tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79537566549440707792024-03-19T08:39:20.121-04:00Summerhood Island JournalAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-86558816639735142032018-02-18T19:15:00.000-05:002018-02-18T19:15:43.119-05:00 I first met the man everyone called Buddy . . .<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">at breakfast, in the dining room of the Virginia Center for
Creative Arts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was long ago, in a
time far, far away. A time before cellphones. Thank god, or I’d have missed out
on a chance to know a fine character and an even finer writer. And I mean fine
in almost every sense if the word: smooth and polished, refined, sharp,
skilled, well-honed, first rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fine
fellow indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But I digress. This particular morning, somewhere in the
very early 2000s, several of us had congregated at breakfast. A white-haired,
spiffily dressed gentleman sat working alone at a table next to us. The pay
phone in a little cubicle off the den began to ring and before anyone else
could sleepily respond, the gentleman (for this is the only way I can ever
think of him) at the next table hopped up with a deep southern <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ah’ll gayuut it,” and left the room. He was
gone long enough for us to assume it had been a wrong number. Probably he’d
gone back to his room, forgetting he’d left his notebook and coffee. Poor old
fellow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A good ten minutes passed before the “poor fellow” limped
back into the room. He came over to our table and tapped the man sitting next
to me on the shoulder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“It’s our wife, James,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, leaning back on his cane, he proceeded
to inform James of everything “our” wife had been up to for the last several
days. “She had a minor banking problem, but I believe I’ve solved it. And our
lovely Sylvie advanced to the spelling finals. Isn’t that wonderful?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">James, who’d obviously not met the older man before, seemed
rather taken aback by his new confidant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“She said not to bother your breakfast. Just call her when
you get a moment this evening.” He limped over to his table, collected his
notebook and coffee cup, and left the room with a smile and a wave for the rest
of us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“What the hell?” James (and most of the rest of us) wanted
to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“That’s our Buddy,” someone at the table said. “He just
loves talking to strangers. Isn’t he wonderful?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And indeed he was, as I found out in the next couple of
weeks. Buddy always rose during meals to answer the phone, and almost everyone
who wasn’t expecting a crucial call from an agent let him. Whoever was lucky
enough to be at the same table as the intended recipient of the call was
treated to an elaborate account of a day in the life of someone’s family. We
learned about vet visits and report cards, swim meets and daycare. Buddy solved
banking crises, advised on repairmen and potential play dates. He diagnosed
minor ailments, recommended courses of study, and even college applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I had many a lovely breakfast with Buddy at VCCA, but, as
with so many other people I was fortunate to meet there, my memory of him gradually
receded into the past. I’m embarrassed to admit I told my Buddy stories many
times over the years, and listened to many other people tell theirs, without ever
bothering to find out who that quaint southern gentleman was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A few years ago, after VCCA staff sent around yet another in
a series of “Please use your cell phone courteously and softly” email requests
to those of us in residence, I said something to the creative director about
the good old days of the phone booth. “There was this great old southern guy,”
I began—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“Oh, you mean Buddy,” she broke in, “Lewis Nordan. An
amazing writer, don’t you think? He just passed away recently.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I agreed that was who I meant, and as soon as we parted I
pulled out my phone to find out what “Buddy” had written. The list was quite
impressive. Three short story collections and a themed short story/novel, six
“conventional” novels and a memoir. I may have missed something. Again, I am
embarrassed to say that after shaking my head in awe, I left the Wikipedia page
and Lewis Nordan behind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Until a few weeks ago, when I discovered <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sharpshooter Blues</i> at a library book
sale, and memories of Buddy came rushing back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I finally read the stories Lewis Nordan committed to paper.
I should have realized years ago that a storyteller who could hold a whole
table rapt with the story of a cat’s hairball or a bounced check would be magical
on paper. Nordan spun his web around me with his first few sentences, and
transported me to a semi-fictional boyhood world he’d re-imagined as Arrow
Catcher, Mississippi. A world of bayous and blues, odd characters and events
that twist different ways with each character’s retelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reviewers refer to Nordan as the “Singer of
America’s soul.” I can’t argue with that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sharpshooter Blues</i>
melds the stories of Hydro, the comic-reading, peach-pie-eating, hydrocephalic
son of the bayou’s bait store owner, with Hydro’s almost-only friend Lewis, the
eight-year-old overweight, neglected son of the town banker and his alcoholic
wife (who’s having an affair with a very small sharpshooter who is Hydro’s
other friend). And that’s just to start. Nordan makes you not only believe in
these characters but fall in love with them, and remember them fondly even when
the book’s plot may be forgotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Kind of like many of the folks and adventures at VCCA, I
guess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-23245551996152112052017-10-27T12:36:00.002-04:002017-10-27T12:36:53.720-04:00Buying Stevie Nicks<br />
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Y<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">es, I know the title doesn’t end with an ellipse . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Things are gonna shake up a bit around here. This blog has
apparently been in mind-hiatus long enough to have gestated into an entirely
different being. Metaphormorphosized, so to speak. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately for you, the drawn out mixed metaphors and
achingly awful puns have not changed. Neither, I am sure, will the digressions
have disappeared entirely. (Look, there’s one now!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What’s changing seems to be my focus, and indeed the reason
I began this blog in the first place. Let’s face it, gentle readers, you’ve had
the most glaring clue in front of you all along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Summerhood Island journal?</i> Surely that tells you this blog
started out as a crass commercial attempt to interest you in the Summerhood
Island book series. Which seems dead as a series and instead lives on only as
the single stand-alone middle reader <i>Coyote
Summer</i>. Which will teach <i>me</i> to
read a contract more closely. In any
case, in following the advice of all the how to write a promotional blog gurus
and not making every blog shameless self-promotion I discovered I actually <i>liked </i>writing about something besides my
book(s).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That something usually had a relationship with the natural
world as I found myself writing more and more frequently from our cabin in the
mountains. And as I wrote more blogs in this vein more people began to read
along. Coincidence? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Perhaps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That’s beside the point. Which I am sure you are wondering
when I am going to get to it. I assure you, as soon as I figure out what it is
you will be the second(s) to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For now . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After dear Bug’s final days back in
June </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">we were left with one dog. And an old one at that.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQ99oqdoe7ok5eampmJHGmFUsOe6Rq-rXMLL5XEmpJHj5mACAQfutNJjI4SMZClbPiT-NtJ0TMiTPfxzRq2Q5l0-qBoWMJSQdM0IASsSiwG_V0_7TjaJ7di3Yk74mdiUFNbkyGsK9h0M/s1600/WIN_20161111_212932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQ99oqdoe7ok5eampmJHGmFUsOe6Rq-rXMLL5XEmpJHj5mACAQfutNJjI4SMZClbPiT-NtJ0TMiTPfxzRq2Q5l0-qBoWMJSQdM0IASsSiwG_V0_7TjaJ7di3Yk74mdiUFNbkyGsK9h0M/s320/WIN_20161111_212932.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">chance being old<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Old and set in his
ways. Unfortunately said ways included being constitutionally unable to be alone.
Ever. July and August were spent hauling said dog along everywhere. Which, this
being summer in our hemisphere, meant doing errands early in the morning or
late at night. We took a dog-friendly vacation. When my wife went to the west
coast in August I discovered the pleasures of staying home all day, as going
out meant coming home to a totally stressed out and neurotic animal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I began “shopping” in earnest on the SGSR website <a href="http://www.southeastgermanshepherdrescue.com/" target="_blank">http://www.southeastgermanshepherdrescue.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">that I’d discovered in May after convincing my above-referenced wife to let me have one last shepherd mix. Small, I promised.
Short-haired. Leash and house trained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After scouring the descriptions for months of we’d increased
the weight limit from `<b>absolutely under
75 lbs.</b>’ to `<i>well it really depends
on personality and training, doesn’t it?’<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Then, while discussing and discarding the idea of another
dog with his foster I discovered (drumroll please!) a possibilityn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Short-haired. Well under 75 pounds. Runty, with terrible
allergies and bad hindquarters. Luckily we have an amazing vet. We’ve had this baby just about 3 weeks now, almost all of which time Deborah was on a
lecture/reading tour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Old dog is used to her and has relaxed considerably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me, not so much. Seems when we cleaned up some skin infections, got her on
thyroid meds and anti-inflammatories and a hypoallergenic diet,</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> this <i>low to medium energy</i> dog turned
into a virtual puppy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But a very smart and well-trained and totally lovable one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For the record, when I used the word <u>buying</u> I was referring to
the SGSR adoption fee. (and the special food and the medicine and the toys and
the beds and the baby gate to keep her from following us up the stairs which is
bad for her hindquarters and . . .)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Gentle readers, please allow me to introduce to you the one
and only <span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stevie Nicks.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-29408509408086991992017-07-30T11:55:00.000-04:002017-07-30T12:06:28.534-04:00It’s seven a.m. and raining . . .<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And
gloriously cool. I’m actually wearing light pants and slippers here on the
porch. At the cabin, of course. When was the last time I wrote a blog in town? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You can’t
remember, can you? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Neither can
I. (If I did, I’m sure it was some piece of shameless self-promotion, anyway.)
When the cabin sells, I shall have to teach myself to write somewhere else, </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">but
for now . . .<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For now, it
is crazy green up here. My `new’ helper (new as in this spring) started a
garden up here in the old plot. I am delighted to have the beds I spent so much
time on cleaned out and put to use, even minimally. The rain has them
flourishing with squash and beans and tomatoes. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAIxZ8zmTiIRPnNCYaTINh0SE5i0z9qv0awjVVszYAJBp1KNDupBnL-CyUmMThyphenhyphenYuiERZK1k43nWo5wZnFwS54EAIDosMqCvH3l4ZapnpGSEb8haaFTxXNKCVXyTKYCE1l7GY81nmFWU/s1600/20170729_093238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAIxZ8zmTiIRPnNCYaTINh0SE5i0z9qv0awjVVszYAJBp1KNDupBnL-CyUmMThyphenhyphenYuiERZK1k43nWo5wZnFwS54EAIDosMqCvH3l4ZapnpGSEb8haaFTxXNKCVXyTKYCE1l7GY81nmFWU/s320/20170729_093238.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ok. it's a lousy picture. take it from me. flourishing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A few weeks behind the town
garden she’s been helping me with, but then this land has always been a few
weeks behind town. In a growing season sense, that is. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In the sense
of time and space, it is decades behind. In a good way. Hell, in the best way
possible. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yesterday I
showed the little Turtle cabin to my new friend, the blueberry farmer. He’s got
a pick your own blueberry patch just over the hill, so to speak. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSnhvR7k4O55zgEC3lwmlp42D9Yw_gyr5ZNFATit16kW0bKa5ZD-wiToZToWw7bSXJ2UZRk6rfo_qliD8Jph_TUTmTxktWIjzmyZX2QeINnmQHriM_KoeHVzUXkHVVxMvdhVLmbCCKfs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-07-29+at+9.21.20+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="872" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSnhvR7k4O55zgEC3lwmlp42D9Yw_gyr5ZNFATit16kW0bKa5ZD-wiToZToWw7bSXJ2UZRk6rfo_qliD8Jph_TUTmTxktWIjzmyZX2QeINnmQHriM_KoeHVzUXkHVVxMvdhVLmbCCKfs/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-07-29+at+9.21.20+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">amazing blueberry farm on stillhouse lane</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He’s thinking about
putting a cabin on an old homeplace he has elsewhere in the county. The little
cabin is the one we stay in now. The one you’ve heard so much about over the
years. Here’s a refresher picture:<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxLxm_SsmPtq_BYkKUFXP196M35BQrZC74HNUynt2MBjUPz962pLxxphVgHaB4zoVRnR5Fr4L9M_Z6dj5Sr4CPjWFGQtzky_Qvs7Wuy2fQpBsxw8mYDjcN3jRAdyjvQgG1DpjIsPR9w3k/s1600/WIN_20170729_093209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxLxm_SsmPtq_BYkKUFXP196M35BQrZC74HNUynt2MBjUPz962pLxxphVgHaB4zoVRnR5Fr4L9M_Z6dj5Sr4CPjWFGQtzky_Qvs7Wuy2fQpBsxw8mYDjcN3jRAdyjvQgG1DpjIsPR9w3k/s320/WIN_20170729_093209.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle cabin with guard dog</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7TPQmFHDzUhC7cxiPb9NFFxpdfwISV9B6j0HKwWz55-W5oHnVP8zU4Yg6fmKv-TJ1Jf-tLyNpfEJZVUz3tfIFXHDLXK3q4j7bLw5BLcFQYJgwC-usQZpTRNVxGu29xfAajvbSde0Hko8/s1600/WIN_20170729_093225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7TPQmFHDzUhC7cxiPb9NFFxpdfwISV9B6j0HKwWz55-W5oHnVP8zU4Yg6fmKv-TJ1Jf-tLyNpfEJZVUz3tfIFXHDLXK3q4j7bLw5BLcFQYJgwC-usQZpTRNVxGu29xfAajvbSde0Hko8/s320/WIN_20170729_093225.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle cabin with addition of wife.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And speaking
of old homeplaces (clever segue, no? at least it would be if I had any Idea
where this was going), my friend the blueberry farmer who I hope you will
remember as he was just in the last paragraph (come on, people, keep up! It’s
not that early), his grandmother actually lived on <i>this</i> property. In the old original log cabin. She and her husband
were tenant farmers on this property. It was probably this woman who planted
all the daffodil bulbs that still bloom every spring all around the old cabin
site.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I knew this
property must have been farmed. There were too many unusually flat places with
huge piles of rocks near them. I shall have to go back to his place next week
and find out more of this story. And pick blueberries, of course.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chance went
with us to pick berries. He’s been going everywhere with us since he became
Only Dog . Not just because we love him, although of course we do, or spoil
him, although of course we do, but because he has almost never in his life been
alone. Never for more than a few minutes since he was found and fostered as a
pup. He has just a tiny touch of anxiety and perhaps a few minor behavioral
abnormalities. Just a few. Maybe a psychiatric problem or 12.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But he’s
been doing amazingly well. Pulled on his big boy fur panties and dogged up, so
to speak. See?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqjFxFemD2fhEgjgiXwUp_EynEfAm5ksOeEylzo6IPK9auzdMDZDaq1drV7QaIdZ9VyOmSrAGujjyTxm1E0sJ49EPSU4p22iAJd4Z18G-ND8yGrOHV4KUOKwOzmSmYkDTsWCreRVmnjs/s1600/WIN_20170729_073600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqjFxFemD2fhEgjgiXwUp_EynEfAm5ksOeEylzo6IPK9auzdMDZDaq1drV7QaIdZ9VyOmSrAGujjyTxm1E0sJ49EPSU4p22iAJd4Z18G-ND8yGrOHV4KUOKwOzmSmYkDTsWCreRVmnjs/s320/WIN_20170729_073600.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ok, perhaps
that wasn’t the best picture choice. He’s a tad depressed by the rain and
delayed walk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Lx5vGYmImlDA00n1ejQPHHDc3pcqTXZnskDo9MhT4VXcrpjViEimPifzs9JufJDVEVu0eewzPJJcRycHD3k3W8hrlKoJOKkJaA85rG_DeiQGyJrZAC5gDO9w_Fblt0eonsdfh2IVklE/s1600/20170730_083050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Lx5vGYmImlDA00n1ejQPHHDc3pcqTXZnskDo9MhT4VXcrpjViEimPifzs9JufJDVEVu0eewzPJJcRycHD3k3W8hrlKoJOKkJaA85rG_DeiQGyJrZAC5gDO9w_Fblt0eonsdfh2IVklE/s320/20170730_083050.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">chance smells a rat on the walk. literally. a rat lives here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I just came
back from a couple of hours hunting the elusive coral chanterelle on the banks
leading down to the creek. Which, by the way, had a lovely voice after
yesterday’s rain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’ve been
worried about `my’ chanterelles since the major Kerrs Creek flood this spring.
<a href="http://summerhoodisland.blogspot.com/2017/06/saw-my-first.html" target="_blank">http://summerhoodisland.blogspot.com/2017/06/saw-my-first.html</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I hadn’t seen many chanterelles, and was afraid they’d all been washed into the
creek, and some mushroom hunter in Buena Vista was going to be very excited
next year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They did
slide pretty far down toward the creek. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRpGKG0zNEkC1e6W1Bq6lW8vgAVaJoUIu0ElCHBBpRVgfgIE7A7IHRc_zWzq7EsX_HfMAnYokg2V1sp83pDz5ISebvTxOklfb2posHrEckFMie-jJaFCpwuEpE69pujK7tDtkPdBmf60/s1600/20170730_091029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRpGKG0zNEkC1e6W1Bq6lW8vgAVaJoUIu0ElCHBBpRVgfgIE7A7IHRc_zWzq7EsX_HfMAnYokg2V1sp83pDz5ISebvTxOklfb2posHrEckFMie-jJaFCpwuEpE69pujK7tDtkPdBmf60/s320/20170730_091029.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But a lot of them are still around for
me to enjoy.</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBUph3idVGKCaIPP2P8NmLxfDNfr0UVP0wKX7n2ieMnl1ybMVnWO48ixKYSmcYVZ5PDpfH3DEOD5p0T_lHRlwB_pGu_bHK1RcnmVGxqIbnL0LgsgJdLRW279kVKhuv02TdDrYB_mnzco/s1600/WIN_20170730_120613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBUph3idVGKCaIPP2P8NmLxfDNfr0UVP0wKX7n2ieMnl1ybMVnWO48ixKYSmcYVZ5PDpfH3DEOD5p0T_lHRlwB_pGu_bHK1RcnmVGxqIbnL0LgsgJdLRW279kVKhuv02TdDrYB_mnzco/s320/WIN_20170730_120613.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Maybe I’ll tell whoever buys the place about them. Maybe they
won’t care. But maybe 20 or 50 years from now somebody’s going to be walking
along that creek bank and recognize these beauties for what they are, collect
them, and happen to mention their find to someone in town. Who is going to say,
“Oh, yeah, my grandmother used to talk about a crazy lady who ran restaurants
and lived in Kerrs Creek and was always finding mushrooms.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Not such a
bad legacy. I’ll take it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i> </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-62099155274331150702017-06-12T06:56:00.000-04:002017-06-12T06:56:15.417-04:00So I’m up at the cabin<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">working on my new book. Which is not so new anymore, except
in that it’s my latest effort at timeless prose of unquestioning brilliance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Which means you get a blog post. Because, to paraphrase Anne
Lamont, you never know until you sit down to write just how badly your eyebrows
need plucking. Writing a blog when I’m supposed to be working on my book is my
version of plucking my eyebrows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It’s hot up here today, the sort of bright, clear hot that
makes your eyes ache and your skin feel dry the moment you step outside. I don't
like to think about how hot it must be in town, without the cool breeze and the
green of the trees that shade me up here on this mountain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I mention this because another version of plucking my
eyebrows is going outside and wandering around. Which led me to discover this –</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvqe_CT_VAhOFPz8F9WdGsqJ9WrOTD6yxerutTc0jAPNLg7J2BJeCUvlipBhUQMkOT40__66MhmNUnO8jTEAD4jTfGHZlhY3fOXbmZFKb1YTijiENlnOeu3A_gnnqk1oJGtvjogSfb88/s1600/20170611_111410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvqe_CT_VAhOFPz8F9WdGsqJ9WrOTD6yxerutTc0jAPNLg7J2BJeCUvlipBhUQMkOT40__66MhmNUnO8jTEAD4jTfGHZlhY3fOXbmZFKb1YTijiENlnOeu3A_gnnqk1oJGtvjogSfb88/s320/20170611_111410.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIeziI12hgVYYFw2fR7kRJqwk2Qm_OB9ZkLH7_6k6Ja92abkC92CK702-KenWqzSS4PcZB2RvXgU7SpFw9HMXAlRu0VzDnJAOrGM0lzqNrKpVAQpDn5wnNMjVnjhQ8wekwW6GVg-4LjR0/s1600/20170611_111417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIeziI12hgVYYFw2fR7kRJqwk2Qm_OB9ZkLH7_6k6Ja92abkC92CK702-KenWqzSS4PcZB2RvXgU7SpFw9HMXAlRu0VzDnJAOrGM0lzqNrKpVAQpDn5wnNMjVnjhQ8wekwW6GVg-4LjR0/s320/20170611_111417.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJ8mvXLyg1CrqWvM3yBc9qJD7UU6TqtRqhrgpCns3tVO4Gv98UKhOiHVF5__j6vMR4jL4n7GW9so5Kqbdo1g76tf-tvKTUMWcXLXzmb1Ys1M82Bph0gWokw7udF513YwNrVU9LUNZktc/s1600/20170611_111426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJ8mvXLyg1CrqWvM3yBc9qJD7UU6TqtRqhrgpCns3tVO4Gv98UKhOiHVF5__j6vMR4jL4n7GW9so5Kqbdo1g76tf-tvKTUMWcXLXzmb1Ys1M82Bph0gWokw7udF513YwNrVU9LUNZktc/s320/20170611_111426.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I should’ve checked earlier. Just after dawn I heard a
hummingbird buzzing around the porch, and made a mental note to check the
feeder I’d filled last weekend. And promptly filed that note away in <i>the place from which no mental notes ever return.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Now</i> the special
care with which Chance marked the perimeter of the cabin when we arrived
yesterday makes more sense. I’m used to him giving his urinary “screw you” to
the coyotes each time we come up. This time he was extra thorough, ranging
farther out around the cabin than usual.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Coyotes, you see, could care less about sweet things. Bears,
on the other hand…</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeUqgSNOy8rJ8ZcmXjFWYCQXZoP-4SgpqhFTZeS4cnHf01zCrEp8V06CZNFNirMbxGzn0w3S-W2hlvnG37jkIp9cyuCZXYR-iot9rsXwiPV6rjb3PlWzF6wLvCxXcctr7e0APSLVc8rJ8/s1600/winnie-the-pooh-clipart-1-winnie-the-pooh-clipart-300_300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeUqgSNOy8rJ8ZcmXjFWYCQXZoP-4SgpqhFTZeS4cnHf01zCrEp8V06CZNFNirMbxGzn0w3S-W2hlvnG37jkIp9cyuCZXYR-iot9rsXwiPV6rjb3PlWzF6wLvCxXcctr7e0APSLVc8rJ8/s1600/winnie-the-pooh-clipart-1-winnie-the-pooh-clipart-300_300.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ladybug likes sweet things too. We've been keeping her going
with maple flavored breakfast sausages dipped in agave, chicken strips sautéed
with honey and soy sauce. She's not going to be around much longer so she gets
anything that will tempt her flagging appetite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chance is more like a coyote. He's a meat eater, a place
marker, the master of his domain. At least as long as there's nobody else more
alpha around.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzcgLn8jKkXTAhCXctqIUM8BlglNl-sXc78MUj4FheDGcexejsb2ZWt-7loJlJL-wCEy0pXW87n6uEZTLp0A3JzvPGTtMZuNZg6d87G-GQ773iicNGFsN4rI4GTa-tlruXAAsRyn37fk/s1600/20170611_111434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzcgLn8jKkXTAhCXctqIUM8BlglNl-sXc78MUj4FheDGcexejsb2ZWt-7loJlJL-wCEy0pXW87n6uEZTLp0A3JzvPGTtMZuNZg6d87G-GQ773iicNGFsN4rI4GTa-tlruXAAsRyn37fk/s320/20170611_111434.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiri0HCfjiPknpApNG_Ooy_aMkvDQTgJZLnoiBjzT3b5hPw63rLUZ9d9RvNJWreZYzGfBF-LntbSkulk2QJC3GCOI3Rm4ZTg21ftW4lr1t4-tdOgGyGT-4GFzyuFkeRd_ybM2EsdrDUt2I/s1600/20170611_111521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiri0HCfjiPknpApNG_Ooy_aMkvDQTgJZLnoiBjzT3b5hPw63rLUZ9d9RvNJWreZYzGfBF-LntbSkulk2QJC3GCOI3Rm4ZTg21ftW4lr1t4-tdOgGyGT-4GFzyuFkeRd_ybM2EsdrDUt2I/s320/20170611_111521.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's a guy thing, I guess. (Pause for chuckles of disbelief
and nasty comments from my guy friends.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My blog posts (usually) may wind around a bit, but they
eventually get back to the point. Even if I'm not sure what the point is when I
first start writing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But apparently not this time. Apparently my mind is quite
content to wander, ranging far afield. My mind is not bothered by how hot it is
outside. My mind just wants to shelter inside this blog, brilliantly avoiding
working on my timeless masterpiece of great and unending significance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Or perhaps I’m not meant to work constantly while I’m up here,
even with the total lack of town and house distractions. Maybe I should pay
more attention to one of my favorite things about this cabin.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCrW4M-E82q1O5Lxi7rnFJf8HZXeMVY94mNX6gtGi7Qo7EFx9KDqzF4teXbHd3po39ItnBSne-jq8yoELt1AuxKUqx0knQtAggRVblHcdJzkyDMncK2mOK-IrBYjUpJooROUjDvFEqc8/s1600/20170611_095538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCrW4M-E82q1O5Lxi7rnFJf8HZXeMVY94mNX6gtGi7Qo7EFx9KDqzF4teXbHd3po39ItnBSne-jq8yoELt1AuxKUqx0knQtAggRVblHcdJzkyDMncK2mOK-IrBYjUpJooROUjDvFEqc8/s320/20170611_095538.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No matter how often we straighten it, it always looks like
this when we return. Maybe it’s this mountain’s way of teaching me to be more Zen.
Maybe I should stop beating myself up and see if the writing flows more easily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Or maybe I'll just go pluck my eyebrows.</span><span style="display: none; mso-hide: all;">the sort of bright, clear </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-3706876998009337792017-06-04T11:26:00.000-04:002017-06-04T11:26:20.397-04:00Saw my first . . .<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">firefly of the summer last night. Ok, it’s not technically
summer, it’s called poetic license and I’m allowed. I get to make up new words,
too. (The picture on it is terrible though. License pictures always are.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’m up at the cabin again, one new road later, (ouch) after
the great Kerrs Creek mini-flood of 2017.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZFn-3ZGXSamfW1Qi9VYD6kZzrvBinQW9-Ua3l40vGyi8WVryKQVfuCOQ2PUZq2o7uJvZbApUhHsiuKVqVeWkanc5wnzsmMXUj8v9BBMnQlkS3Wjd-xcO2JH5tqZQzDVFZtSP_1X3kP4/s1600/20170520_073705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZFn-3ZGXSamfW1Qi9VYD6kZzrvBinQW9-Ua3l40vGyi8WVryKQVfuCOQ2PUZq2o7uJvZbApUhHsiuKVqVeWkanc5wnzsmMXUj8v9BBMnQlkS3Wjd-xcO2JH5tqZQzDVFZtSP_1X3kP4/s320/20170520_073705.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7maD-8yXjbuE0CsQRb4RDM4ZleCNz2Nmh_D1DfLRBM3XE_OSWcrsfbm72i36SeI-1UI5WufS9pLUhQhkZ6gbWGc7klSYD3lhDW3Ux8ykx-x-XQK9xTEZiOaqkfyW74HCKICJnkzb9fZw/s1600/20170520_073725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7maD-8yXjbuE0CsQRb4RDM4ZleCNz2Nmh_D1DfLRBM3XE_OSWcrsfbm72i36SeI-1UI5WufS9pLUhQhkZ6gbWGc7klSYD3lhDW3Ux8ykx-x-XQK9xTEZiOaqkfyW74HCKICJnkzb9fZw/s320/20170520_073725.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhvqcNLYrBrLIqwp3Sq_hiLzO94dwXh941Taqx-3MiRAsfqLg7gESBIYF_bTqsXul3_jrBpkf8UDNNcvYm_0w2cx5tnk9u-TyTlndvFRBv5JW5aUYT6KwtSGIZ74yxYP38Z19jn1zvNI/s1600/20170520_074950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhvqcNLYrBrLIqwp3Sq_hiLzO94dwXh941Taqx-3MiRAsfqLg7gESBIYF_bTqsXul3_jrBpkf8UDNNcvYm_0w2cx5tnk9u-TyTlndvFRBv5JW5aUYT6KwtSGIZ74yxYP38Z19jn1zvNI/s320/20170520_074950.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you didn’t know better, you’d never know anything had
happened. Well, almost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The season seems to have already changed up here, everything
is green and leafed out from the spring rains. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Nothing’s been burnt dry yet by
summer’s heat, everything around me is still ripe and full of promise. The
rhododendrons and mountain laurel are blooming and it looks like it’s going to
be a great year for berries.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzmuG84gumLu2Bb2I7n0WOd5ThT4bzPwKNulezysJckS-1iSsTlInDL1NtIAjdPRUALRCIPA_FCL6S5_f3ffXN-AA1hRnELSzhN6VEOQVcQ4bWEWdxgjQNxhh4CYRFEnd-sYCFpp1NL4/s1600/20170520_073158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzmuG84gumLu2Bb2I7n0WOd5ThT4bzPwKNulezysJckS-1iSsTlInDL1NtIAjdPRUALRCIPA_FCL6S5_f3ffXN-AA1hRnELSzhN6VEOQVcQ4bWEWdxgjQNxhh4CYRFEnd-sYCFpp1NL4/s320/20170520_073158.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswixHDM-SX6AotKI2FAX6JQG2dN8r3H3CBK0i-xs74n1ZqtUrQh9soGHkMDRCivLa7FmHZ6RLHZ1ZzJabcsO4ohN5rscuiLla34TN3LUWBOhp0cHs8s4nuzWAeQpJfO4SOL2RaUyWyKQ/s1600/20170604_083648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswixHDM-SX6AotKI2FAX6JQG2dN8r3H3CBK0i-xs74n1ZqtUrQh9soGHkMDRCivLa7FmHZ6RLHZ1ZzJabcsO4ohN5rscuiLla34TN3LUWBOhp0cHs8s4nuzWAeQpJfO4SOL2RaUyWyKQ/s320/20170604_083648.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzaMihOk0VchvuFqe_YYBFACZIGO9GM9CJt4TpqKQB1opmEHIpDYtDpx8TuquDTkFx8CBtEQ1QkGhsV3QS3_xzwey0ULA0sQ9_vKQqPjkPjBdkmENmdVzxAPr_R1ryod2WNjhbHTqlXR0/s1600/20170604_083636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzaMihOk0VchvuFqe_YYBFACZIGO9GM9CJt4TpqKQB1opmEHIpDYtDpx8TuquDTkFx8CBtEQ1QkGhsV3QS3_xzwey0ULA0sQ9_vKQqPjkPjBdkmENmdVzxAPr_R1ryod2WNjhbHTqlXR0/s320/20170604_083636.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zAMagFUyT-r4yUEDXi_ZFn2KrVyGEp7QgBpZEK-N4lX5lUMlf0viMUyL56Nuy2vhHzjAHHQb0MORtfaiKSFgyZrWiM7C0jI9d_O4KRVZjGOnMgxkZOs3Fry7ExDvv_ogm_2b-5S12BU/s1600/20170520_074101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zAMagFUyT-r4yUEDXi_ZFn2KrVyGEp7QgBpZEK-N4lX5lUMlf0viMUyL56Nuy2vhHzjAHHQb0MORtfaiKSFgyZrWiM7C0jI9d_O4KRVZjGOnMgxkZOs3Fry7ExDvv_ogm_2b-5S12BU/s320/20170520_074101.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZ_Wt_UIun6NnZGMCp6tdbj5BdrKLRcYYlaXQqUKgGahQhLiRhyUSGhqgTJWL2CyU5CbwU9FfwWVs7yrwuRsIp4fP-cpgME6yhQ_GB7HzZoTr0qVkpumAPLawdwwTiG9oOHhu9lnVgJw/s1600/20170604_085610+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZ_Wt_UIun6NnZGMCp6tdbj5BdrKLRcYYlaXQqUKgGahQhLiRhyUSGhqgTJWL2CyU5CbwU9FfwWVs7yrwuRsIp4fP-cpgME6yhQ_GB7HzZoTr0qVkpumAPLawdwwTiG9oOHhu9lnVgJw/s320/20170604_085610+%25281%2529.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Of course, everything can change in an instant. A
few dry weeks at the wrong time and the berries will shrivel, too much rain –
well, you’ve seen what too much rain can do. Just the right amount, though, and
the coral chanterelles will pop up on the banks and the vines will hang heavy with wineberries and blackberries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It’s all a matter of balance, but then, isn’t everything?
I’ve been feeling particularly unbalanced these last few months, as have most
of my friends. And this last governmental action, this pulling out of the Paris
climate change accord, hits home especially hard here at the cabin. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’ve gotten
used to the idea that I have to give this place up. Days go by when I don’t
think about being up here, although one warm evening in town with the windows
open and the sounds of noisy neighbors, lawnmowers, weed whackers, and cars
driving by with their stereos turned all the way up brings memories of quiet
nights on the cabin porch with only the sound of whippoorwills rushing back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If I can’t live here forever on this mountain, I want
someone else to have the joy I’ve experienced here. I want them to love the hot
days and cool nights of summer, the beauty of the intense colors of spring and
fall, the whisper quiet of snow in winter. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I want this patch of earth to be
loved as all the earth should be loved; cherished and taken care of. Not just
for what it can give, but simply for what it is, and what it does to help
balance not only our spirits but the planet’s ecosystem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We need to cherish everywhere, the whole earth, for what it
is, not just for what it can give us. I know this log cabin was built to last,
and 50 years from now it will still be standing. I hope the beauty around it
will also be here, loved and appreciated.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-74190995609266353402017-05-01T10:50:00.000-04:002017-05-01T10:50:37.679-04:00I had intended to write<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A long, fascinating, witty blog. And in fact, I did write
just such a blog on Saturday. Then somehow lost the entire thing while trying
to fight with pictures and captions. Mostly because the blog is all about the
pictures. Except I had a couple of brilliant haiku’s in there which I cannot
possibly re-create. Your loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here’s my attempt to re-create at least part of it, just
because it’s too damn beautiful not to share.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We will start our tour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at the gardens. Spring reveals</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FPvn7Jyi__0riWZkuYAo414YZoqwEZ5IUfoh4g5I7rF4_EutQ0JxtV4HBdMsbQEY2HjFWzk0OGHj2sXRhP4-QXSrt4uXs_NINLrSSjrJ0anWCeUcGTCyBAvZxPZxi69gzY0KkNiPQ8g/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FPvn7Jyi__0riWZkuYAo414YZoqwEZ5IUfoh4g5I7rF4_EutQ0JxtV4HBdMsbQEY2HjFWzk0OGHj2sXRhP4-QXSrt4uXs_NINLrSSjrJ0anWCeUcGTCyBAvZxPZxi69gzY0KkNiPQ8g/s320/cabin+end+of+april+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wild and cultivated columbines</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; text-align: center;">herself in flowe</span><span style="text-align: center;">rs.</span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLVrJE3BgIqNuWyonF6hPzbKC_nvFULNc-RStYLxgSrK1j7zyNFcfqHD5VPL8IVYu8mGE2v1QHBHk-MMXuDWzd4pW9PwDMPUthw1SOxThOee15Q4ZQG4RNhDZlKvHYulg5YyhXtwAUYx4/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLVrJE3BgIqNuWyonF6hPzbKC_nvFULNc-RStYLxgSrK1j7zyNFcfqHD5VPL8IVYu8mGE2v1QHBHk-MMXuDWzd4pW9PwDMPUthw1SOxThOee15Q4ZQG4RNhDZlKvHYulg5YyhXtwAUYx4/s320/cabin+end+of+april+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the garden columbinia (my plural)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfffSDWT6XSTo3fOB9SdXybItfdNsgetg4KdA-7bOcWFrGwR0jUTjDvO59FAwxwMNtL-c2V9MuSTRa0slJW9iH6bq35MtOUP-VO_mOcZMe-Os5b4UcoBMXeAHgGJwtkwScgKyLXvvA8vo/s320/cabin+end+of+april+004.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lilies of the valley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfffSDWT6XSTo3fOB9SdXybItfdNsgetg4KdA-7bOcWFrGwR0jUTjDvO59FAwxwMNtL-c2V9MuSTRa0slJW9iH6bq35MtOUP-VO_mOcZMe-Os5b4UcoBMXeAHgGJwtkwScgKyLXvvA8vo/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfffSDWT6XSTo3fOB9SdXybItfdNsgetg4KdA-7bOcWFrGwR0jUTjDvO59FAwxwMNtL-c2V9MuSTRa0slJW9iH6bq35MtOUP-VO_mOcZMe-Os5b4UcoBMXeAHgGJwtkwScgKyLXvvA8vo/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcr0B1Jl6pz9ReBvkZVpxvTUYzVeIWMmJId_AGfMsTm8eeY_YLH9EtiJnd8x4Om77QO7GkFajoZkgvA5rNRRhnIIPr5ObBPWUYKw8sjwDNVN5XkslBg4hDgwDqj88hRdcPv9DPpfjoY-8/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcr0B1Jl6pz9ReBvkZVpxvTUYzVeIWMmJId_AGfMsTm8eeY_YLH9EtiJnd8x4Om77QO7GkFajoZkgvA5rNRRhnIIPr5ObBPWUYKw8sjwDNVN5XkslBg4hDgwDqj88hRdcPv9DPpfjoY-8/s320/cabin+end+of+april+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">plus rose geranium and some soon to bloom siberian iris in the background</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6KI3QTOGqDJ22PnNyHHnH0VvkyC-Ih8gAHPE7Qssw1VwzGDFjskcMJBqvFdeRiCftvqrhEp38PA6Gc-EKDSk9o3UfMKurFHW9Rv7B__T0ZyH6gXsG-uB-4vDS0Evp-G_mGGJJDpyouM/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6KI3QTOGqDJ22PnNyHHnH0VvkyC-Ih8gAHPE7Qssw1VwzGDFjskcMJBqvFdeRiCftvqrhEp38PA6Gc-EKDSk9o3UfMKurFHW9Rv7B__T0ZyH6gXsG-uB-4vDS0Evp-G_mGGJJDpyouM/s320/cabin+end+of+april+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more rose geranium with wineberry stems and a peach tree. also much mint and garlic chive</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXeoHxdYtHEP5LZsri_6uKhZ8JYECOSVfQKTB_3ylg7TTeCYwFVf0lacNxlA_bMrr8j-0KgokvmNTC_1KJuP3IwF-wferIolmtN_HKrfvdXTQBkar69TMAJfnRWfv1vJKqxZ7qL0KfmsE/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXeoHxdYtHEP5LZsri_6uKhZ8JYECOSVfQKTB_3ylg7TTeCYwFVf0lacNxlA_bMrr8j-0KgokvmNTC_1KJuP3IwF-wferIolmtN_HKrfvdXTQBkar69TMAJfnRWfv1vJKqxZ7qL0KfmsE/s320/cabin+end+of+april+007.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">baby peachlings</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sRIQXxEbZysfHLnIHm4iiJFW8sOoRFiCS_W_mKfhw2GeJUFdy9nQlgzFTIHsJ34o4IRBxhiiih8dA0qCEdueVy7EV6T6VYJznKIQgHbhTV87C89HRFmMX8aaBy7HcddQCrlLyzGeFjM/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sRIQXxEbZysfHLnIHm4iiJFW8sOoRFiCS_W_mKfhw2GeJUFdy9nQlgzFTIHsJ34o4IRBxhiiih8dA0qCEdueVy7EV6T6VYJznKIQgHbhTV87C89HRFmMX8aaBy7HcddQCrlLyzGeFjM/s320/cabin+end+of+april+008.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">just a bit of green for you.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And now we head down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Into gardens planted by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mom Nature herself.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkGkr75zOcoU3LZjvMy1px-oetv40AXaltdJB51asvSiAoCFojq4VgzqLg-fgcpdOEjK-G0_QJEYrgIllGly-eFRif5ehodkL6Sx-WQzl1KfbbUblRONm6Fz8VygXegdcjzz8GS9naeM/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkGkr75zOcoU3LZjvMy1px-oetv40AXaltdJB51asvSiAoCFojq4VgzqLg-fgcpdOEjK-G0_QJEYrgIllGly-eFRif5ehodkL6Sx-WQzl1KfbbUblRONm6Fz8VygXegdcjzz8GS9naeM/s320/cabin+end+of+april+010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">black locust in bloom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Along the way, I’ll<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">endeavor to acquaint you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">with stuff you can eat.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqehRA5Osvce9ESyKnwy7eHQXjtqE2uWS2GErUUzIZ1ZttDz9AFYeh1xgbDfgT-Jb0RJgVeBlnuZ_njvqaHb58XbsN3MT7mGOzjtmVL8xddBBEss0wb2MuhAMTIDC6Ras50fc34hYGHc/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqehRA5Osvce9ESyKnwy7eHQXjtqE2uWS2GErUUzIZ1ZttDz9AFYeh1xgbDfgT-Jb0RJgVeBlnuZ_njvqaHb58XbsN3MT7mGOzjtmVL8xddBBEss0wb2MuhAMTIDC6Ras50fc34hYGHc/s320/cabin+end+of+april+011.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">aside from being amazingly fragrant, the blooms are edible. their taste is kind of a cross between a violet and the way lilacs smell.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWkiMEbPRNo-9VGd71dGzVYWI0KuTCGCEJfjpRDCMA-jadGp7CnHmHiSSFQ0bKVVNqo7RjghRKy5yz-Zi7VULN7NS9s2dJ0Zxl6HufOqoy0ttwayBGvb1cu08kW08yFNAPPi6wmgEf5M/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWkiMEbPRNo-9VGd71dGzVYWI0KuTCGCEJfjpRDCMA-jadGp7CnHmHiSSFQ0bKVVNqo7RjghRKy5yz-Zi7VULN7NS9s2dJ0Zxl6HufOqoy0ttwayBGvb1cu08kW08yFNAPPi6wmgEf5M/s320/cabin+end+of+april+014.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ease on down the road</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE9SmEaieuJZICXWADtYrYnEOQAVztWmwoQZZNuGAj_XHxU49JCS-dtVaXnzQfxv5BiMFunm5AUsEmi3jWvDvJ7muJ9GHUchOPDyoLdOFrW6KoMyy4rIekfI2KKxOZ9FyFplMKxpjGqtc/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE9SmEaieuJZICXWADtYrYnEOQAVztWmwoQZZNuGAj_XHxU49JCS-dtVaXnzQfxv5BiMFunm5AUsEmi3jWvDvJ7muJ9GHUchOPDyoLdOFrW6KoMyy4rIekfI2KKxOZ9FyFplMKxpjGqtc/s320/cabin+end+of+april+015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not ragweed, altho often mistaken. also not edible. chrysopsis mariana to you.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsV6a87a9zbSfDtQbdcbDzl_iJn0-ACnTxUWCpYsn3zTnefSf9W2tjOKXds_WbHe1qZVx6PivO-qLPiLoMz38-XOn5KzKNtEuY2eH3Wn4yq-bXbdR-_GvoBErA8CvBxdN6Q2_lW19WTp8/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsV6a87a9zbSfDtQbdcbDzl_iJn0-ACnTxUWCpYsn3zTnefSf9W2tjOKXds_WbHe1qZVx6PivO-qLPiLoMz38-XOn5KzKNtEuY2eH3Wn4yq-bXbdR-_GvoBErA8CvBxdN6Q2_lW19WTp8/s320/cabin+end+of+april+016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">but right purty they are</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg87EWgZ5v15biBuwsNYsj_rhIXUKKYF0CBF6eiokmTHn8197yU_7Kv-o-dE-lofH3Y3FFQ8T86P9r9UoeMF4DaADmsRv0uv92t5sQciG96u7miXUuOZjNlkaLl5LSzXcJx_prPF-SbqU/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg87EWgZ5v15biBuwsNYsj_rhIXUKKYF0CBF6eiokmTHn8197yU_7Kv-o-dE-lofH3Y3FFQ8T86P9r9UoeMF4DaADmsRv0uv92t5sQciG96u7miXUuOZjNlkaLl5LSzXcJx_prPF-SbqU/s320/cabin+end+of+april+017.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">purslane in bloom. edible. better picture to follow, somewhere in this mess</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzRURFz5LemNi33mkdaJlSlPLKWWWIh1pTWZ2SJoVxD6PIHXtYEMbHr_1TT8OOShARPLFhm_Kc347YVfAVp815B7nNs4sqRprc8MLhGFppHhi_76y-nzaJGWxN8BhFhNasdBDbA1No9s/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzRURFz5LemNi33mkdaJlSlPLKWWWIh1pTWZ2SJoVxD6PIHXtYEMbHr_1TT8OOShARPLFhm_Kc347YVfAVp815B7nNs4sqRprc8MLhGFppHhi_76y-nzaJGWxN8BhFhNasdBDbA1No9s/s320/cabin+end+of+april+018.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">just the creek after the rain. just because.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5gneUCBDrMN6wH4b897G740geD-yOGAiQbabvPPYXncR2YaH76lw0KW0egr04JF6blGVylyl6shsuLNJsH4g5i9Y5MOjaUOpyEubr83nKwSm3k-_4cfXYwKYLi4K9s6FhuCjqp7x29k/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5gneUCBDrMN6wH4b897G740geD-yOGAiQbabvPPYXncR2YaH76lw0KW0egr04JF6blGVylyl6shsuLNJsH4g5i9Y5MOjaUOpyEubr83nKwSm3k-_4cfXYwKYLi4K9s6FhuCjqp7x29k/s320/cabin+end+of+april+019.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">also. what she said above.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don’t stop now, so much<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">More to see and learn about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Surely not done yet?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixW27Hs1FkFzeA92gxpkmm5-EO2fMFIFWfaw-eHLJowNLJUaFsiSGuqyLOTRTE6c-TF8YNE0NW040ukO3pY5Fdj3x5U-TMJEnyztY9yrZY9QBqcmGrUYp4fPOYzCB2X0KNFpjJ2DISHUQ/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixW27Hs1FkFzeA92gxpkmm5-EO2fMFIFWfaw-eHLJowNLJUaFsiSGuqyLOTRTE6c-TF8YNE0NW040ukO3pY5Fdj3x5U-TMJEnyztY9yrZY9QBqcmGrUYp4fPOYzCB2X0KNFpjJ2DISHUQ/s320/cabin+end+of+april+020.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wild garlic mustard. edible. lovely in salads or cooked with other greens. and don't call it shirley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkEI0UaHi28x5QkIMT8tKZtSKDw6FFpxHA8tZnu0XQoET5RUn69tc3jo8rAzsLG3xk5BM39xIvBZxaO3a0d6E_F-G1rjnASbRRvKPjd0Tu-PuHhDyx4KQR57vYqCFLfavrnKhyphenhyphenKbC2YM/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkEI0UaHi28x5QkIMT8tKZtSKDw6FFpxHA8tZnu0XQoET5RUn69tc3jo8rAzsLG3xk5BM39xIvBZxaO3a0d6E_F-G1rjnASbRRvKPjd0Tu-PuHhDyx4KQR57vYqCFLfavrnKhyphenhyphenKbC2YM/s320/cabin+end+of+april+021.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">say hello to my little friend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qEqmnHMLSpth1y3MhQUCB78De9E07QH8SerIQF-2cBES1Nt6Hz9IjTG6-oejxzz8D-H25qsmyQPKk8BEqi8uKS3cOqdmOXUfKd-9SHVVKQ-G2CinA66wNTTS4ZdKrW4BGL4sse0iHvk/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qEqmnHMLSpth1y3MhQUCB78De9E07QH8SerIQF-2cBES1Nt6Hz9IjTG6-oejxzz8D-H25qsmyQPKk8BEqi8uKS3cOqdmOXUfKd-9SHVVKQ-G2CinA66wNTTS4ZdKrW4BGL4sse0iHvk/s320/cabin+end+of+april+023.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="direction: rtl; text-align: center;">winter cress. edible , tho better young. a bit bitter. flowers taste like a cross between broccoli and mustard flowers.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQPFnVPNgw49K3EsOEcBmLmfWlt3coL92EjDiIfZKUu9vgWz17obRzGjSDMwZPvoPHuSxZuON5P7c62N8hS6H1iviR9YXP7N0W9oZDm5_jhJ3hQp5SepnasPoBuj_DtQjhfFGeqS5sdY/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQPFnVPNgw49K3EsOEcBmLmfWlt3coL92EjDiIfZKUu9vgWz17obRzGjSDMwZPvoPHuSxZuON5P7c62N8hS6H1iviR9YXP7N0W9oZDm5_jhJ3hQp5SepnasPoBuj_DtQjhfFGeqS5sdY/s320/cabin+end+of+april+025.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a better look at purslane</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQ577MHtZKBxCS34A8UJg15qf1TJI59EZaa0Ub8b-0mRziuAaVCwOvYL7huu_kQ307SyqVQ-w_hJHIi_lzZMZaP93xYch-jtCmNxJhsB3rWz3LByu6UNd3CYKQ4TIBba7NwXnJ2vBwYU/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQ577MHtZKBxCS34A8UJg15qf1TJI59EZaa0Ub8b-0mRziuAaVCwOvYL7huu_kQ307SyqVQ-w_hJHIi_lzZMZaP93xYch-jtCmNxJhsB3rWz3LByu6UNd3CYKQ4TIBba7NwXnJ2vBwYU/s320/cabin+end+of+april+027.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">water cress in the stream. winter cress's more popular sister</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVkNNcsWqs2xEhLdYtofkuwiQx7Ec_odHegj5j1nEKGVCp3Hzd0MTkOJ8SBnD92ZUEUvFHVbLqUwAMwSTPUH1the6XnvnK1JtQlPB0VfAgAGg8vgoWSpMrRt59oQhjAkzRelmankeYxg/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVkNNcsWqs2xEhLdYtofkuwiQx7Ec_odHegj5j1nEKGVCp3Hzd0MTkOJ8SBnD92ZUEUvFHVbLqUwAMwSTPUH1the6XnvnK1JtQlPB0VfAgAGg8vgoWSpMrRt59oQhjAkzRelmankeYxg/s320/cabin+end+of+april+028.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There’s nothing like it,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The sound of a creek, tumbling<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Over polished stones.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOw09ZzSosMFTny0DhYyHPj3kclyCxV1173yx_fRGhT0mJmqyaL9jDeRMwqIR8ar4BKJiSKHLk0VOwzgm7R9JFZkdSmsubTcoPGJYaCWS26o_9YvIBQnP6eq06iymwEjvT3w1XNSXYrE/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOw09ZzSosMFTny0DhYyHPj3kclyCxV1173yx_fRGhT0mJmqyaL9jDeRMwqIR8ar4BKJiSKHLk0VOwzgm7R9JFZkdSmsubTcoPGJYaCWS26o_9YvIBQnP6eq06iymwEjvT3w1XNSXYrE/s320/cabin+end+of+april+029.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEY10-r8t7v3IBex9NOuyRh_WXxlplaltCgNGffClpHKE_u5Lih_TXuOc-HSoS8Hg2YT81g518GgzDUqfxPxLoyRw3SynR7tAlrOfPpFh_Eiqg2FebzIHb5qN-Mqy5bZatn9eVnEQd5VE/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEY10-r8t7v3IBex9NOuyRh_WXxlplaltCgNGffClpHKE_u5Lih_TXuOc-HSoS8Hg2YT81g518GgzDUqfxPxLoyRw3SynR7tAlrOfPpFh_Eiqg2FebzIHb5qN-Mqy5bZatn9eVnEQd5VE/s320/cabin+end+of+april+030.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY5trwSMWhAeHMNIcqwGRiQ7lQDTe5zIGZi85CyMjZ_v7P_-eud3dn9JqM7THr4rcTXpnBDJlbfRHBu_r2PJ6XI8ujkrbEHK3JL5SymBctPzX7sEBVC08le7_FZvDJmXzXdXtvMMI95Es/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY5trwSMWhAeHMNIcqwGRiQ7lQDTe5zIGZi85CyMjZ_v7P_-eud3dn9JqM7THr4rcTXpnBDJlbfRHBu_r2PJ6XI8ujkrbEHK3JL5SymBctPzX7sEBVC08le7_FZvDJmXzXdXtvMMI95Es/s320/cabin+end+of+april+031.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pink clover, before flowering. all parts of this plant are edible. No thanks to Euell</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO5ykLuopvFUsAedRqx36TAZMBqRbtlPP5D6nsFTTen1cim9CdG_hZajCNOQxbRv2J2ACdsJ5fC14otzzTk_VoWOalSxagrZ5539UTczskfH_2ckZDomd6xjgcO5dUiATDViDUPnipFTY/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO5ykLuopvFUsAedRqx36TAZMBqRbtlPP5D6nsFTTen1cim9CdG_hZajCNOQxbRv2J2ACdsJ5fC14otzzTk_VoWOalSxagrZ5539UTczskfH_2ckZDomd6xjgcO5dUiATDViDUPnipFTY/s320/cabin+end+of+april+032.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">plantain. the other kind. edible and lovely raw or stirfried. tastes like mushrooms. I threw in the dandelion gratis cause people consider them edible. not me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpDrQbEExchjmBKgdkBTjZsgPmsLrrKo4_zNiaNKIuNuV2avCuGbjoPQVbq1oPm1umhAzjW1XQVzIOnk_SQrc3U8ehOhVCQDfDpo88AI68LWa78u6KEpqY-6bh1XnShgLmCS8BvPKB-w/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpDrQbEExchjmBKgdkBTjZsgPmsLrrKo4_zNiaNKIuNuV2avCuGbjoPQVbq1oPm1umhAzjW1XQVzIOnk_SQrc3U8ehOhVCQDfDpo88AI68LWa78u6KEpqY-6bh1XnShgLmCS8BvPKB-w/s320/cabin+end+of+april+039.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wineberry vine. the leaves make lovely tea now. the berries are magnificent later</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYMeCV9dwrDgHulJQm9vDZ3njpRWNJL7YE0YQqTJaMDbup5gB0Hf2pAYypU9wiQWSQL79nrm8dy4ysZEOtSJ4eXn9x0mW2QFVdKLA7tu6P_hBh_hf5J38MGoGaKs4LRV0WO83h9Nq_AQ/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYMeCV9dwrDgHulJQm9vDZ3njpRWNJL7YE0YQqTJaMDbup5gB0Hf2pAYypU9wiQWSQL79nrm8dy4ysZEOtSJ4eXn9x0mW2QFVdKLA7tu6P_hBh_hf5J38MGoGaKs4LRV0WO83h9Nq_AQ/s320/cabin+end+of+april+040.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">miami mist not edible</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSABrLxmYVVSpiY3UufU_INEaki8j9WDzfn0kZcMLJtfwtLFtbVPUFekSDafI9HUdn_gMC_rmC5G-2g8gRS0z6Z6OQ9rGWggHQseCvRjHuuT_aoGLo8JSvAD82hNnRWrJcgzwr3M040A/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSABrLxmYVVSpiY3UufU_INEaki8j9WDzfn0kZcMLJtfwtLFtbVPUFekSDafI9HUdn_gMC_rmC5G-2g8gRS0z6Z6OQ9rGWggHQseCvRjHuuT_aoGLo8JSvAD82hNnRWrJcgzwr3M040A/s320/cabin+end+of+april+041.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">chickweed. my favorite spring green. i like it even more than violet leaves. very high in vitamins c and a</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5gdKbojIaK11M8aunELdrnyyPz2GsUJ_3eb5RHTQDjkk4lZ4usiTweFJx2eY7Z-WpzY1S19M7OBEj8dXEvH-KCN7klqOghUaKD17nNMpGkYYhAu3t2MiuNY8CxC3PlM2RMFyNdQf0F0/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5gdKbojIaK11M8aunELdrnyyPz2GsUJ_3eb5RHTQDjkk4lZ4usiTweFJx2eY7Z-WpzY1S19M7OBEj8dXEvH-KCN7klqOghUaKD17nNMpGkYYhAu3t2MiuNY8CxC3PlM2RMFyNdQf0F0/s320/cabin+end+of+april+022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the white stuff is wild aster</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zhGo0QJhiARBI3gGQfR8mjd24fI15uqKojb0gqN_mltvHDeN76RtQowYWrHjmOIqykAWUvaqFuQhCDPQt51fq3-Wb2MV_8qo_nl59HGbu8uKA2Bx0D6_lsnfS47-AIlWe-cMDFgxKmE/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zhGo0QJhiARBI3gGQfR8mjd24fI15uqKojb0gqN_mltvHDeN76RtQowYWrHjmOIqykAWUvaqFuQhCDPQt51fq3-Wb2MV_8qo_nl59HGbu8uKA2Bx0D6_lsnfS47-AIlWe-cMDFgxKmE/s320/cabin+end+of+april+038.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my darling chickweed at its finest</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMXkMJ932ieovYKm3rEqGgIfvA1wAQExwSq5u6dRDtAdxrU6VTaZAYrM3GsJadC64Ljdov5yGki28ZJwqyT6lksX3Vc4C_wf_mp_lKUpmWUk3O0rcp9zC0y0RgZKAL-kJeCBsNfCZNRuc/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMXkMJ932ieovYKm3rEqGgIfvA1wAQExwSq5u6dRDtAdxrU6VTaZAYrM3GsJadC64Ljdov5yGki28ZJwqyT6lksX3Vc4C_wf_mp_lKUpmWUk3O0rcp9zC0y0RgZKAL-kJeCBsNfCZNRuc/s320/cabin+end+of+april+042.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wild strawberries, not in bloom.<br />you can eat the flowers. but why would you when you can wait and have berries?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XZjVR0mDhNlEuy13P5S1a_Fi6cWSze_iHpEdxs63CSYyJWAhfAndn0ypOLHYk0l54i3-FIshxBE1XT3DfDtsYM0hUb451qDJI_4EQjyZPNkLqWuNjjpLBo4w3gn6Gj3Nh5QgNyHOBS8/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XZjVR0mDhNlEuy13P5S1a_Fi6cWSze_iHpEdxs63CSYyJWAhfAndn0ypOLHYk0l54i3-FIshxBE1XT3DfDtsYM0hUb451qDJI_4EQjyZPNkLqWuNjjpLBo4w3gn6Gj3Nh5QgNyHOBS8/s320/cabin+end+of+april+043.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i don't know their names. lets call them all alice.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39D7KTw6mqBstaTNfFrIfIJAFwVZmMswancen5HVja1_6fVfpbA7KKYJUgcQyfJ95U67vsxs66YY6_W3WdpgSiFpafQLHZ3dfkM53A7oefZ_qhI1C5wjwLlzN6OgidxAWLDs7CKY3bcs/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39D7KTw6mqBstaTNfFrIfIJAFwVZmMswancen5HVja1_6fVfpbA7KKYJUgcQyfJ95U67vsxs66YY6_W3WdpgSiFpafQLHZ3dfkM53A7oefZ_qhI1C5wjwLlzN6OgidxAWLDs7CKY3bcs/s320/cabin+end+of+april+044.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wild aster again.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5AAq9ncYzkm3moehc6SNI-ITFCpK9HECRZFYjWrJQW02xHFU8ov9Th830S8nzkfE69MAvGmfTcM2c9aLj7bDvunE7XDH5YkuU0m5-rYMJ4OCO2IavM_dbfk57eGaWMDzncht_QUti2sM/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5AAq9ncYzkm3moehc6SNI-ITFCpK9HECRZFYjWrJQW02xHFU8ov9Th830S8nzkfE69MAvGmfTcM2c9aLj7bDvunE7XDH5YkuU0m5-rYMJ4OCO2IavM_dbfk57eGaWMDzncht_QUti2sM/s320/cabin+end+of+april+045.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we call this heal-all. but i think it's not. feel free to correct me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoDk-oCrGxlaEojOuO31nSnlSPfxPzWDHq_1m7Op1cWqHz7ChicUZ0voYEUeoRMXD8MS9d8Zzh3DfMhXMNesgxTpA4c42vEAknbfyMN9687c_eprwWnrEZOIBSkUPPyRTaUOZSER6e3M/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoDk-oCrGxlaEojOuO31nSnlSPfxPzWDHq_1m7Op1cWqHz7ChicUZ0voYEUeoRMXD8MS9d8Zzh3DfMhXMNesgxTpA4c42vEAknbfyMN9687c_eprwWnrEZOIBSkUPPyRTaUOZSER6e3M/s320/cabin+end+of+april+046.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">violet leaves. remember what i said earlier? i'm nit going to repeat myself</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9r6xJuduixVYDrAOtkJ_aju6PBE-v-oJ4MX4lYSyTVupV6fWnp0tf_qWvfBCsde-jDlVC5A3KxPswOyoaXA5BHppJRNsCCNfGSLZTt5-qb8ATx6VXadtUWvEdP3fHqDfl9b14ZYPx4I8/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9r6xJuduixVYDrAOtkJ_aju6PBE-v-oJ4MX4lYSyTVupV6fWnp0tf_qWvfBCsde-jDlVC5A3KxPswOyoaXA5BHppJRNsCCNfGSLZTt5-qb8ATx6VXadtUWvEdP3fHqDfl9b14ZYPx4I8/s320/cabin+end+of+april+047.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the only wild azalea i've found on the propertty</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPV3h9OXZR6totxpJ6qfpehxzwJVOUIGT28_sUixOwjw-_GpuQ18ZraqycdRXd5PLM9vca1X45Cj9VoyNEmeLDIVFA1A6mJsJ4aATAvieAqdCF1AbPhyINNbegcT-iaFnn20tH7_uuWyw/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPV3h9OXZR6totxpJ6qfpehxzwJVOUIGT28_sUixOwjw-_GpuQ18ZraqycdRXd5PLM9vca1X45Cj9VoyNEmeLDIVFA1A6mJsJ4aATAvieAqdCF1AbPhyINNbegcT-iaFnn20tH7_uuWyw/s320/cabin+end+of+april+048.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">another view of black locust</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyStAC_JZ-5vjBNryfe0m6Bya53EQKyv7vczwnyumzGSDQmQ55uT9xjZb_yaYlvsLlBl_WVv224dMW9jT6dah911L74b67jnHUB1aEhTqMvX8vmiiehUfEueMRWXvtmSUz3LjSAqZHgSU/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyStAC_JZ-5vjBNryfe0m6Bya53EQKyv7vczwnyumzGSDQmQ55uT9xjZb_yaYlvsLlBl_WVv224dMW9jT6dah911L74b67jnHUB1aEhTqMvX8vmiiehUfEueMRWXvtmSUz3LjSAqZHgSU/s320/cabin+end+of+april+050.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">deerberry. berries look like green blueberrys but never change color. edible, but why would you unless starving.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdYWx0FsIOviXYsWVo5OB31itMp-8YxGgq5ICoT538YnyOh-4TGQFURVIPUEF_QbXH75ttZWf5LOAxZkHskaypggGY8Nb7S5rUEhz6aU9Yvv82KXbleYalrJYAXMcIp2wvMksxxZjCow/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdYWx0FsIOviXYsWVo5OB31itMp-8YxGgq5ICoT538YnyOh-4TGQFURVIPUEF_QbXH75ttZWf5LOAxZkHskaypggGY8Nb7S5rUEhz6aU9Yvv82KXbleYalrJYAXMcIp2wvMksxxZjCow/s320/cabin+end+of+april+052.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wild blueberry or huckleberry. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBzSTUGTdEsi03TsoYlXXiWjKiiVL-tM2uK0W5G1VEdcbvf-F862I6alBRjm5_xhNlmIxaMvjlmmccVl-6s6d_Ap_PgFLW_jgInsnII4ETc9HMgzC6AQ1_hUKZn36PZejGXHDuTGQSN0/s1600/cabin+end+of+april+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBzSTUGTdEsi03TsoYlXXiWjKiiVL-tM2uK0W5G1VEdcbvf-F862I6alBRjm5_xhNlmIxaMvjlmmccVl-6s6d_Ap_PgFLW_jgInsnII4ETc9HMgzC6AQ1_hUKZn36PZejGXHDuTGQSN0/s320/cabin+end+of+april+012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of the rhododendrons getting ready to bud<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This ends our program</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for today. Time to head home.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">New beauty awaits.</span></div>
<div>
<br /><br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-40392036240455180992017-04-02T11:13:00.000-04:002017-04-02T11:13:46.931-04:00Seems like…<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">just about the only time I write blogs anymore is when I’m
up at the cabin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Except for when I’m committing acts of shameless
self-promotion, of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This morning is no exception. I woke to a sunrise with a
forest fire palate of color, red and orange flame shot through with smoky gray –
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">yeah, I know. Morning here brings out the maudlin poet in
me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’ve come up here with the supposed intention of working on
my new book. I wrote novel first, but then erased it. Somehow calling something
I’m writing a novel feels pretentious. I say <i>supposed intention </i>because I’ve brought the manuscript up here the
last three times I’ve visited and have yet to work on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m only fooling myself. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>There’s
no one else to fool, and even I don’t really believe myself anymore.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Which
is kind of sad, if you think about it. Or possibly it’s just realistic. In any
case, the weather has been unusually warm and the sun is out, as it has been
for the last couple of my visits. I can’t possibly be expected to work under
these conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Absolutely honest truth? I’m stuck. This book is <i>so</i> tantalizingly close to completion. Most of the corrections at
this point are minor ones, places where there are a few to many words, or not
quite enough. Mostly places that need expounding upon. I’m a bit of a poet when
I write fiction. I tend to use as few words as possible, so that my first
drafts often resemble other people’s outlines. Then I have to go back and flesh
out the bones. That’s writer talk. It sounds much classier than having to say <i>now I have</i> <i>to go back and describe Sally’s dress</i>. (Or for those of you who
have heard me expound upon Lynn Emanuel’s essay, <a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/politics-narrative-why-i-am-poet" target="_blank">I have to get Raul to the elevator</a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finished doesn’t mean ready for the printer, of course. In
this case it means ready enough to try and find an agent with it. I’ve been
lucky up until this point and haven’t really needed to find an agent. Although
in at least one case I probably would’ve been better off with an agent then
with a publisher who took my book. Sour grapes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The woods here are full of wild grapes. Some of the older
vines are literally as thick around as my wrist. Sometimes you’ll find a tree
with a vine has grown into the trunk, winding its way up from the forest floor
into the branches –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m stuck because I can’t find the right voice for one of my
characters. I think I know what she feels and how she acts and why she does the
things she does but I can’t get the words right. There’s a couple of factors in
the book that make this more difficult. This character’s not in any dialogue,
which is where you can use abbreviations and spellings and made-up words that
just don’t make a lot of sense on the page otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She’s not the main character, but she’s vital to the book.
So I’ve got to get this right. It’s important enough that when I try to start
in on it now, several months after I sent the book to my first readers, and got
the same comments about her voice from all of them, I choke. I read tons of
books and listen to tons of people and I think I’ve got it, but each time I try
it just isn’t right yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I not only have to get Raul to the elevator, I have to give
him a voice. Preferably one that will make you want to get on the elevator with
him, and ride the whole way up. Or down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I took a break to wander around the internet. I belong to a
great page on Facebook where you can buy and sell anything in the county, from
baby clothes to a `92 Mazda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wonder if I could buy a teenage girl’s voice there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I bet I could. And it would be authentic as hell. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-69621998332485829052017-03-06T09:43:00.000-05:002017-03-06T09:43:54.348-05:00As I may have reminded you before . . .<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm going to be doing several readings and workshops with elementary schools at the Virginia Festival of the Book </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://vabook.org/" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">http://vabook.org/</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> in a few weeks. It's a crafty scheme to get <i>Washed Up in the Waves </i>in front of new audiences. because that's what authors do. We try and get people to read our books. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know, crazy, huh? I'll bet you thought we just sat in our houses (or offices or studios or garrets or curled up in bed in our pajamas) and wrote books.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You probably also thought beautiful lucid prose and/or poetry flowed out of us without effort,winging its way from brain to page with nary a correction or afterthought.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have some bad new for you about the tooth fairy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My point, (and I occasionally <i>do</i> have them) is that a book needs publicity. More than that, it needs good publicity. And while not all of you dear gentle readers of mine happen to be book reviews for the NYT or the Guardian or even the local Supermarket Shopper rag, most of you have fingers. At least two, which is all<i> I </i>type with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And here's the odd thing about the dark interwebnet- the more times your name or the name of your book pops up on it, the more often people will then be able to find you. Or something like that. My brilliant nephew attempted to explain this to me when he built my beautiful new website and embedded all sorts of mystical magical potions into the site. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But how can I help, you may ask?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, I am sure of few things in life. But I <i>do </i>know that many more than 13 of you have read <i>Washed Up in the Waves</i>. I know this because I have dark mystical powers (and also the sales figures from my publisher). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maybe not all who have purchased have read. Although, come on, people, it's 28 pages and half of them are pictures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So do help me out here. Click on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Washed-Up-Waves-Margo-Solod/dp/0983556539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488810856&sr=8-1&keywords=margo+solod" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Washed-Up-Waves-Margo-Solod/dp/0983556539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488810856&sr=8-1&keywords=margo+solod</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You don't have to actually write a review. Just gimme some stars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of course if you want to write some thing like "A heartbreaking work of magnificent brilliance," or "I laughed, I cried, I went out into the multitudes and did good works,"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that'd be ok too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or you could just copy and paste the above.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">xxoo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">p.s. If you are on Goodreads please feel free to star me there too. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29662775-washed-up-in-the-waves?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29662775-washed-up-in-the-waves?ac=1&from_search=true</a></span><br />
And we thank you in advance for your support.<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-81517485946377921972017-02-19T10:51:00.000-05:002017-02-19T11:31:35.624-05:00Memory . . .<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Is an odd duck. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In my 30’s I traveled a great deal, crossing
the country numerous times. Always alone or with my shepherd mix Jessethedog,
(to distinguish her from Jessie the girl or Jesse the boy, naturally) I drove
the back roads, farm roads and ranch roads of America looking for the unusual
and the absurd. Sometimes just looking.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To harken back to ducks for a moment, my first car, a red
Datsun B-210, had a line of duck decals on the bumper. I placed them there so I
could truthfully say that there was one place I had my ducks in a row. That car
also had an Anderson for president bumper sticker. But I digress- <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One of my early trips involved a southerly route, for no
better reason than I wanted to visit Joshua Tree National Monument. A fine
reason in and of itself, I felt, and after admiring both the trees and my
favorite part, a series of signs at the entrance to the park- YOU ARE NOW ENTERING
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL FOREST, then immediately afterward- JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL
FOREST, and literally five feet after that, a large sign with an arrow pointing
to the only type of vegetation visible for miles,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -> JOSHUA TREES.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Astoundingly enough, that was another digression. You see,
the more I type, in an odd duckish way (is duckish a word? And what is an odd
duck anyway?) the more I remember other things. But . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To get to the point, (Oh, please, Margo, get to the point!) after
getting my fill of the wondrous twisted alien creatures that are Joshua trees I
decided it only made sense to continue my southerly route by heading towards
and through Death Valley.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After all, it was winter, and I had a jug of water. I also had almost
bald tires and an odd clattering noise coming from somewhere in the chassis but
fortunately that was before cell phones. plus I’d been camping the last few
nights so hadn't heard a weather report and had no way of knowing this was a freakishly hot week with strong winds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Don’t worry. I did not break down and die a horrible death
in the desert. That’s yet another story. Years later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I was, however, engulfed in clouds of borax whipped from the
old mines by sirocco winds, thick dust that rapidly overtaxed my air conditioning
filter. A lucky twist of fate as without the need to wait out the blowing clouds it’s unlikely I’d have
ventured into the tiny town of Death Valley Junction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Although once there, I couldn’t pass up the chance to visit the
Amargosa Opera House. If only because this
was a town far too small and quiet to have a movie theater, let alone an Opera
House. Basically pre-Internet, I had no
way to Google any information, so had to explore on my own, with my actual feet and my
actual eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Thank heaven for
clouds of borax. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was no performance at the opera house that day, but the lobby door was open. I could just glimpse the lavish, faded interior from a bygone era and the mural filled auditorium walls. It looked as if a bizarre, colorful audience had been painted in, patiently waiting for something to happen. I wished I could join them, and almost stayed around. But it was hot, and there was no place to camp. So the dog and I moved on, heading toward the bright lights of Vegas, or at least some place with a Ford dealership.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Several years later I happened upon a documentary about Marta Becket and realized what I'd seen, or almost seen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wrote a poem about the experience. I’ve
unearthed and present it here. I made some corrections, as it was an early and
not very good poem. (It’s still not a very good poem, but it’s better than the
original. Trust me.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";"> The Diva Of Death Valley Junction <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">You’re almost embarrassed
for her,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">this pretend
prima in her own ghost town,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">until with a
grand gesture <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">she unveils her
scrapbooks-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">yellowed
programs, curling 8x10's<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">herself,so much younger,
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">nearly famous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">Not a star, but<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">if she’d stayed
in the City. . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">Look past her mask-like
makeup,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">flesh out the
skeletal body <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">over which her
best costume’s draped, and <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">you almost feel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">you should remember
her name. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">So you keep
watching, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">a part of you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">dances with her
as the camera<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">follows her down
the hall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">Pirouetting
around a pile <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">of fallen
plaster,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">exposed water
pipe for a barre,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">she leads her
audience <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">into the ancient,
crumbling opera house <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">A Grand Entrance <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">onto her personal
stage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">Twice daily
she'll perform here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">for passing
tourists or alone,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">and you'll think
of her<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">each day at two
o'clock,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">dancing for the bright murals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">she has painted
on three walls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">Her vision of the
perfect audience:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">nuns,
conquistadors, her ex-husband <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "courier new";">as the King of
Spain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The point of this whole story is that this memory was
triggered by a sad news story this week. Marta Becket, the Diva of Death
Valley Junction, died last month at the age of 92.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wish I'd stayed around a day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Find out more of the story at:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/01/marta-becket-ballerina-mojave-desert-obit/" target="_blank">http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/01/marta-becket-ballerina-mojave-desert-obit/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Becket" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Becket</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-67386451580969718472017-01-17T12:32:00.003-05:002017-01-17T12:32:31.743-05:00Big news . . .<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Washed Up in the Waves</i></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">has been selected for the Virginia
Festival of the Book! <a href="http://vabook.org/" target="_blank">http://vabook.org/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It’s not <b>all the way super </b>exciting in that I won’t be
reading at one of the bookstore venues. So don’t rush to buy those plane
tickets and make your hotel reservations. Save that for the seats to the
Broadway musical which I am <i>sure </i>will come along any day now. Admit it, I’m at least as singable as Dr. Seuss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Spell check informs
me singable is not a word. Spell check has obviously not heard my morning songs
to the dogs. I am every bit as singable as Sondheim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I will be doing a minimum of four classroom visits over 2-3
days. Possibly more, and the book will be on the website and available at all
venues in Charlottesville. Which will be lovely. I am also trying to get my
publisher to take a table at the Saturday publishing venue in the Omni. Feel
free to hound and harass them to do so. <a href="http://www.marinermedia.com/" target="_blank">marinermedia.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of course he could also be persuaded by book sales.
Apparently, (astoundingly enough) not all of you have purchased this book yet. Now, you may be
thinking, “But Margo, I don’t have a small child 2-10 to give this book to.” Or
even, “To whom to give this book,” because I know some of my friends are grammar
control freaks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I will grant you, it is a pricy paperback to buy just
because you adore me. Although that is certainly a fine reason in and of
itself. (Yes, grammar check, I <i>know</i> that is a sentence fragment. After all these years of typing together,you don't </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">know me well enough</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> not to bother pointing
those out? I am deeply hurt, spell check)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But really, have you checked out the E-book price? 3.99!
Less that a double skinny mochachino or whatever it is you drink with all the
foam on top. I see you, frothy drink
buyers-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So go buy the book. If you have prime on amazon it’s
practically free. Maybe it is free. I don’t usually buy my own E-books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Buy the book. Send Margo to camp. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh, wait. That’s a different
campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, go buy it. If you don’t like it tell me and I will
refund the purchase price and send Vinny over to erase it from your mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We thank you for your support.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINAK21dYRf-WSoV5ktXEeslvbqYYHfGfx3K3EJozDdRrdtl0X08WDtUha6Q6LRbpZnylcz8ldnE0_PBUAocG3Iu7KIWUIjC-W-XSpJ_WqhYqfPivDiFKEJlcq8WPYWPMP3wVLq5J6FrM/s1600/Washed+up+in+the+Waves+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINAK21dYRf-WSoV5ktXEeslvbqYYHfGfx3K3EJozDdRrdtl0X08WDtUha6Q6LRbpZnylcz8ldnE0_PBUAocG3Iu7KIWUIjC-W-XSpJ_WqhYqfPivDiFKEJlcq8WPYWPMP3wVLq5J6FrM/s320/Washed+up+in+the+Waves+front+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
By the way, Calvin never did come through. Will trade books for venison.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-85966892600165314042016-11-30T11:23:00.000-05:002016-11-30T11:23:27.531-05:00I couldn’t make up my mind<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What to call this blog, vacillating between “Calvin, if you
are reading this” and “I hope next month is kinder to you.” Then I realized
there’s not a chance in hell Calvin reads my blog, and for a few (very few,
mind you, but a few) of my readers, November was just fine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Plus, neither of these topics is really what the blog is
about, at least it doesn’t seem so at this point. Although I freely admit I
never know at this point where a blog will end up. Or how it will get to
wherever it is going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am up at the cabin for a few days for the first time in
too long. And it’s raining, a deep, heavy rain, also for the first time in too
long. I’m not even unhappy about being kept mostly inside, as this rain is a
godsend to firefighters across the southeast. We were not burning here, but
across the mountain huge swaths of Amherst county blackened. Fires elsewhere in
Virginia and North Carolina raged across tinder dry forests. And my beloved
Smokey Mountains burned out of control Monday, devastating the towns that hold
many of my fondest childhood memories. These towns grew exponentially in
intervening years, and what was there on Sunday, I know, bore not the slightest
resemblance to the small towns of my youth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now it bears no resemblance to anyone’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This rain may runnel the road, may force us to spend even
more money and time smoothing and shaping, clearing ditches, making pretty for
any potential buyer. Our mountain home is still on the market with no serious inquiries,
something that both saddens me and makes me happy. We will have it at least
though the spring, so I don’t have to say a final goodbye just yet. And yet,
this drawn-out farewell takes its toll in more than money and time. It’s a slow
wearing down in my soul. The decision has been made to leave it behind, now I
am anxious to move on. That’s the way I have always been. I loathe leaving
where I am until I go, then I have little desire to look back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For years in my travels I tried never to take the same route
twice. And when I landed someplace I was there, roots down, firmly entrenched.
Until it was time to leave. The older you get, the more constrictions you
place, or have placed on your life. And the harder it becomes to just pack up,
pick up, and go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rain is slacking now. I might be able to get out for a
walk in a while. Just down to check the drive, staying on the road. It’s
hunting season, and even with my red cap I am not fool enough to wander the
woods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I stuck the computer in the doorway to try and take a couple
of pictures without drenching it. The woods might not wear the bright colors of
earlier in the fall, but to me, they have their own stark pre-winter beauty.
And the scent of wet leaves. I wish this camera could capture smells. If it
could, I think my joy at this moment might make more sense to you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_00tkI6LAx25FzK1IemILn57xTnsYeHBKWmH-cGEFC7xbBljqWbQS8t-HgltEUS_N4WFLxKb6Fw_gqgVvkKn5Z2PIM4zE49iVWsTMmuKExS6oxHIvPPdJbgQ2OmGdpYbWNAj7lt92Ko/s1600/CHUCK+-+WIN_20161130_074147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_00tkI6LAx25FzK1IemILn57xTnsYeHBKWmH-cGEFC7xbBljqWbQS8t-HgltEUS_N4WFLxKb6Fw_gqgVvkKn5Z2PIM4zE49iVWsTMmuKExS6oxHIvPPdJbgQ2OmGdpYbWNAj7lt92Ko/s320/CHUCK+-+WIN_20161130_074147.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0nvYh3GzfAQKPqeAx9LkIxGorM4IhcC2gt7DW4zaYF_kL3iHhjJLtQYnHnWcc2K2EQTx3_62bxNEJGKh4YpES3S5HJd4tpZjGyDH6ahSA3j7kAb3gHDrXWr6PEiEAu7vP8HygS2HA00/s1600/CHUCK+-+WIN_20161130_075546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0nvYh3GzfAQKPqeAx9LkIxGorM4IhcC2gt7DW4zaYF_kL3iHhjJLtQYnHnWcc2K2EQTx3_62bxNEJGKh4YpES3S5HJd4tpZjGyDH6ahSA3j7kAb3gHDrXWr6PEiEAu7vP8HygS2HA00/s320/CHUCK+-+WIN_20161130_075546.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There hasn’t been a lot of joy for many of us this month.
The bitterness and innate fear and racism brought out by the election, the
ongoing confrontations at Standing Rock, these are two of the situations
causing deep emotional wounds in my household, my town, my country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And yet there are moments of beauty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hey, Calvin, what’s up? It’s getting late in season. Where
are you with what may possibly be the last deer I ever butcher from this
property? I need the taste of this mountain to carry me through this next
month, this next year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, to everyone: may your December and the year to come be
the best possible time it can be. Never stop trying to make it better. Never
stop trying to <i>be better. </i>It’s time to go. Let’s move on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-1522813832762054612016-10-24T08:40:00.004-04:002016-10-24T08:40:43.487-04:00I wanted to write...<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>a blog about the asparagus. Here's what came out- my first poem in ten years.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Transplantation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Nothing but slick leaf litter on
the gravel road <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">we drove the pickup cautiously
down, 5 gallon <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">buckets of corms nestled among
shovels and garden forks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tools loosened this black dirt
packed tight inside 1x12 boards <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that used to be a garden bed, wood
rotten <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">enough to crumble in our hands. The
soil held <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">fast to itself, a tight rectangle
formed from years of threadlike <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">roots weaving themselves
crosshatched through compost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We scent this like animals, our
work‘s done on hands <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and knees or stretched flat,
bellies against the cool damp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These corms are tangled,
intertwined, we work in past our wrists,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">fingers pricked and torn by long
forgotten ratwire stretched tight<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">under all the beds years ago in hope of thwarting <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ground squirrels and voles
tunneling under fencing to decimate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">tender young beans and lettuce. I
learned at first harvest the discordance <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">between ratwire and root
vegetables, but never disturbed these asparagus,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the wire underneath them
forgotten till they outgrew their restraints.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">until this morning, when we become
the tunnelers, burrowing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">under sharp wire and around the
twisted roots of trees <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">long gone, these roots that keep
on even though <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">there’s no tree waiting for the
nourishment they send back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They don’t stop, nor do we,
disentangling corms that <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">weave together so tightly they
appear at first as one lone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">giant entity, torn from the ghost
of a bad horror movie, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">alien in our hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">II.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Back home in town, our new home,
soon to be the final<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">resting place for these
asparagus, a bed made one last time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’d like to claim we dug the old
bed out to save the corms, but<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">honestly I wanted some small
piece of mountain here, just<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a bit of height in this low lying
yard, a lot that’s sited<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">so far down the city placed town
culverts in our lawn. A beautiful<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">asparagus bed’s situated in the
garden, two foot high sides, corms spaced <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">precisely so and dirt-covered
just the way the chart inside their box specified. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But these aren’t city plants
we’re bringing down the mountain, though they <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">may have started out inside
restricted quarters they didn’t remain that way, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">their escape from captivity began
long before we happened by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to aid in their emancipation.
They can’t go back into a bed, re-placed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in with tame plants, ordered rows
inside a stricture now they’ve wilded, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">we plant them accordingly, dig up
stray patches- in the garden,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in the yard, a few plants by the
kiwi, some where the tomatoes used to be,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">another group around the corner nestled
by black raspberry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’ll try not to remember where we
put them, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">like I try to forget home, hope
that next spring I’ll have a yard <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">full of surprise, feast of House
Mountain, rising.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-75702170667819547342016-10-16T10:36:00.005-04:002016-10-16T10:36:44.692-04:00So I missed all the fun <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of TrumpSeussing on twitter, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I could cry, I could wail, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">could protest I'm not bitter – </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Okay, I'm a bit miffed, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it was right up my alley </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but you see, I've been busy, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">writing Andrew and Talley. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They're two of my characters </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in my new book – </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been writing so hard </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've not had time to look </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at the book of the face, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at the Instagram pages, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and as for the twitter – </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've not tweeted in ages. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the book's going great, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">or so it seems to me, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">written drafts one and two, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm almost done with three. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So this may be the last </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you'll read here for a while </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but I'm having a blast </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">with this new juvenile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-88620676883806836102016-09-13T05:53:00.000-04:002016-09-13T05:53:02.990-04:00What a difference <div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a day makes. Especially when that day
is accompanied by five strong men wielding weed whackers and chainsaws.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jcFhlk79PtnfKbiavspqckprzJirlzPu2YexVa8ps0zJrOLWyTrQ6jwie3qg5QwK19wGpd6OFsOMwzG3WckjV762vJTqFcmzfT3_SY6AO0_QF4bN-clRbO0El2Z1NHUrO4-Jzxq7m1M/s1600/P9070500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jcFhlk79PtnfKbiavspqckprzJirlzPu2YexVa8ps0zJrOLWyTrQ6jwie3qg5QwK19wGpd6OFsOMwzG3WckjV762vJTqFcmzfT3_SY6AO0_QF4bN-clRbO0El2Z1NHUrO4-Jzxq7m1M/s320/P9070500.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> And
driving a large empty truck into which they throw all the accumulated trash of
three years of caretakers never throwing anything away.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXMjDpDeiZ2621asbm_cj3DficjvDCLDZ60GMysXsOgm4eupRL0z9s1_f8LIbhDr9pg88bEUd1tr7F4c2_q6iRqodpxNtXGOql7ajJOSW_HpVNLPwEk3MEEMb1oBaB5Iy8bRGWwHVnIU/s1600/P9060497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXMjDpDeiZ2621asbm_cj3DficjvDCLDZ60GMysXsOgm4eupRL0z9s1_f8LIbhDr9pg88bEUd1tr7F4c2_q6iRqodpxNtXGOql7ajJOSW_HpVNLPwEk3MEEMb1oBaB5Iy8bRGWwHVnIU/s320/P9060497.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd51y3y-j1KXFxQCEt2NzHJZtRZ0OEU_H1P4pXIRbRh4fPwPJCAmike-5AH9MEQPEcNV4vjzcXDtGV3GSHwGCrv4HWU1cIMnbjcdT_rwA20qoz30jOjHHtTCeeAksD4W4PX5rbE1ufJ1A/s1600/P9060498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd51y3y-j1KXFxQCEt2NzHJZtRZ0OEU_H1P4pXIRbRh4fPwPJCAmike-5AH9MEQPEcNV4vjzcXDtGV3GSHwGCrv4HWU1cIMnbjcdT_rwA20qoz30jOjHHtTCeeAksD4W4PX5rbE1ufJ1A/s320/P9060498.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and this was after they cleaned</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I admit I accumulated a
number of bits and pieces in the 15 years I lived in the cabin. This comes from
living so long on the island, and never knowing what you might have a use for.
But I like to think I’d learned what I would never have a use for and been able
to throw it away.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I know it’s hard to get rid of things. As I watched the men
clear out the basement I kept thinking, “I should keep that. We might need that
at the little cabin. Maybe we could use that at the house.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And then I remembered a house I’d helped clear out on the
island after a death, and how along with the piles and piles and boxes of
things that could be made use of there was twice as much that was just simply
trash. I thought of the Allen House basements, and how when I cleaned out
the Annex in 1982 I found, along with decades old dried up paint cans and bits
of wood zinc screws and washers, parts from WWII when zinc was the only
material available for civilian hardware.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And I thought of my mother’s house, when we three girls got
together to go through it after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and
went to live in an assisted care living center. I wasn’t even there for most of
it. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Although I'd not yet been diagnosed with EDS, it was obvious my body had hit its limit.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I was sent back, exhausted, to Virginia after the first two days and my
sisters finished the cleanup. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But I was there long
enough. Long enough to unearth tax returns from 30 years before, boxes and
boxes of papers that turned out to be versions of the same two short stories
she worked on for those same 30 years. Newspapers and magazines and torn out
articles. My mother had no problem getting rid of most “things.” She had a
garage full of things for my grandmother’s house, but there were no boxes and
boxes of <i>her </i>books or china or silver
or records or souvenirs. She needed little, and bought less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What my mother collected was paper. Or rather, words and
pictures on paper. I hadn’t really thought about it until just this moment.
This piece started out to be about things, the things we thought we needed,
couldn’t live without, and it when they disappeared we almost never noticed
they were gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My mother collected words and pictures. She collected
stories. Sometimes they were the stories the words actually wrote, and the
pictures actually meant. Often her own stories had little to do with facts, and
I’m not sure if she collected these factual stories because of, or in spite of
this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">She’d always collected words, although her life after she
moved to that little house on the east side of Providence belonged less to
books and more to magazines and newspapers, less to short stories and more to
the journal she wrote in daily. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wonder when my mother became aware that she was losing
stories. My mother has always been a consummate actress,and this makes me wonder how many
years she starred in this play of her own making before the role itself became
too much to remember, the directions too confusing. I wonder if it started
years before our family noticed anything wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And I wonder if that was when my mother began to collect words
and stories in such quantities? She had always mailed us bits and pieces,
torn out articles she felt we’d find interesting. Did it come naturally to
her to just start keeping all the stories for herself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Maybe the piles and stacks of papers hidden in my mother’s closets and drawers were her attempt to hold onto a life she only imagined she really had.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Maybe some people keep all the things because they feel life itself slipping away from them. Maybe they, too, feel
out of control, and holding onto stuff helps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And there's probably a reason I end up, time and time again, working my way through collections someone else has deemed important enough to hold on to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4j-9g_ZwdxgZerrkU_pMn6WMsOrYgO8VBprH_U9Xu1ERBHGm_nBsnz2fd4YU5gy6Gf2elq8SkWuZ5HiL-y89qotwzyiGhswLse5FfCmTYu08vitHXbZRiXD7h0AzSqeYU5W7mZoi8Og/s1600/P9090515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4j-9g_ZwdxgZerrkU_pMn6WMsOrYgO8VBprH_U9Xu1ERBHGm_nBsnz2fd4YU5gy6Gf2elq8SkWuZ5HiL-y89qotwzyiGhswLse5FfCmTYu08vitHXbZRiXD7h0AzSqeYU5W7mZoi8Og/s320/P9090515.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTOhyPnSbSUhP2Q4fU8Tdt-T9gdgczOTPksRFA-56XkN6VRvvTr2Z_YfaePw_QWepm_wDpXv6Vc3LO_RhsEWANIZnJShZvgXw_GWAMylgzj5SOFdutcSfGZEI06lVEefv1A4pXN7ZCIYA/s1600/P9090517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTOhyPnSbSUhP2Q4fU8Tdt-T9gdgczOTPksRFA-56XkN6VRvvTr2Z_YfaePw_QWepm_wDpXv6Vc3LO_RhsEWANIZnJShZvgXw_GWAMylgzj5SOFdutcSfGZEI06lVEefv1A4pXN7ZCIYA/s320/P9090517.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL7F_9Oe0bwAGj1tJL1_sU4Zwa5gpgwhFYL6vaZgKF_Ku3eTFl3YPDHkjo5OegxJpbB5v6nikqLVPZsukPVMGE6wFMPXMhhlS4rb8pYvvxJrYaDsDszSaVNbezOAaRiDTBbbzuqiWvNVw/s1600/P9090516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL7F_9Oe0bwAGj1tJL1_sU4Zwa5gpgwhFYL6vaZgKF_Ku3eTFl3YPDHkjo5OegxJpbB5v6nikqLVPZsukPVMGE6wFMPXMhhlS4rb8pYvvxJrYaDsDszSaVNbezOAaRiDTBbbzuqiWvNVw/s320/P9090516.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There are things we cannot know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-81895626478360754162016-07-30T16:52:00.000-04:002016-07-30T16:52:00.839-04:00I’ve been avoiding the Internet . . .<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for the same reason I’ve
avoided spending much time outside. It’s just too hot and nasty right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Internet doesn’t need me. But two weeks of no rain and
90+ degree temperatures means the flower and vegetable gardens need constant watering.
Lots of other attention too, as hot, dry conditions weaken the plants, make
them less able to fight off the ever-present cabbage worms, Japanese beetles
and all the other bugs I know by sight if not name who very much appreciate the
gardens they seem to believe I have grown for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If we go anywhere to sit by the water we must get there at
daybreak, because by 10 o’clock the rocks and banks of the river will be filled
with people trying, as we are, to escape the heat. And as soon as we get home all
my time and energy seems to be swallowed up with those petty little irritations
some people refer to as <i>life</i> but I
call <i>things we have to do because we are
grownups.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All this is to explain why I haven’t been up to the cabin the
last several weeks. Even though I knew it would be cooler up here, knew I would
be able to sit outside on the porch in the afternoon because there is always a
breeze. Even though I knew I would sleep better in the deep silence punctuated
only by night birds and the gentle hum of an overhead fan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I came up here yesterday determined to rest and read and
recharge. I expected nothing more than the possibility of a hummingbird at our
new feeder, the chance flash of red from the head of our resident woodpecker,
possibly the sound of deer crunching through the leaves behind my back and
moving slowly into my sight line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In town I try hard to slow down, look and listen, be mindful
of my surroundings. But my resolve rarely lasts past the end of the morning
walk with the dogs. I speed up, let little things irritate me. I grow impatient
with myself and with any part of the world around me that is not going at what
I consider the proper speed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There’s always so much more that could be done:
the house could be cleaner, the dogs could be brushed, the garden and the yard
need work. I could be organizing my office, going through the closets and culling
unneeded items, working on promoting my books or, heaven forfend, even <i>writing</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not this weekend. This weekend I gave myself to the
mountain, to slow down, to listen and see and smell. And the mountain gave me a welcome back
present. It seems there’s been more rain here than in town, and my slow crawl
up our mile of driveway – windows down, radio off and eyes open wide – was rewarded
with large patches of coral and orange on the road bank.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At sunup this morning, I walked down to that section of the
bank. Slowly. Appreciatively. And I picked tiny cinnabar chanterelles, one at a
time, savoring every moment until the sun and I reached the end of the bank at
almost the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yes, I still have a list of things to do, emails to write,
phone calls to make. All of them are important, grown up type chores. But they
are made pleasurable by the fact that I’m sitting on a screen porch in the
middle of the woods listening to the hum of insects as I write and call and
figure. The “grown-up” house, the garden, the yard are far away and they will
be there, calling for attention, when I return home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I have crossed many things off a list today. A list I hadn’t written down, didn’t know how
badly I needed to make until I realized I didn’t have any of the things on it:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. Spend an hour picking tiny mushrooms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. Take a cold shower outside . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. Walk slowly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. Breathe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjut44r6xZS74WO8mS6Sq33Y-sTs36KFUgHtLlvBORH8ZLBexi6U_RRqc8G5eQCTv5N_BJvKHgr-TkBTOxdkMRkB01HGZU78xb3sjn-VjjcWPKHZiWWaoy2K9g_Jy6es6fRuD-DMjFz8A8/s1600/Resized_20160730_121626.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjut44r6xZS74WO8mS6Sq33Y-sTs36KFUgHtLlvBORH8ZLBexi6U_RRqc8G5eQCTv5N_BJvKHgr-TkBTOxdkMRkB01HGZU78xb3sjn-VjjcWPKHZiWWaoy2K9g_Jy6es6fRuD-DMjFz8A8/s400/Resized_20160730_121626.jpeg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-6345770117675820622016-07-03T17:26:00.000-04:002016-07-03T17:26:11.257-04:00I’m hiding up here at the cabin . . .<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for this Fourth of July
weekend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It’s not that I don’t <i>like</i>
food carts, festivals, and fireworks. It’s that I’ve been cursed for the last 10
years with dogs who are terrified of loud noises.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD7ixVZifnXCa7fqj7dZPM9rAEY_ERadsu-JpTC1AJpFL_us8SB_Q-eH7tyyzZAJc81DeV3Ouhy1eCT3mWrvk23SSg6JT7yiqOYUkRa5PAnsEvcbrhapCLLohYX5E5yMzu_YduwRqgFg0/s1600/20160703_142030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD7ixVZifnXCa7fqj7dZPM9rAEY_ERadsu-JpTC1AJpFL_us8SB_Q-eH7tyyzZAJc81DeV3Ouhy1eCT3mWrvk23SSg6JT7yiqOYUkRa5PAnsEvcbrhapCLLohYX5E5yMzu_YduwRqgFg0/s320/20160703_142030.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I don’t mean the dogs themselves are a curse. Just that particular behavior. Dogs are a
blessing, especially when many of life’s other pleasures are curtailed by pain or
fatigue. And the dogs give me an excuse to push myself walking the hilly road and traipsing through the woods. I tell myself dogs need to be walked, even
though these dogs roam freely in the woods around the cabin, constrained (or so
they think, even though they haven’t won the collars for years) by an invisible
fence, and they come back when called. I seem to attract pack animals who would rather walk on a leash with
me than run loose by themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, we walk. This
time of year I look for ripe berries, and because of the recent rains,
mushrooms. I was away during the torrential rains a week ago, so missed what must’ve been a brilliant
mushroom opportunity. I can see where they were, and where I hope they will be
again if the current rain continues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I hope the rain
continues. I am a spoilsport, wishing for rain on the Fourth of July long weekend.
But rain without thunderstorms will curtail the fireworks. And no fireworks
means no bug eyed, panting, drooling, pacing semi – hysterical dogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Also, rain = mushrooms. I can feel them around me. Those heavy
rains pushed them near the surface. Some popped already, and I missed them- I
can just see their dry weathered remains scattered among last year’s leaves.
But that’s ok. There will be more, though probably not the crazy plentitude of last year’s
bounty.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-EvH7XMoNUc6XBCl509bbpSPWWDSVm94O4RPAPPbTdV1pJfLjNC6qA4F3uJdKFzpMne6ZWifeDqtF70GWI3c3UpaSOx5XIBs10M6KfiRHo330dyke4Wa34ccK3BNAv4fcWsEi9v278o8/s1600/11700806_10153480624604868_2706486489578936161_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-EvH7XMoNUc6XBCl509bbpSPWWDSVm94O4RPAPPbTdV1pJfLjNC6qA4F3uJdKFzpMne6ZWifeDqtF70GWI3c3UpaSOx5XIBs10M6KfiRHo330dyke4Wa34ccK3BNAv4fcWsEi9v278o8/s320/11700806_10153480624604868_2706486489578936161_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one crazy day's ruby chanterelle harvest </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I started out hoping this blog would be about berries. Ripe
wineberries and tiny wild blueberries and huckleberries. But it l</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ooks like I’m </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">too early (by a week at least) </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for the wineberries, and the wild blue and
huckleberries are few and far between this year. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5AhpCoaFTFAN52Rmg8FayM6LI_FQBS8eVls2faS8pbVJJ4NpwCV2yVKpA45co1Iasm-Ev5RraTE4dldcD4vNTtY0BRSs7AEJLBVUu_7KQCs6XhDAI8dhjtgyayiwLIuL5bmn0BzS_KU/s1600/11700518_802185930991_6125812413682965961_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5AhpCoaFTFAN52Rmg8FayM6LI_FQBS8eVls2faS8pbVJJ4NpwCV2yVKpA45co1Iasm-Ev5RraTE4dldcD4vNTtY0BRSs7AEJLBVUu_7KQCs6XhDAI8dhjtgyayiwLIuL5bmn0BzS_KU/s320/11700518_802185930991_6125812413682965961_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this was titled house mountain fourth of july, proof that last year at this time things were ripe and abundant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Maybe I’m early for them too. I found a bush or two of ripe berries on my hike in between the rains, but most of
last year’s bushes appear oddly bare.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvNoJ6J44E-KkMdJ7pBpSI0sc851pzgwnq7cbtaxnECmia1-6uutdTcJW1h6fFnZZHemw1ovITtlQgMw70quoMJWQUaMDTDPt_mzmaI6j-4G0OIOaxiUpLWly2c9J9kqhTxO611_0x2Q/s1600/20160703_104054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvNoJ6J44E-KkMdJ7pBpSI0sc851pzgwnq7cbtaxnECmia1-6uutdTcJW1h6fFnZZHemw1ovITtlQgMw70quoMJWQUaMDTDPt_mzmaI6j-4G0OIOaxiUpLWly2c9J9kqhTxO611_0x2Q/s320/20160703_104054.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">today's haul, shown actual size<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Back at the house in town the blueberry bushes, (also nowhere near as prolific as last year) are ripening nicely in their bird and
squirrel-proof cage.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The gooseberries are nearing the end of their run. A
friend is picking what’s left after this last container I’ve taken for myself.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOwNEipapYY6qbeenjU_aDeivXM6MHf2vVVxj2FTm8Ja6YEe9cd7QlNeZxMUc4Gal_O5YulNDU890xYsRR1uxtRWD0OsYc31sfz9g4gru44ly4111MqhM-ixk-mCjjDN6aVXzdztCXEk/s1600/20160702_112235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOwNEipapYY6qbeenjU_aDeivXM6MHf2vVVxj2FTm8Ja6YEe9cd7QlNeZxMUc4Gal_O5YulNDU890xYsRR1uxtRWD0OsYc31sfz9g4gru44ly4111MqhM-ixk-mCjjDN6aVXzdztCXEk/s320/20160702_112235.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">
The blueberries I've tried to grow up here, though, yield a pitiful amount.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzVRjNFWb7fxLw69i84_I_bXwG9XV4mjVs1eFFRgFBif62LE3-KM0HJqQxzVtsbTViBDqqDPgLFgNjIXeurIQ68-duxfIOZ0sL92-7oGvxePLi6cOGCwtlXL6tG4j7rn6P1y7nqAJAK8/s1600/20160702_111806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzVRjNFWb7fxLw69i84_I_bXwG9XV4mjVs1eFFRgFBif62LE3-KM0HJqQxzVtsbTViBDqqDPgLFgNjIXeurIQ68-duxfIOZ0sL92-7oGvxePLi6cOGCwtlXL6tG4j7rn6P1y7nqAJAK8/s320/20160702_111806.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">today's sum total</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The cultivated berries in town are doing exactly <i>what </i>they’re
supposed to, <i>when</i> they are supposed to do it. It’s only the wild things I can’t
seem to control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’ve never been able to really control these blog posts
either. I start out convinced I’m writing about something definite and somewhere
around halfway through, realize I don’t
have a point at all. I usually stop there and go for a walk or do something else, just let what I think I’m trying to say sit in
the back of my brain. Sometimes I’ll come back and sit and stare at the
computer screen. Sometimes I’ll sit down and write exactly what I need to say.
I never know which one it will be, and I never know what my point really is
until I’ve written it down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So this blog post<i> is</i>
about berries, sort of. Also mushrooms,
and rain. It’s about dogs and fireworks and walking through the woods. It’s
about me staying open to what’s going on around you, even if it’s not in the same
place or at the expected time. Because I can’t control anything, really. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Except maybe whether or not my dogs will be terrified on the
4<sup>th</sup> of July. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And sitting here just now, listening to the rain on the tin
roof and looking out at the woods which may or may not surprise me with mushrooms
tomorrow or the next day, I realize something.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Once again, through a winding, detour-filled process, I have somehow figured out what <i>enough</i>
is.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-43716716947354677912016-06-25T14:06:00.000-04:002016-06-25T14:06:20.178-04:00Seems like every time…<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I try and write lately, my mind is overwhelmed by something unbelievable
happening somewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Somebody tell me how I’m supposed to tweet haiku in order to
up my social media presence or email bookstores PDFs of my new children’s book
when a country like Great Britain can vote to isolate themselves because of
fear and misplaced national pride?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How should I try and publicize an illustrated book of silly
sea poems to an American audience dealing with our own politics of hate and racism?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How can I work on my new young adult novel after Orlando? Shouldn’t I be
writing something more current, more outraged, more in sorrow and solidarity
with those gunned down and those who must live with the knowledge that they
survived when their friends did not?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I don’t have answers to any of these questions. I wish I
could write something that would make people laugh, or at least smile. Somehow
that doesn’t seem appropriate to me. Not right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But there is one thing I can write that will gladden my
heart, and I hope a few others as well. You see, my wife’s son got married this week.
The ceremony was small, just parents, but the love and the laughter and the joy
filled that courtroom to beyond bursting. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that
ceremony lit the entire block up a few incandescent lumens.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-xHr29iGMBhvwzROnzTULSDbUVe8vBhLkeZ37txH0nTuTNsauETyneOoIMRvLAcF-_fv1J04aMoFKmN2rLr0XYiSedWr2MIULyG1-nTk7Q89FXm8nlZREZ381fibYJsK3afWHasPeV_o/s1600/13512028_867757110821_4876008240096199438_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-xHr29iGMBhvwzROnzTULSDbUVe8vBhLkeZ37txH0nTuTNsauETyneOoIMRvLAcF-_fv1J04aMoFKmN2rLr0XYiSedWr2MIULyG1-nTk7Q89FXm8nlZREZ381fibYJsK3afWHasPeV_o/s320/13512028_867757110821_4876008240096199438_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The party is in a few hours. Our son is has asked us both to
say a few words if we want to.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgzCdggB2s1UIu6_sVdawEsQdt12iuX6p1cvN7Hw9fgqGQWG2OMr3Ty1wP15WYCqltewSmILxJICoFq-ZtSQbl07HeXXNzath0l3fEr5NxssStQVrodFX76G-zVDb-2B2Z8EIMJazUIM/s1600/13512206_867756766511_8474563545826738005_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgzCdggB2s1UIu6_sVdawEsQdt12iuX6p1cvN7Hw9fgqGQWG2OMr3Ty1wP15WYCqltewSmILxJICoFq-ZtSQbl07HeXXNzath0l3fEr5NxssStQVrodFX76G-zVDb-2B2Z8EIMJazUIM/s320/13512206_867756766511_8474563545826738005_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I want to. I want to tell everyone at that
wedding reception how lucky I am to know this man, and to love his mother. I
want to let everyone who is reading this know that there are good people in
this world, and I am standing with some of them today. I want to celebrate love
and joy and especially hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I haven’t actually written any words to say to these two
fine people who have pledged to love and support each other. I’m sitting down to do
that now. And I know that no matter what has happened or will happen or may
happen out in the world while I’m writing this, these words are important enough to write.
Because these words are love.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWYqHgxTDAtwHRR77HU4fFtAyZ_8JjOEhbz-QsgkbK1UQ8oXsN3WGqKu6-LkOv2RgBZnf8zCoNrh_BUjyoU4MgTO6jRRLT2f2sWT1zBSTAcpf2pefaiSSx3RqvYoLtlag5QDjV5GLLhYY/s1600/13445316_867756771501_9211506673095653403_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWYqHgxTDAtwHRR77HU4fFtAyZ_8JjOEhbz-QsgkbK1UQ8oXsN3WGqKu6-LkOv2RgBZnf8zCoNrh_BUjyoU4MgTO6jRRLT2f2sWT1zBSTAcpf2pefaiSSx3RqvYoLtlag5QDjV5GLLhYY/s320/13445316_867756771501_9211506673095653403_n.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Superheroes like these will save the world</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-38644284956645906472016-05-30T07:22:00.003-04:002016-05-30T07:22:46.909-04:00I'm 59 years old today, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And I have barely learned how to be 40. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At 40 I was making my big move off the island to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I had one restaurant behind me and two in front of me. Two chapbooks behind me, and ahead- two more chapbooks of full-length book of poetry and three books of memoir and fiction. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have lost a lot; my father, relationships, beloved dogs, health. I've gained a wife, new friends, more dogs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Some things equal out. Others never can. But with loss, if you're lucky, comes knowledge. And the ability to more fully appreciate what you have, the will to hang on tightly to what is important.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've been staring at this page from dark through just dawn to now the full light of early-morning, trying to shape my thoughts, trying to fit all my gratitudes into neatly contained sentences.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's not going to happen. There's been too much good in my life in just the past two weeks to possibly fit on this page. Because if I've learned anything in these 59 years I've learned it's the little things, the day to day of a blooming fruit tree, an old friend reconnected with, the smell of honeysuckle on a walk with an old dog –</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">those thousands, millions of small moments that make up each day, each year, each life, that must be cherished. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2EfloZRmDEN6gviOo45kXr9vWeeDpYXnzrMzK9c42dZI4xgN6VXQbq4v8Ulg9oqY9NU5hr97C5BTNux9b7noLeOstqwES35Xf65K-4WnXyHe7E913CtAS36sACUx5PTS3oGzdp0jSwfE/s1600/IMG_3047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2EfloZRmDEN6gviOo45kXr9vWeeDpYXnzrMzK9c42dZI4xgN6VXQbq4v8Ulg9oqY9NU5hr97C5BTNux9b7noLeOstqwES35Xf65K-4WnXyHe7E913CtAS36sACUx5PTS3oGzdp0jSwfE/s320/IMG_3047.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These moments, this now, that I can so easily let slip by in my push toward major achievements, events that may never even happen, or if they do, might not live up to my high expectations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's what I don't expect that can most thrill me, that flash of red caught from the corner of my eye, the unexpected scent of low tide carried on the wind, the sound of a long forgotten accent. All this, and then some.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hey -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Happy birthday, world. Thank you for the flowers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-13576351632972912152016-05-18T12:25:00.000-04:002016-05-18T12:25:40.762-04:00i'm pretty sure you can never have enough . . .<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pictures of happy dog butts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Wn8OQWc6ghAoTVnO-EKxEbp6DNY88tzrbnHCkNaDyY_Mp-vV0WGKc9kwVhtI1f5IRZA8bWrKD7mUsl3Dhy7wQr8K1XzbkFxSARhVwi4S1fYOVseImFxXDmXXVr_bwczZ10hKdCUQ_0I/s1600/P5150329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Wn8OQWc6ghAoTVnO-EKxEbp6DNY88tzrbnHCkNaDyY_Mp-vV0WGKc9kwVhtI1f5IRZA8bWrKD7mUsl3Dhy7wQr8K1XzbkFxSARhVwi4S1fYOVseImFxXDmXXVr_bwczZ10hKdCUQ_0I/s320/P5150329.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaeWsk1bDn79qcMhrzcIU15JsyLjIYJOuXRrae1jsQvRZgUjbMXs3c2gKECXob0VriWrNUG4OU821SBz7Qr-JNQ9P7n1G4gLgvA0ACezVDw674Mwm7khAF_ZhJfiki0Evu9OMLyeZt3i4/s1600/P5150338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaeWsk1bDn79qcMhrzcIU15JsyLjIYJOuXRrae1jsQvRZgUjbMXs3c2gKECXob0VriWrNUG4OU821SBz7Qr-JNQ9P7n1G4gLgvA0ACezVDw674Mwm7khAF_ZhJfiki0Evu9OMLyeZt3i4/s320/P5150338.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikXUNPfTDqeICs-dRJWsYmHWIUdXBmsEFrs3W1vyGEJILEGfqkPNWYvBce3xNYeZINf1i2NApT9X4Z_8d8CdM8cQvp0mdUbve9KNjGo4pp8QjyOLWyZmbaYSHJ1_OS8o9ZyrfPYuGbGvA/s1600/P5150343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikXUNPfTDqeICs-dRJWsYmHWIUdXBmsEFrs3W1vyGEJILEGfqkPNWYvBce3xNYeZINf1i2NApT9X4Z_8d8CdM8cQvp0mdUbve9KNjGo4pp8QjyOLWyZmbaYSHJ1_OS8o9ZyrfPYuGbGvA/s320/P5150343.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> I bet that was not how you expected that sentence to end. Although if you have known me long this is exactly the kind of comment you'd expect me to make.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These pups may be getting on, but they are still happy to be doing something they love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY1JnmWNhXiZy1OXW-Gk2IVZYNNU5LnKSkzmciLFtnmWQsLk0drIh4inGrlqOQP8s157Di_iMUz3bmV3NwvSMRvMQ3uuuRyxxjDMEWeUF3Q0qppDMYQQI9Bej5t0UMgQIIewJx-H-8Ys4/s1600/P5150348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY1JnmWNhXiZy1OXW-Gk2IVZYNNU5LnKSkzmciLFtnmWQsLk0drIh4inGrlqOQP8s157Di_iMUz3bmV3NwvSMRvMQ3uuuRyxxjDMEWeUF3Q0qppDMYQQI9Bej5t0UMgQIIewJx-H-8Ys4/s320/P5150348.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTWq0cMseequm7FKCXQf05hczpc8FPY_DGWU_rqoLn-hzO-llQVfgac1HXLPTWaxrSjN4M0rV1wEqjstskMR_9XhNvcekaRnIeJHf2YVEbZ4TO4a2meay5myFRkQl3gjTg8iBBw-sHuI/s1600/P5150327.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTWq0cMseequm7FKCXQf05hczpc8FPY_DGWU_rqoLn-hzO-llQVfgac1HXLPTWaxrSjN4M0rV1wEqjstskMR_9XhNvcekaRnIeJHf2YVEbZ4TO4a2meay5myFRkQl3gjTg8iBBw-sHuI/s320/P5150327.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You know who else is happy? These kids.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7ZG3VQFkc1N0h_-7BuoryVecroey84cBJ_81LDMiZE1NYs0JLw-BEAyCKZhSZfQTXri4TEJ1hy0LrT-1A6V9tYssX-wHbEAbwUgCjCzQq1kOjCUZgSysH1SfIsff-Xgjo4JFwIBWxfc/s1600/13240651_860608027641_2949922333963908732_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7ZG3VQFkc1N0h_-7BuoryVecroey84cBJ_81LDMiZE1NYs0JLw-BEAyCKZhSZfQTXri4TEJ1hy0LrT-1A6V9tYssX-wHbEAbwUgCjCzQq1kOjCUZgSysH1SfIsff-Xgjo4JFwIBWxfc/s320/13240651_860608027641_2949922333963908732_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCXw3QfQSxMdXjafbgRvBbCL2yX9osL5YXZyrWunFz2uC4KHFYM4vdy6sd-HPyKWrNxRf1LspAq-mEEXiJg_zYSTJQUQ01z4u7I6fZ0nSmsX95ppiT_Cnv3b_H0MZLL8qymoB-1UEXEs/s1600/13178519_860608037621_2308335068740732664_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCXw3QfQSxMdXjafbgRvBbCL2yX9osL5YXZyrWunFz2uC4KHFYM4vdy6sd-HPyKWrNxRf1LspAq-mEEXiJg_zYSTJQUQ01z4u7I6fZ0nSmsX95ppiT_Cnv3b_H0MZLL8qymoB-1UEXEs/s320/13178519_860608037621_2308335068740732664_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgZG8PnoUEy6K-Sgz3MTJYdMuanWqHiox5Ykxq6_4xU0JfxUO_cyb1mJd90PTXr_zdVjIxMm-fI1uRHr6tn-INXHsfabDX6A3Apq5aIe0i8OcCyP4FRaCcFiF89mkSwro3xFhWd58K90/s1600/13241361_860608042611_8416815770019747168_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgZG8PnoUEy6K-Sgz3MTJYdMuanWqHiox5Ykxq6_4xU0JfxUO_cyb1mJd90PTXr_zdVjIxMm-fI1uRHr6tn-INXHsfabDX6A3Apq5aIe0i8OcCyP4FRaCcFiF89mkSwro3xFhWd58K90/s320/13241361_860608042611_8416815770019747168_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow Brick Road preschool</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> I read to them last week. I also read to Earthsong </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Montessori but I didn't get any pictures there. Sorry, Earthsong. Guess you don't get your fifteen minutes of fame. At least not from me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In all, I've read my silly sea poems to over 80 kids in the last two weeks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">True, some of this was shameless self promotion. But it may have worked. We sold a ridiculous amount of books before and during the signing on Saturday.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2naIuLH_teuorA4Qr5aZhmuSw6D2RD64X5d4s8tp2x29xgWq3NM9wm1qAHtoCe0sZC192iBxtAha5rPBEFv4EejBUTVuS_kM1sHndodM0wWWZtmeh2CzKmm63HGdB4T2ELQYO8LcviI/s1600/13220909_860607942811_5953659435412258448_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2naIuLH_teuorA4Qr5aZhmuSw6D2RD64X5d4s8tp2x29xgWq3NM9wm1qAHtoCe0sZC192iBxtAha5rPBEFv4EejBUTVuS_kM1sHndodM0wWWZtmeh2CzKmm63HGdB4T2ELQYO8LcviI/s320/13220909_860607942811_5953659435412258448_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bruce Macdonald looking dapper and artistic, and me in my hammerhead shark shirt.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEz661luX1ndWonthLSjyL9gb-WwgaBXeio4vE6lNXSzf457waU1GGTYQhLTTVzo-vIdN_9emYdMrI4vW3IIsnOWOY6rprKws1ztgTfIBaqKnI7OxGWyVCkIbAbnke0S-d62h6WFrq7Kk/s1600/13241247_860607912871_3700401507449676291_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEz661luX1ndWonthLSjyL9gb-WwgaBXeio4vE6lNXSzf457waU1GGTYQhLTTVzo-vIdN_9emYdMrI4vW3IIsnOWOY6rprKws1ztgTfIBaqKnI7OxGWyVCkIbAbnke0S-d62h6WFrq7Kk/s320/13241247_860607912871_3700401507449676291_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">me looking dapperly authorish</td></tr>
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I don't know where most of you were, but you missed a swell time.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zBF6d4VhrmOnCsbi6nytNZLoGFmlNgp_jSB5mlVy6ZoOqYUdHkYgb2fd26w76kMnXL0nbdGm5eEkTABEqYesjGRdILmud_nz2HjLTAlfBZiloDg1J6hnuonT4lhdm2VYmCUC3zitWwI/s1600/13165976_860607917861_6068181099812175382_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zBF6d4VhrmOnCsbi6nytNZLoGFmlNgp_jSB5mlVy6ZoOqYUdHkYgb2fd26w76kMnXL0nbdGm5eEkTABEqYesjGRdILmud_nz2HjLTAlfBZiloDg1J6hnuonT4lhdm2VYmCUC3zitWwI/s320/13165976_860607917861_6068181099812175382_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The book, looking appropriately bookish.</b><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Also the fish inside are gazing longingly at the baked goods.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> You cannot see this but I could have shown you if you'd been there. Your loss.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-25613226641066725202016-05-08T21:53:00.000-04:002016-05-08T21:53:20.807-04:00I’m pretty sure . . .<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">preschool had not yet been invented when I was a child. Or if
someone <i>had</i> invented it, they had not strapped it into a car seat and driven it
into the hills of east Tennessee. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Of course I am ancient enough that no car
seat would have been needed. They could
have tossed preschool into the back of an open truck and hauled it over the
state line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But I digress. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The point I was driving at (isn’t it amazing
how I continue to extend the metaphor even as I correct myself) was that there
was not even the whisper (or perhaps I should say faintest of fumes?)of
preschool in my town in my formative
years. I am absolutely sure of this because if there had been anything even remotely
resembling it my mother would have enrolled her daughters as the first test cases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Look how I even managed to include a female parental unit
reference in honor of mother’s day.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0NbstfAxlbZe9vyc4s3nk4eqLGWAyjLBmpx89UVvJCJDBdeKo30Tc43f9uR578xlWjzPG6A66Qga3f0NrGEfjsBMnEAHvIzN9GpWoUlaGucxdGJdqfT8rjYjwY1qfXEmT8f7hRyMNnY/s1600/mom+and+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0NbstfAxlbZe9vyc4s3nk4eqLGWAyjLBmpx89UVvJCJDBdeKo30Tc43f9uR578xlWjzPG6A66Qga3f0NrGEfjsBMnEAHvIzN9GpWoUlaGucxdGJdqfT8rjYjwY1qfXEmT8f7hRyMNnY/s320/mom+and+me.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">this is me and my mom. I am not reading her my book. i just thought you'd like the picture</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">.</span></i></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Why have I used all these words just to introduce the
subject of preschool? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Well, because last week I <i>went</i> to preschool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7eYmF9Xhz5H4CGIc6YS2EnGGtg738LuXjefujLMSxghM1Inlntbo7nYMDmdNLNGOJIpmFX54hrFZ7-HKYaFgt9iAU7ysKUj997If62T2GL_hveXIB5x0TSk67Yshfxf-ziXbehog9JI/s1600/woods+creek+montessori.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7eYmF9Xhz5H4CGIc6YS2EnGGtg738LuXjefujLMSxghM1Inlntbo7nYMDmdNLNGOJIpmFX54hrFZ7-HKYaFgt9iAU7ysKUj997If62T2GL_hveXIB5x0TSk67Yshfxf-ziXbehog9JI/s320/woods+creek+montessori.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> And I liked it so much I am going again this
week. To a completely different school. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFPhH-Q3-dJ3O3KMkRMEHsaUBzN0cfg-8lORWhafNS07lzmURil-HVBOiYuA4E3g7o6FoZheeex1pTP_wFxGMEw3Sq7KJGwpIe6-RwyEOkAqax09BqNhanNWi2bpvR-8QyCvNpjGtzV4/s1600/New-Logo-large-lettering.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFPhH-Q3-dJ3O3KMkRMEHsaUBzN0cfg-8lORWhafNS07lzmURil-HVBOiYuA4E3g7o6FoZheeex1pTP_wFxGMEw3Sq7KJGwpIe6-RwyEOkAqax09BqNhanNWi2bpvR-8QyCvNpjGtzV4/s320/New-Logo-large-lettering.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">
And maybe I will go to yet a third
school before week’s end.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you are asking yourself the perfectly reasonable question
<i>why</i>, (and ignoring the hecklers in
the background whispering that I have finally found my peer group) let me just
say that I love reading to children and interacting with them. And sitting on
the floor listening to a four year old relate the entire plot of Finding Nemo until
my knees lock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Okay, maybe not the last part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">See, I wrote this book of silly poems called <i>Washed Up in the Waves </i>about the sea and its
creatures. And somebody swell (Bruce
Macdonald) illustrated it. And somebody also swell (Mariner Media) published it. And now I am hawking it
shamelessly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And, most kids in the age
range it’s written for need to have the book read <i>to</i> them. Preferably again
and again, using all the different voices. (You gotta use all the different
voices, people.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hence the trips to local preschools. (plus, I just like
reading to kids. It’s a flaw)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">By the way, did I mention I have a book signing Saturday the
14 at the Bookery in beautiful downtown
Lexington, VA?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJVlD0LC8LNmxmYqrQXMDBVRzP242xQiRr1jIxlw1TURnIMA_qPh8AhyphenhyphenMmkwanalNxZY3BZjPtZ260rEsxapXrTg20LgXtOpUuLqVtJ0IpGtOu5ICVctfjCvoBCi7QdA5ZYJThhtL4w_U/s1600/12307483_1227881100560490_1935457085307514699_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJVlD0LC8LNmxmYqrQXMDBVRzP242xQiRr1jIxlw1TURnIMA_qPh8AhyphenhyphenMmkwanalNxZY3BZjPtZ260rEsxapXrTg20LgXtOpUuLqVtJ0IpGtOu5ICVctfjCvoBCi7QdA5ZYJThhtL4w_U/s320/12307483_1227881100560490_1935457085307514699_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUs7YbxaQVYkYg4n-w8v5ZFGjIRro-ZCuJ4CDFm3AheaJnCWvuG-BQ9UPrfMoPuxzVMLufcavGzL7cfV4hhvRlQ72Fr44tcWE1K-GwoNz1Giri-7Yeqq1n9Kc8VbfzAn7MDohIZNkjUMo/s320/12248263_1227880983893835_603146464986397504_o.jpg" width="213" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What a coincidence, huh?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Life is funny that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"But, Margo," you cry, "I live too far away to make it to your signing-"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Despair not. I have a simple solution to your problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Log onto </span><a href="http://www.margosolod.com/" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;" target="_blank">www.margosolod.com</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Then wander over to the shop page and buy the book, hit the special
instructions tab and tell me how you’d like me to personalize it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It’s almost like being in VA in the springtime. Only without
the pollen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here’s the shameless self-promotion part-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">BUY THE BOOK, PEOPLE!
From me, from your local bookseller,
from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Order
in bulk from <a href="http://www.marinermedia.com./" target="_blank">www.marinermedia.com.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Because if you can’t take your child to the beach, the next
best thing is to bring the beach to your kid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSCniTLb9zSVZraHbqkWlRg3ET-KSckSW_uzAGvy5gKZ_ReUMKVL3lolkBGXXO9mehUJ7Ke4wFneIP2w8kN7ILDZlYm5jza9p7-WMO4H8Pgy0lUY9f0E2rJEvqeJ2-w3rSBdteRM3VMk/s1600/13100809_10156876224515430_712990588993576682_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSCniTLb9zSVZraHbqkWlRg3ET-KSckSW_uzAGvy5gKZ_ReUMKVL3lolkBGXXO9mehUJ7Ke4wFneIP2w8kN7ILDZlYm5jza9p7-WMO4H8Pgy0lUY9f0E2rJEvqeJ2-w3rSBdteRM3VMk/s320/13100809_10156876224515430_712990588993576682_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this child is actually in florida. but she loves the book. her favorite is the clam poem.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And because I asked nicely. I was brought up right. Even
without preschool.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-58466127983313406042016-04-24T10:29:00.000-04:002016-04-24T10:29:28.563-04:00It’s my first overnight stay . . .<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">here at the cabin since we
opened it up from its winter hibernation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I would’ve been up here sooner but as
usual, nothing good comes without a price. This season, apparently the price is
going to be paid to the plumber. It took us a month to get someone up here to
look at the pipes and fix the winter's damage. And now the pump has stopped working. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Once
again I am reminded how integral water is to life. Or at least, how integral
running water is to a nice couple of days up here at the cabin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Aside from the water problem, it is as quiet and peaceful and
astoundingly beautiful as it has always been, with 17 bazillion different
shades of green playing a constantly changing visual symphony around me.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA5MNQGnaIj7P-qKDFQ2peeot0y5pTLWwJU914UZzmcbGVOn32sWTvEF0JAH8XYDOR0i2Aejxx0RhIJdbnd31h30TKWcDbeNoW6w-VCvAClb6TYKTiUn0EXV0cBpuWBONyGPlFQEQSOXw/s1600/P4230240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA5MNQGnaIj7P-qKDFQ2peeot0y5pTLWwJU914UZzmcbGVOn32sWTvEF0JAH8XYDOR0i2Aejxx0RhIJdbnd31h30TKWcDbeNoW6w-VCvAClb6TYKTiUn0EXV0cBpuWBONyGPlFQEQSOXw/s320/P4230240.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZwuJR_q3DZ1guQlLO1bEGm_MIrnROv0LYHP5EDgEurvQQrUdmz-y1YPWOlNOUurd6aiGpnNURFxWNRX9EwREJummPOPHQBt9zxMRCIeMDdiCkk6dkIAn4HlB8TOBwzp3nr4oGsjeEomk/s1600/P4230245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZwuJR_q3DZ1guQlLO1bEGm_MIrnROv0LYHP5EDgEurvQQrUdmz-y1YPWOlNOUurd6aiGpnNURFxWNRX9EwREJummPOPHQBt9zxMRCIeMDdiCkk6dkIAn4HlB8TOBwzp3nr4oGsjeEomk/s320/P4230245.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ALPNNWSb0-Nmq3prcw8YSKHAq7jsr_1Zg8S8DSvL6JmlWYDYpHTSYoUnopnu8UGVn0UocR5HpmesjbZvyFhSVZPLH73OjYbJ1hAqiZWqnh41ofyf28CMhZ-lOkRccIxhrhZCXqzlABg/s1600/P4230241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ALPNNWSb0-Nmq3prcw8YSKHAq7jsr_1Zg8S8DSvL6JmlWYDYpHTSYoUnopnu8UGVn0UocR5HpmesjbZvyFhSVZPLH73OjYbJ1hAqiZWqnh41ofyf28CMhZ-lOkRccIxhrhZCXqzlABg/s320/P4230241.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> As the trees slowly leaf Big and Little House Mountains disappear behind them. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6d2DJWuJnomcSo3D01m6dL4mfw8AGsbbZrJOYaf5n8QtIa4Cof76gOlPIlufVeogPaahmecKmhBURk68lyDeZ8ZJVp7otXrBKVXR9pYEX5HHC90rTbMDNyT4vJYDShnogSXEuPvQtwU/s1600/P4230238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6d2DJWuJnomcSo3D01m6dL4mfw8AGsbbZrJOYaf5n8QtIa4Cof76gOlPIlufVeogPaahmecKmhBURk68lyDeZ8ZJVp7otXrBKVXR9pYEX5HHC90rTbMDNyT4vJYDShnogSXEuPvQtwU/s320/P4230238.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Soon the cabin
will be encircled in a fortress of green and the mountains won’t reappear until
late fall.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqwIi8d8tn-jJLrA943YhtSvqFoimpslX5qS3Djyeh1QRRFRUqvBjVzgTyFdz9Li5I87e9-iZzngW-tRMLc7Lh2KO5N5EBlcbsjKWIxi1R_9_T6Lrju1DrHDRyu3mgqDD6ANFku7-ebk/s1600/P4230244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqwIi8d8tn-jJLrA943YhtSvqFoimpslX5qS3Djyeh1QRRFRUqvBjVzgTyFdz9Li5I87e9-iZzngW-tRMLc7Lh2KO5N5EBlcbsjKWIxi1R_9_T6Lrju1DrHDRyu3mgqDD6ANFku7-ebk/s320/P4230244.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sitting here on the porch, drinking my early morning tea I
can hear the wild turkeys calling, and nearby there’s a woodpecker going crazy
on a rotten tree. And a hundred other sounds fade in and out as the creatures go about their morning ways. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There doesn't seem to be anything as insistent as the mockingbird in
our yard in town who cycles through her entire repertoire at the top
of her little bird lungs every morning, perched in the lilac just outside the
living room window. She even drowns out the weed whackers and lawnmowers that
seem to go from dawn to dusk every day from the beginning of March to the end
of November in town, although she can’t hold her own against the life flight
chopper or the ambulance sirens from the nearby hospital. Or the cacophony of
police and fire engines screaming through town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On the other hand, there are no mice in the house in town
and when you turn the faucet on the water comes out without having to go down
to the cistern and pump it up the hill. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Or <i>not</i> pump it up the hill, so you have to call
the pump guy to come out and replace a worn-out machine that’s just
tired of shoving water 300 feet through a 1 inch black plastic pipe for the past
six or eight years. However long it’s been since we last replaced the pump. Not that he's going to come out on a Sunday morning anyway, no matter how beautiful it is up here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It’s always something up here, a constant struggle against a
space that was perfectly happy before we took over and attempted to tame it.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv82EAiU5Btxcnk98cCfA1YNkx3lFW3YSxCrHoITVuDM4gw7geSSN9-9yZD-x3T7PWZUGZJ-wp28qAvJoTfnkrvhino33ovhR_-Sgk3DfICRmMzkO25vvTSqaArnDTAoaOMNFAyD8LcWM/s1600/P4230249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv82EAiU5Btxcnk98cCfA1YNkx3lFW3YSxCrHoITVuDM4gw7geSSN9-9yZD-x3T7PWZUGZJ-wp28qAvJoTfnkrvhino33ovhR_-Sgk3DfICRmMzkO25vvTSqaArnDTAoaOMNFAyD8LcWM/s320/P4230249.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTQ9kwtdwYedT9807ud7OqWFddlJhV2aF9EQHDdvB1elX_5J-rYbC-pb9lEyNJftkheMQNjdNxE8mhrdYFqIl895gWw_aKTWzGNXoiyK0qi80yU0q___8MaesN3-qjQs_PmW28ig9QJk/s1600/P4230250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTQ9kwtdwYedT9807ud7OqWFddlJhV2aF9EQHDdvB1elX_5J-rYbC-pb9lEyNJftkheMQNjdNxE8mhrdYFqIl895gWw_aKTWzGNXoiyK0qi80yU0q___8MaesN3-qjQs_PmW28ig9QJk/s320/P4230250.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The
spring ran just fine at the bottom of the hill before we captured it, forced it
into confinement in a cistern, rammed it into a pipe and sent it upwards
against gravity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The woodpeckers found plenty of dead trees to knock against
before the cabin was built, although I am sure they appreciate the bounty of
carpenter bee larvae seemingly stored just for them in our eaves, waiting for
them to drill out each spring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The mice had plenty of surfaces to run across before we
provided them with our counters, and even the ants probably managed without us
somehow. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The only thing I’m not sure about are the wild turkeys. I can’t
imagine how they could possibly have conducted their courtship every spring
without me, sitting bundled up in the cool dawn light, paying rapt attention.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-75025648020978734202016-04-15T10:40:00.002-04:002016-04-15T10:40:51.829-04:00Youse guys . . .<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">are NOT paying attention.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I has this book, see? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And it swell, be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Youse can have it free</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">as a book-e.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirMEQCCYlfp8tKfE5ClQ_nmv0X70FmDf0TUIyLo_FCk_UqNhUKUKjmjmBUPxH1ASi2IJBzZhvZFhB7Bxl0b7G56qwtZFM8hnRVOK7Vv00zoF8mX9MKTFOUjT4KHKVwwcU9kdNtMtTiZ7E/s1600/WIN_20160415_101123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirMEQCCYlfp8tKfE5ClQ_nmv0X70FmDf0TUIyLo_FCk_UqNhUKUKjmjmBUPxH1ASi2IJBzZhvZFhB7Bxl0b7G56qwtZFM8hnRVOK7Vv00zoF8mX9MKTFOUjT4KHKVwwcU9kdNtMtTiZ7E/s320/WIN_20160415_101123.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All you gots to do</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">is write a line or two.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don't even need to be you,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">your kid can write one too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">www.storycartel.com</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I tell you, it's da bomb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sign up your dad and mom,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">even your uncle Dom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I need stars and reviews,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">like them to come from youse,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and in return, you see,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you get some poetry</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a tiny piece of me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and absolutely free.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7eag8EE2qQyhmTo97D519VZSwIdaBV13fKn9nsZCXEvp1V2oRTZxru7jevIHY6uzCd5-vTMOlyr9Klj0ONyExHmvPz34yb30r1rB9SdcIQisjczI-RgUbqwJBHnfsfNOhyd9r1HRlp8/s1600/WIN_20160415_101106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7eag8EE2qQyhmTo97D519VZSwIdaBV13fKn9nsZCXEvp1V2oRTZxru7jevIHY6uzCd5-vTMOlyr9Klj0ONyExHmvPz34yb30r1rB9SdcIQisjczI-RgUbqwJBHnfsfNOhyd9r1HRlp8/s320/WIN_20160415_101106.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<a href="http://www.storycartel.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">www.storycartel.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do it. Do it now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tank youse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And you can click on this,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">give amazon a miss,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Barnes and Noble too</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">all of the giants who</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">take half of each sale. True</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and sometimes even more. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or, visit a local store.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But if you go through me,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll sign your book for free,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">give you a discount too, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dedicate it to you. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.margosolod.com/" target="_blank">www.margosolod.com</a></span></i><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-57311928024556978502016-04-07T12:00:00.002-04:002016-04-07T12:00:56.307-04:00Psst . . . Hey, guys-<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Want a <span style="color: #990000;">free</span> e-copy of my new book? With pictures and everything?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaU1gmSCeph8KX8UQq3qujP90wU4MitI5T2NPC3FPnB7TJ8Oy5v1N9FpcpUKLLNYk8BM8meisVMnPv3OPUZxM9FZlqWijWXOXLO9WntpQReBG5IXqpJLXFeE04nRcvexkUaKlaXsw_tY/s1600/Washed+up+in+the+Waves+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaU1gmSCeph8KX8UQq3qujP90wU4MitI5T2NPC3FPnB7TJ8Oy5v1N9FpcpUKLLNYk8BM8meisVMnPv3OPUZxM9FZlqWijWXOXLO9WntpQReBG5IXqpJLXFeE04nRcvexkUaKlaXsw_tY/s320/Washed+up+in+the+Waves+front+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's how you can get one and help me out at the same time-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">https://storycartel.com/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Go there. Sign up. It's<span style="color: #990000;"> free</span>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All you have to do is post a review afterward. They even show you how to do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And it's not just my book you can get for <span style="color: #990000;">free.</span> They have hundreds of books in all genres, all available for download to your computer or e-reader or phone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Although of course you should read and review my book first.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you read it to yourself you don't even have to use the silly voices.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And did I mention it's <span style="color: #990000;">free?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of course, you also want a real copy to hold in your hands. And you want it autographed and personalized. And you want it at a discount. If all this sounds like exactly what you want-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> http:/margosolod.com</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hit the button. Buy the book. Tell me what you want me to write.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Oh, that the rest of your life could be this simple.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-66555303727450218722016-03-20T09:24:00.002-04:002016-03-20T09:24:30.869-04:00I am reminded . . .<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Almost daily by the gods of the book of face that it has
been almost two months since my last blog post, and that ever so many people are,
apparently, dying to hear from me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Partly, I blame winter, as we closed the little cabin in
December and I seem to find it easier to blog when I am in the woods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My new book is also to blame, for how many times can I
announce, <i>I’m writing a new book! And I
think it’s good! And now I have finished the first draft! And now I have
finished the second draft! And now I am checking for typos! And now I am
revising! </i>before I begin to sound tiresome even to myself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But now spring is coming. And the bush who shall not be
named</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirBMMl9sh1dVz5RCsRDhxiPh4NiXIc_uNhvYs-h6htY1hhJjLBTK4y7KJaYnqKbFr6kufcwhepo7-ti1SOrpsDI_-xrqkWF5PqY_z_mf5Z4DqChzrbDvoogpX6N9HLjDnt-q42OXPiPs/s1600/12646674_848088327221_5637149222694410239_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirBMMl9sh1dVz5RCsRDhxiPh4NiXIc_uNhvYs-h6htY1hhJjLBTK4y7KJaYnqKbFr6kufcwhepo7-ti1SOrpsDI_-xrqkWF5PqY_z_mf5Z4DqChzrbDvoogpX6N9HLjDnt-q42OXPiPs/s320/12646674_848088327221_5637149222694410239_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> (at least by anyone we know so far) is alive with bees, <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWOByW4xLAciVGvKmPLWSPUil6dznzO-2BWTSrZLRe7DR0bjgPHFLr-GsQlzdivM709ht_Kfp0RcTBHfPScFGq3lrrQsbNjLnWDctjkg5AmQL1E7c60O7w8y5kXCUUkoZH8qmffoejxk/s1600/12052648_848088332211_8706078383321489461_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWOByW4xLAciVGvKmPLWSPUil6dznzO-2BWTSrZLRe7DR0bjgPHFLr-GsQlzdivM709ht_Kfp0RcTBHfPScFGq3lrrQsbNjLnWDctjkg5AmQL1E7c60O7w8y5kXCUUkoZH8qmffoejxk/s320/12052648_848088332211_8706078383321489461_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
a fine portent of
good weather to follow. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And we all know that in spring a young man (or woman)’s
fancy lightly turns to thoughts of sea creatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, yes. You read correctly. Sea creatures. Or to be more
precise, birds and fish and mammals and crustaceans and others of that ilk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do you need more hints? Have you not been paying attention?
Shall I stop beating around the proverbial kelp stalk?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu0oFohYsaOHSeL1ArYLRIDnh5POJZc_mN1fdrbaXyX7QdqujL_41qwSE62MnLEaGQpv2ON_J-HehxcisCnetC0wbNLOeQ83KKHIqRH3PW0Z48J4ACOmmyCIJvN8lREfHAeJqz8tGQX8g/s1600/Washed+up+in+the+Waves+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu0oFohYsaOHSeL1ArYLRIDnh5POJZc_mN1fdrbaXyX7QdqujL_41qwSE62MnLEaGQpv2ON_J-HehxcisCnetC0wbNLOeQ83KKHIqRH3PW0Z48J4ACOmmyCIJvN8lREfHAeJqz8tGQX8g/s320/Washed+up+in+the+Waves+front+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">My new book! Silly sea poems for kids! Illustrated!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now I know I've mentioned this a time or two before, but perhaps it's gotten lost in the incessant clamoring I've been doing about my new new book. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is my <i>newest to be published</i> book.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's a taste:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are oysters, him and me,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">we live in a community</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of hundreds which we calls a bed-</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We have soft bellies which is said</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to be the food that's gods were fed.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(there's more, but that's all you get for free)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>And</b> it is coming out in less than a month. April 11, to be exact.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>And </b>you can order a copy here: <a href="http://www.marinermedia.com/booksite">www.marinermedia.com/booksite</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Or </b>you will be able to purchase it through your local bookseller or on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>And </b>you can even get it as an e-book.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am telling you people, it doesn't get much better than this.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I haven't worked out the details of putting books on my website so that you can purchase directly through me and I can personalize it, but I am working on that.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or, I will be, soon. Because right now, you see, <i>there's this new book I'm working on . . .</i></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the meantime, have a very happy vernal equinox.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11071853361055859737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7953756654944070779.post-14252462671683478162016-01-22T13:50:00.000-05:002016-01-22T13:50:08.406-05:00When the falling snow blinkers your vision . . .<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">down to the 2
inch slot between the visor of your hood and the zipped up neck of your parka,
you see the world in odd rectangular bits. And you notice things you might not
have noticed otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This first snowy morning walk with the dogs shows me that,
the same as every previous year, the amazing triple coat Ladybug sports is
capable of carrying a full half inch of snow without showing the slightest
inclination to melt. The insulating properties of this coat are legendary.
She’d be a great Alaskan sled dog. As long
as the temperature never went above -20.
And, of course, if she could be persuaded to run without food dangling
in front of her nose.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgutuWd1PPqOVm1Pgp7Q06pYxAwoxlLw_t0ioKPg1feS-3bjEtbv75HQdAcf5oOLlZQEBTOw235wMfedhUjfmnt3N_y4TKPJY33eTTaLYB7XXHqUah5uhMyARd48aH0hbEoTl61y8Ljdd8/s1600/P1220218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgutuWd1PPqOVm1Pgp7Q06pYxAwoxlLw_t0ioKPg1feS-3bjEtbv75HQdAcf5oOLlZQEBTOw235wMfedhUjfmnt3N_y4TKPJY33eTTaLYB7XXHqUah5uhMyARd48aH0hbEoTl61y8Ljdd8/s320/P1220218.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chance’s short hair
and high metabolism used to melt snow on contact. Now he sports a 4 inch white
band from his tail up along his back, evidence he’s either grown a thicker
section of fur coat this winter, or added another subcutaneous layer across the
hips.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOE6qD_IMeCWVgCIxp2fnJyt17lYrMxbMxn5HVkfKiintbWljuYgR4jKV8u6BCwxj64ohJPrykk6Sc64SD2XPI3MmIEDcWjVkpIdrhQrOqNv7CeCOZM1lySPnCKnmeYEedydDmVPUndKE/s1600/P1220221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOE6qD_IMeCWVgCIxp2fnJyt17lYrMxbMxn5HVkfKiintbWljuYgR4jKV8u6BCwxj64ohJPrykk6Sc64SD2XPI3MmIEDcWjVkpIdrhQrOqNv7CeCOZM1lySPnCKnmeYEedydDmVPUndKE/s320/P1220221.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It happens as we age.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No one’s trodden the sidewalk along our usual route from my
house to the park before us. Or, if they have, fast and furious snow has wiped any indication
away. Before us lies a clean slate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">New snow, but the same dogs, a year older than the last time
we scuffled our names in fresh powder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWK7_Dh1-lzpOSxsn3874k3ZvF0pAO0CK3GY1t7NYRmsC90GTNGda4Z6nPbWX6OMulfbRzqbnm0fxtKzbFKFXF0JqF-AztOxGwBjFTkrYlDmYOr1sZ-mpETjWx06JXX_96PujggObhkHE/s1600/P1220223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWK7_Dh1-lzpOSxsn3874k3ZvF0pAO0CK3GY1t7NYRmsC90GTNGda4Z6nPbWX6OMulfbRzqbnm0fxtKzbFKFXF0JqF-AztOxGwBjFTkrYlDmYOr1sZ-mpETjWx06JXX_96PujggObhkHE/s320/P1220223.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Chance’s signature looks much the same,
but Bug’s pawprints are slurred. Deep straggles link her front and back prints,
showing me how the dragging of her hind legs has worsened. Arthritis calcifies
her hips and its progression is slow and steady enough that I can convince
myself, most days, that she is no worse than she has been. Until a late and
heavy snow begs to differ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This first snow, coming as late as it does this year, is
trying to turn me maudlin. The shuffling of an old dog, a bright red parka from
Antarctica, bucket list trip now two years in the past, even this snowy walk
itself, along a city street instead of a wooded path –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">new snow should signal fresh new beginnings, not provide
constant reminders of how quickly the past falls behind us. But perhaps not
this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Tuesday I stood in line at Kroger’s behind a woman buying
two red plastic snow discs. I bought two identical discs at a hardware store on
a small town main street in Vermont to slide down the hills of Johnson State
College with my new friend S.K. He had just found out he was HIV+. It was pretty much a death sentence. This was 1996. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That was the last time I went sledding, at least intentionally. I don't know about S.K. I could ask him. We've stayed friends. Advances in medicine have allowed him to live a long and amazingly active life, full of travel, adventure, and now even grandchildren.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It’s barely 3 weeks into 2016 as I write this. New year, new snow. Old
dogs and older friends, both a little whiter of hair than last year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But always the chance for new trails, a new signature in the
snow, even if the writing implements, (both mine and Bug's) are wearing down a little.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Happy first snow. Happy new year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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