FAREWELL FURBALLS-HELLO MUD HUT

POST # 70


Felix, Oscar and Sophie don't know it yet, but tomorrow I'll be saying farewell to them again. My time on Orcas is coming to a close, and a very relaxed time it has been.

Of course I will miss their company, as they are some of the nicest cats I've ever had the pleasure to spend time with. I am going to miss how Sophie likes to stir things up with the other two from time to time. Having her around keeps those two old guys on their toes (claws?). It's been fun to watch them, and I have had more than my share of laughter as a result. I had another big laugh just before I started this blog, when Sophie came bolting through the cat door straight down the hallway. One second she wasn't in the house and the next thing I know is there is this noise and then a blur of fur racing down the hall. She must have been frightened by something, and she managed to scare the other two cats and me because of her dramatic entrance.

I've kept a pretty low profile while here this time, just being content with spending time with the cats, a daily bike ride of course, and enjoying time down at the beach. I haven't had much interaction with other humans but that's ok for a change of pace. One never has to go very far to find other people if one choses to do so, even here on quiet Orcas island.

Tomorrow I head out for my second journey to the mud hut (see post 60) in New Mexico, to visit friends. It will be a quick trip and I wasn't really sure if I could make it happen or not, but everything has fallen into place, so it seems, and so I'll be flying to Denver from Seattle, then renting a car and driving south to New Mexico. According to google maps, the journey is about 11 hours or thereabouts so I plan to find a rest stop along the way and snooze overnight in the car.

My time at the mud hut will be approximately 3 or 4 days, so it seems like a long way to go for such a short visit, but at the same time it seems important that I do go. I'm looking forward to my time there, as it will be an opportunity for thoughtful conversation which is something that I find very rewarding. I imagine at this time of year there will be some agrarian tasks to participate in compared to when I was there in February, and that participation will also be another learning experience which I look forward to.

At this point I am not sure when the next blog entry will be as I may or may not be close to a computer. I'll just have to see how the rest of the month pans out.

Time now to spend some more precious moments with the kitty kats, before I get out into the warmth of the day and take a ride to the beach for the last time on this trip to lovely Orcas.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer