"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."
Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind."
It was actually a cold, lake effect wind. I went out looking for an apartment, and found a near perfect one. While battling a lingering virus, hormones, and a rare migraine aura. (Very pretty with bright glowing pulsating lights in an inverted C in my lower right visual field.) My new friend, my rental agent, not only drove me to my place to get my meds, and would have gladly have put it off another day, she also dropped me back home, and picked up D to finish the process.
She and I took pictures of this over accessorized goose.
The owl is stone.
There were snow flurries. Hard, bitter, persistent winds.
9 comments:
There's still no one quite like Raymond Chandler...
Gotta love those migraine auras. There are lots of fake owls around here. And not-fake peregrines, too, atop the buildings downtown. It's a weird mix.
Oh yes, "scintillating scotomata," I believe ... at least that's what my neuroligist called those bright, jagged lights that light up the world in new ways...
(0)Not a Zhoen stone.
Ides of March or no, we have a new place to live, nice and official now, just a few papers to sign. Move in June. Now just have everydamnthing else to do.
Congratulations (on the move), and hooray for Raymond Chandler. One of the Greats.
Canterbury, in the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand, has exactly the sort of wind Chandler describes: Cantabrians call it the nor'wester and it unravels the social fabric. Curiously, a small percentage of the population are strongly energised by it. These tend to be artists, writers, and other creative types.
Hope you avoided the other awful symptoms of migraine.
So, is that owl sitting on your new balcony?
Good for you too! How exciting. I'm going to be following your progress with particular interest. :-)
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