How can I explain a couple weeks, based on decades of love and care and community in a blog post? I don’t know if I can. Here is today’s story.

I moved to the South Coast of Big Sur in 1989 and turned 40 here. I am now quite a bit older — who am I kidding — a lot older. I moved here from the North Coast — Palo Colorado to be specific. So many friends. Now we are spread out over the Central Coast. Today, a South Coaster who lives in Pacific Grove came to visit Ralph, and it was so good to see her and hug. Haven’t’ seen her in years. We share history, like community does. It was the Wild Fire of 2000 and she was one of the first to come to my aid. She had lost her house a year or two before, but she was like a disciplined drill sergeant, getting up on my roof to take down the tarp while simultaneously shouting down instructions to me as to what to pack. She came to visit Rock Knocker today, and he called her “Mountain Woman” and boy is she. She might be gray, and live in town, but who she is down deep is a Mountain Woman — a South Coast Mountain Woman, and we are the strongest and finest of the current Big Sur.

Thank you, my friend, from Ralph and me.