Bits and Pieces

Today was the kind of melt-in-your-chair type day that made me feel slower mentally than a slug. It's the kind of day that you just want to hop in and out of the shower all day long. Our only outside activity was walking across the street in the early AM to look at a rummage sale, then to move our car to the shady side of the street, then to water the plants in the evening. A friend stopped over with her two dogs, so I guess we were outside then for a few minutes.

Yesterday was also hot and I took a really long nap, then drove over to Reed College so Blue could have an off-leash run. Reed College is the beautiful kind of college that makes college life seem romantic and idyllic. The buildings are brick and would probably be ivy covered if ivy wasn't an invasive species here. We are a no tolerance state in that regard. There are rolling green lawns and old, old trees with concrete benches under them. Dr. Egeria was here a few weeks ago for a conference - that's how I came to visit this place for the first time. She stayed in one of the dorms and they even had a firplace in her room. That's like High Church but in educational terms.

Blue and I went over there armed with a campus map. We found the "canyon trail" and went around the long 1/2 of the lake. It was a nicely kept trail, but I kept getting spider webs in my face so it might not be well traveled. There were ducks and ducklings and so many crows that it could have been a scene out of The Birds. I have never watched crows play in water before. They were quite comical dive bombing into the water or landing on fallen logs then diving in, crowing with wild abandon. I guess even crows like to cool off on these super hot days. Blue almost caught a couple squirels. There was a father and his two little daughters on the path across the lake so we weren't totally alone. But it was an eerie place to walk - seemed like the kind of place to dump a body. I also kept hoping not to see a coyote. From a car I love to watch them; on foot I really don't want to get close. This part of campus definitely was wild enough to have coyotes and more critters that aren't exactly urbanites. There was a bench with a college couple sleeping on it and at one turn someone had set up a folding table with a lamp and long extension cord leading back to a dorm window. If you have enough bug repellent, I guess this would be a wonderful study spot.

Bits and Pieces was an early 60s song by The Dave Clark Five,I think - an English pop group rival to the Beatles.

And now, my friendlies, I'm melting! I'm melting. m e l t..i n g g g................