TION: VacaTION and ReflecTION

Dearest Readers:

I'm writing this post at 6pm Saturday, high in a hotel overlooking the mouth of Noyo Harbor in Ft. Bragg, Fornicalia. The sun is coming down and the water outside is reflective: jagged and retina-overpowering silver, white and black.

I just finished watching the Coasties maneuver their 47' Motor Lifeboat out into the ocean, then return a short time later for boathandling practice. Running back into Ft. Bragg's Noyo Harbor can be a challenge with its following sea, and the Coastie from the Noyo River Station at its helm was more than adept. The upper deck packed with trainees and onlookers, approaching the harbor, he revolved the boat into the oncoming sea at the mouth of the harbor and then, bow pointing into the waves, backed the boat completely through the tough part. He next spun the boat on a dime whilst in the throat and motored away eastbound under the Highway 1 bridge. It was a thing of beauty to watch.

I managed to capture this wondrous aquatic ballet on digital camera just now but -- things being what they are -- cannot post the resulting photos, much to my most eternal and sincere chagrin.

To do my part in keeping the economy valid and robust, I recently purchased my first DSLR, a Sony Alpha 300 with two lenses and, using this camera, documented the aforementioned event. However, I failed to understand the need for a CF card reader for my wife's laptop (my own HP laptop having been throttled completely by myself about a month ago!) so that I could download any photos on this trip. My bad. And frustrating.

The wife spirited me away for an early birthday as she could acquire Columbus Day off, but not another portion of another weekday later this month. We're therefore spending the weekend and this coming Monday and Tuesday on the Pacific Ocean, taking part in the crab festival here, some great room rates, beautiful weather. I paid for a couples massage for us earlier this afternoon, at the Bamboo Garden Spa -- highly recommended!

Locals told us the weather had been foggy and cloudy just a few days prior; now the past two days have been filled with blue skies and the occasional scudding cloud. Each sunrise and sunset has been a complete blessing.

As the sun recedes lower, that glaring ball has been now cast as orange; the foghorn continues to sound every 30 seconds as it always has and always will.

It's times like this that I appreciate. Yes, there's been some consternation on my part for not being able to post an entry from home on Friday -- my desktop PC confuser locked up once again and, further, wouldn't recognize any of its 2.0 USB ports. There went my Friday post.

But that's okay because my wife and I were on the road, driving to the Fornicalia coast, looking forward to spending time with only each other this weekend, overlooking the spume-filled green and blue waves, sitting in the room's Jacuzzi tub, adjacent the fireplace. We keep the sliding door open so we can hear and smell the cascading and roiling Pacific Ocean, hear the foghorn, hear the seagull calls.

So at least for tonight, at least for now, that's all there is and that's all you get. No politics, no massive revelations, not even a timely photograph despite the new camera.

My wife is having a glass of Forest Ville 2005 White Merlot, and I'm having - ahem - perhaps more than one Sapporo. And maybe a Tsingtao if I can manage to fit it into the schedule.

Despite everything else crashing about national shoulders I have to tell you this: I am infinitely blessed. I have a wife who loves and supports me. I have a job. I have a beautiful cabin where I live. I still ingest air, I still walk erect. Life is good. Life is really really good.

BZ