we had been camping, hiking, frolicking, and listening to some incredible music for about five days in High Sierras of California. there were about 5,000 people at the festival, the largest turn-out in 8 years. Camp Aloha consisted of me and Paula and 9 friends from hawaii who i convinced to go this year. i'm the short one dressed in white. it was bliss. and there was much ridiculous festival behavior. but after five days we were pretty dirty and i'll admit that, though i love camping, i was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed again. on our way out of Bear Valley, we stopped in the next town to get gas and food. there was a payphone, and i had Sheila's phone number, so i called. i didn't think she'd actually be home, i thought she'd be at work or out building a fence or lifting tractors or something. but she answered! i told her where i was and she informed me that i was about and hour and a half away from Sonora, where she works, and she could meet me there in two hours. how's that for cool? on a moment's notice she was ready to drive an hour to town to hook up with me. she said to meet in front of the Coyote Creek Cafe. i dug out something respectable to wear, one of the only clean things i had. Paula and i arrived about 30 minutes early. as it turns out, the Coyote Creek Cafe had closed back in December. there were two workers inside refinishing the bar and painting the walls. i waited inside, out of the sun. the digital sign on the bank three doors down read 97 degrees. Sheila pulled up in her blue Volvo, hair red aglow and looking much younger than i might have imagined. she took us down across the street to the mexican restaurant. i had a midori margarita, which was much too sweet. i had to water it down 5 or 6 times. paula ate a salad. sheila had iced tea i think. or was it coffee? i gave sheila some Hawaii grown coffee and she gave me a Lucy feather. i felt very powerful at that moment. we talked and hung out there for a while. Sheila must have come to the conclusion that i'm not entirely psychotic because she invited paula and i up to her farm. i was thrilled. the ride up was really beautiful, along a ridge on a windy road that eventually turned into a dirt path. up and up and up and farther and farther into nowhere. we got there before sunset. we were greeted enthusiastically by the vicodin hounds and other dogs. the vicodin hounds are so cute. they were all bark, but in reality are very shy. i got to see Lucy and the geese right away. they were immediately suspicious of me. i suspect that they are not used to human visitors. Lucy has a huge bump on her nose. to get this photo i had to walk very S L O W L Y and quietly toward them. any sudden movements cause them to go all amok, wings flapping, loud honking. then we saw the ducks and ducklings. all the ducklings were swimming in the baby pool, while Lame duck and the two others hovered. they were less suspicious of me, but didn't come too close either. Sheila set paula and i up in the guest house. it was cool and comfortable in there, with an awesome bed. flannel sheets even. it was so comfortable, so if any of you ever have a chance to visit out there, be assured a good night's rest. unless there's a goose fuckfest or something. but we were spared. i took a shower even. it felt so good. and i ended up leaving behind my shampoo, conditioner, and soap - the entirety of my toiletries, save for my toothbrush and toothpaste. sheila, paul, and i ate dinner together, while paula slept. she wasn't feeling well. paul and i drank a bit of wine. eventually i think i laid eyes on all the cats and could even call a few of them by name before i left. one is called Stewart because his hair is just like Rod Stewart's hair. i swear to god that cat looks like Rod Stewart. it's trippy. the next morning we got the grand tour. first Sheila and I said good morning to the geese. then we got to see the goats, which were bad ass. they have these HUGE horns and showed off for us by bucking and head-butting each other. Paula got excellent shots of the goats on her digital camera. she also got a really good photo of Sheila and I arm in arm (as opposed to the rather candid and crappy shot above). i'll post the evidence later when i get them. Sheila also had three gorgeous horses. she fed them oranges, and they went squirting all over the place. then we walked most of the perimeter of her property. the views were expansive and glorious... high mountain peaks, blue water reservoirs, clear skies, fluffy clouds. it was dry, but beautiful. it really reminded me how badly i want to move to Maui or Kauai, out to the country. hopefully early next year. it's hard to describe Sheila. she's every bit as wonderful and quirky and magical and cynical as you'd expect her to be, but much more as well. sheila and i were both on our best behavior with each other, as she suggested to me in email. looking back now i suspect if i had stayed another day, we would have stirred up some trouble. but i guess we'll save that for next time. Paula and i were meeting up with some people in Napa, so we couldn't stay longer than we did, though i really wanted to. so we bid adeu to Sheila and company and went on our way.

Sarah,I,m glad you had such a fun trip and I always love it when I can put a face to a name,now I just wonder why Sheila didn,t show you the zombies?But maybe after camping,and finally sleeping on a bed,you just slept right through the zombie action.

i posted to facebook today an email i got from sheila in 1998. it was a recipe for lemon pie. i found the email randomly in one of my scrapbook recipe collections.

15 fucking years ago.

wow.

that was almost in your pre syrup days. yep, still here.

fully into syrup days. my two email addresses at the time were syrup@hula.net and syrup@sorabji.net hula.net was the first and only private internet service provider in Hawaii in 1997. syrup was a nickname given to me by a roommate in early 1995. by the time gmail launched in, what? 2002? 2003? syrup@gmail.com already was taken by someone else. given that north America and some of the rest of the world was connected by then, i felt compelled to put an end to syrup. irrelevant and obsolete.