Airplanes, ice cream and the need to escape; the final picture of the living Royce
Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 10:30AM ;)
I just want to escape for a bit now - not forever, not for years, not for months, perhaps not even for weeks. Days would be good, but I don't have days to spare. Hours, perhaps?
Just for a bit - and then while I am in escape to imagine that this little bit is forever. I want to climb into my airplane as I once used to do and go up there, into the clouds, into the sky, as I witnessed someone else do here, above me, late yesterday afternoon or early evening as I pedaled my bicycle.
But I want to be more free than the folks in this plane were. They were in the air, but they were completely controlled by people down on the ground, people who gave them orders as to just what altitude, heading direction and speed they could fly.
I want to be in the air, my hand on the stick and my brain free to choose what direction to push that stick and if I should push it that way and then change my mind and decide I want to go the other way and climb or descend to a different altitude than that is what I want to be able to do.
I want to fly into the updraft and then just let go of the damn stick altogether and let the wind carry me; see how high it will lift me into the sky before it turns me loose, and then to see what the view looks like from that perspective. There will be many mountains to look at, I assure you, and fields of ice and snow.
I know, because it has happened just this way before.
And if I should come upon an eagle, bald or otherwise, I want to push the stick so that the airplane goes into a hard bank, to fly a tight circle with the eagle at center, it's pivot point, close enough to my cockpit window so that I can see the eye that it locks upon my eye.
When this happens with an eagle, even though one is flying a 360 degree circle around it and it is matching the turn degree for degree, the eagle appears not to move at all. The only hint that the eagle is rotating is that the areas of light and shadow upon the eagle change. Only the rays of the sun mark its turn, for its eye stays connected with yours, it's eye looks right into your's, and does not blink. It's wings do not flap, it's body appears to remain stationary.
But my airplane is broken and I cannot do such things now.
Yet I must break away for a bit.
What will I do?
Will I ride my bike, on and on, never stopping?
No, I am not fit enough right now to do that.
Will I walk, hike, up in the mountains?
I don't know.
But I've got to break free for a bit, somehow.
;)
Of course, there is always ice cream. We have a Dairy Queen in Wasilla and I love their soft ice cream. This is from one week ago. Jacob, Kalib and Jobe were visiting us while Lavina went to Homer with Sandy for Sandy's early bachelorette party. She is getting married September 4 at Lake Lucille, here in Wasilla.
So us boys went and got ice cream. The chocolate coated cone Jacob is grabbing is for him. The other one is for Kalib. The milkshake, strawberry, is for me. Poor Jobe! He got none.
He didn't feel bad, though.
It didn't bother him at all.
;)
Kalib, with his ice-cream cone.
;)
Remember the patch of dandelions in the black and white series that Royce defended from Happy the dog and then floated above? This is the very patch, 15 years later. And that's Kalib in it, the little boy that has emerged from the baby that Royce loved so greatly.
If Margie were not spending her week days in town, babysitting Jobe, there would not be so many dandelions here. She loves to spend the days of late spring pulling dandelions out by the roots. There have been years where it has appeared that she has gotten them all, but, of course, with dandelions, you never get them all.
The dandelions are always there, surviving, even when not seen, even when the ground is frozen solid and the snow piled atop it. The dandelions are there, preparing to proliferate again. To a young boy, this is not a bad thing.
To a young boy, it is a magical thing, one that supplies him with many tiny parachutes to launch into the breeze.
;)
Oh, dear! I have gotten things completely out of order! Chronologically, this picture should have preceded the ice cream shots. In it, we have just begun the trip to Dairy Queen. Muzzy needs a little exercise, so he runs alongside the Tahoe as Jacob drives down Sarah's Way toward Seldon. When we reach Seldon, Jacob will stop the car and Muzzy will get in.
Then we will continue on to buy the ice cream.
;)
Now I am in the car. I have just stopped by Metro Cafe where Carmen and Sashana presented me with smiles and a cup, plus a muffin and I did not pay for either one. Someone out there, one of you my readers who refused to identify yourself, felt badly when s/he read about Royce and so bought this cup and muffin for me.
It was a very nice thought and I thank you.
So I proceeded on, to escape as best I could while drinking from the cup and eating the muffin. I passed by Grotto Iona, the Place of Prayer, and there were horses there.
;)
On my way towards Grotto Iona, I came upon a place where a vehicle had gone off the road and was down in the bushes. A tow truck had just arrived and there were a few guys there. Before I could safely turn on my camera and get it ready, the picture was behind me.
On the way back, I knew they were there. As I passed, I lifted the camera as high as I could, hoping that it would catch the vehicle down in the bushes, but it didn't.
;)
Out of chronologically order again - here is Carmen, before the Grotto and the horses, before the vehicle off the road, even before I got my cup and muffin. I have not even reached the drive-through window yet.
Metro Cafe, headed to drive-through window study, #32.9: Carmen and Branson
;)
Financially, though I have managed to go far and do many things, these past few months have been hell. But finally my latest contract has been activated and yesterday I got my first check. I took Margie to the movie in Eagle River - Jonah Hex.
In many ways, it was an absurd movie and the bad guys came to predictable ends, but it was fun. It was escape and I enjoyed it. Afterwards, Margie and I dined at nearby Chepos.
The food was good and the atmosphere pleasant.
;)
And then, last night, as I was going backwards through my largely neglected take of the past week, I came upon this, the very last picture of Royce, alive and aware, that I ever took or ever will take.
Since his passing, Chicago has been a very needy cat. She wants to be with me constantly. As much as is practical, I let her.
Branson, Carmen, Chepo's, Chicago kitty, Dairy Queen, Eagle River, Grotto Iona, Ice Cream, Jacob, Kalib, Margie, Metro Cafe, Muzzy, Royce, Wasilla, aircraft, cat, coffee, dining, dog, family, graveyard, horse, horses, movies
Reader Comments (13)
i absolutely adore the picture of Kalib in the dandelion patch...i like dandelions. There is a tenacity and spunkiness about them plus they are very underrated for their usefulness.
I'm still saddened about Royce, he looks so much like my late Elmo...there is something special about orange cats.
Kalib and the dandelions reminds me of a series of B&W photos I took of my daughter, then two. She was picking the fluff and blowing seeds on the neighbor's lawn. The camera was the best camera I ever had, my first 35mm, a Kodak Pony. I miss that camera. No automatic camera has ever taken the quality photos that one did.
aloha Royce - sending sympathies and purrrrrs.
As ever Bill, a beautiful post. Thank you.
It's so sad to see how unkempt poor Royce looked in his last days. Cats are so fastidious, you know there's something wrong if they neglect their grooming.
Keep us posted how the cat family are coming along in the months ahead, and the "hoomans" too. Go over to http://icanhascheezburger.com/ once in a while -- it's bound to raise your spirits!
I think it's wonderful that Kalib loves the dandelions whose ancestors his best friend loved and frolicked amongst.
I recognized Chepos interior! We don't often eat out, but when we do, we go there or get their tamales & paztel azteca (sp?) for take out. Those partner animals do grieve also.
Understand completely about the need to break away for a time. Two more weeks of class. Then I'm going to get wild and crazy...go into a house cleaning frenzy. *sigh* I know how to live, hey?
I think the survivor pets grieve too. Of course Chicago knows what happened because she was with him when he passed away, but it sounds like she's grieving. If I can suggest something to help Chicago, talk to her about Royce. Use his name. Tell her " we miss Royce, don't we?" She'll know what you're saying. If nothing else, she'll recognize his name and know everyone hasn't forgotten him and misses him too.
Bill, RE your post on the part 2 thread about publishing a No Cats Allowed type book, have you considered self-publishing? I am not sure how it works, but I think people do it all the time. I have a friend who uses lulu.com. I think if I understand it right, lulu prints on demand. I have no idea what it costs or what the contractual obligations might be, but something to consider when you're a little more rested and with the blogger of the year thing in the works (fingers crossed). You can get an ISBN number for your book through lulu and then you can list it on Amazon on and Barnes & Noble.
OK, so I looked up a link for you. Give it a look when you're up to it.
https://support.lulu.com/Browse.jsp?id=9a9ad72d4b7bd23d145101dbf45e109e
Hey Bill,
Just wanted to say that I enjoy your posts. I like that you set a personal mood and go with your narrative thoughts and pictures, wherever they take us within your reality. On this particular post I can really relate to your thoughts and desire to totally get away. I do this in season in nature - on the water, on land, on snow - not being a pilot, I don't have the ability to find freedom in the firmament. Thanks for your thoughts on freedom.
I wrote a comment on one of your AKP posts on the wedding. A friend from Anchorage sent me the word that there was a post in the ADN about the Memorial Day service and wedding so I found your blog via the article in the ADN. Thanks for your pics and text on AKP.
Don Watson
Royce was (and is in another dimension) a very sweet cat. I wish him eternal peace and happiness.
Hey Frostfrog
Your comments on fathers day struck home. It is when I always feel most like a failure as a parent.