Déjà vu Too
Talking on the phone –at that time- when I first got here, had to be done from the road. I had no service at “home”, nor would any be available anytime soon! But I could call while driving (this is strictly illegal, BTW!) -but only call from certain parts of the road, which only the “initiated” seem to know and understand). Since was yet to be “initiated”, I had yet to know where calls would be dropped which made for some interesting, if truncated and fragmented conversations! I made several “unnecessary” trips from Clinton (Population 988) to Freeland- 12 miles away- (population 2150 and the “big town” on the southern part of the island) simply to talk on the phone. Clinton, Washington is so small, so remote, it’s daunting to find even the simplest things sometimes. I ran out of paper for my printer and it was interesting to see how difficult something like that was to find. You can study maps diligently but until you live in a place… and all I know is that “I” can’t get a phone signal anywhere near my house…So I went to the “glittering metropolis” of Langley or Freeland to talk and to send a few short movies and pics…Langley sort of reminds me of long ago when we lived in Cambria and had to drive to the first hill outside of town to get even one “bar”. And by the way, when you think of Langley; think; “Cambria”, CA only PNW Style. You’ll be quite close! Anyway, have you ever been on a road and the exact perfect piece of music came on for that drive…? C’mon…It can’t be just me. I have TONS of tuunage linked to a particular place and time. That’s all this was. Anyway, I decided to film a bit of the road while the music played and send that back as a sort of “slice of life here”. It was a perfect moment: sun, road, tuunage….SMH. I yearn for that every day; I get it more often than you would expect. So I doubled back to town to get a signal so I could send a pic and a movie, and since I’d interrupted the drive, I decided to start the song again: That special song for that road. AndAs luck would have it, the same perfect passage came on at the same part of the road. I got to experience it twice, and almost exactly the same spot on the CD. Another almost Déjà vu experience. But the files still wouldn’t send. It was then that I remembered that there are spots on the road – the only road- where a good signal can be had …So, I continued trying and got them both sent off- just before the bars on my phone dropped to a feeble “1”…“1” is a common number here when you are referring to your phone here. I’m reminded on the Three Dog Night song here and yes, I realize that I’m dating myself badly but, One IS the loneliest number…There are certain charms here. “Green” being foremost…for me anyway. I had NO IDEA how much I needed to see “Green” every day until I got here and spent an extended amount of time here. Even now in winter, it’s still mostly green. And not the khaki sort of green that the live oaks in Central California seem to only just manage, but bright, dense, saturated green…Bluejays abound. They are fearless and nearly black, with bright blue topknots, but they are definitely bluejays. Fluffy bunnies are seemingly everywhere, then I heard a bald eagle somewhere nearby (with all these rabbits I’m surprised that I haven’t heard owls)…I originally wrote this a while ago and about once per week now, I hear an owl across the street in one of the myriad trees. He/She is loud and unconcerned that his/her volume might be outre’…In fact I think it might be “on purpose”. Not far away at all is a Rhododendron preserve (Dahlias and Rhododendron abound here) and it was green and cool, but not at all cold- and this is the great part-nearly completely silent. It was profound…like a “Big Sur Moment”, perhaps.
End Part Two
