The Changeling

 

The Skagit River Delta.

            Her home waters were the chilly murky depths of greater Puget Sound. As a mere nestling, a fry, she had lived and breathed there contentedly. Hers was an easy life, a peaceful aquatic drift of days and nights.
            As the days grew in number, she grew to maturity. She was lithe, cold, observant. She was, perforce, a huntress.
            Artistic representations of such as she, both modern and antique miss the point entirely and prove the artist to be no honest observer. Forgivable, considering. What if he had been honest? What would a human observer see?
            Not a bosomy maiden down to the hips and a fishy extremity below there. No, that was a polite, cheerful fiction. She was profoundly more alien than that. Some might have considered her monstrous. She had the voice of a woman and could sing strange wordless songs.
            One day, in the fifteenth year of her swimming, she caught an unknown scent. It was a watery scent, but different in some essential way. It called to her. She followed it, swimming for the first time with intention, her curiosity aroused.
            There was current in this water. Not just the eternal rise and fall of the tide. It was more than that, strongly directional. She swam into it. In short, up by Whidbey Island, she swam right into the Skagit River, right through its delta!
            The fresh river water fell upon her like a changing song, a spell. She breathed the fresh water, and she became a huntress of trout. She swam further until there was a branching. She entered a smaller river, one that leads quite close to a Great Forest which we know well. Still, she swam on, further and further upstream into the Cascade Range.
            A last she came to a straight stretch of this smaller river. It felt good to her there. She rested, with just her long finny tail waving slightly in the current, to hold her position.
            Looking through the water, she could see such sights as she had never beheld before. There were the mighty towering Douglas firs! There were the great bulky riverside boulders. There were unfamiliar birds and their calls. There were wild roses and fireweed growing near the river. It was dazzling!
            As she watched, a youth of the Forest People came walking to the riverside. He carried a bag. He was very tall and covered in soft dark hair that moved with the breeze. The impression he gave her was of sweetness, and once more she was dazzled.
            From her position in the water, she saw him sit on a large rock just at the edge of the river with his feet in the water. He began to sing a fishing song learned from his father, and to dangle his fingers in the water. As she watched she saw spotted trout one by one approach his fingers. Then he would pick each one up and pop it into the bag. This went on for some time.
            As they used to say in old-fashioned stories, her heart smote her. She loved him with all of her mind, heart and soul. Helplessly, she swam to him sitting there, just as the foolish trout had. She sat on the river bottom there and raised her head above the surface and gazed upon him.
            Now, Twigg, who had been catching some fish for Ramona to cook for dinner, watched intently as this strange creature rose out of the water before him. She was scaly like an ocean fish, perhaps like a salmon, she had fins, down her back and on the backs of her arms. She had gills but seemed to be able to breathe air anyhow in the time he had been watching her. Her face had the familiar features of a hominid, and her eyes were green he noticed. Her long pale wet hair hung over her shoulders, dripping river water.
            “I greet thee,” said Twigg, in formal Saslingua. He smiled.
            She gazed into his kind brown eyes but didn’t speak. Speech had never been asked of her before. She shook her head a little.
            “Would you like to come out of the water?” he asked and held out a hand, keeping the bag of fish secure in the other hand. She took his hand and came out of the river. He helped her to sit beside him on the very large rock.
            “Do you have a name?” said Twigg. Again she shook her head.
            He looked at her sitting there beside him, and said, “A lady should have a name. I will name you! Does that please you?”
            She nodded at the question in his voice without understanding it.
            Since he was a young thing, he called her Rose, as foolish as that may seem, since she was of the water, not the land.
            But, maybe it wasn’t foolish, for in some ways Twigg was to be greater than his father. He had a way of knowing that became being.
            Twigg took her head into his two hands, looking deeply into those adoring green eyes and he said, “I bless thee,” in the deepest most formal form of the old language passed down from the earliest times. Rose nodded slowly, in acceptance.
            Then, as they sat together, Rose became a daughter of his people.
            She wept. She examined her body over and over. She compared it to his and she laughed for the very first time. She stood on her feet. She walked up and down the riverbank. She stretched out her arms to the sky. Rose exulted!
            So, Twigg took her hand and led her home to the Home Clearing, bag of fish in his left hand.
            Seeing them arrive, Ramona said, “Who is this fair young thing my son?”
            “This is Rose. I found her in the river, Mama,” he answered his mother.
            “She doesn’t speak yet, but she will, Mama,” Twigg added.
            Ramona held out her arms to Rose, who came to her, and became her newborn daughter in that moment.
            There is much more to be said, as you can well imagine, but that is a story for another day.  

 🐟        

Snow Day, 1967

 

Mine was just like that one, and would have gone there! That is in France.

        In view of how sultry the weather has been lately, since it’s Summer in America, I thought it might be refreshing to post a story about a snow day. It’s a true story. It happened back in 1967 around Christmas.
        It was one of those winters like we used to have. It was below freezing for weeks at a time. We had quite a bit of snow back then. There have been many green winters since then, and a few white ones too. Sometimes ice a full six inches thick would form on the pond down in the pasture where we used to play and ice skate a little.
       I must have been home from my classes at the community college in Everett. Back then it was called a junior college. But my younger siblings still had some school days before Christmas.
        It had snowed during the night and it had stuck. Not a lot of snow, but enough to keep most people from driving, since we lived in a hilly area between three small cities.
        My parents had both gone to work that day. So, I had the only vehicle, my Renault 4CV. It was like a bug, but smaller and lighter and cheaper. It was a real lawnmower car. Men laughed at it on the street. However, it was good on snow and ran super cheap.
        The buses were not running maybe, or maybe I just decided that it would be fun to run the two younger ones to the junior high in Kenmore. My next youngest sister must have made different arrangements to get to her high school. She didn’t ride with us that day.
        I had my snow routes. By driving way around the long way I could avoid steep hills, or even much of an incline. I decided that I didn’t need to get dressed. I would do the run in my long flannel nightgown. This was rash, but I was probably 18 years old.
        Back then, as you know, if something happened you were on your own unless someone took pity on you. No phone! I may not have even brought my wallet? Who knows what the child was thinking, or not?
        The drive to the junior high went fine. We went around the long way, and I got them there on time. I always have enjoyed the slight challenge of snow driving. I liked playing it like a game of strategy, seeing if I could do it and get back to where I started.
        As I remember it, the sun was shining on the new snow, which highlighted all the details of the landscape in fresh bright wintry fashion. I found this quite jolly. I’m always happier when there is snow on the ground. This has not changed.
        I drove toward the house by the same route I had left. It all went fine until I got to a level spot, oddly. I was within a mile of home when I slid into a ditch. It was enough of a ditch that I couldn’t weasel my way out of it.
        Oh dear! And there I was in my silly nightgown.
    I got out of the car and stood there wondering what to do next. Should I walk home? Wait for my dad to come home and pull it out?
        The Book says that sometimes angels appear, and they did!
        Across the street there was a new housing development being built. Work was going on right at that moment. I have to assume that some of the carpenters saw my little accident because two big strong carpenters came over, laughing at me in my nightie and my silly little car in the ditch. They really didn’t say anything. They just picked it in their hands and pulled it up to where I could get enough purchase to drive away. Then they went laughing back to their job on the new house they were building.
        I drove home. No harm was done. The Lord helps goofy girls I guess. Actually, that has been proven to me a lot of times. Also, I never went to town in my nightgown again.
        The buses were running in the afternoon, so the kids came home by bus and all was well.
        School buses look pretty cool coming through the snow. Everything looks pretty cool coming through the snow! And a snow day is a wonderful thing!

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Happy Butter Your Cat Day! Don't forget to butter your cat!

😻

Meowderators' Rest Day & Open Thread

Eastern WA.

 

Dear Readers:
            We wish you a late summer Tootsday like no other! Even though the year is moving on, it feels like mid-summer. It will, no doubt, be another warm day with abundant sunshine, even up here in the PNW.
            We may as well enjoy it for all the joy that’s in it. I’m sure that will include lots of chat, which is a good thing!
            All the very best, from us to you!

💙

Ramona's Big Flat Pan

 

 

            Ranger Rick, that affable fellow, had an idea. The more he thought about it, the better he liked it. He had the handwritten notes Ev had written for him, the recipe so to speak for the huge Timber Topper pizza like Tony made it at Lou’s place.
            Now, he had never been physically present in the Home Clearing, but he and Ralph had discussed all aspects. He was clear on the fire circle, the grid Ramona used to support her big flat pan, and all her various cooking adventures.
            Where did the big pan come from you wonder? It’s a good question. Perhaps I can suggest a provenance. Originally, it came from the galley of a Navy vessel. In the fullness of time this vessel had been decommissioned, and its accoutrements had been released into the wild as salvage.
            Some guy bought it for his wife, but it wouldn’t fit in their oven, so the wife sold it at a garage sale in Milltown. Ooog happened upon this garage sale. He bought it by bartering a sack of new potatoes and brought it home to Thaga. She said he should give it to Ramona who cooks for a crew unlike themselves. So he did. That’s how Ramona got the big flat pan, which measured a good 24X36 inches!
            You can see what he was thinking.
            Rick drove home determining to contact Ralph somehow and propose a cookout at the Home Clearing. Most of the time when he and Ralph chatted, Ralph had just appeared. But he didn’t want to wait for that to happen. He also knew he couldn’t just walk out into the forest and find him. He was fully aware of the special nature of reality out there.
            He remembered that one time when he had been sure that Twigg was committing mischief in the area and he had honked his horn until Ralph came to talk with him about it. He decided to try that again.
            The next morning Rick parked out by the dumpster and started doing a friendly little beep sequence on his horn. He kept it up long enough that it couldn’t be an accident. Finally Maeve appeared, took a long beady eyed look at him and flew off into the forest.
            In about fifteen minutes Ralph strolled up the path and into the station parking lot to see what was up with Rick.
            Rick explained what he was thinking and Ralph thought it sounded like jolly fun. Between the two of them, they settled on midday the next day. Ralph would meet Rick at the station and bring him into the Home Clearing.
            In the morning Rick went to Safeway, scene of his terrible taste in coffee purchases, and bought supplies. He decided to use premade bread dough for simplicity’s sake. He bought four balls of that. And:
            A big can of Italian tomato sauce.
            A small bottle of virgin olive oil
            A bulb of garlic and a bottle of mediterranean herbs
            Five pounds of mozzarella
            Two pounds of Canadian bacon
            A big sweet onion, three green peppers, and a few tomatoes
            Two pounds of mushrooms
            Two bottles of pitted Greek olives
 
            He figured that ought to do it. It would make a monster pizza.
            Morning turned into midday. Rick was ready with all of that in a couple of grocery sacks.             Ralph appeared, bigger than life actually, and together they entered the forest, using the same path as Mitch and Robby had but arriving at a totally different destination, Ralph’s Home Clearing where the whole family waited to meet them.
            Rick had met Twigg when he was a little younger, but he had never seen Ramona, or Cherry or Bob or Berry or Blue.
            “Rick,” said Ramona, “I’ve heard so much about you! Isn’t that what they always say? Good to meet you at last! Come and meet everyone!”
            Rick was slightly agog upon meeting her, but he managed to be cool and greet Twigg and Cherry. He patted Blue on her head, and the cats allowed him to pat them also.
            Everyone was excited to see this new dish as it came into being!
            Therefore, Rick, assisting Ramona began to assemble the great pizza. First they oiled the big flat pan lightly. Then they spread the dough evenly over it, all joined so there were no leaky spots. Then Ramona set it aside to rise.
            They sliced the various vegetables and chopped the whole head of garlic.
            Then it was time to build the D.I.Y. Timber Topper!
            Going roughly by Ev’s written directions, Rick spread the tomato sauce over the surface. He had thought to bring a can opening. Ten points for Rick!
            Then the oil and a good sprinkle of the herbs went on. Then the Canadian bacon under everything else. A layer of cheese slices was next. Then the vegetables were arranged nicely. Next Rick scattered the olives over the vegetables. Last of all was another layer of cheese slices. They had salted and peppered the vegetable layer.
            It was a big job! And now it was time to cook it. Of course it wouldn’t be browned on top, but that wouldn’t be a problem.
            Ramona placed a judicious number of small sticks of firewood in the fire under the grid and when the flames had died down to coals, she and Rick carefully places the very large flat pan on the grid. Then they watched it as it cooked. They didn’t want it to cook too fast and not get done through the middle, so it took watching and care.
            The dough puffed up and began to be bread crust, the cheese melted, and the vegetables began to look cooked and the whole thing kind of settled and became cohesive in a nice way. It smelled wonderful Ramona said, and it did!
            Between the two of them, Rick and Ramona decided that it was done.
            The fire had died down, but the pan was still very hot. Ralph did the honors of using some old cloth as pot holders and moved the great heavy thing to Ramona’s little stump table.
            While they waited for it to cool for a bit, Cherry demonstrated her special ability, which had wowed Mitch and Robby so much. Rick was also impressed, to put it mildly.
            Twigg sang a song that the B’s had taught him about hanging in there and staying busy.
            Bob and Berry sat by with secret cat smiles and shining eyes.
            Blue had to be told a few times to cool it, she was still at an awful age in canids.
            Maeve hung around, keeping an eye on the proceedings and interjecting wise sayings in Raven. She spent most of the time on Ralph’s shoulder.
            At last it was time to serve it up, so Ramona sliced the Timber Topper into a variety of sizes of pieces. She got out those shallow wooden bowls and gave everyone a first slice.
            It went over grandly and was considered a great success and every bit of it was eaten, believe it or not!
            “Rick,” said Ramona, “what a lovely idea you had. It was so sweet of you to think of us and share this new dish with us! You must come again and eat with us. Thank you!”
            “It was a ton of fun, Ramona,” said Rick. “You’re absolutely welcome. Meeting you all was like a dream! A very good dream,” he added.
            “I’ll make some coffee, Rick. Don’t take off yet,” said Ramona.
            Rick stayed for coffee, then Ralph walked him to the parking lot by the ranger station.
            “Goodnight,” said Ralph.
            “Goodnight,” said Rick.
            They were both stuffed and felt very sleepy!

🌲🧄🌲

D.I.Y. Timber Topper a la Tony

 

            “Look how late it is!” Mitch muttered at his watch. Robby just looked at him. He didn’t quite shake his head, but he was thinking it.
            “We must have wandered around behind that Ranger station for hours, but I can’t figure how. There was nothing going on. Maybe I’m getting slow..” said Mitch, as if to himself.
            “Remember that big raven?” said Robby. “It was like it was keeping an eye on us. I didn’t know they were that snoopy.”
            “Yeah, I guess so. We better take off. It’ll be dark by the time we get in,” said Mitch. He seemed dazed almost, but then he and skinny Robby had eaten a whole large deep dish Timber Topper and had drunk two beers each.
            Robby followed Mitch out to the Land Cruiser. They got in, belted up, and Mitch drove south.
            Inside Lou’s, Evelyn plopped down in one of those maple chairs beside Ranger Rick. She dug him in the ribs from the right side with her left elbow.
            “How’d I do, Rick?” she said.
            “I’d say that if you didn’t convince ‘em, you confused ‘em, Ev. Thanks!” said Rick.
            “I think ol’ Colonel Sanders thought I was wrapped a little loose. Don’t know what the boy wonder thought. He’s a little harder to read,” said Evelyn.
            “Hey, Ev, do you think I could get a recipe for this thing? Sometimes I do a little cooking, and I don’t always want to drive to Loggerville,” said Rick, grinning like a kid.
            “I can try,” said Evelyn. She picked up Rick’s pizza pan, his plate and his glass. Then she trotted over to Mitch and Robby’s deserted table and put their pan underneath Rick’s, and put their two plates on his, and gathered up the two glasses too. With the ease of long practice she took this whole pile to the kitchen door and backed in, pushing the swinging door with her backside. Once inside, she deposited the stack in the sink back there.
            Tony, the cook and present owner, was sitting on a stool by the open back door smoking a Camel. He was exactly what you would expect. 5’8” of wiry Italian in his 50s, going a bit gray around the whiskers. He smiled at Evelyn, emitting some smoke.
            “Hey, Tony. One of the guys out there wants to know how to make a Timber Topper. I know it’s not a matter of recipe exactly, but if you don’t mind, could he have it?” she said. “It’s Rick. He’s OK.”
            “I don’t care, Ev. He’ll make one and decide it’s too much like work and head back to Lou’s to get one the easy way,” laughed Tony. “You tell him this. Write it down.”
            She took down the clipboard hanging by the back door, got out a clean sheet of paper, and prepared to write. There was a cheap pen tied to the clipboard, so it wouldn’t get lost.
            “He’s going to have leftover ingredients if he does it my way. Maybe he will have to make a couple of them,” said Tony. “It’s more of a method than a recipe.”
            “This is for a big one. Tell him to look up a plain bread recipe. Make about a three or four cup of flour batch of plain white bread dough first. Depends on how much crust he wants. When it’s risen enough. I hope  he has something big enough to make a pizza in. It doesn’t have to be round. Anything flat will work.
            “Ok, stretch and pat the dough out all over the pan. Let it rise again.
            “Then he’s going to need some of Mutti’s best tomato puree. Comes in a bottle. Spread some of that over the dough in the pan. He’ll know when he’s got enough. He should salt and pepper it lightly. There’s no salt in the tomatoes.
            “Next, drizzle good olive oil over the tomatoes. Not too much. Maybe a quarter of a cup. Now the rest of it is in layers. First I lay down Canadian bacon to cover. Then a layer of whole milk mozzarella sliced in nice slices, to almost cover. Then I put on a couple dozen Greek olives, pitted of course.
            “Sauté up a pound of Italian sausage, drain it, and scatter it around on the rest. These guys don’t know it, but I put some little bits of anchovy in there too. Gives it some punch. You can tell him. He might do it.
            “Next, slices of sweet onion, then some green pepper, or jalapeno slices. Depends, does  he want some hot or not? I put in a few slices of tomato. Better if it’s those dry tomato paste variety if he can get them. Or not. The tomatoes give it a lot of good moisture. I scatter chopped garlic and crumble some Greek Oregano over it. Then another layer of cheese slices. It’s going to take two pounds of cheese before he’s done building this thing. I’d put some Feta on it too, if he can get good Feta.
            “Preheat his oven to 400℉. Put the whole deal in there and bake it until it looks like a pizza. Take a look at it after 20 minutes. It might be done! That’s about the best I can tell him for home cooking, Ev,” said Tony finally. “You get all that?”
            “Got it, Tony. I might try this at home myself!” said Evelyn. “Not really,” she laughed. “I know a place to get pizza.”
            “I forgot to say some fresh basil leaves on top, after baking and cooling a little are a fancy touch and add a wonderful scent,” said Tony, puffing on a new smoke.
            “Think Rick will really do it?” asked Tony.
            “Maybe. I think so. That’s a lot of pizza. He might have to share it with a big guy he knows out there in the woods,” said Evelyn.
            “He got some homeless guy camping in the forest, Ev?” Tony frowned.
            “No, no. This guy isn’t homeless,” said Evelyn, with a little smile.
            “Thanks, Tony. You’re a good sport, Dude.”

🍅

At Lou's Pizza Palace

 

            “Robby, get up! Why are you sitting on the ground?” demanded Mitch, who was sitting on the earth himself, but didn’t seem to realize it.
            “Sure, Mitch,” said Robby. “I’m trying to see if I have everything here.” He sort of patted his pockets and looked vaguely around himself as if seeking an answer of some kind.
            Mitch looked at the camera in his hand.
            “Here, put this away,” said Mitch. “Help me up will you?”
            Robby stashed the camera in its special pouch in their Research Kit™ and scrambled to  his feet. Mitch stuck out a hand and Robby pulled it, and Mitch managed to get to his feet, then stood there dusting off his jeans for minute.
            “Sure. Pizza sounds good. I could eat anything right about now!” said Mitch, returning to the subject at hand.
            “Whose idea was this place anyhow, Robby? Let’s go. I don’t think there is a BigFoot anywhere within fifty miles,” grumbled Mitch.
            So faithful Robby followed Mitch back out of the forest, to the dumpster and the parking lot, where they reversed maneuvers and climbed into the old Land Cruiser.
            Lou’s Pizza Palace was owned nowadays by Tony, Lou’s son in law, but it was still called Lou’s in downtown Darrington, WA.
            Mitch should have know better than to eat at Lou’s, but he was very hungry. Robby didn’t object either. They’d never been there before, either on of them. But pizza is pizza so in they went. It was on old one story building painted red, with white multi-paned windows on both sides of the door.
            It was dim inside, but not truly dark, with a candle lit in a jug on each of about ten tables made of maple with matching maple chairs. Each table sported a red and white checked vinyl tablecloth. There were woodsy looking characters sitting at three of the tables. It didn’t seem like a place for women, or women just didn’t like their pizza maybe.
            When Mitch and Robby stepped into the room all heads swiveled to take a good long look at the strangers. There was some laughter, and then most of the heads swiveled back to keep eating and talking. One guy kept looking, but he didn’t say anything. He was at a table by himself and didn’t look like a logger.
            “Mitch, it’s 6 o’clock,” said Robby who was staring at his phone. “When did we get to the Ranger Station?”
            “Around noon, maybe some later? Driving takes time too, you know,” said Mitch.
            “I know, but it should be about 4,” said Robby.
            A waitress came out of the kitchen and plopped down in a chair next to Robby. She wore jeans and a blue t-shirt and had long brown braids. She looked about 50, and a bit tired, hence the seated approach.
            “Do you guys know what you want,” said this lady, whose name turned out to be Evelyn.
            Mitch scanned to menu on the table and ordered Lou’s Timber Topper without consulting Robby, and two beers. They had Coors.
            Evelyn wrote it down, then she took a moment to look at Mitch and Robby.
            “You guys look a little out of place,” she said. “Do you mind if I sit for minute and you can tell me what’s up gentlemen? What are a couple of scholarly looking dudes like you doing in Darrington?”
            “Um. We were doing some investigating up by the Ranger Station. It amounted to nothing, but Robby here thinks we are missing some time,” said Mitch.
            “I’ll give this order to the kitchen, then I’ll come back with the beer. Hang on,” said Evelyn. In five minutes, she was back with the beer.
            “Missing time is a serious matter,” said Evelyn. “Don’t you know what that means?”
            “What does it mean?” whispered Robby, wide eyed again.
            “It means that you’ve probably been abducted. Do you have any new injuries, like punctures or anything?
            “What were you investigating anyhow? You can tell me. I know everything and I say damn near nothing,” averred Evelyn looking all motherly and sweet. She went to the kitchen and got the Timber Topper and a couple of plates and came back.
            The Timber Topper was about 20inches across and contained just about everything found on a normal pizza, minus weird stuff like pineapple. It was a doozy. They dug in, hungry as they were.
            “Lady,” said Mitch, after a few bites, “Do you know anything about BigFoot?”
            “Shhh. You don’t want those guys over there to hear you,” she said. “The least they will do is laugh at you if they think you are snooping around the woods looking for BigFoot. They don’t like guys that look like you two anyhow, even without BigFoot.”
            “Abducted by who,” said Robby. “I might have a little scratch here that I don’t remember having.”
            Evelyn stood up, made a weird little gesture like something spinning up in air over her head, and tapped her temple as if to say, "Think about it," and said, “Shhhh,” again. Then she disappeared into the kitchen.
            “What did she mean by that, Mitch,” said Robby.
            “UFO’s maybe. Not sure. I think she might be nuts,” said Mitch. “I don’t think we got abducted by anything or even lost any time. Maybe you’re nuts too, Robby. Driving around can use up a lot of hours,” insisted Mitch.
            Robby kept eating pizza and drinking beer right along with Mitch, but he wasn’t happy. Something wasn’t adding up right, but he saw that discussing it with Mitch wasn’t going to get him anything.
            Ranger Rick, who had been listening to the whole proceeding, looked down at the table and smiled. He had a pretty good idea where the missing time had gone, and who had disappeared it.

🌲🍕🌲

All The Very Best & Friday Greetings

 With love from the messy desk!

Let's all have a wonderful Friday!

Good old August 15, 2025!

*Meow!!*

💜