ONLINE PRESENCE

When we planted a rose the other day, we accidentally dug up this person. We let the salamander rest in the birdbath while I ran for my camera. Northwestern salamanders (Ambystoma gracile) can reach 10″ and like cool, wet places. We put her under the rosemary and trust she is well.

I quit Facebook last month, and my teaching job once I’d handed in grades last week. On the beach this morning I found four small pieces of seaglass. I have painted the floor in the entry and hall a dark blue-green. Now I am sitting in the atrium, waiting for paint to dry, reading aloud to my husband, and sipping wine too early in the day.

Our upstairs tenant has vacated after lending out the place to at least 16 people, and we plan to be more assertive about how future tenants use the place. There is a lot of “wear and tear” type damage, and we have painting to do there as well. I patched a couple of dozen holes, repairs a split in a door, and Gary must wash the rest of the cobwebs and dust out of the room before I can paint. I have already done my painting for the day. (Not really. I must put on the second coat before I go to bed.)

We think we might furnish the little apartment, first built in 1934 and remodeled completely in 1989. It is an idyllic location for a writer or for anyone looking for peace and quiet. It has a clear view west to the Pacific Ocean from bedroom, living, and breakfast nook. The kitchen looks east. My grandfather rented it out by the night, and Genevieve did the same right into the 1970s. We have always looked for longterm renters, but that has not always gone well. There is a burn in a counter from a tenant who lied about not smoking.

In any event, it would be fun to furnish. It might be fun to rent to writers. Or I might be kidding myself.

Yesterday we were busy with housekeeping chores—new door for the apartment, repairs to the stairs in our house, re-siding the west elevation that is sandblasted right down dangerously close to nothing, and the deck has holes. I emptied a room and painted the floor. Two coats. Gary worked under the apartment. We kept right on going and Gary did not want to talk about doing anything today.

Maybe two walks on the beach. Maybe I will paint a couple of walls. A ceiling.