The day after 80 was briefly closed [“spinouts”] I followed Linda down off the desert,

stopped briefly at Pyramid Lake and again

in Wadsworth for gas before

three and a half hours of freeway put us and the dogs back in Benicia

to gradually unload, finishing off with rellenos and chile verde enchiladas from Elviarita’s.

Then it was back to the endless errands of the maritime climate; tire repairs,

foot repairs, carwashings, grocery shopping, the pleasant if bittersweet arrival

of Rick Watson’s “Amazons”, written and researched in the early 1970s but only finally realized after his passing last St. Patrick’s Day by multitalented daughter Beatie Wolfe.

Later in the week we ventured down the street for a much enjoyed return to Gabby’s

at the Union as much the same weather, days in and

nights out [or in] continued.  They were saying las bambas cyclones

would arrive on the Tuesday a week after we did, but first it was a second

trip to Kaiser for a look at the knees.   From the look of all those birds on their Vallejo light post

something was coming…but who knew when.