Well,my pace slowed down about 5 pm last night when I was so exhausted (jet lag, general fatigue and the effects of the strenuous hike) that I could hardly stay awake. I ate a bite and forced myself to walk back downtown to the library where I sat upright in a chair and read a Rolling Stone article about why the Beatles r e a l l y broke up.
My little apartment is quite nice and sufficient. It has a small fridge and a microwave, so I can make the basics as far as food is concerned. It also has a tiny clock radio, my only "diversion" as it were. No TV for two weeks - no car and walking everywhere - very GOOD things really, but it takes a little bit of adjustment to accomodate a simpler lifestyle. This morning I turned on KCAW (Sitka's public radio station) and the announcer introduced us to Matt, an Australian who is now living in Canada and who had canooed up the inside and, somehow, had ended up at the radio station.
(The entrance to "my place" under the garage - just down the steps that are on the left)
I left my apartment about 10 am and walked to the Back Door. I felt a sudden swell of emotion when I entered. They were playing a John Lennon tune. That, and just being back in the Back Door (a coffee house of the 60's that even has a sign: "Hippies Use the Back Door") just connected me to a deep emotion. I munched and drank mocha, met up with more friends, stepped into Old Harbor Books and purchased Allingham's "The Fashion in Shrouds" (which the New Yorker has called "one of the finest murder books ever written"), then walked over to the Larkspur Cafe, had some hot tea and met up with Vern, an artist and Gary Goucker, a machinist by trade who plays the meanest harmonica anywhere. (Sitka author John Straley has called Gary the coolest guy ever, and Gary loves my singing so doesn't that make me special:-) Gary confirmed that they (Sitka musicians) will be playing there on Sunday afternoon - "great!" I said.
While drinking my tea, I picked up a book off the bookshelf next to the comfy chairs. It was a small volume written by Collette about the beauty and simplicity and sensuality of life, as seen through the eyes of an older woman. (AMAZING writing. I must go back there and identify the title and see if I can get it on Amazon.)
Then to Tama, my massage therapist, with whom I have shared some deep conversations (and we picked up right where we left off). She did some amazing energy work (clearing out my immune system she said) which took me so deep within; afterwards we spoke of the experience and its meaning. Later I walked here to the Kettleson Memorial Library, where I am using the Internet computer for my one hour per day. So, that's life here in Sitka. A very relaxing day, and all encounters contributing to my happiness and well-being.
p.s. I just went to Amazon and looked up the Collette book. It is "Break of Day" and here is the product description: "Colette began writing Break of Day in her early fifties, at Saint-Tropez on the Côte d'Azur, where she had bought a small house after the breakup of her second marriage. The novel's theme -- the renunciation of love and the return to an independent existence supported and enriched by the beauty and peace of nature -- grows out of Colette's own period of self-assessment in the middle of her life. A collection of subtle reflections about love and life, it is among her most thoughtful and stylistically bold works."
View from Kettleson Memorial Library
