May 24, 2026

Happy Birthday, Grace Dawn.

I have so many friends who share this birthday. Every time I think about it I think of someone else and on top of it, it is Bob Dylan's 85th. I wish  I could have blinked myself to Georgia to see and hear Gracie today, or even to Montpelier to see Giz.  Really, someday I'm going to hold a party that recognizes the different lives all born on the same day, look at how different and rich each one is.  That is certainly the truth for May 24th.  

I decided that a huge dragon slept in my yard last night.  This piece of yard looked just like a place where a deer would have curled up, but it was big enough to be a dinosaur, so I decided on a dragon.

This is my 7th year of observing the rookery and only the 2nd time when a Statie stopped to make sure I was ok.  It was raining and cold and I was on the phone with  Annie, but we were rather polite to each  other and he didn't think I was that crazy.  There wasn't a lot to photograph tonight.

But it allowed me to get out of the house just long enough so I didn't feel claustrophobic.  Moving my right side is pretty darn hard.  After yesterday I just needed to be still, but I also needed to count birds. (I did not see soaring birds yesterday on that trip.  Usually one does across those rivers and ranges, but too rainy yesterday.  We saw a Tom turkey and some deer, but that was it.)

Today I saw some turkey and a pair of king birds having a disagreement about something.

I thought a lot about the importance of the ritual of graduation today.   It really is, you put energy into doing something over 4 years and one day it is done.  It has to be acknowledged in community.   I saw a young woman crying in what was probably her Dad's arms saying, "I thought I'd feel this large sense of accomplishment, but I don't" I didn't continue to ease drop and hear how her Dad responded, but I hope he told her, it would come, at some point, she'd breath deeply.  But it was important for the recognition to occur.

Same for EJ, I haven't heard how he's feeling about the commencement besides it was utter ADHD hell, truly.  But he accomplished this huge thing and OMG, it is so cool.

I remember being kind of numb at Marlboro, almost paralyzed at the end.  I had no idea what to do next.  That was May 22, 1977.   In 1990 I walked having finished my Masters/Doctorate.  Both my Mom and Arthur were in the audience for both events.  I remember thinking that the fact that it was 13 years between the events was soooo long. I did a huge amount in that 13 years.  I just wasn't able to stop and recognize it.  It is so important to do so.  

I don't see myself in clear light very often, but I hope I get others to see themselves more accurately.   

It's cold tonight, I wish I had my monitor set up so I could watch a movie, but instead I'll go curl up with Guido Brunetti.