So I’m up in northern California, between Sacramento and Reno. I’m visiting my brother and his family for a few days. I needed to get out of Dodge, clear my head and settle my nerves after Tasha died. I’m feeling better. Not because I don’t miss her, or I’m trying to not to think about her — I do miss her and I am thinking about her. That’s life. It’s just that a change of scene turned out to be a good idea.

I got here on Friday, and that night my bro and I went out to see The Trailerpark Troubadors do a benefit gig in Roseville. That was fun. Very high-energy rock and roll, funny songs. and a happy crowd.

Yesterday, Bro had some errands to run, so we got to do a road trip through Coloma and down into Placerville. Beautiful country, even in Summer. I shot the picture in this post out the car window in Colomna. Then we took my nephew T to a playground and he wore us out pretty good. Four years old and pure energy.

Today, we did a lot of relaxing and playing, then went down to the north fork of the American River, to throw rocks in the water. A beautiful, hot Summer day can burn off the top layers of any cares.

Have you seen Napoleon Dynamite? We watched that tonight. A funny, surreal movie.

By the way, I read through the news before I wrote this post. It’s the first serious look I’ve had at the headlines in 10 or 12 days. Except for about an hour of CNN in the Travelodge motel in Chowchilla on Thursday night. I usually stay very current, and I have to admit doing so seems irrelevant tonight. It’s exactly the same crap as two weeks ago. So it goes.

I’ll probably check in again before I head back. No promises.

I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I’ve broken
But I swear in the days still left
We’ll walk in the fields of gold

–Sting