Life & Research Notes

Being home has generated a mix of feelings, most of them happy, but inevitably a few wistful, and some sad.

There was the drive on the winding roads in Napa, through trees and over hills, with eventual arrival at the famous little hippy hot springs where we soaked in 115° thermal pools and ice cold spring water. There was our short but picturesque hike with friends from Pantoll to the beach, where we ate hamburgers then sat on the breezey beach and flew a kite. There were mojitos in Forest Knolls, enjoyed barefoot during a walk around the yard discussing ideal hot tub placement (close to the house or view of the hills?), preceded by excellent Czech pilsners, and followed by ribs and corn, then finally turtle soup ice cream and the baja 1000 on hi-def. There was the slideshow dvd with country music and baby pictures of a childhood and family friend, who had joined the Army after high school, done a tour in Kosovo and two tours in Iraq, then one night drunkenly shot himself in the head.

I am typing this from my parents’ back porch, looking out at the trees and the mountains, listening to the birds, drinking a ginger ale. It is all lush and green, pleasantly warm but not hot. There are also distant grinding and churning sound of a bulldozer, probably aiding construction of a new home, or destroying an old one to make room for a big expensive replacement. It is the relentless sound of Marin becoming ever more unaffordable.

It has been the perfect dose of weather, nature, friends and family that Jenn and I needed so very much. It’s a unique and ideal kind of vacation that I can have here because I’m a local that somehow got stuck elsewhere, so I not only know the good secrets and the good spots, but now that I’ve been away I think I really understand why they’re good, and I can see that they won’t be good forever.