Moon on the Porch

Though San Francisco is my favorite city, after a few days I was looking forward to natural beauty, and natural landscapes. I could not imagine spending ones whole life in a city without the woods to run to. I had been invited to stay in a beautiful family cabin of a Megan, the lady I met in the Cook Islands who had given my the lift to San Fran with her friend.

The cabin was in two parts – the first, built in the 1890s, and filled with the tools used in its construction and a dear little bedroom with an ensuite commode. Highly neccesary in this valley where bears room, it can be bittery cold at night and early morning even now when they days are long and waterholes just about swimmable.

The kitchen in the old cabin had remained untouched when habitation moved to the newer section built in the 1930s. It was quite eerie, seeing the old tins and food packets, preserved surprisingly well by the thin dry mountain air. The dryness

The newer section was very cosy, and though we arrived with a trolley full of shopping it had recently been stocked by other family members only a week or so before.

Thankfully the preparations against further bear attacks had held. Black bears are common in the area, on one occasion the family returned to find one had come into the kitchen, got into the deep freeze and was sitting in the sun eating a frozen chicken, he had even shut the freezer door behind him!

Along with the other males, I peed around the cabin in different spots, the testosterone is supposed to discourage them; it must have worked as they left us alone, though the recent repairs to the back door and claw mark on the fridge were strong reminders never to leave food out, and to wash up and wipe down surfaces regularly.

I was warmly welcomed by a group of friends working the summer at Fallen Leaf lake before returning to college or starting their careers. Bruce lived in a beautiful wooden house crafted by his parents. By no means a cabin, the house had one of the best equipped domestic kitchens I had ever cooked in.

With all the surplus food we had brought we cooked some fantastic meals eaten together at the long table overlooking the lake. His folks continued a tradition they picked up on their travels in Europe, I would love to adopt it. Each new dinner guest had their name and the evenings date written on a wooden clothes peg, this was used as in place of a napkin ring. The others were able to work out when they first ate at the lakeside table.

When the plates were cleared away and the domino set brought out, the pegs were clipped on top of the others on a thick string suspended from the ceiling, by this expedient one could work out who was due another dinner invitation. Such a welcoming home, it looked like another string would soon be needed.

Throughout the week we ate together between the houses, in most cases we fellas did the cooking while the women drank gin and tonics. Though to be fair this excused us from the washing up for the most part, allowing me to work on my game of dominoes. It is a totally different game when playing with math majors!

Thankyou all for inviting me into your community, and the bears also, for choosing to dine elsewhere.

Jim