come as you are

the weather is changing, and although the coming rains have loomed as a threat since I decided to move to Portland, I welcome the clouds, the chill, the jacket I haven't worn since before Ecuador. Three of my students built the Seattle space needle today from sand, drift wood, ceramic plate, and plastic turtle. I still haven't been there and alhtough I never really was a big Nirvana fan, the idea of seattle carries for me the mythology of Kirk Cobain as well as Nate Fisher, both dead but never gone. I feel California scurrying around under my skin. I asked my kids "Do y'all have stellar's jays up here?" Up here, where it rains all the time and the lack of sun breeds sadness. At least that's what I hear, but its been bright and sunny since the day i arrived, almost to a fault.