Arriving above Narita this morning from Bangkok, thousands of pink blossomed cherry trees interspersed with the tidy quilt- like patchwork of rice paddy, forest, villages and golf courses in the Japanese countryside. A few hours later as we taxied away from the terminal on our connecting flight to Seattle, the baggage handlers who had serviced our aircraft stood ramrod straight in a row beside their vehicles and waved/ smiled to the plane in lockstep unison, so very Japanese and “Hello Kitty” in their formal cordiality. Droning through the night inside the intestinal tract of a giant metal bird screaming through the upper atmosphere like an avenging monster from a Japanese sci-fi (including service announcements in Japanese), I watched movies in secession with nine hours to kill and sleep an unattainable fantasy. The common cinematic theme seemed to be the debasement of intelligence in Middle America. Bruce Dern gave a flawless performance in “Nebraska”, a caustic and witty film. Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson had strong roles portraying darkness in “Out of the Furnace”, a gritty and violent underbelly movie about the bonds of a white trash clan in tweaker Appalachia. There were other movies but really they were just fluffy filler, dross to fill the idle hours. I can’t sleep in moving vehicles, a bit of a curse for one who loves to travel. We touched down in the early morning. A turbaned Sikh drove us to Moms’ house in his silent hybrid taxi where, careful not to awaken her, we fetched our car and scuttled home to the mountain. I’ll see her for the official greet in a few days. Sting, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan were kind enough to sing to us on the way home keeping us awake and alert for the drive. Bob reminded us ,“It’s not dark yet………..but it’s getting there.” I fell into a dead slumber when we got home and slept solidly through the daylight hours popping awake to a new day……………..er, night…. at 9:00 P.M. My circadian clock is ticking away faithfully and accurately somewhere in the throb and racket of Asia right now, a world away from the ringing stillness here in the dark mountains of Washington, a cat curled in my lap and a contented glow in my heart. Ahhhhh………….I love my home.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 09:45:26 +0000
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