A few thoughts from East of Eden

Paul and I are at White Pass for a few days of skiing. The weather has cooperated well; the area opened the day vacation started. The temperatures were wicked the first few days at around zero degrees Fahrenheit. After a few days, we've warmed up to around twenty degrees which seems nearly balmy by comparison.

When not skiing, I read John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I enjoyed the book especially for the setting. It seems like the Salinas valley is truly an eden. But though the book strains to give lessons in morality, I still liked the insights and thoughtfulness. Little gems pop up such as when Lee goes to the breadbox and took out a tiny version of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius from which he read: "Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.

"Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the universe loves nothing so much as to change things which are and to make new things like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be."

Part of the story is to illustrate for his sons the qualities of his (John Steinbeck's) father, Samuel Hamilton. Sam Hamilton, from Ireland, reminds me of John Carnahan, the sage of Rainy Valley. He was one of those extraordinary lights who lifted up everyone he encountered. The other part of the story is a recasting of the Cain and Abel story. The mix of east coast, California, Chinese, and Irish ways is so quintessentially western, and it soothes my western soul. Best of all, I can imagine myself in and around Salinas one hundred years ago. Such a pleasure!!