Tuesday, May 13, 2008

halfway plus



a few things we've beheld:


  • porcupines, porcupines, porcupines all through the Yukon
  • 2 grazing black bears / one was so close to the road we could hear its deep breath
  • all manner of birds: geese, ducks, seagulls, ptarmigan, a yellow finchy fellow that kept hopping on and around the pickup at a pullout spot
  • caribou, a coyote, stone sheep, mountain goats, and elk
  • a dear Australian family trying to push their rented Vanagon from a messy bog (which had seemed a fine camping spot moments before)
  • a herd of bison at the road’s edge in the dead of night / then we beheld all of our possessions at our feet, the result of my brake slam
  • a young sheep with two blades of spring grass in his mouth running down a winding hill toward us, a semi-truck close on his tail - he veered into our lane then off the road completely just in time. His expression and that of his mother, who had stood by watching the whole thing, were hilariously blank.
  • conversation overheard at a restaurant:
    10-year old girl on a field trip with her class: I HATE the news. They lie.
    Teacher: Shhhhhh! Talk like that’ll get you into trouble.
    Me, turning to the girl: What the devil? Don’t listen to her, little miss. You go right ahead and question the news all you want. And while you’re at it, question most of the wholesale information you’re being fed. [Then, tipping my hat:] Good day to you all.

    [okay, so maybe the last part happened only in my head]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Happy to see that you got back and that things are going well. What a wonderful plethora of God's creatures escorted you home!