My old Knitlist friend Soozie works at Inez’s Stitchery in Kensington, maybe a half mile from my in-laws’ house and yet I had never been; you have to go up a long flight of stairs, and I hadn’t really been up to that the last few times home.
This time I went. And of course Soozie wasn’t there, but the woman I met (forgive me for blanking on your name) was a sweetheart. Then around the corner to the post office: a shawl needing mailing that was ready to go. Done.
Then I called Karen, she came by, grabbed me, and we went to Swain’s Lock, our usual haunt at the Canal; we got there about 4:30 and walked a ways down the towpath and back. It was hard to remember not to go too far; I do love that place. There was not another soul in sight on that path.
Coming back, there were white swans glowing in the fading daylight in the quieter waters between the near bank of the Potomac and an island; I wondered at first if they were snowy egrets like mine near the San Francisco Bay, so we walked to the river’s edge to see more clearly. Karen had called it from the start. Swans. One languidly reached down into the waters for a little dinner. Glorious.
The flash announced that my camera had an ego that was just sure it could capture the scene. Me, I’m not so sure. Like my email at my main address, it will just have to wait till I get home next Monday before I’ll be able to see it. (That’s in case anybody’s wondering why I’m not answering something you sent; sorry about that.)
We went to where I’d fallen through a canoe. The last shards had long since floated out to sea. I looked at that embankment and went, I stepped off THAT? *THAT*?! (Oh, yes, it was definitely the place.) My stars. No wonder you were shaking your head, Karen!
I think she quite enjoyed my disbelief.