After eleven years, Sheila Deeth, a fellow author and one of my very first online friends, has become an offline friend! It was a true delight to see her in person, but the truth is, it has made no change in our relationship. We were friends who knew almost everything about each other, and we are still friends. In fact, as with other online friends who have become all line friends, there wasn’t a second of awkwardness. We simply moved from a written relationship to one with sound.
People always worry about my visiting people I don’t know, but after so many years of sharing blogs and books and publishers and moments of our lives, we do know and trust each other. (Assuming one person can truly know another.) And so it was — a simple segue into a new phase.
I’d been following online the trauma of Sheila’s flooded basement and its resurrection, and I so wanted to see her library. Instant library envy! After seeing it, I teased her that I might never leave. A roomful of books — wow!
Although she mentioned their disappointment in not having a view, I thought they had a fabulous view. Who needs a distant backdrop when one has such great beauty beside one’s own house? I have lived in desert areas my whole life — and make no mistake, Colorado is a desert with one benefit, its white gold (snow) that makes it possible (assuming that one does not have a brown thumb as I do), with a lot of effort to carve out a colorful space for yourself. Seeing so much almost effortless green seems miraculous to me.
One thing I love about traveling and visiting people is that for a short time I get to borrow someone else’s life, and that night I got to share in Sheila’s after dinner ritual — a cryptic crossword puzzle. I had often come across the puzzles, but the things were too cryptic for me, with a code language all its own, and they helped me crack the code. If I ever come across another such puzzle, I will attempt to solve it, and think of that lovely evening.
Before I left, Sheila took me to the Pittock Mansion
to see a panoramic view of Portland.
Although I had planned a trip into the wilds of nature, I ended up a trip into to wilds of civilization, and what an adventure!
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(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Madame ZeeZee’s Nightmare, Unfinished, Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)
Bertram's Blog 
May 13, 2018 at 4:09 pm
It is lovely to see Sheila’s face and that huge smile. And her view? beautiful. Love that mansion and it’s view as well. It’s so nice to know your visit continues to be a great experience. Just a note; Bob is terrific! Absolutely love him.
May 14, 2018 at 12:38 pm
I am so glad you love Bob! Did you finish yet? And my trip continues to be a more than great experience.
May 13, 2018 at 6:01 pm
Meeting online friends, especially fellow authors, is always an awesome experience.
May 14, 2018 at 12:39 pm
Yes! I just finished telling my sister about having Passover dinner with you and your father.
May 14, 2018 at 12:48 pm
Did it make you hungry for matzah?
May 14, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Of course.
May 14, 2018 at 12:58 pm
Nice! BTW, if that craving continues, look for a large supermarket in any city with a decent-sized Jewish population. Odds are, they got matzah.
May 13, 2018 at 11:47 pm
And I enjoy peeking into your life peeking into other people’s lives – lol! That home library is fabulous!
May 14, 2018 at 12:40 pm
It truly is awesome. What makes it extra special is that my books are there, and even though I didn’t realize it, they are in the photo with Sheila. (Top shelf, a bit to the left of her.)
May 14, 2018 at 8:49 am
Glad you got to see such wonderful stuff! How was Mother’s Day with the siblings?
May 14, 2018 at 12:41 pm
It was a fabulous day. I’m working on the blog about it now!