Over the Rainbow

One day a year I drive down to Watsonville and photograph the wares of four companies that travel from Israel.  This year that day was yesterday.  Been doing this now for quite a few years.  It's the same people each year because they're the owners of each of their companies.  What's funny is I have a 7 year relationship with the people compressed down to a week.  And even then I only spend a couple of hours with each at a time so in effect it's a one day seven year relationship.

But even still, it seems like we're old friends at this point.  The nice wife/husband company always tell me their daughters say hi to me.  One year they brought their two teenage daughters with them and they hung around me for the day, bringing me water or pastries or coffee.  The old guy and I tsk tsk over the state of the world.  The guy who to me looks like ex Israel commando tries to teach me Hebrew.  And so by the end of each day we say our goodbyes with handshakes and hugs. 

The real nice thing about the job is I drive to and from it down and up Hiway 1.  For those in other parts of the world, 1 is the road that hugs the coastline up California.  World class drive.  Really.

South of Half Moon Bay, North of Santa Cruz is Davenport.  Absolutely love this smidgen of a town.  I think the population is 3-400 people.  Both approaches to it always always reminds me of the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz.  That first view that Dorothy gets after she wakes up from the deep sleep the wicked witch puts her into.  There's some sort of plant just outside the town that has some tall and big buildings.  Also has a small semi-secret secluded beach that you can pitch a tent on and sleep if you desire.

Yesterday's first view from the North.  Sun just coming up, cloudy, black and white just like in the movie

I do my day in Watsonville and drive back thinking how I'm going to stop in Davenport and have a beer or two and think about Davenport.  I always do.

And there it is, the California sun coming in down low off the Pacific like a tsunami of golden light. You feel like it's traveled all this way in order to shine on you.  On Davenport.  On the memories.

Went into the Roadhouse for a beer, turns out there's a band playing.  One seat left at the end of the tiny bar which was halfway into the egress that led to behind the bar.  I was constantly shifting my body to allow the bartender and waiters to come and go.  My seat was also right by the cash register.

I only intended to stay a little while but ended up shutting down the joint.  It was a marvelous time, the band did a couple inspired tributes to the just died Merle Haggard...the stand up bass player picked up a guitar and she did a staggering solo of "Today I Started Loving You Again...,  three sets with long pauses for the causes in between.  A few people in the audience got up and sang a few numbers, apparently every one in the place knew each other, it looked like 10% of Davenport was in the bar.  The guy next to me turned out to be a drummer as well so we talked about how good the cajon player was in the band.

Old California hippies dance funny.

You can never have too much pedal steel.

Since I was right by the cash register every one eventually stood next to me for awhile.  That allowed me to talk.  One older guy I had been watching the entire night was with a younger woman.  They were obviously very much in love.  I told him how good they looked together, how it did my heart good to see such love between two people.  He liked that, I could tell.  Two women came up and ran their hands through my hair (something about my curls) while they were paying their check.  Like if a man had done that to a woman there would have been hell to pay.  What's up with that?  I talked to the band, to the bartender, well, to everybody I guess.  Mostly though I sat and thought and remembered why Davenport was somewhere over the rainbow.  A beautiful California rainbow.