Someday...

Someday I'll get out of here. If not out of California all together, then at least out of the Bay Area. I'm stifled by concrete, bad drivers, inconsiderate members of the human race bombarding me from every direction. The lack of inner peace is overwhelming and at times unbearable causing me to consider decisions I know I will later regret. The amount of restraint it takes for me not to follow through is amazing, tiring, exhausting.

When I eventually get out of here, there are few things I will miss.
* I will miss the cool "autumn is coming" mornings when the fog starts to come back and you roll down your window on the way to work to inhale that powerful scent of fresh garlic that has wafted through the night from Gilroy, 20 miles south.
* I will miss, again in the foggy mornings, seeing the local coyote as they hunt on the hillside. They've been gone since the end of spring, no doubt much more cautious about showing themselves during the hot summer as they raise a small coyote litter. Once the mornings cool and the fog is light, I drive in the hills in the early morning and think, "it's a coyote kind of a day." Sure enough, on the ridge next to the lone oak tree, near the little valley where I see them hunting the most, I catch the shadow of her head, her ears and the very top of her back at the top of the hill. Two days ago, I saw a scrawny young coyote 5 feet from the parking lot of my work, panting, under the pitiful shade of a small tree, in the middle of a fairly warm day. I watched her for nearly 2 minutes before she dashed down the hill and disappeared from my view.
* I will miss the distinct violet-beige color of the grassy hills when the rain stops and the world here changes color.