Another Day...

... in paradise!




We woke this morning to a truly beautiful day on Orcas Island. Bright sun, blue skies, clear, crisp air, green everywhere around. Early on, a doe was munching happily on the grass outside out bungalow, not ten feet from where I stood, watching her.

Yesterday was our first full day on the island. Strange how it seems like we have been here for weeks already. Time slows down amongst the giant pine trees, where humans and their small, hectic activities and endeavors shrink to insignificance in the shadow of centuries of inexorable growth. We were up early for breakfast and our walk down to the pebbly beach, and spent a leisurely morning catching up with email and the blog. There, see! Even here amongst the giant pines, those man-made airwaves connect us to the Internet and the rest of the world.

We made ourselves a ham and cheese lunch, with apple, and decided it was time for George to spend a little time on his own: he has been with us constantly since we left Los Angeles, and we have been nervous about leaving him in strange environments. Here, at least, we thought, he would feel at home in our little bungalow for a couple of hours, so we left with the confidence that he would not tear the place apart, and the hope the he would not disturb others with his bark. (Inquiring later from our host and hostess, we discovered that he had behaved himself impeccably: not a sound while we were gone.)

On the way out, we dropped off some laundry to be washed for us at small expense (we’re on vacation, after all!) and we drove on into the small town of East Sound, where I showed up for the healing session I had booked with Stacy Lutz at the Ama Tara Center, and found her to be attentive to my ailments (hips, travel stress, excess weight, and so on); and at once sensitive and strong, with hands that unerringly found the parts that needed most attention and relieved much of the bodily tension that has been building up inside me. I left with that wonderful feeling of release and ease—and of course with a follow-up appointment for next week. The human touch, along with a loving understanding of the human spirit are capable of more healing than all the drugs they manufacture in their laboratories.

Following Stacy’s recommendation, I went to the organic food store next door and bought a vegetable juice—beet and carrot—which I much enjoyed, while Ellie splurged for a Chai latte, and we returned to our lodgings to find George happy to see us, but certainly no worse for his period of solitary confinement. A ball out on the meadow was a cure for all his problems, whatever they might be.

The afternoon was spent in the rope hammock under the apple tree, both of us reading—me, on toward the end of my excellent new Alan Furst novel. For dinner, following our successful experiment of the afternoon, we left George again and drove into town to a small restaurant where we enjoyed a pleasant, light dinner and a glass of wine at excessive expense. After dinner, a stroll around town and down to the shoreline...



(Ellie's clouds)

(My Monet!)

Driving back at sunset, we paused for the inevitable picture...


... and arrived back home for an instructive evening with Bill Moyers and his impressively intelligent guest before heading off for another early-ish night.