A Blog for 2025

March 24, 2025 I'm amused at my own funky patterns.  I went to the rookery to organize my thoughts about the things I'm heavily thinking about.  I wanted to make a list and jot down a few ideas.   Instead, I arrive and am blessed with an entire eagle show.   It was raining and cold and the light was different, difficult.  There were 10 common mergansers, several Canada geese and two bald eagles perched on the highest place.  It almost looks as though they are trying to decide whether to build a nest up there.  So I was distracted from my list, but I have some beautiful photos to share tonight.  I also know that the eagles will keep the heron from arriving this year.  There has been so little action up there this March, but a whole new story is about to emerge.   The water line is so much higher than it was a week ago and that foamy stuff has completely cleared out.  I still don't know what it was except there was plan...

March 23, 2025 What's the difference between the turkey and the eagle?   I have a neighbor who has had a gigantic Trump banner hanging on the front of his house since 2015.  Over the last year he has had lots of Trump paraphernalia around his home and mailbox.   Today, on my way to the rookery, I realized he'd taken it all down.   How much good can I read in this?  Has he gone too far for his own supporters?   6:30 a.m., very confused by the sight of the moon rising outside my window and not the sun.  Took a pic with my phone to remind myself that I saw it.  LOL Very sunny today, but it did not get warm.   Took a short ride, or should I say, I took two short rides, one over to the canal where there was no activity and then later to the rookery where there was a lot of activity.  Birds are back.  There were no herons, but lots of others.  And the males were being very noisy and territorial.  This ea...

  March 22, 2025 EJ and I went to a gospel workshop today.  We sang for 4 hours.  That's hard work.  I had to come home early, but I'm really glad we did it. We saw a lot of old friends.  Most of them were from Greenfield Harmony which we hadn't been involved in since COVID.  EJ and I sung with the chorus for 7 years, I believe.  Many of the people in the the room sang with us and Kathy Bullock, who led today's workshop, directed us for at least one concert a year.  Working with her is really fun.  And I am kind of amazed how long it has been since I'd seen some people.   Not all of my old friends were Greenfield Harmony people, a couple were LAVA people, a couple were swimming pool people, and a few were poetry people.   We were in the Montague Common Hall.  The first time I was there was when I brought EJ to audition for Mutton 'n Mead a long time ago. OMG, 11 years ago?   It was drafty and in much less ca...

March 21, 2025 Sat by the Green River for a half hour today.  It was that green brown color and it was rushing through.  The dam was up and the water was high.  Today starts the rebuilding of the growth.  The woods void of any real color variation will soon begin to show a pop up green.  To Life.   Tonight we had a small potluck with poets.  We created a sacred circle, we shared beautiful poems and other writings, we burnt what we wished to remove from our lives and planted new seeds.   A new beginning on this first full day of Spring. I did not use my camera today.  I wish I had brought it.  I forget how wonderful the shapes, colors and textures are in rituals.  My phone does not do any of it justice.   The Sun This March                         Wallace Stevens  The exceeding brightness of this early sun Makes me conceive how dark I have becom...

  March 20, 2025 Happy Birthday, Clara! Clara and I had dinner together and went to the Open Stage at LAVA.  She sang.  Food was good, the music was fun, the company was the best.  So glad we've become friends.  We had a great staff meeting today.  I have a lot to say about it and I think some important issues were talked about and it lit me up in a way I haven't been lit in a while.  But I'm not ready to articulate it.   Officer Zoe Smith from the Greenfield police came to talk to us about working with difficult people in the Center.  She is our local street cop.  She's coming at law enforcement from a background in theater and in public health.  She's trans, white, energetic and really smart.  She talked about what it was like to span the police community and the trans community.  Talking about a perfect Ven diagram.   I'm hoping we do some programming with her.  Her understanding of her own mission w...