semblance of normal...

i started feeling better saturday morning. thank goodness. my cousin was graduating from college and i needed to jump in my car and go go go up to her party.

the golden graduation. a little familial bragging. so. this cousin, she is amazing (sidenote: all cousins are amazing, but this post will focus on one in particular: we'll call her "a"). skips a grade somewhere around age 11. and i think she graduated early, too. i think that's how it goes, or maybe she just graduated younger cuz she skipped that one grade back there. anyhow. a was brought up in a one-horse town in a two-horse state. and at age 16 she moved to the big city (california's second largest) and went to college. and basically kicked college's ass. she graduated at a scant age 20, magna cum laude, student of the year in her department, plus another great award (shoot: skipping my brain at the moment). next she is on to cambridge for a minimum of two months; this may or may not span longer.

very proud. and you shoulda seen her in the pretty couture. so pretty.



the sidecar. a's friend who is also named cryptically a [and for this post lets just call him a(y)] has an antique-ish bmw motorcycle. that, in and of itself, is cool. but what makes it awesome is its sidecar. a(y)'s bike has this oldschool aristocat's sidecar and not only did i get to wear the cool harley-type of helmet, and not only did i get to wear the old-fashioned goggles, but i got a long, long ride through the saratoga hills.

it was just dark. the roads were windy and steep. and the curves were many and frequent.

i've been on the back of my fair share of motorcycles, but never driven one. so this, in the sidecar, was my first experience looking the road head on. low down. so close to the dirt. so close to the ground.

but that was not the best part. and maybe this post is getting silly but the best best part was the air.

there is nothing — i defy you to find it if you think otherwise — quite as dreamy and delicious and wonderful as the way the california air smells late may all the way through july. sweet. fresh. sycamores. eucalyptus. pine. honeysuckle. oranges. oranges. oranges. lemons. eucalyptus. pine. sycamore. honeysuckle. honeysuckle. and i tried to take it all in — this smell memory — to have it with me always.

all that and i didn't get any bugs in my teeth which is quite amazing as i had perma-smile. just a(y), me, the helmet, the goggles and my bug-free perma-smile.

the next day. sunday was spent meandering through palo alto. which brought back scads of memories as i have old friends from there. seeing the places i associate with them when i don't associate really with them anymore. bittersweet. but got to spend some fun time with my dad and his wife. and it was just a really great time. great. and then there was a long drive home that sliced right through steinbeck country. the hills right now are a very gorgeous pale yellow. and it is so windy that the hills look like they are covered in a soft fur that blows back and then forth. it is a really gorgeous time of the year.