We have a comet suspended in space below Ursa Major. It is just hanging there above the Northwestern horizon. One can see it even with the yellow bruise-like light lining the mountain range.
The stars out here are unbelievable. The milky way is green and yellow. We drove out of town to see the comet and while the western sky was still light, the eastern sky reminded us that we are small and insignificant.
The wind blew hard as we waited for the sun to set and get dark enough for us to see the comet. We could see a wall of clouds lining the Cascade mountains, but they could go no further. The wind blew and howled as it screamed across the fields and oak trees.
There were posts with barbed-wire all around us, but we found a spot off the gravel road that they call Skyline that didn’t have any barbed wire. People have cattle around here. People love their cows. People love their cows and then they butcher them and eat them. There is something poetic about loving something and still killing it to use it.
I saw the comet first using my binoculars. People who are really into binoculars call them ‘nocs. I saw the comet hanging there in suspended animation and I jumped and squealed. Before long you could see it with the naked eye.
People don’t seem all that impressed by the comet. It saddens me to find people unmoved by comets, birds, foxes, giant rocks, deserts, old movies, and wild horses. People take our reality for granted. Some day this reality might end, and no one will know that they should have been more grateful for reality because they won’t exist anymore. It will be nothing.
My anxiety makes me so much more judgemental than ever before. When I swung depressed, I cared a lot less what other people did, but now that I swing anxious, I care too much.
As we watched the comet and the stars and the planets (Jupiter and Saturn were hanging above a young oak tree.), a shooting star shot across the sky from east to west for almost half a minute. It was huge. It glowed greenish-blue.
The next night we waited for the sun to set to watch The Big Lebowski at a drive-in at a local winery. I have seen the Big Lebowski more than any other movie by a lot. It still is funny and I am still finding new things every time I watch it. I thought a lot about masculinity this time. Trains do come by and drown out the sound.
I have finished drawing 78 tarot cards. I drew the 22 major arcana and the 56 minor arcana. I drew them with just ink pens. I have dreamt of creating my own tarot deck for a long time and now I’ve done it. Now I have to scan them and write the flavor text. Look for updates on this here website.
It got over a hundred degrees here today. The wind was hot and dry. Once the sun sunk behind our hill behind us, the temperature dropped quickly. They call the winds around here Westerlies. The gust in from the west to the east. Sometimes it slows down by the time it gets to The Dalles, but other days the gusts stay strong till farther east like Arlington or Boardman. August is the worse month they say.
I roasted some coffee from Indonesia today. I roasted it to what they refer to as Full City. This is darker than I usually roast. When I roast African or some South American beans, I tend to roast it City Roast, which is lighter than Full City. This made me nostalgic for the Eugene area roaster Full City. I went there with this woman who swore to me that it was the best coffee. We each got a hot mug of coffee and went into the parking lot and lit up cigarettes and I had the best damned coffee of my life. I think about that day a lot. It is still my favorite cup of coffee I’ve had.
Nicole took the picture of the comet with the hood of the car in the picture, the greenish milky way, and the other picture of all the stars.
