and brrr. Despite little sun
[well, some] there was a slight warming trend, though coming up from 18
took awhile. I revisited some favorite PXP bowls
as well as managed a few contemplative moments in the Historic Cathcart Chair*
but December, which showed up while we [me and the Inklings] were there,
was mostly an interior affair.
For one thing, albeit it eventually made it into the low forties,
there were Winds which,
on the plus side, blew down trees providing fuel but also created Windchill**.
There was also the problem of locating glasses when it came time for the Daily Watercolors
as well as lots to keep track of if one were a dog
and grey unrelenting
until Monday when it wasn’t, making things
warm enough for a couple of meals on the porch in the Chair* looking out
as well as Repo Reflections to reflect upon.
*The ‘Cathcart chair’, hand fashioned by Bill Cathcart for his hand fashioned Pole Creek homestead [he kept an identical spread a day south on the east fork of the Little Owyhee although I’m not sure there was a similar chair there] spooked me when I first stumbled upon it
in late October of 1976 in a shadowy back room of his long abandoned house as it appeared to harbor an Invalid Demon [later determined to be a woodrat’s nest], something I never forgot.
Eleven years and many lifetimes later, coming out of Drummond Basin with Dave, I dragged it up to Radar Ranch where it lived on Auburn Peak for ten more before moving over to Wall,
ninety miles west. The tales it could tell, the ruminations ruminated from those porches and perches all those decades…memories, stories, sagas of Bill’s last independent years on the
Owyhee and contemplations of the Long View, in both landscapes and lives.
**AKA the “feels like factor” as per certain idiot media descriptions.
I’m cold just reading about the ‘feels like factor’ of 18 in the morning. And chilled by the chilling vision of the Cathcart Chair with its Invalid Demon inhabitant!
Love the Planet X bowls, like horizons of painted sands projected onto the ovoid inside in expanding spirals
That was 18 before the windchill, of course. Brisk! But with [unlike Benicia’s] a sensible heatable house and low humidity all survivable…
The Cathcart Chair survived! A rescue story what ams. Wonderful cushion.
As Keith Boyle memorably said when he moved from Palo Alto up to Portrero, it was all so he could stare out at the city and “think my thoughts.” Well, maybe a little more complicated than that but anyway I have the chair [cushion from Amazon supposedly for some poolside chaise], my thoughts and that long view…
Great story about the Cathcart Chai! Glad you have it.
Some gorgeous photos, Mike
Ah winter light and, fortunately, the freezing feels-like-factor did not render your camera a block of ice. Also glad the wind only knocked down fire fuel and left your buildings standing. Wild weather “out there” along with that demon chair….nice photos, Bro”.
Well awhile back we had one come down on the edge of the Repo that took out some of the gutter…no other damage fortunately and S&S had it out of the way pretty quickly. 18 in th emorning really isn’t all that cold for up there; with the sun shining I was even having breakfast on the porch a couple of times!
Man, that just seems so cold.
Man, that just seems so cold.
Not so bad with a heatable house…
Really loved the light and wintry monochromatic landscaped of course the ‘chairy tale’.