Visting Atlanta

Just back from a quick visit to Atlanta for Cello's 3rd birthday.  Here are more photos than anyone other than an abuela probably wants to see:

When I got back, mid coast Maine Spring had sprung.  The trees' limbs, bare when I left, now glow with pale green fringe.  Tulips have lifted their colorful heads - still buds - but soon to bloom. We went to Waldoboro to the organic garden center and bought seedlings:  tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, Brussels sprouts.  We'll plant carrot and radish seeds.  Also bought lovely colorful Coleus and some Marigolds.   We bought manure and turned soil.  This weekend - planting.  Also I will buy some Pansies and Petunias for the planters.

Nothing says peace like freshly turned soil, bursting with worms, and warm from the afternoon sunshine.  

A deeply needed comfort in the wake of unhappy news about health challenges - and worse - impacting dear friends.  

Let there be soil.  Let there be peace.

Random spring thoughts

It's hard to say here in a few words what's been happening and what's been on my mind.  Not because so much  has happened (or even been on my mind), but if you let time slip by,  like a river, your memories and thoughts have rushed by.

Today is Cinco de Mayo.  Even in Maine.  I believe there are commemorations in Augusta and Portland, at least.  Apparently Maine like states in the west and southwest, now brings in Mexican farmworkers to work in the blueberry fields and other crops.  And some of the workers have elected to stay in Maine.  Not many yet.  But I recall when Georgia was 52% African-American and 47.55 white and .5% "other."  Now Georgia has a significant Hispanic population.  From what I can tell, housing and food are less expensive in Maine; depending on the town, property tax can be higher; gas is high; fuel oil is high (a lot (a lot!) of people still use wood stoves here; Lowe's and Home Depot sell a lot of log splitters - do-it-yourself log splitting!  And even people who use fuel oil or propane, often have a wood stove as a backup.  We've considered it, but if we did that, it would probably be a pellet stove.)  At any rate, I look forward to seeing more and more diversity in Maine!

Today is also the day the city is picking up yard waste, meaning pruned branches and leaves (which must be bagged).  We've had such lousy weather - seemingly every other day rain - and I unusually busy, so that I did not get to as much in our yard as last year.  I did cut back the forsythia, the beach rose, and the hydrangea.  But not the already overgrown bush/trees at the back of the property.

I did not win the local library's poetry contest; I did not even receive an honorable mention.  Oh well.  I admit I did not work hard at the poem I submitted this year; I like it very much, but I do not think it "fit" the library's "topic" in the way that they likely wished entries to do.  The results were announced and the winning poems read while I was out of town - on my trip to Connecticut.

The trip was good - also a whirlwind during which it seemed I ate too many meals in too many restaurants.  But my CT scan results were good - that's 4 years!  365 days (now down to 335?) to reach that important 5 year milestone.  A co-worker in my group - the 1 person in the group who has been there longer than I - announced her (early) retirement.  Good for her; a little stressful for those of us remaining, as there is already too much work.  Hopefully they'll replace her quickly.

My daughter's been struggling through the ups and downs of a new job in a far-away place - the Philippines.  It's always hard to learn life lessons, even in the best of circumstances, but far from family and friends, in challenging circumstances and in the midst of work that one feels is important - even harder.

My ex and his partner are off on a 3+ week jaunt through (mostly) Italy, although I understand an incorrectly purchased ticket serendipitously took them on a short visit to Switzerland.  The email and Facebook postings suggest a good time is being had, which both of them really really deserve.

I am drawn more and more into the inner workings of the local synagogue, as I have been asked to agree to be the new treasurer.  I turned down the request the first time I was asked, but when I was asked again, I finally agreed - on a short-term basis only, making it clear that 2 years is all I will commit to.  The annual meeting at which I will be nominated and, presumably, elected, has yet to happen, but already I am drawn in to multiple meetings and some synagogue politics.  What is it about we human beings?  I know they say "2 Jews, 3 opinions" but I think it is human nature.  Sometime ago, NPR's website ran a column inviting people to post Six Word Philosophies - saying in 6 words, your philosophy toward life.  I quoted Rodney King (do you remember Rodney King?  How quickly we do forget!):  "Can't we all just get along?"

My car is unhappy.  I don't know exactly what ails it, but I've had it a long time and I sense that something is bothering it.  (When the engine is warm, it ... runs unevenly; I guess that's as specific as I can be.)  This troubles me because I am flying to Atlanta on Thursday (for my younger grandson's 3rd birthday on Friday), and that means a 90 mile drive to the Portland airport (and, of course, a 90 mile drive home next Monday evening).  Worrying about the car has put a damper on my  anticipation for the visit to my son, daughter-in-law and grandsons.  I was able to get non-stop flights, which is great - after a 1-1/2 hour or more drive, it's not fun to look forward to an airport layover, running with luggage to get to another gate, etc.  If I can solve the car problem, I know I'll have a wonderful visit.

Last week was my first week in a 6-week T'ai Chi course through a local community organization and my first week in a 6-week beginner ukulele course at the Bay City Chamber Music building in Rockport, the same course/teacher that David finished not long ago.  He's now taking intermediate ukulele a different night.  I liked both classes.  I found the T'ai Chi more physically demanding than I recall it having been in Connecticut.  But that's good.

David's permanent part-time job was finally made full-time.  That's good for several reasons - money, earning vacation - but also physically demanding.  By this time last year, David was working full-time as a seasonal employee, but Lowe's also had a permanent part-time person so there were 2 people doing the job he's now doing by himself.  Supposedly they have made an offer to someone for a seasonal job.  Meanwhile, it's taking a lot out of him.

So that's what's going on.  Otherwise on my mind:

• my co-worker's retirement - making me feel how close and far away my own is;
• CT scan results and a dear friend's brother's cancer diagnosis
• snipping and snapping among coreligionists - being a Jew, what an "interfaith" couple means when neither person has "faith";
• a hail storm yesterday and Ella cowering in a tiny space between the couch and the radiator;
• racism in America, how Sterling was left undisturbed for decades and now there's so much self-righteousness;
• governmental intrusion, Guantanamo, what a disappointment Obama is;'
• reading "Junkyard Planet" - being reminded that in the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra, we have yet to begin to touch "reduce";
• aging - how you can reach your seventh decade without feeling "old," as if "old" is a soccer ball you keep kicking out in front of you as you move through life - I'm not "old" yet, not yet, not yet...
• a gaggle of teenage girls on the street this morning, chattering away, waiting for the bus - probably 15 year olds - me thinking how they will be my age in 2065!  And I'll be dust.  

What sound and fury we human beings make of of this thing called life.
Peace.

Spring ... springing!

Mr. and Mrs. American Goldfinch came to visit:

And in a neighbor's yard, crocuses are lifting little purple heads:

Last night, for David's birthday (today) The Carolina Chocolate Drops - excellent.  

Today, rain.  Cleaning, cooking.

Tomorrow night, seder - can we human beings move from every kind of slavery into freedom?  Let us work that it shall be so, soon, even in our lifetimes.

Peace.

It's raining, wind blowing

It's raining, windy, about 40 degrees.  True Maine spring day. I've been sitting in the kitchen on the small rocking chair we put there, looking through the rain splattered window.  Outside is the raised bed, naked soil except for that hardy thyme plant that seems to have survived.  Behind that, the bird feeders on each corner of the sagging garage.  No birds this wet morning.  Yet.  

The other day I was sitting here on a sunny morning, watching Mourning Doves hunt through the grass, House Sparrows make their round trips from the honeysuckle vines on the corner of the house to the garage feeder and back, again and again and again.

I was thinking how happy I am to be here, to have managed finally to do this - buy this old small house in a small town in Maine and move here.  I was thinking how I wish I could have done this a long time ago.  I was wondering how it affected my children that instead of growing up in a house, their own home, with a (albeit small) yard, in a small town, near the ocean, instead they grew up, at least from when they came to live with me in NYC, in a city of 10 million.  I think it made them strong in some ways, and opened them up to the diversity of human beings.  But they missed out on things, too.  I'm sorry for that.  I like to think that even living in an apartment, Sam is living in a neighborhood where his kids are getting some of what I'm talking about.  But I hope he and Melina can buy a house while the boys are still boys, and while he and Melina can enjoy it for a good part of their own lives, too.

Still, the feelings I've had are not just about owning a house; they are also about moving here, to this town, to this place, where things are ... smaller, slower, less frantic, less stressed.  There are still problems - we have homelessness, including homeless kids! - and a hell of a lot of poverty, and drug and alcohol addiction - but at least these problems are taking place on a smaller scale within a less frenetic environment where the actions of people seem to have a better chance of having an impact.

I bought the "New Collected Poems" of Wendall Berry lately and in them is the following poem, which I take liberty to reproduce here with thanks to Mr. Berry and the book's publisher, Counterpoint, in honor of April being Poetry Month, and in honor of Wendall Berry himself.  This poem speaks to me so deeply and to what I felt for so many years before I moved here:

The Thought of Something Else

    By Wendell Barry

             1

A spring wind blowing

the smell of the ground

through the intersections of traffic,

the mind turns, seeks a new

nativity – another place,

simpler, less weighted

by what has already been.

Another place!

Ii’s enough to grieve me –

that old dream of going,

of becoming a better man

just by getting up and going

to a better place.

            2.

The mystery.  The old

unaccountable unfolding.

The iron trees in the park

suddenly remember forests.

It becomes possible to think of going.

            3.

a place where thought

can take its shape

as quietly in the mind

as water in a pitcher,

or a man can be

safely without thought

see the day begin

and lean back,

a simple wakefulness filling

perfectly

the spaces among the leaves.

* * * * *

So here I am at last, in my own space among the leaves - which will come back soon.  Already they push their buds through the wet bare branches.  The willow tree glows palely yellow in the morning light.  

Peace.

Mud, boats and birdsong

Spring must be coming.  There's no more dirty icy slushy "snow" on our front "lawn" - although calling it a "lawn" is some exaggeration - mud has made its appearance, and on our walk on Friday Ella and I saw the first schooner pulled out of the water down at Ulmer's Point to prepare her for launching.  She was still covered in shrink-wrap (yes, the boatyard has 3 meter wide rolls of plastic wrap and they shrink-wrap boats before the winter) but it won't be long now.

I was looking at photos from last spring and the first boat to be pulled out of the water was in March.  So maybe spring really is coming later this year, and it's not just that it feels like winter will never end.  Here's photo from last year of the same boat I mentioned above as the first to be hauled out this year:

David and I went to hear the first Poetry Month event at our local library last Thursday night.  4 local poets.  I liked two of them quite a bit, one somewhat, and one not so much, although part of the issue was having trouble hearing him (not the whole issue, though; he seemed to be one of those poets who choose words for the sake sounding esoteric and clever, that is until he started talking about sex, then what he meant was clearer - unfortunately; oh well, to each poet-hearer, his/her own opinion).  Saturday night we went to Rock City Cafe/Hello Hello Books to an event called, I think, "Scribble Me This."  Anyone could sign up and read and at the evening's end, a vote was held.  I thought about signing up but when we got there, it appeared the median age of the audience (and readers) was somewhere between 16 and 26 so I decided to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.  Some of the young poets' poems were quite moving.  A lot of pain, boredom with traditional teaching, and searching.

I have submitted a poem again this year to the library's poetry contest.  I had to do so rather quickly to meet the deadline, and the contest "topic" this year seemed a little odd - "doors, windows and mirrors."  My poem addressed the topic, but obliquely.  It doesn't matter since the point for me was just to put a poem "out there."  (Although I admit that having been selected for 2nd place last year, I feel pressure this year that I did not feel last year.  And this over a local library contest in a 7,500 person town in the state of Maine!! Talk about taking yourself too seriously!  Seriously!)  However, I will share the results, whatever they may be.

Next week, David's birthday, we are going to hear the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Passover here with a couple from the synagogue; the following week, drive to Connecticut and a (God willing, routine) CT scan, visiting with Helen (Indian food!), Karen and Jerry, work, and driving home; then two weeks later, Atlanta and Cello's 3rd birthday with Cello, Cachao and family.  

And somewhere in all that, beginning to plan our garden beds - tomatoes (although not so many this year), some peppers, LOTS of cucumbers, radishes, carrots (more this year), and I want Brussels sprouts!  And herbs (our thyme from last year's garden seems to have survived in our raised bed below 3 feet of snow, ice and brutal cold; it's bruised and beaten down, but I think it's alive!)

We've had a gaggle of Grackles at the feeder and in the yard lately.  David doesn't like them, but I find them beautiful; they glow in the early spring sunshine, like burnished copper and ebony marble.  This weekend at the backyard feeder I saw my first Goldfinch of the spring, together with a male and female Cardinal.  In the early morning and again at dusk the bird song in the yard behind our house where it meets the yards of neighbors either side and behind us is just amazing, a symphony.  Soon it may be warm enough to sit outside, at least in the midday sun.

Ah, spring - I do know it's just around the corner because my allergies appear to be coming back and the NCAA basketball tournament championship games - men and women - are tonight and tomorrow.

Peace.

From 1st day of Spring to (Last!) Snowstorm of the Season?

It's official:  Spring is here.  It was in the 40's on the first day of Spring, overcast and drizzling rain.  The night before David and I, and our neighbor Melissa, went to another "Birds of Spring" talk, this one at the Maine Islands National Wildlife Refuge center.  A small room, but packed butt-to-butt on chairs jammed in.  A veteran birder showed slides of many beautiful birds spotted locally, with a rambunctious interrupting crowd.  Not too long, either.  A good evening.


Now we're waiting one more snow storm.  Here in mid coast Maine we are predicted to get 1-3 inches, with Downeast Maine (counterintuitively north and east of us), getting more. But the big news is the wind, which is predicted to gust to 40+ mph here and 60+ Downeast. Blizzard warnings for Downeast.  Oh, well, I say let's get it over with.  It'll be back in the 30's tomorrow and 40's soon after that.  I'm thinking seeds and garden layout.  I'm thinking true Spring - boats back in the water, grass reviving as the last of the icky dirty icy snow finally melts, getting out our push mower, putting up a bird house.  I'm thinking Spring.

And beyond that, I'm even starting to think Summer.  Best recent news is our friend Jon is coming to visit in July, has bought his plane ticket from LA and Amtrak up to Brunswick from which he'll drive the last 50 miles.  He's staying at the same little cabin/motel place that David and I serendipitously discovered when we came up to look at houses.  It's right on the water and looks out on a beautiful cove.  The sound of waves, stars in the sky, what could be better - except breakfast at a good local restaurant the next morning!  Yeah Jon!  (The rest of you laggards who we've invited, your invitations are still good.  Come on up and visit us!  

Here's what's happening locally - once again a consecutive section of coming events from the Free Press taken more or less at random (although I admit I wanted to include that "FrogWatch" item):

Training for FrogWatch Volunteers, 5-8:30 p.m., Belfast Library, 106 High St. Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and FrogWatch USA sponsor the free session for volunteers who want to join FrogWatch's citizen-scientist monitoring program. No prior experience is needed.
• Free Workshop on "De-Cluttering," 5:30-7 p.m., Picker Family Resource Center, Rockport. Joy Chamberlain tells how to defuse mental clutter, and then bring order to personal spaces. Registration is required: 596-8950.
• Microsoft Word: Fun with Forms, 6-8 p.m., Medomak Valley High School, Waldoboro. Teresa Johnson leads the class for those who know Word basics and want to learn how to make forms. $19. Registration: msad40.MaineAdultEd.org or 832-5205.
• Discover Your Animal Totem, 6 p.m., Evolve Sanctuary for the Soul, 39 Main St., Belfast. Todd Hanson leads the class that will explore beliefs in shamanic and Native American traditions and send participants on a journey to meet their own "power animal." $30. Sign-up: info@ToddHanson.net.


House news - in our kitchen behind the stove we have a vent.  I think it likely had a fan and a cover, but in the house as we bought it, it came as a naked vent shaft, with a pull chain to open the vent to the outside to vent smoke from the stove.  We had an idea about creating a new cover for it.  David procured plywood and cut it to size.  I penciled a drawing of a Cardinal, which David then outlined with a device that burns the wood.  He then colored the drawing.  Finally he put several protective layers of polyurethane coating, attached it to the frame he'd made, and attached it to the vent.  Here's the finished cover - beautiful, if I say so myself:

Okay, going to fill up the bird feeders for the little critters before the snow starts.

Peace.

Just another normal morning walk...

Even though I often bring my camera with me on my morning walks with Ella - as anyone who reads this blog knows from what are probably too many photos of sunrise over the Rockland harbor - this past Saturday I didn't have it with me.  Of course.  Murphy's Law.

On that morning, we got a little later start than usual.  It was warm out - about 30 degrees - and sunny and I decided to extend our walk slightly by walking down Camden Street back toward town a couple blocks before turning back toward home.  We had started down Camden Street when I heard a bird whose "song" was really unfamiliar but close and loud.  I started to look around for it, and heard the familiar "upset" call of gulls.  Just across the street from us I noticed two gulls who were flying in small circles over the top of a large tree, squawking the whole time in protest.  Near the top of the tree I saw a huge bird, the source of the unfamiliar "song."  Suddenly I realized I was looking at a Bald Eagle.  A minute later a crow flew into the tree and perched about 6-8 feet away from the eagle.  I know how big a crow is, and this eagle was so much larger!  The crow began its own "protest" call.  Another crow appeared and began darting and jabbing at the eagle in the tree.  At that point the gulls flew off.  A minute or two passed, with the two crows continuously "protesting," one from its perch in the tree, the other darting in, darting out.  Finally the eagle took off, flying over our heads where we stood across the street, and heading out toward the water.  The two crows took off after it, darting at the eagle, protesting the whole way, reminding me of a couple of dogs nipping the heels of a third dog as they chased it away.

Why couldn't I have had my camera?  There would have been plenty of time to photograph the eagle, even catch the crows' behavior and maybe a photo or two of the chase.  Lesson learned - take my camera with me in the morning.  So I had it with me this morning... but elected not to snap another photo of the ferry heading out toward Vynal Haven or the harbor water, even though in the morning sun it was glowing in shimmering silver light.

Today it was 8 degrees - feels like minus 3 - when we went out.  I hear New York to Boston - which means friends in CT - are getting snow today.  Not here, just cold, but sunny and beautiful.  

My aging bones feel spring waiting to ... spring.  Or possibly that's just wishful thinking.

Peace (in the Ukraine and everywhere).