Our group of artist friends joined their artist hostess, Cathy, at her home in the Skagit county for a short visit of visual and gustatory delights. An exquisite garden, a sweeping potato field in her back yard and sheep-looking goats to her left and right.. (the goats were hairy, phlegmatic and looked like sheep from a distance except for the fact that they stood on their back legs to munch on trees and plopped themselves comfortably on top of outbuildings. Most disconcerting.)
A short walk to the river, along the levy and into the woods brought us to a river of jade water and twinned images. Us, the birds, the occasional cloud....these entered into a visual conversation with the river. A dialogue between reality and its reflection.
And, of course the brilliance in the trees. The light, the sky and the water blinking and shimmering through the summer branches of the greenbelt between the river and the levies. The light nipping at the edges of branches and leaves and making round sequins of yellow and green and blue.
Michaela and I were entranced by the sign that warned the park was "OPEN UNTIL HOURS OF DARKNESS". It sounded like a quote from the Inferno.
We had a splendid lunch Garlicky chicken (divine), lambs quarter salad and beans in vinegarette, and Judy's deviled eggs with a tart salty olive in each center (a poem)....then the Skagit farm strawberries. Fit for God.
The night before, after much wine and great conversation, I went to bed in a room of great purity and quiet. High old windows, a very palest plaster of palest celery white, white cutwork linen sheets and quilt, and Mary had placed a bouquet I had brought from the tangled meadow that has become my garden.
To wake in the morning, even with a slight hangover, to the sight of trees and green and far reaching fields, and bunnies hopping in the slants of light, the goldfinch flitting past and hearing the high shrill cry of the red tail hawk....and then returning to the flowers in this still and perfect room.
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