When you walk through a storm

As I came home from the Silvercrest and playing pool and eating lunch, I saw Jack stumbling along in some kind of hell I don't understand. When I got home I heard more tales about public exposure that will surely put the management at a loss to know what to do with him. If he spends much time homeless in this heat, he will surely die. No homeless shelter will even take him while he is this drunk. People don't try to save drunks like him. All too often, they sober up a little bit and insist on leaving any hospital or rehab. You do have the right to leave if you choose even if it means your death.
I do feel a lot better prepared for another meltdown than I was last time, still with alcoholic Doc. The only other man I felt any connection to in here was Jack, so I was very upset at two of them teasing death, and barely staying out of reach. Splitting with Doc I have been able to form a lot stronger bonds to some sober guys, my neighbors, and the Utah guy. The pool playing guys over to the Silvercrest are all sober, too. Now I can distance myself better. I have been talking to some of the women, too. I feel I am already to a better place.

Storm and show in Boulder on Thompson's ledge

Cowboys and Bohemians on my blog list will give you Raymond's stirring account of his first showing of "Bohemian Cowboy" in Boulder. Seventy-five people braved the steep road to the outdoor theater. Cheryl's SIL, Josh, taxied some who did not have 4-wheel drive. The storm cleared only an hour before starting time. He said the setting sun sent shafts of light across the flat he and Dan had built. He said Dan did well with the cues for the special effects, music, videos, and photographs.
My sister Ann was there and wrote a glowing review on our family site. I am going to excerpt some of it for you to read as she has not yet started her blog. She said most of the people who attended were not Boulder natives, but brought property there because they consider it such a wild and beautiful place. And Raymond had to make it even wilder and more primitive by staging his show in the outdoor amphitheater the guy who built a house up there also added for his music concerts. His name is Anselm, and he is originally from Germany. So the setting could not have been more dramatic.
Next week he is going to do the show at the Hills and Hollows, and he hopes more of the natives who knew his dad will come to that one, including his sister who lives in Boulder in the summer. Raymond said he was ready to take it on the road now, to Escalante, 30 miles away, where his dad was born and raised. My sister Ann wanted him to bring it to Panguitch.

Here is the excerpt from Ann's review:
"I can only say that Raymond's show was nothing short of a work of art. I was so impressed with all the directions his story went. People laughed at his Clyde King, nosebleed, rendition. Here and there they laughed. I thought both Hamlet and Jesus touching and real. And Dean...Dean came across so like himself and Raymond who was always frustrated at just what he could get from his dad. I think this was masterful threatre and Raymond, you came and gave us a great work from your heart. The theme was so strong with Father and Son conflict and coming together. Dan being there added, for me, another absent father who had a son who he didn't value. This work, in spite of the difficulties of connection in reality, was a great tribute to Dean (my father). And because you were standing there doing this great work, I thought that tribute could only be given your mother. You were there. You suffered. You suffered.
And yet you were able to move on. I loved your home speech. My only suggestion is to end with that speech..and don't do the repeat. That is so strong, it should just stand."