Owl (inspired by card from SM) Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 11" 41 x 27cm 280.00
Lemons Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/canvas paper 10 x 14" 25 x 35cm 150.00
Rosemary and Sage Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/canvas paper 14 x 10" 35 x 25 cm 150.00
Social Distancing Blair Pessemier acrylic/canvas paper 10 x 14" 25 x 35cm 175.00
View from Our Balcony Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 10 x 14" 25 x 35cm 190.00
Some years ago, Blair and I and one of our earlier dogs,
probably Alex, the Cairn Terrier, went to the beach at Tokeland,
Washington. We stopped at Nelson’s
crabs, and bought two whole Dungeness crabs, and ate them, sitting on the back
of our van, drinking white wine, listening to Astoria public radio (playing old
American musicals), facing the largest ocean in the world. This may be the happiest memory of my life,
at least today.
This is what happens after four weeks of lockdown, I
believe. You start going over each and
every event of your life, good or bad.
I am never one to dwell on the past (well, everything is past, I know,
even this word is past), but I am remembering old memories, while I am not
making new ones. It’s better than some
of the things people do when shut in.
At four o’clock Monday morning, outside my window, a bird
sang a complex song in very loud voice.
Two days later, it sang again, and I could see the song in brilliant
blue. I received a card via snail mail,
with a wonderful owl painted on it. My
neighbor brought me lots of rosemary and sage.
We had groceries delivered and I made monkfish with saffron and
cream.
Things are improving here.
I am starting to see the benefits of being cooped up for long
periods. I am thinking, in the way I
thought about things a long time ago, before my days were action packed. I used to have to go home and relax, so I
could file away the events of the day, THINK, and put them into some sort of
perspective. It was my policy not to go
more than three days without a few hours of this thinking. I don’t know when I gave that up (sometime in
Paris), but I am considering implementing that plan again.
I have read a half dozen books this week, none great. One I had read before, at least 3/4ths of the
way, but this time I went the distance – it was worth it, it was actually one
of the better books of the week. I read
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which seemed to me less horrifying than I would
have thought. It was short.
We spent time in our neighbor’s yard (he’s 1000 miles away),
which is resplendent with butterflies.
Both white and purple iris are in bloom.
On our way, Blair, holding Harika, tumbled down a bank of nettles. “You didn’t break your leg, did you?” Getting a bone set at the hospital sends
shivers down my spine. I think of how
many maladies are likely healing themselves, while we avoid seeing a
doctor.
The Carbinieri followed us around today, in their cruiser,
as we walked Harika at 7:10 AM. We
remain cooped up until 13 April anyway.
I feel like I can make it.
