Settling In for the Evening

It might look eerie, but nothing bad is happening here, in this picture, in fact, something quite nice is happening: I was settling into a comfy position in the car to listen to a book I'm trying to finish, while Eric was inside the basement of a big, drafty church rehearsing with the Beaverton Symphony. We'd been gone all day and ran out of time to drive me home before the rehearsal. It was raining nice and steadily, but it wasn't cold. I really like sitting in the car to read, draw, or knit. I can't clean out the refrigerator or any other senseless thing, because I'm not at home, and I don't get disturbed by people passing by or cars coming and going because all the people are inside playing music, and I'm outside, blissfully by myself.
However, the best part of the day was a visit to my cousin, Diane. We were so close growing up, and for the past 40 years, she has lived about 120 miles away, in the countryside south of Corvallis, yet we sure don't see each other much. She doesn't like coming to big, hectic Portland, and I don't know why I don't go down there much, except a big part of it is that awful rift in so many of our lives: politics and religion.
But I love her and like her and miss her, too. So we planned a few hours together, just the two of us, and we had a good, good visit, staying away from anything heavy duty except her health.
Cousin Diane is suffering from scoliosis that surfaced when she was a teen. It was manageable for years with braces and exercises, but is becoming unmanageable. I was surprised she hasn't seen more specialists, and hope she will. All her muscles have weakened, all her movements are slow, and she has a lot of discomfort. She also has low blood pressure and is always looking for a chair nearby. Luckily, her husband is healthy, easygoing, and helpful. She showed me a picture of her spine that was shocking and incredible. I put a picture in the Extras of one I found online; it looks about like her spine, though hers is worse. See the Extra.
On the way to see her, I dropped Eric off at the car museum for a meeting, and really liked the long drive from there, on 99W, through the familiar Willamette Valley, past the cemetery on a hill where my parents and sister are buried, thinking of so many, many things. It was a beautiful day, filled with fall color, yet I thought I was late and drove without stopping, then arrived about an hour early, so instead of glorious trees, I only took pictures in the car, in the dark.