September 17, 2020

Tonight was the first evening in many months where I got a bit chilled in the house and couldn’t shake it. Out came the down jacket, followed by a steaming shower and thoughts of the hot water bottle—a winter trifecta from what feels like another life time. Lynda’s sugar maple is turning golden. We’re already on our third week of school. Time is just trucking along.

But it was only a few weeks ago that Halina and I drove to Wyoming to meet Kate and Ani. We found a perfect spot with a couple of sweet, comfortable cabins located nearly exactly halfway between our houses, in Elk Mountain. A two-day drive for each pair of us, one way. 

Every morning, the girls would walk the dogs (dogs definitely remembered each other). And in addition to the pleasure of seeing old friends, and seeing Halina happy, I registered the familiar fawn-colored, open skied, rolling geography of the West as a kind of relief in my body. 

We went to a muddy hot spring along a river and to a pristine lake at the edge of a forest. We’d often hang out in the small courtyard outside our cabin. At dusk, the girls were visited by a moose at the creek, where they’d go to draw or eat dinner. 

There were no mosquitos. There was gentle, balmy weather. We caught Wyoming at just the right time.