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Nature Walk
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.
-- Anne Frank
Sunday, October 17, 1999
One year ago: Talent Show
Friday night Jack didn't arrive until after nine o'clock, so I got to go to Friday Night Practice, which I haven't been to for some weeks. It was fun! My buddy Greg Singleton taught the mini-lesson -- some variations in skate position. I know it's a challenge, figuring out what to teach when the range of experience is very broad. Some people who show up are total beginners, and some have been dancing for years! So he (and his partner whom I can't remember the name of) had to spend some time just showing people how to get into skate position, before he could teach the variations.
Jack arrived around ten o'clock. His orginal plan for the evening had been to go get his daughter A-----, who was supposed to be at her mom's place after being released from juvenile detention in Olympia on Wednesday. But she'd been missing for most of that time, and he didn't want to go all the way down there without knowing that she'd be available to be picked up, so stopping at my place was a good option. He was very tired and dispirited, and was asleep before eleven.
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Saturday morning, we set off to Olympia, after verifying that A---- had called home and said she was coming to her mom's place. It was important that she get back north to Bellingham -- she had twenty four hours in juvenile detention on her plate up there, as well!
She looked pretty bad when we picked her up: sunburned, so I suppose she'd spent the previous two days outdoors. She didn't say a word, but fell asleep in the back seat. Jack drove north, taking the express lanes through Seattle, which pleased him. It seems like those bi-directional lanes are always set to the direction one isn't traveling.
The drive north was mostly without incident, except for a tantrum from A---- when Jack wouldn't go through a fast-food drivethru to get her a milkshake. He'd been planning to buy her a meal, but instead of explaining that her throat was sore and she was thirsty and would rather have a milkshake, she immediately went into tantrum mode. So Jack just got on the highway again, and stopped for a bio-break and water at the next rest stop.
A---- also requested that she go to Jack's place before going to "Juvie," which wasn't going to happen when she was already late for the admittance deadline. It really didn't seem like she had a very realistic view of her circumstances!
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After we dropped her off, Jack wanted to visit some good used bookstores that he's found. For a college town, Bellingham doesn't have as many used bookstores as you'd expect. The best one we went to is only open limited hours. I was very pleased with what I found there! It's a place for serious collectors, I think. I bought two P.G. Wodehouse hardbacks (one I haven't read, I think) and, what I was most excited about, two Georgette Heyer hardbacks, in WWII British "economy" editions. The Reluctant Widow is actually what we are reading right now on the list! So maybe I'll actually post something about the book. I've read both TRW and Friday's Child (my other purchase) many times, of course.
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Jack and I spent a quiet evening at his place, watching a video. I wasn't too thrilled by Black Rain, but the motorcycle element appealed to Jack, I think.
Jack had talked about going in to the office to catch up on some work, but when the time came he decided against it. (I didn't dissuade him, I swear!) Instead we took a walk this morning, through a nature area near his house. The weather was too good to waste it indoors! Jack talked to me about quantum physics, the nature of the universe, and a plan for a modified libertarian social system that would involve citizens being stockholders in a corporation that would take the place of a conventional government. When I queried him about being in a lecture mode, he said he was trying to keep his mind off what he was facing when A----- was back home.
We picked up A---- around three o'clock. She immediately wanted to be allowed to "go somewhere." God! she is so difficult to be around. Shrieking and crying constantly. She swears that "this time" she'll turn up at the appointed time. She admits that she doesn't remember when she actually did keep a commitment of that kind. I really feel for Jack -- I shudder when I think of this going on for the forseeable future!
I took the Greyhound bus home this afternoon, reading a book about one of my favorite opera productions, The Making of an Opera by John Higgins. I have the video of this Glyndebourne production from the seventies, and I've watched it many times. It's interesting to read the behind-the-scenes story -- the creative processes that went into it.
The bus took quite a while, so I didn't get over to my sister M-----'s place at all It was her birthday, too, which seems a shame. But they had a gathering over there and some friends watched the baseball game.
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