Attending the Empress

DH and I went to pay service to my mother, The Empress. It is 168 miles from our door to hers. We go from 30 feet above sea level, over the 4,0o0 ft pass, then down to three thousand feet and change. We go from the verdant, urban Willamette vallley to the desert. There is a magical passage where you transit from the forest and canyons of the pass to the flat, open basin floor. If I could have taken pictures of Saturday's sky, it would have gone from narrow, cloud-fillled strips to a vast overturned blue bowl. there is such an insensate emotional reaction to that immensity of sky. I sit up straighter, my head raises higher, my lungs open up and if I had wings, they would spread and flutter. Life in the desert is grindingly hard and harsh, but you do have room to stretch out.

Mother is living with my brother and SIL, who are true heroes and utter saints. Mother is 88 years old, and has more holes in her memory than a doily. But she still has enough of her marbles to know what is due her, and I, her only daughter, MUST come and visit regularly. She can't remember why I haven't been around lately, but she does remember that it has been a while. So we showed up with flowers and preseeents and we all went out for lunch, then ordered chinese take-out for dinner, and DH and I spent the night, then set off for the return trip. Three hours to go, three hours to return, and tomorrow she may remember that we were there. Old age certainly can be cruel.

When I left Redmond, the population was 2000, and I think that was counting the cats, dogs and sheep. Nnow, they have a highschool with a student body that size. And they are going to run out of water.

HEY! All you fertile people out there - STOP HAVING BABIES!! They will all grow up and have to live somewhere, and we are running out of room. We are running out of potable water. We are running out of gainful employment. And they, for god's sake, will have MORE babies! Can't you see where this will end? There is a limit to the land mass here. Your great grandchildren may never see real dirt. It will all be built over. Stop it, stop it, stop it!! They know what causes pregnancy now. There ARE methods of contraception available. You can't keep squeezing them out because soon we will have no place to put them!

Oh. Sorry. This irrational rant has been brought to you by the Crazy Crone Neighborhood Association.