Barbara J. Hamby

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A Little Sad, A Little Glad

Last night we had a power failure, so I didn’t get my blog posted. It’s a long boring story about trying to transfer it from my notebook computer to the desktop and not being able to get on line to send it until late. So I gave up.

On the news tonight I heard there was an accident last night where an unlicensed sixteen-year-old girl carrying a carload of teenagers crashed into a pole. One boy was killed. It was not far from here, so could have been the cause of our power failure. The sad consequences of that crash will be felt much longer by all the kids involved.

Al and I took a quick trip to Coos Bay Tuesday where his oldest son is working on a bridge construction project. He took us out to the job site and then we looked for the New Carissa wreckage. We couldn’t get to it without taking a long hike through sand. The roads, which require four-wheel drive, are closed this time of year for environmental reasons. We did get a peek at it through binoculars from a lookout point.

His son barbecued steaks for us and shared a pasta salad his wife had sent along with him. We added some vegetables and had a good dinner and a brief visit. We all retired early. His son has to rise about 5:30 to get to work by 7:00, and we left early enough Wednesday morning to get back here in time for my writing critique group at 1:00 p.m.

We had driven down the coast. I never tire of seeing the Oregon coast, rain, snow or sunshine. We came back over to the freeway on the way home, but didn’t really make much better time.

The first meeting of the writing group turned out well. There were seven of us from the P.C.C. Creative Writing class who met without an instructor to read and critique our work. One of our class members made the arrangements for a place and time to meet. I’ve taken many writing classes over the past fifteen years, but this class seems to attract good writers who also have critiqueing skills. They are also generous with “attaboys” and “attagirls.” It’s fun and a privilege to be part of the group.