Sleepy Humboldt Summer

We got back to Arcata a week ago. The bus ride up from the Bay Area quickly took us out of the bustle we'd been in continuously from San Salvador to Houston to San Francisco to Oakland. Humboldt seemed almost unnaturally quiet.

Passing through Eureka, the marquee on Grocery Outlet, usually advertising this week's special, just read "free pallets great firewood see manager" as if this were the most noteworthy thing happening in the center of our county seat. Nearing Arcata, I looked out at Murray Field, where a half dozen light planes sat idle on the tarmac. Nothing taking off or landing, just one turkey vulture spinning lazy turns above the runway. This is where I live, praise be. May it ever be so.

The very next morning, Basilia and I both were back at work, me at the Schatz Lab and she helping out a family we've known for years with child care. Seems almost too easy to get back into the old routine. The challenge now will be to not let this past half-year fall behind me, to act on the opportunities that have presented themselves. As Peter L. likes to say in moments of uncertainty: stay tuned.