The Summer Holiday: Two Weeks in Carmel Valley

Thoughts/impressions of being in Carmel Valley:

I'm here for a relatively short time, about two weeks, before heading out to Europe. It will be a brief visit, taken up with relaxing, visiting with friends, and shopping -- both for gifts and the necessities for a third year in Dakar.

I notice how situation-specific memories/habits reveal themselves in context, particularly in the car: navigating along the winding Laurelis Grade Road; the reflex to turn on the car radio as if to fill a stretch of silence; having a perfect, fully-operational internal road map of the peninsula; observing the spinning of an American restaurant schema -- seating/ordering/paying exchanges. I've had to be reminded of simple procedures, as yesterday in using my ATM card. As I advanced to check-out in Safeway, I wondered, now, how do I do this?

In the first several days, Abdul and Almamy were with me, and we felt/shared impressions of America. Their presence has faded now -- a reason to have their images prominently hung in my home after leaving Senegal, as reminder of a displaced cultural perspective.

In the moment, here at 7 in the morning in Carmel Valley, the overwelming impression is one of natural beauty and calm. It is extraordinarily quiet. Three deer were wandering through the back pasture this morning. Two foxes were scavenging just out the back door early yesterday evening, in full light. The oaks in the back are the size of office buildings, and probably weight as much.

Achilles is a bobcat without the ears. Were you to see him in the field, you'd say, hey, there's a bobcat out there. But Achilles isn't a bobcat, he's just a very big cat, formidable, a very proficient gopher hunter whose taken up residence with us. He's a lap-cat whose inclined to move in and take up residence on the couch.

Meals with old friends: Sanka & Jacque (10th graders); Anna (11th grade); Daniel (9th grade) and his mum Shirley; Eliya (9th grade) and her mum Galia; next week Riley (8th grade) and the Gaucher family. On Monday night, Tim is hosting a Senegal night, with the Deoudes, Grobecker and Butcher families and friends coming to hear about West Africa.

Returning to Monterey means a much expanded social/sports' calendar: Matty's playing basketball (he was the high scorer for his freshman team), and Daniel will be playing football for Stevenson; Misha's playing football and Sasha's swimming for Carmel High; Anna's running track and cross-country for Monterey High (she's one of the top runners in the County as a sopmore); Haley's still involved in synchronized swimming (she's qualified Nationals this year); Anna, Peter and Iljin are continuing to perform for the Monterey Youth Orchestra.

There will be many high school graduations to attend over the next half-dozen years. Such is the benefit of teaching, and maintaining contact with kids and families: we track the passage of time through the growth and change of our children.

Gifts: Fishing tackle and wind-up generator lights for Almamy's uncle; daypacks for Almamy; notebook computer for Oumar; an ornate, milagro-covered, Mexican-style Christian cross for Lena; I've ordered Ouspensy's Fragments d'un Enseignement Inconnu for Adbdul. I still need to pick-up something more for Lena (with Tim?), and Abdul's children.

Other quick notes: David Awerbach, Mara's pop, and a prominent local pediatric surgeon, has agreed to assist with identifying a neurologist to advise on Almamy's condition. A small, local custom wetsuit manufacturer, OtterBay, has agreed to advise on the sewing of wetsuits, and accessing materials, both re sewing and neoprene.

An afternoon/evening with Tim, Maya, Karl & Penny.