So do the deer.
I really do wish they’d stop eating ours, at least until the blooming’s over.
Lookin’ lush
Here’s a progress report on our raised, fenced-in garden experiment this year. So far, we’ve had no further problem with the deer, although they’ve been daily visitors to the back yard and neighbors lately, especially as small apples have been falling from the gone-wild trees.
The picture shows tomato plants thriving as they’re finally blossoming in our mostly cool climate, along with basil, calendula, cucumbers, and peppers.
The adjoining bed has been producing romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, parsley, and sugar-snap peas, while the leeks are coming long royally.
Not just us
WE’RE TOGETHER ON AN OLD FARM, one with a huge barn. We’re buying it. I say, “In New England, we build a woodshed connecting the house and barn.”
We enter and it’s a banquet hall, where she stands apart with a group of girlfriends. Sees a fire door and opens it. The alarm doesn’t go off. Instead, she’s in an anteroom, facing another door.
Told of the dream, she replies, “That’s good! I wasn’t afraid to open it.”
SHE’S WITH A NUMBER OF FORMER boyfriends and lovers, but knows it isn’t really them but someone else; each time, one would strip off his face like a mask. In time she identified the Lover as me, not by my face but by my HANDS.
AT THE MOTEL, I’M FLIRTING with two or three women. Maybe more?
As they pass each other, there’s friendship, not jealousy.
I’m supposed to run one – a newer one – to the airport, but each time I go out to the car, something else is missing from the dashboard. Speedometer, clock, etc. Stolen, stripped out overnight, while we slept. Not the hubcaps or battery, but the interior – controls – until I cannot drive anywhere.
You’d think those birds would be far more ravenous in the depths of winter
We continue to keep our bird feeders out through the summer (something we wouldn’t do if we had bears in town), but I am surprised by how much more they eat in summertime, when there’s plenty of other food available, than they do in deep cold and snowy conditions when they need more to keep their metabolism up.
Yeah, we know there are more of them now and that they’re also feeding their babies. But on some days they eat as much as they would otherwise consume in two weeks – or more.
On the other hand, we do enjoy watching the variety and drama as they dine right outside the window at our kitchen table throughout the year.
I’m feelin’ some schooner excitement
Somewhere in my youth I fell under the spell of windjammers – vessels under full sail in the wild ocean. Those were as far away from my native Ohio as were the white-capped mountains that also caught my fancy.
Over the years, though, even as I came to know first the Pacific Northwest and later, coastal New England, I never considered actually going on an overnight windjammer cruise. Dismissed it as too expensive on our limited income. For contrast, I should note that I’ve never had any interest in an ocean-liner cruise. Zip.
But in late May, a dear friend from Vermont stopped by for a few days on his way to his annual windjammer trip on Penobscot Bay and that, well, reignited those dreams.
My wife looked at our budget and encouraged me to join him on his early autumn return. For the record, she’s declining to go too, remembering a bad seasick whale watch excursion when we were first together. No way would she venture forth for so many hours or days.
Upshot is at the end of next month buddy and I will spend the better part of a week under sail on a historic schooner exploring some famed Maine waters, especially the lighthouses along the way.
I have to admit, a windjammer should be my kind of excitement. And because my buddy grew up sailing, I’ll certainly be privy to a deep source of inside information. At least maybe I’ll have more of the terms right when I report on our adventure.
In addition, many of the classic sailing ships were built only a block or two from our house, back in the heyday of masts and canvas sails. The remaining keel of one schooner is exposed at low tide only a block or two from my house.
I’ve started counting the days till we set sail.
When the sun arrives here, the light can be blinding, reflecting off the water
If you missed my latest Zoom presentation
You can catch up with my insights on “Quaker Meeting as a nest for social justness” via YouTube, thanks to West Falmouth Friends on Cape Cod.
The event, the latest of the special presentations based on my book, Quaking Dover and the New Hampshire city’s 400th anniversary, was recorded and is now available.
Many thanks to all involved.
To see what transpired during the hour, click here.
Full moon rising into clouds
This is how the rising moon looked from across our street last night. The reflection is in the bay between us and Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada. Some of those lights on the island are moving traffic.
This is a clue to what really occupies my mind some days
Ten random notes in no particular order:
- I’m still learning to spell Katahdin.
- Was it a mama moose I hit that cold night on my commute back from the office, rather than a deer? Now that I’m getting to know deer, I think the collision involved something bigger.
- Red states? They’re where nobody really wants to live. Or at least the paying jobs.
- How dark the house is at night in an electrical power outage! There’s no ambient light from the street lamps or apparatus power-on buttons.
- Glyphs = little typographic devices.
- I dreamed I was playing violin again. In an orchestra, no less.
- How deeply backpacking as a youth shaped my values (forget efficient as a factor). It’s that travel light thing.
- After living in New Hampshire, I’m still not used to a sales tax.
- English country dance lyric, “If love were an ocean / and water was gin / I’d walk a long plank / and throw myself in.” It’s not from “Robin, Mad Robin,” is it?
- A voicemail message for today: “Let me a message or text me. I’ll get back.”
Bass Lady in action
Something I’m deeply appreciating in my new community is how much depends on people who step up in public service. One person can truly make a difference. What’s amazing us is that some individuals seem to be everywhere we turn.
Some are born and bred here. Others are high-spirited “people from away” who transform the town in unique ways while respecting is core character.
One of the newer arrivals is Joan Lowden, better known as the Bass Lady jazz host on our community radio station. She loves to give shout-outs to others, so here’s one for her.
The former Silicon Valley ventures whiz is much more than a voice. She’s an organizer, fundraiser, website consultant, active volunteer, and cheerful doer who makes things happen, often behind the scenes.
This weekend’s ArtWalk offers some fine examples.
Here Joan is at our monthly open mic event, both singing and playing bass. She’s also a key player in MICE, the Moose Island contradance band, and a welcome member of varied combos. She even starred at our Mardi Gras night at the senior center while definitely lowering the median age.
Jnana's Red Barn 