This is a good title for a novel, poem, play, or work of nonfiction. It’s a great all-around title, one that won’t intrude too heavily on a potential reader’s subconscious. It’s the sort of title that meets you at the door and says, “Come on in and have a cup of tea. Take your shoes off. Let me take your coat. By the way, I just made a batch of cookies. They’re cooling off now and should be ready to eat shortly.”

The reader, now being assured that they made the right choice, title-wise, will resume work. Then he or she will finish the book, and after, encourage others to do the same, adding, “don’t settle for a half-assed title. Give it time, and resume work when you find one that resonates with you.”

From there to here – I was simply thinking of the more literal aspects of this title (ho hum) going from Anchorage, Alaska to Portland, Oregon, on a single early evening plane flight.

It was a long ways, considering that by car, on the Alcan, it would be a five-six day trek. By plane, it was, today, 3 hours and 40 minutes. Oddly, enough, the same amount of time it takes a plane to get to Seattle. Go figure.

I would have preferred to drive south with someone to Haines and take the ferry, but that someone did not materialize. There was probably someone else on the same plane as I was thinking similarly. This person would have said, “let’s do something really adventurous.”

Actually, I did do this once. I flew cross country to see my family and friends, then flew back to Seattle and took the ferry to Haines and got a ride to Fairbanks with some very oddball people – the driver of the sports car, I recall, was wearing high heels. This was in January.

Last night’s flight was delayed 1 ½ hours. It was okay. I stayed in one place and finished reading my neighbor Nancy Pfieffer’s book about horse trekking in Patagonia.

It’s not a great book – she pretty much wrote up her journal notes. The fact that she went to Patagonia and did some longer treks is what attracted readers to the book. I hope that they were not as disappointed as I was.

There were a few bumpy moments on the flight, but otherwise it was uneventful. El (sister) met me at the airport gate, we immediately returned to her place, where I met her dog, Sally, then climbed into bed and went to sleep.

This morning we went for a walk on the Willamette River. And there I found a could you, would you shack. Up on stilts, a cabin/shed that needs work. I was not able to convince El, or later Pete, that Pete and I should purchase it. I could see it, sell coffee and give away books underneath the structure. And we could rent out kayaks. This made so much sense to me, but alas, no sense to either of them.

Next: 306. 11/7/23: Color