dusty warmth. a bed of yellow brittle strawgrass. thin stunted oaks, trunks covered in lichen, grey and cracked bark, knarled tangled branches, little hard point-edged leaves scraping together in breezes. chalky green circle leaves on manzanita, dark maroon wood, smooth except for tiny bronzeshining curls of bark. slippery fallen oak leaves along the red dust and sand trail. cardiac--a switch back trail, about 30 minutes down to american river, pretty much straight down and straight up. i used to run up it when i did crosscountry. there used to be a little bridge that crossed the canal at the top of the trail, but it got knocked down in a storm, so for awhile there were rocks in its place. when i went down today though i saw they had added a concrete tunnel for the canal in this spot and covered it with dirt. seemed almost like it had always been there. i thought the bridge was really cool when i was little--it was wooden, with rails on both sides you could lean on and look into the water of the canal.
there were blackberries ripe. the little ones don't look as good but they taste sweeter. the fingers on my right hand turned purple, then the purple washed off in the river. took off my tevas and shorts and felt uncovered walking around in the water, on the gray sand, and across algae covered and dry smooth rocks. tiny little bugs on the surface of the river that i could see in the distance but not where i was standing. they scattered at my approach? blue dragonflies. ducks on a different part of the river. olivebrown lizards scurrying for cover at my approach.
i made a salad for dinner with my grandparents that was really good -- escarole and dandy lion greens, carrots, sweet wallawalla onions, red plum, and pecan pieces, tossed in lemon vinaigrette (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, basil, oregano). i thought they wouldn't like it, but they actually did, at least enough to eat it.
posted by Liza 15.8.03