persistence of time

it is quite the ride, stepping back in time to places of your youth where each thing your eyes fall upon – be it structure, or person, or restaurant, or tree – has an emotional charge, summoning up bits of long-forgotten business. this wknd then – back in Humboldt county, mainly Arcata – was a strange swirl of past and present for me and marg. We each have history and memory in Humboldt that predates when we knew each other. Also, we have shared history and memory from when we knew each other but only in a platonic capacity. Also, we returned there 7 yrs ago (which was 3 yrs after leaving there) to be wed in patrick’s pt state park which just happens to be where we went this wknd for a marital celebration/reception. Also, Arcata seems fundamentally the same but w/ some cosmetic changes and yet it was very different from when we were there, but not really. Like a giant moebius strip of space and time.

each place we went seemed to be a sort of box with sub-compartments and hidden doors, where things would flash out at us – be it individually or collectively. There’s the place where I stood when I heard ___. There’s where we first _____. There’s the X where Y told Z about A.

But also, we’re older. We noticed things like the new sod on the plaza (!) or the sq footage of commercial rental space (!) or the outrageous prices for real estate.

we checked in to hotel Arcata. we went to bubbles, northtown books, café mokka. walked the streets and saw Pete. [Yes, that Pete. Yes he is still there and yes he still told us he loved us.] ate at folie douce. met red and friend for a drink at everetts. later jervis joined us. we got drunken donuts at dons.

after sleeping we walked around plaza for farmer’s market. a band played their music thru solar powered amplifiers. we walked to daybreak café. headed back and saw a house being moved down the street (which involved multiple agencies), we went to tin can mailman. we went to wedding/celebration/reception and met a handful of people from portland. that night we returned to café mokka and everetts. next morning, we checked out of hotel, headed up to redwood park. after we drove around the town, hitting all the high points of our past: the Beverly house, the 11th st house, sunnybrae shopping center, the Arcata marsh etc etc etc. drove out to samoa to go to cookhouse for breakfast, said goodbye to folks and drove away.



on way out of town we stopped back at patrick’s pt state park and went back to wedding rock. how strange and surreal to regard this stunning rock outcropping
and to recall w/ precision events of 7 yrs ago. we are grateful to have been married there.

here's a smattering of pix