The book blog is provisionally finished (there will be refinements along the line, certainly, beginning next semester), grades are done and will all be turned in by Wednesday, current and respective back issue of 21st-Century Music will be dealt with next week, and ready for tomorrow's Mice and Men -- so, time for a walk, but first, to the in-town branch of the local library (a first), to check on the CD collection, since have gone through main branch's holdings.
Visit to Joe's, then down Buck Avenue, past stately, plump houses
and tall palms,
through Jamison Canyon,
down North Kelly Road (with the only sign of the past few weeks' widespread fires),
ultimately back to Dry Creek Canyon on the west side of Napa Valley (past the Wine Guy, of course
and the turn-off from Route 29 at Oak Knoll Crossroad -- with its views of Stag's Leap),
hugging the eastern wall,
providing an opportunity for self-reflection,
as houses derelict,
abandoned,
pixie-ish lurk in the shadows,
near a stump gate,
an unlikely juxtaposition of steed and sign (a fiery filly?),
a stark driveway,
and dishy electronic accoutrements.
The upper reaches of the Canyon by the crossroad opens up,
near a ramshackle barn
(with a ladder still-life,
an uncertain upper end,
a quixotic sign,
dilapidated quonset hut,
and framed lawnmower),
an oak savanna,
curved branches,
and a prominent pale house.
The sun sets on willows,
a firestation at the crossroads,
patterns of russett, tan, and gray.
There's nothing to do but get back in the car,
head down the Oakville Grade,
over the Yountville Crossroad,
to Stag's Leap, leaping home to prepare for publication Mice and Men Act V Scene 2 F page 9.
