The Lamp

Bob Dylan titled his 1967 movie Don’t Look Back. When you can’t go home because a place is buried under 75 feet of dirt, this is especially true.

Sometimes I live in the past. I mourn San Dimas Canyon and the redwood sided house where I spent my childhood.

When LA County Flood Control took the place to dump dirt from the dam, we took a few things attached to the house. One was a red hurricane lamp that hung in the dining area off the kitchen. We took it to the house in San Dimas. When my folks moved to AZ, they left it. I always wished I had that light.

Ruth and I stopped at the house in San Dimas and knocked on the door a couple of years ago. I planned to ask if I could have a picture of the light. It turned out that the folks who bought the house from my folks in 1970 still live there. They were happy to see us and showed us the house. That was a trip down memory lane. Alas, the hurricane lamp was gone. It burned out bulbs so they replaced it but the new light burns out bulbs, too.

I am happy to say that this house in Colfax is prettier than the canyon house. The place is prettier, too. As I have said, I started in a canyon and I think I have to finish in a canyon.

After quite a bit of E-Bay and antique shop searching, I have my lamp, over the red table. Not exactly the same, but close enough.