Off the Deck

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, perched above Bean Creek, in a gap of the surrounding Redwood forest, is our family cabin. Built in 1906, ‘The Deck’ is where the action is. 15 beds with their madras bedspreads color The Deck. The bold sleep outside in all weather, year round, the faint sleep inside. On summer afternoons the 15 madras bedspreads radiate the 105 degree heat in contrast to the cool 65 degree sanctuary within the cabin. Squirrels play in the forest under-story of Bay Laurel and Tan Bark Oak, jumping on the deck’s railing to chase each other into the trees to the north. The heated fragrance of Redwood, Bay and Oak is the invisible primer of this canvas of family and community. The white noise of Bean Creek in the cool of the canyon below, the Canyon Wren trilling from the heights of the forest canopy above; happy voices that float up the canyon from the swimmers in the pool nearby; games of darts and cards, long meals of conversation at the picnic tables under the umbrellas, these are the brush strokes of generations. Family, love, serenity, safety…