Hello friends, just a quick update this week amidst some travel.
I took a few days off to visit Joshua Tree National Park in California with a college pal. We hiked yesterday to Fortynine Palms Oasis in the 90-degree heat, along a trail that was surprisingly challenging given its short length. Signs warned everywhere that it was one of the hikes that “produces many search and rescues every summer.” And: “This can happen to you.”
The turnaround point is Fortynine Palm Oasis, which quite literally appears in the distance like a mirage. These unexpected places of greenery are formed by movement along fault lines that shatters rocks. The fine rock particles keep water from flowing through, creating underground dams that force groundwater to rise. And voila, an oasis!
Rangers close the area around Fortynine Palms in the summer so that desert bighorn sheep can access the water. It’s probably also to keep hikers out at the hottest time of the year. I myself did not bring enough water and should have known better, especially since the Park Service gives you ample warning. At the visitor’s center, there’s a big sign out front that reads “Do Not Die Today.” We did not die, as my friend Stacey noted.
The hike reminded me fondly of a similar trek to the south, in Anza-Borrego State Park. (Where sadly, the palm grove burned recently.) My grandmother Marge was a snowbird who lived there for many years, and even now here in Joshua Tree, I recognize plants and birds and animals that she taught me and my sister when we were children. There was a joke in my family about how, despite having spent many winters in the desert, my grandmother never (or rarely) spotted the bighorns. I love how, decades later, hiking to the oasis with one of my oldest friends kept my grandmother’s memory alive.
Until next time!
Yours,
Erika
THE NEWS
All the links…
Today is the final day to stream my film To Be Rich! (For now, anyway.) It's playing virtually at the Green Film Festival of San Francisco through today. It costs $10 to stream it and several other short films. I apologize for the price. Film festival protocols require me to keep it password-protected for the next few months. I promise to release it for free in the spring!
Finally, I’ll be in Colorado on Tuesday to talk about Windfall at the Bookworm of Edwards. I’m so excited about this event with the Reading Mountains Book Club. Please spread the word to your Colorado friends!
Turn Your Envy Into a Superpower Love this from Friend-of-the-Windfall-Dispatch Kara Cutruzzula on how envy can offer clues to what we really want from life.
Try This in Bed Tonight Reading out loud to your partner, that is.
Mick Herron’s most recent spy novel, The Secret Hours. It makes for excellent airplane reading. It’s billed as a standalone spy thriller, but I think it’s even better if you’ve already read the entire Slough House series or watched the Apple TV show inspired by the books, Slow Horses. (And yes, I sped through the books last year.)