A Sort of Anthropological Exploration

 

"Dine In Ope"

            This field report finds its genesis in my regrettable curiosity.
            You see, since I was five years old I have been very aware of Highway 99 as it passes through Seattle. The year that I attended kindergarten, we lived two blocks off of 99. I walked to school those two blocks and a couple more down 99 to Oak Lake Elementary.
            And many times since then I had reason to drive 99 through Seattle.
            There have always been various weird old cafés and taverns that I have never gone into, but they have always been there. I have always been curious about what they are like inside! My Navigator and I even have a name for these dives. "Dank Hideaways."
            The Jade Palace or some such, is one of them. It’s built of big pebbles, like river rocks and it has been there since the Flood I think.
            There are several old joints that I’d like to peek inside. Heh. The one that caught my eye today was darn near in Everett. It looks so divey, I thought, let’s check it out. How bad can it be?  They’ve been in business a long time. The county hasn’t closed them down.
            It’s called Country House Pho’. Vietnamese, of course, and I really like pho’. Mr. Bird agreed to the experiment, so in we went.

            It must have been a country tavern at some point. The doorway was around the side, down some very strange irregular steps. But I was not to be deterred. It was dark in there, and there was a rather precipitous ramp down to the dining level.
            A large TV screen was playing a news program in which there was a lot of wild language about the new administration, etc. etc. Loud, very loud country western music was playing. Part of the dining area was blocked off by sheets of chip board. We were not affrighted by this strange appearance!

            We were beckoned in nicely by a stout young Vietnamese fellow who explained that the prices in the menu were old news. The real prices were in the computer or something. Anyhow, when we ordered, we paid the new prices in front! OK. That's a new one on me.
            He agreed that I could have my beef noodle soup without noodles. That was nice. It took a long time to get our orders. But the soup was good. Usually it’s served with a plate of fresh basil, bean sprouts, jalapeno slices and a wedge of lime. It was a little short of those things, but I bet a lot of customers waste those things and they are not free for the café.

No other patrons!!

            There is nothing too exciting to say about the end of the experiment. We ate our soup, and he left us alone. We were the only customers, which is a little scary, but it was after lunch. I would be curious about how their sub sandwiches are. Those are generally super good, but I don’t eat sandwiches anymore. So, no sub.
            We just left after that.
            It was OK. Not wonderful. The building was very old and weird. I can see no reason to go back. There are many pho’ stops in the area, which are much nicer.
            Next time, going down 99, maybe we’ll peek into that Jade place!
            (The music was terrible!)

This would have made a lot more sense.

🤍

Dreaming of Desert Wind

 Closing my eyes, yes.

A different air. It's dry here.

No ranks of trees obscure the horizon.

So much depth of air,

that it all fades.

Resinous dusty odors.

Profound silence. But wait,

maybe not so silent.

Listen!

Ramona Didn't Even Have A Bucket

 

            Ralph and Uncle Bob had been down at the river all day. Twigg went down to take a look a few times, but he didn’t say anything to Ramona, because she didn’t ask. Ramona can be really Zen.
            But to back up a bit, Ralph and Bob had been exploring outside the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest for building supplies. It didn’t look like there was another cave that was just right for a guy to live in, so they were going to have to do something different.
            In the course of their explorations they came upon a lot of stuff left to rust away in the woods by some defunct logging company. One of the prizes they found was a heavy old fashioned galvanized bucket. This truly was a prize with all sorts of potential. Ralph just about had stars in his eyes.
            Bob found a shovel. He knew what to do with a shovel. So he hung onto that. They kept looking through the bushes for more stuff. It was like an Easter Egg Hunt, if the boys had known anything about that custom.
            There were rusty cables, two old battered trucks barely hanging together. One had a completely broken out windshield, but the other one’s windshield was intact, though the rubber around it was rotted away.
            “Say, um, Bob?” said Ralph, “this here window looks useful. I’ve never had a window myself, but I think you should have a window.”
            “Ralphie, I don’t even have a hut or a shed or anything yet,” said Bob.
            “Well, I know! Let’s pull this window out and take it home with us,” said Ralph.
            That was about all they wanted to carry back to the Home Clearing. Squatches are not overly ambitious like their human cousins. Enough is enough to the likes of Ralph and Bob.

💚

 
            This is the answer to why Ramona had a nice sturdy bucket setting by the fire circle. It looked real good there, Ralph thought.

💦

           To proceed; finally as evening was nearing, Ralph and Bob came up from the river, with secret grins and chuckles in their eyes. This was the waiting part of the experiment; it was an experiment that had kept them in the river all day.
            Ralph had gotten to thinking about that portable portal up on the high shelf in the cave. It seemed like it should be good for something, even if no one wanted to leave the area in a big way. He got to thinking about fish also.
            Now, nobody cares what fish want. They are born as fair game for all comers it seems. Fortunately, they probably don’t even know where they are or what they are doing in any way having to do with awareness. This is good, because everybody eats them anyhow. It would be awful if the fish knew this!
             So the deal was how to get the fish into the bucket without fishing so much. You can see where this is going…

🐟           

            “Hey, Ralph, Baby, Honey, how did all of these trout get into this bucket?” inquired Ramona suddenly. She was standing there staring at the bucket which was half full of wriggling fish. “They weren’t there a minute ago!”

            This was sweet music to Ralph's ears.
            “Bob, it worked! Wow! It worked!” yelled Ralph.
            Bob and Ralph did a little dance around Ramona to make her laugh and not ask such pointed questions. It was fun, but it didn’t work very well.
            Because next time she looked at the bucket it was full of fish, and they were wriggling out of the bucket onto the ground.
            “Ralph! What did you do?” hollered Ramona, eyes wide and staring in astonished disbelief! “Whatever it was, you better undo it Ralph before we’re buried in these fish!”
             Ralph and Bob lit out for the river at a run. Soon the fish stopped arriving near or somewhere in the area of the already full bucket.
            They came up from the river dripping wet. Ralph carried the portable portal in his hand, looped up small and gleaming ominously.
            “Mona, we rigged the portal to shoot the fish into that bucket, and you gotta admit it worked really well!” said Ralph. He was totally proud of the trick, so was Bob, though he was just labor, not design.
            She had to admit it was a very cool thing, but said, “maybe you could just put it in the river for a few minutes when we need some fish, Ralph?”
            Ralph agreed that this was a very wise compromise. He was so proud of Ramona! She always figured out a good solution, no matter what the problem was.
            What did she do with the bucket, plus, of fish? Well, they had a bunch of them for dinner, but she also put a lot of them up to hang over the smoke for a couple of days. This worked really well, and they were delicious smoked.
            You will observe, no doubt, that it never occurred to Ralph or Bob or Ramona to catch and sell fish. But then, they are not like us, with an eye to profitability.
            Uncle Bob was still sleeping out by the fire during the nights, with the pumas to keep him company. So the next big project, to be accomplished very quickly was a little house of some kind to keep good old Uncle Bob out of the rain, and smoke for that matter!
            As he drifted off to sleep that night Ralph was wondering if he could get deer to jump through the portal, to somewhere convenient……

Uncle Bob and Ralph Go Fishing

 

            Ralph woke first. There was dew on his hair and the fire had died way down. Looking over on the other side of the circle he saw that Uncle Bob slept on. He had to smile. Bob looked like a big child curled up there.
            Berry and Bob were already up and had gone into the forest for a little early morning hunting.
            Ralph was thinking about this and that. But, in the meantime he padded over to his big pile of deadfall branches and small tree trunks that he kept for fuel, mostly for Ramona.
He broke some of the longer pieces over his knee, like anyone would, except the pieces were much thicker than any of us could break over our knees!
            He put some of the pieces on the coals in the fire, then got down on his knees and blew on the coals, a big gusty breath or two to get the flames to catch the new wood on fire. Satisfied, he got up and sat on one of those chunks of log they used for seating out there.
            Maeve drifted silently out of the sky. She landed on Ralph’s shoulder and said, “hey, Boss.”
            “What do you think about anything, Maeve?” said still sleepy Ralph.
            “I wonder what he’s doing here, and why you guys all slept outside,” said Maeve.
            “We slept out here because I don’t have an extra bed in the cave. As to why he’s here? I’m wondering myself, Blackleg. You know, sometimes you find out later why you did a thing. Sometimes you don’t know in front.” Ralph laughed. “Now I sound a little like Bob himself!”
            “Where’d he come from?” said Maeve.
            “Is that one of those questions, Maeve, or do you just wonder where he was living?”
            They were both whispering, as if Bob were a small child who must not be disturbed.
            But he woke anyhow. He sat up and yawned and rubbed his eyes.
            “Hey, Bob, you have anything at Minerva’s house? I mean anything that’s yours and you care about?”
            “No, Ralphie, I’m like a dog. Except I make the garden. The tools belong to Minerva!”
            “How did you end up there, anyhow,” asked Ralph.
            “It’s a little hazy. But I remember hiding in her shed and hanging out in the garden,” said Bob. He didn’t look very cheerful about the whole thing, like maybe sleeping in a basement wasn’t so cool.
            “Hey, let’s go down to the river! We can catch Ramona some fish and let that cold water really wake us up!” said Ralph. “I’ll tell Ramona. Hang on.”
            Ralph stuck his head in the cave, saying, “Mona, we’re going to the river for a little while,” in a stage whisper. “We’ll come back with fish! Probably!”
            “OK, Baby, we’ll be here when you get back,” she said softly.
            Later, down in the river, in the early morning light, Ralph and Bob found that whirlpool that appears there sometimes when it’s needed. Like a couple of boys they floated around and around. Once in a while one of them would grab a nice fat trout and thread it onto a green branch  to keep for later.
            “Bob, you know I still have that portable portal you had and lost. It’s in the cave, up high,” said Ralph.
            “Oh yeah? I forgot all about that thing,” Bob giggled as he floated. “I wonder if it still works? It was pretty cool!”
            “One way to find out,” said Ralph, also floating around the pool.
            “Did you ever want to just go someplace else, Bob?” said Ralph. “I mean, what’s the best place you can think of to be?”
            “I never thought about where I was very much, Ralphie. I just kind of moved with the flow, you know? I never picked a place and went there. I never chose anything at all. It just happened, I thought.”
            The whirlpool took them around a few more times. The sun rose up higher and brighter.
            “Well, let’s take these fish to Ramona. I’m getting hungry. You?”
            “Yeah, me too,” said Bob.
            “I bet she’ll cook these while they’re fresh,” said Ralph.
            They dripped river water all the way back to Ramona, the kids, and the fire at home, bringing a dozen or so of spotty trout threaded on the green branch.
            While Ramona got the trout ready to cook on her big flat pan, Ralph reached up onto the natural shelf in the cave just right for hiding things and pulled down the portable portal. It looked like a sort of dully shining snake, a kind of stretchy big loop. It was dusty, but Ralph took it outside and shook the dust off of it. As soon as he shook it around it brightened up. It seemed to want to form itself into a circle too! It became larger as it suspended itself in the air.
            A shining golden circle, it waited there in the morning light. A potentiality manifested.
            It waited there while they had fish for breakfast, and herbal tea to drink.
            “It looks like it still works, huh, Ralphie,” said Bob, a little awed, as he ought to have been.
            “I’m pretty sure it does,” said Ralph.
            Ramona said, “do you really need a portal, just to get out of Minerva’s garden? You could just never go back, Uncle Bob.”
            The concept struck Bob like a thunderclap. He stared at Ramona in amazement. “Yeah, I could just never go back!”
            “Easy,” said Ralph.
            “Put that thing back, Ralphie! It scares me,” said Uncle Bob. “I just won’t go back!”
            “Perfect!” said Ramona.
            Ralph shook the portal, so that it collapsed into some shiny coils, then he put it back up on the shelf in the cave.
            “We’ll help you make a house around here somewhere Bob, or whatever you like!” said Ralph. “Maybe we can find another cave, man!”
            “I would like that! Oh boy! Yes!” said Bob.
            “This is going to be great!” said Ralph. “We’ll be neighbors!”
            Even Twigg was excited. Cherry didn’t pay too much attention. The cats approved silently, when they got back from hunting.
            Maeve was still there, but hadn’t been talking, just listening.
            “Sounds good to me,” she said.
            And so it was.

Bob's Yer Uncle

 

            Before everybody had a chance to leave, and before York and company came late and missed the whole party, Ralph grabbed Uncle Bob and pulled him aside to talk.
            They sat at one of the big picnic tables watching the guests gather their belongings and head for their homes. Some had cars to go to, some just travelled woodsy style.
            “Hey Bob, you sure must be busy, man, I never see you anymore,” said Ralph. “Sit on the other side, Bob, or we’re going to tip this thing over!”
            “Oh yeah..” Uncle Bob said rather absently and wandered over to the other side of the picnic table to sit.
            “Back when we were kids I never knew you to sing like that, Bob. What happened?” said Ralph, trying to get to the bottom of this mystery.
            “It’s Minerva, Ralph. The lady who made the cookies? And who has the garden, she plays records all day. A lot of Deep Purple, man! It gets into your head after a while. Minerva likes Steppenwolf too!” He sat there giggling at the memory. “I think she wants to ride a magic carpet, Ralph!”
            “I was thinking that you should come home with us for a couple of days, Uncle Bob. I miss you. It’s not quite garden time anyhow. You think Minerva could get along without you in her garden shed for a few days, Bob?”
            “Oh yeah, Minerva’s a big girl, Ralph. She tells me all about third wave feminism and stuff. I don’t get it, but I don’t stop her from talking either. I don’t think anybody else listens to her when she gets going. And besides, she made me a nice bed in the basement. I don’t really sleep in the garden shed, man. It’s damp out there all fall, winter and spring.”
            “Good deal! All we have to do is walk back up the river to my place. Ramona and the kids can have the cave, but me and you and the cats will make a big fire and sleep old style beside the fire. It’ll be great!” This was, of course, another one of Ralph’s super cool ideas! He was pretty sure any fool could see that it was a cool idea. “Like a campout, Bob!”
            So, while the moon rose in the sky, Ralph and Ramona, and Twigg and Cherry, with Bob and Berry, plus Uncle Bob, all started the short hike up to the Home Clearing.
            They didn’t really need the moon’s light. The forest people have no trouble getting around in the dark. However, moonlight elicits a festive and maybe even poetic mood in them. They enjoy it like a bubbly vintage of some intangible sort.
            They laughed all the way back upstream. Bob and Berry paced before the jolly group, watching the forest and the river and the moon with their great shining yellow eyes, as seriously as guardian angels.
            “Hey look, Bob! Mud! Wanna leave our marks on the earth? It really gets some people excited! Big fun….” said Ralph.
            “Me too,” said Twigg. “Let me make some!” Cherry was asleep in Ramona’s arms, so she didn’t get to add her tiny prints.
            Uncle Bob solemnly made a deep line of beautiful prints. Twigg’s prints wove around and through Ralph and Bob’s. Ramona added a few pretty narrow prints, which were very ladylike.
            “Those look so good, I feel like pouring plaster in them myself!” said Ralph, clearly awed. They all stopped to take a look at their work, in the dreamy moonlight.
            The path became rocky, leading right down by the water. The surface of the river shone like silver foil. It only added to the magical mood. It seemed as if a few fish came up to take a look. As they continued up the path Ralph’s mysterious whistled tunes filled the air, then Twigg tried out the same tunes in his turn. They almost sounded like some exotic night birds, echoing as they walked along.
            Ramona sang an ancient song known only to Firekeepers and their mothers and their daughters. Just as they got home she noticed that her own fire was down to a few smoky hot coals.
            “Let’s get you and Cherry into bed,” Ramona told Twigg, who was sleepy, so he was happy to go get into his little bed with the big beautiful quilt made by Thaga a few years back. Cherry was already asleep.
            “Hey, Ralph, would you and Bob like me to make a pot of coffee before I go in with the kids?” said Ramona. “I have enough for one pot left.”
            “Bob do you like coffee? Minerva ever give you a cup of coffee?” said Ralph.
            “Hot, brown stuff in a cup?” said Uncle Bob. “I didn’t know what it was, she just handed it to me, and I drank it. Seemed to wake me up a little.”
            Ralph built up the fire and Ramona put her big coffee pot on the grid over the fire, boiling up a big tall pot of coffee.
            “I think I’ll go in now,” she said.
            “We’ll still be out here in the morning, Mona,” said Ralph.
            “I know, Baby,” she said with a little wink.
            Most of the night, by the light of the fire, Ralph and Uncle Bob talked about the old days when they were boys and how everything had turned out for them. Until at last they just got too drowsy to talk much, in spite of the big pot of cowboy style coffee. They sat there blinking in the firelight, with the stars winking overhead.
            The moon set, and it got a bit darker. The forest was very quiet except for the crackling of the fire, and an owl commenting softly.
            Then Ralph said, “what do you think about not being stoned all the time now?” His eyes were closed, and he was just about asleep, curled up beside the fire.
            “I remember stuff a lot better, Ralph, it’s like I’m alive for real. I don’t lose time like I used to.” Then he dropped off to sleep on the other side of the fire.
            All during the rest of the night, once Ralph and Uncle Bob stopped talking, Berry and Bob slept near them, close to the fire also.
            At first light, Maeve saw them there, but she kept her big beak shut to let them sleep a while longer. She flew right on over the Home Clearing, but she would be back later, as she always was.

Just A Great Day For A Party

 

            “Did you ever just feel like having a party, Ramona?” Ralph was his old expansive self, full of great ideas. He was really feeling this one. It seemed like there was some deep meaningful reason for it that just spoke to him.
            “Not all the time,” she said. “But for sure if there was a good reason. What reason do you have for a party?”
            “What I’m thinking about is a Mystery Party! Let’s see who will come to a Mystery Party! Let’s not tell them who or what it’s for!
            “I suppose we’ll have to tell them when and where. We can’t be mysterious about that, can we?” said Ralph. “You know what? We could have Maeve drop invitations off anonymously, just here and there and see if we get some mystery guests! Can you imagine?”
            “Is it the spring weather, Ralphie?” said Ramona.
            “No….it’s just time. I mean in a day or two. We need a day or two to get ready! I’m feeling this so strong, Mona!”
            “Alright. OK. Let’s do it,” said Ramona. “I’ll get together with Thaga and Maeve. We’ll make the Mystery Invitations up, and Maeve will tuck them in mysterious places. But where do we want to have this party, Ralph? I know you don’t want to do it here….
            “How about at that little camping spot close to the river, downstream, you know?” asked Ralph. “Then we would have lots of room and there are a couple tables there.”

***

            So, the morning of the next day Ramona whistled Maeve down out of the air, gathered up Cherry, and traveled the short path to Thaga’s house. It was time for a visit anyhow. They hadn’t all gotten together during the snowy months much.
            Ramona told Thaga and Ooog about the Mystery Party and they thought it sounded like a great idea. It would be in two days at the little park by the river.
            So, with Maeve overlooking the work, Thaga wrote out ten nice plain cards of invitation to the party. On each card were directions to the location and the time.             They thought it should start a little after noon. They requested that each person bring something, to eat, and to present to the group in honor of the occasion, which was A Mystery!
            Thaga gave Maeve a little cloth bag to put the cards in so she could carry them all at once. There were also a few people she would just speak to, such as Millicent, who would bring Colin too, and Constance and Ferdie, the four guys, if she could find them, York and so on. And Uncle Bob, if she had time. They all knew that Maurice and Sleeky Sue, whom they had never actually met, didn’t have time to get there in two days. But it was OK.

***

Where Maeve put the invitation cards:
    1. On the doorstep of Ranger Rick’s office.
    2. She accidentally dropped one in the river, while she was fiddling with the bag.
    3. She put one in the park shelter in Darrington.
    4. To tell the truth, she stuffed two of them into a small time portal, but didn’t go in herself. She watched them flutter away, to where she had no idea. So that included no. 5.
    6. Under a windshield wiper blade of some car, parked outside a tiny post office in Bow, WA.
    7. She put one under a rock on a picnic table on Camano Island.
    8. She left one in the lunch room at the downtown Milltown High School. She did create quite a sensation dropping in there. Most people didn’t notice the card she left.
    9. She dropped one off at the Naval Station.
   10. The last card she left in the coffee roaster’s shop on Rucker. No customers were present so she just put it by the register. She could hear the counter person in the backroom, but that person didn’t see her!
            Maeve had been doing a lot of flying around, but she has reserves, depths of strength, and she loves a good intrigue, or plot, etc.
            So, before calling herself done for the day, she spoke to Constance, Then Millicent, at home, not at work, then she flew to the garden shed where Uncle Bob had been living, still behind the lady’s house who let him stay there and work in her garden.
            Maeve found him standing and looking at the soil. He seemed to be thinking about starting in on the year’s garden work, one would assume.
            “Uncle Bob,” she said, “do you want to come to a Mystery Party up at the river by Ralph’s place and bring something to eat and something to do or perform?”
            “A talking raven! Far out,” said Uncle Bob, who was still hanging onto sobriety.
            “OK, I’ll come, if I remember,” he said.
            “It’s day after tomorrow. Please try to remember,” said Maeve.
            “Wow! A raven talked to me,” said Uncle Bob, in an awe stricken voice.
            Maeve figured that she had done her duty to best of her ability, and flew straight off to her high nest on the mountain face.

***

        The next day Ramona and Thaga made a cake about three feet to a side, full of dried cherries and chopped hazelnuts and cinnamon, iced with white icing based on sour cream.
            Thaga wrote, This Was A Great Day on the cake in blue icing and decorated it with stars randomly placed on the top and sides of the cake. It looked amazing! The girls were very proud.

***

            The evening of the cake day changed into night. Morning came for the day of the party.
            It was a portentously beautiful morning! The sun made sunstars through the trees as Ralph and Ramona, with Twigg and Cherry, and Bob and Berry made their way downstream to the little park by the river.
            Ralph was terrifically happy and carried one of Ramona’s big flat pans full of roasted wild turkey. Twigg and Ramona carried jugs of minty tea. They got the jugs from Thaga, of course.
            Maeve wasn’t there yet, but they could hear her coming from way up high.
            They had wanted to be there early to kind of put dibsies on the park tables and set up, but Uncle Bob was already there!
            “I came yesterday and slept on the table, Ralph, so I wouldn’t forget!” he said. “I brought cookies the old lady who owns the garden made, and I will sing! How about that? They are raisin oatmeal cookies. I love them so much.”
            “What are you going to sing, Bob,” said Ralph, in amazement.
            “It’s a surprise! You’ll find out. Later,” said Uncle Bob.
            “You probably scared away any human picnickers,” said Ralph.
            While they were standing near the river, they heard silvery voices rising from the water. Ralph and Bob turned in amazement!

“Felicitous Day! We leap and play!

We want to say hoorah, in our fishie way!

We are not poets. We know it!

We only know swim and play,

always and always onward,

eyes on the stars above.

Filled with glory and love!”

            Having sung their song, as required, all ten pretty trout ducked back down under the water and went on their way downstream.
            Thaga and Ooog with a strapping grandson, named Earl, carried the mighty cake to the first picnic table to general acclaim.
            Millicent and Colin Kelly brought chips and dips and cans of various sodas and paper plates and plastic forks because, well, because they can buy such things without causing a riot in town and those things are easily disposed of in a camp fire once used.
            Colin promised to play his guitar.
            Constance and Ferdie showed up with their twins, now a year old, Birch and Beech. The tots were glamorous like their parents.
            A fat young bear tried to crash the party and eat everything, but Berry and Bob drove him away. Nobody could remember his name, but Ralph and Twigg thought he was the same bear who had spent the night of the storm in their cave.
            They didn’t get much of a return on the Mysterious Invitation Cards left randomly all over the area. A girl who was a high school student, came with her boyfriend. The boyfriend didn’t like the looks of some of the hairy guests, so they left before the cake was cut, or any songs were sung or anything.
            Ramona allowed Cherry to demonstrate that she still knew how to fly even though she mostly walked these days. She wafted sweetly around the park a few times and then settled down into her mother’s arms.
            Well, really, you know how gatherings of people who know each other well usually go, nothing that was officially planned gets done, they all just sit around and eat and smoke and drink and talk and talk and talk. It had gotten late enough that a fire seemed like a really good idea, so Ralph and Twigg and Ferdie made a great bonfire, which really added to the festive air.
            But at last Uncle Bob wanted to sing his song, which was to be a surprise.
            He stood up in front of the whole group, in the light of the fire. He smiled sleepily at the whole crowd,             Then he sang “Smoke on the Water” with no musical accompaniment. Colin said he would have helped if Bob had asked, but he hadn’t.
            No one understood his choice, but they laughed and congratulated him, saying it was the best singing of “Smoke on the Water” they had ever heard.
            Since it was getting to be a little late, it was time to cut the cake. Every crumb of it was eaten on the spot. Squatches have large appetites! All Ramona’s turkey was eaten, all the tea was drunk, all the chips and dips and cans of pop disappeared. Uncle Bob’s cookies vanished too, so as picnics go it was a great success.
            But then, just as they were all about to go home a person no one knew walked into the midst of the friendly group. He wasn’t exactly human looking, but he wasn’t a Bigfoot type either. He was Mysterious! He wore a black suit of some strange black fabric that appeared to be stretchy and he wore a bowler hat!
            Just as some were about to start asking questions, he went up by the fire where everyone could see him and said, “I wish you all a Joyous Configuration!” Then he smiled at everyone, with his strange black eyes and almost human face, and walked off the way he had come from.
            “I guess he must be our Mystery,” said Ramona. “Who could he be?”
            “No idea,” laughed Ralph. “He seems harmless though.”
            “It was a great party,” said Uncle Bob happily.
            Everybody was full and happy and getting sleepy so they burned up the paper plates and such, like chip bags and Millicent collected back all the soda cans to recycle.                     

            Twigg ran around to make sure no garbage was left on the ground. Bob and Berry helped snoop around.
            Everybody packed up their kids, cats and pans and such and all agreed that a Mysterious Party was a great thing and that they should do one every once in a while during the summer.
            York and his buds showed up way crazy late and had to just sit by the fire until it burned itself out. By then they were asleep on the ground, and the moon laughed at them too!

🌜🌝🌛

Ralph Has One of Those Days

 

🐟I think Ramona needs a setup like this!🐡

 
            “Mona, I don’t know what to do today,” said Ralph.
            He was sitting at his usual spot on one of the logs by the fire looking at his toes and wiggling them around as if he hadn’t really looked at them recently.
            Ramona had her big sheet pan on the grid over the fire, and she was poking at some things cooking there with her long wooden spoon. At last she seemed pleased with the arrangement. She was carefully cooking some trout for later. She had to be careful because fish like to fall apart in the pan.
            “Are you hungry,” Ramona asked, hand on hip, swiping her hair back from her face, but paying close attention.
            “I’m not sure. I feel like there is a hollow place in my middle but it’s not that kind of hollow place, maybe,” said Ralph.
            “Are your eyes closed, Ralph?” she said.
            “No. Of course not, I’m looking at you,” said Ralph, just a little grumpily.
            “Are you looking in the wrong direction, Ralph?”
            “Why are you asking me these weird questions, Mona?” said Ralph, who actually did have his eyes closed now, having gotten tired of watching his toes wiggle.
            “What do you think the weather will be like later today?” said Ramona, as if she was changing the subject.
            He opened his eyes and looked up into the sky between the tree trunks and upper branches. He watched a bit of cloud drift through the blue patch overhead for a minute or so. He listened to what the birds were saying. It was mostly crow chatter. He smelled the breeze. It smelled like things growing and changing, with a note of ineffable sweetness.
            “I think it’s starting to warm up. I bet tomorrow will be sunny,” said Ralph, blinking a little as if waking up.
            Cherry, the little blond one, walking and talking well now days, walked up and leaned on her father’s knee where he sat. She sang a little song like small children do, an aimless little hum, as Pooh said in the book.
            “Look how tall Cherry is growing,” said Ramona. “She is becoming beautiful, but also wise!”
            “She is getting tall all of a sudden,” said Ralph, “but how do you know she is wise?”
            “Look how full of love she is,” said Ramona. “She knows the most important thing.”
            Ralph picked Cherry up and sat her on his knee. Cherry was always happy to sit there, so sit she did, humming the little song.
            Berry and Bob, who were entirely grown pumas now, joined the group around the fire. Berry sat on one side of Ralph and Bob sat on the other. They grinned and leaned on him. They practiced their puma purring too.
            When they did that Ralph always laughed, because he thought they might think they were guarding him. He did love those two cats.
            “Those cats sure love you, Ralph,” said Ramona, taking a seat by the growing group around Ralph.
            “How about Twigg? You’ve taught him so much and he pays such close attention to every words you say!” said Ramona. “Isn’t he a grand son?”
            Ralph said, “well, he’s not a grandson, but he sure is a grand son, Mona!”
            Hearing his name mentioned, Twigg came in from building something out by Ralph’s log.
            “Hi, Dad. Hi Mommy, I’m hungry!” said Twigg, taking a look at the pan on the fire.
            “You know what, Twigg? I’m hungry too,” said Ralph. He looked from face to face, his eyes twinkled. “A bunch of fried trout is exactly what I need!”
            “Hey, Mona! I feel great, but I’m really hungry!” said Ralph.
            “I believe you, Baby!” said Ramona.
            And just as if on cue, Maeve bombed down out of the treetops, calling her favorite word! She did that fancy hovering landing trick, saying, “hm, fish! Smells good, Ramona!”
            “You may stay for dinner, Maeve,” said Ramona!
            “Evermore,” said Maeve.
            It was a lovely day, and they all had a fine fishy dinner together, in the Home Clearing, nestled in a secret part of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest!

A Wonderful Saturday To You Nice People

 Let's just chat today.

Daughter and I are thinking of a small field trip.

If the weather holds it might be a good day for a drive.

Not too far.

We could do water places,

or head uphill to check out how the mountains are doing.

Maybe get some sun on ourselves.

I hope you have some nice early spring adventures too.

Happy March 1st my dears.

🤍