I'm at Doe Bay, enjoying myself and my surroundings. I'm not so much enjoying the vegan ginger cookie I bought, but the coffee is good and that can cover for the cookie a bit.

I finished a book I was reading. It made me cry. It was about how life is made up of many challenges but among those, even when we feel helpless, or incompetent, there are still bright bits of beauty. This was a book about the profound in the mundane. Hopeless amounts of chaff and only the vague hope of a kernel.

I arrived last night after the office was closed, and had to check in this morning. When I walked into the office today, Harald (the main office guy) greeted me by name. Then he asked if I had ridden my motorcycle. (Finally! The staff are staying long enough to get to know the clientele!) I didn't ride, and told him so, and he said he had kept the office open a little later than usual because he kept hearing motorcycles go by and he thought, "oh, that's Elsa. I'll wait a few minutes." Isn't that sweet? I only come here about 3 times a year, too.

Do I really make that much of an impression on people? Wait, I know the answer. I spent a good portion of my younger life trying to not be an Elsa, not be the person people remember. Try having any fun growing up in your father's hometown, and being an Elsa besides. No possible anonymity. I wanted to be a Lisa or a Lori or a Jill, a name that wouldn't paint an immediate picture. Now I can hope that people remember good things, and that they forget or forgive my transgressions. There is, of course, work to be done in my forgiving my own, and in transgressing in the first place. And deciding that people can fuck off if they don't understand half of what I do. My headstone will say, "Here lies Elsa; benevolently odd". If I'm lucky!

I am taking some pictures and I'll upload them later today. I've had one good soak this morning, then lunch and coffee and cookie, and I'll go back in a half hour or so. Or I might take a nap. That's the good thing about being here; I don't have to watch the clock or worry about what's next. There are a narrow range of pleasant options and the only work is to choose among those.

There is wi-fi at Doe Bay now. What is the world coming to? ; )