An old friend called and left me a voicemail the other day. He said he’d been coiling up an extension cord and it called Val to mind, because of course he did it the way Val taught him: the way that lets the cord unwind again later without tangling. Val Continue Reading
beach day
Valerie used to introduce me as “the excellent woman with whom I affiliate.” Our affiliation began with a trip to the beach, fifteen years ago today. It happens that I am going to the coast today, for the first time in a couple years. I might eat some seafood; haul out Continue Reading
the picture of the thing
My friends, I think I have a different face now. My eyes feel sad all the time. My face at rest is a sad face. When no one is looking I can feel my mouth sloping down at the corners like the limp slats of old window blinds. I can’t figure Continue Reading
mango spots
Hello there friends. I miss talking to you and I had a strange day so here is a quick note. Going back to work today was hard, although everyone was mellow and kind. (My peeps from the last few years really saw me through some of these hard times, but Continue Reading
if time ran all at once
My friends, it has been almost six weeks. It feels like a handful of days. I have been having a hard time writing, but I wanted just to let you know that the memorial weekend in Eureka was complex and healing, and drenched in the beauty Val so wanted this Continue Reading
ranch light
Aw, Val Garrison. Dang it. The sunset at the ranch sure was beautiful tonight. There were baby elk at the edge of the alder wood. The bareback hills of the back pasture were flooded with golden light and crowded with invisible stories. I could see you on every hill.
Dairy Queen
I was sitting in my backyard this afternoon with sore feet and a bittersweet heart, thinking about that one hot day that Val and I put the dog in the car and drove over to Dairy Queen. Or maybe we were coming back from somewhere, because otherwise why would we Continue Reading
order of service
My dears, For those of you who were not able to be there, I wanted to share with you the order of service from Val’s memorial. People came from all over: from Chicago, New York and Argentina; from Alaska and New Mexico, New Hampshire and Indiana; from California, western Montana Continue Reading
sometimes the best thing is to howl
My dears, One thing I shared at Val’s memorial on Saturday was this very abridged list of just a few of the things I learned from Val, or that we learned together. *** I spent fifteen years in the orbit of Val Garrison, friend of my heart. I learned a lot Continue Reading
a surprise against the light
My garden is full of rocks. They come from Montana, from Mexico, from Rhode Island, Texas, Argentina and New Zealand. They come from the Columbia Gorge and Alaska and the Black Rock Desert. There are knuckly geodes from my home in southern Indiana. There are glossy agates from the California coast. Continue Reading