my bill and have a nice chat with Jolyne, I head for the La Conner boardwalk for a walk. On my way I come upon a young family enjoying the day together – there’s a boy of about nine, astride the mechanical horse in front of the “curiosities” shop, a young girl, a father, and a mother with gorgeous gold extensions to her black hair, braided down her back. The family is beautiful. They stop at the ice cream shop where there’s a photo stand-in of ice cream cones – it looks like the father wants to take a picture of his family there. I ask him if he’d like me to take a photo of all of them at the stand-in – and he’s happy to let me do that. The family arranges itself around the stand-in and I snap a couple of quick photos and hand the phone back to the father to see if what I took will work. He smiles and says, “We never get photos of all of us together. This is great!”
I’m so happy I got to do that for them.
I continue on my walk – enjoying the reflections in the Swinomish Channel. I wave to the person sitting at the back of a motorboat going past., and get a wave in return. I end up at the Calico Cupboard bakery, of course. This was always my plan. As I’m waiting in line to buy an apple cinnamon roll, I hear a woman talking to the hostess about the friends she hasn’t seen in twenty years, and file that away in my “interesting people” file in my head.
Cinnamon roll successfully purchased, I head for the door and see the woman who was meeting her old friends, talking to another woman – who I assume is one of these friends. Of course, I’ve got to know more. “So you haven’t seen each other in twenty years?” I ask. And the women laugh and explain that they’d met in a Bible study years ago, and one of the women had moved to Arizona and the other woman had moved, too, and this is the first time they’d seen each other in two decades! One of them lives in the Bow area now – where I live! – and I find out that one of her old friends from high school lives just down the street from me!
Isn’t life great?
I pass a man sitting on a bench, and point to my cinnamon roll box. “I bet this thing weighs five pounds,” I say. And he laughs and says, “Yeah, they make ’em big there!”
I pass the apartments where my parents used to live, and wave to the balcony where Mom always waved to me. I smile at the memory.
And then I’m back in my car and headed home with my cinnamon roll.
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 