All Good Things, letter 5: Extraordinary Things
All Good Things is a collection of letters I wrote to my dear friend Caleb Bouchard between Summer 2020 and Spring 2022. It was published as a small chapbook by Analog Revolution Press in 2022. I’ve compiled the letters here, with additional photos, for you. Enjoy.
October 24, 2020
Dear Caleb,
Its October 24th and I am in Monticello, NM. I walked 15 miles down dirt Burma Road last night and this morning to make it to the post office during their operating hours of 9-11 am. The wind is raging, I can hear rain smacking the ground all around me, soon it will fade to silence as it turns to snowfall. The forecast predicts a low in the upper 20s tonight with wind gusts intensifying through morning with tomorrow's high scarcely breaking above freezing.
I am sitting on the floor of an adobe house, basking, yes basking, before a fire I built in a wood-burning stove. I'm freshly showered, stretching my neck, drinking an exquisite rum and ginger, reading a book, writing this letter, supremely relaxed, and dining on the finest grape tomatoes I've ever tasted-- each one with a unique flavor-- feeling the scent of chicken roasting in the oven-- sharing stories of adventure and sailing-- after helping Beverly finish last years crop of the same cannabis we trimmed this afternoon.
I've had a cognac aperitif, a Modelo Negro, a glass of Pinot Grigio, a cup of mint tea, and I fixed Beverly's leaking toilet. The mushroom cream sauce was excellent with the braised potatoes and steamed chard we harvested from the garden this afternoon. In the back stands a waddle and daub shed, with a bear rug where lives Burt from South Carolina.
Extraordinary things happen to those who put themselves in extraordinary circumstances.
All good things,
Ryan
