Fee Simple

Bend of bay and curve of shore creates these back-waters, where floating crap accumulates. I don't understand the physics, but I know where a couple of them actually flow backwards, against the current. The boundaries are clearly defined, a line drawn in the water. In some ways water is like sand, the way it keeps time, but the intervals are different. I was below the flood-wall, watching a sheet of debris that was trapped behind a crude jetty, water bottles and used condoms, bits of foam and pieces of wood, a field that captured my imagination. A muskrat, looking for dinner, two turtle doves, three crows complaining; a string of barges being pushed upstream by one of the new generation of tug boats. No propeller, and 50,000 horsepower. Stopped at the farmer's market and got a few tomatoes, talked with Ronnie for a bit, then went over to the pub. TR arrived, we ate, then carried our conversation back to the museum so he could open the doors. An interesting conversation with a woman at the bar about cooking. Someone else had asked me a question about what I had cooked when the guys were over, and I explained my wasabi tenderloin rolled in ground chilies. She, Naomi, slid over a couple of stools so she could hear. When Cory left (the questioner) she said I must be Tom, the writer, who was also a good cook. I allowed that I was probably the person she thought I was. She asked a couple of questions and I gave her the real thumbnail (three minutes) of how I ended up here and how I cooked, or more properly, how I think about food. She thought I should teach a class. She was drinking Red Stripe, in the bottle, without a glass, and I bought her another, didn't realize she was flirting with me, until after she'd left. Lindsey, the bar-keep, had to tell me. I was already focused on some questions I wanted to ask TR, which never got asked because he's totally involved in the process of buying his first home. I saw the clouds gathering, said my goodbyes, quick stop at Kroger for black olives and crackers, and beat it back to the ridge. Rain, on and off, the rest of the day, into night, and it's cool enough to open the leeward windows and breathe fresh air.