If you’re speaking of dances, for me, it’s New England 

My definition: contra, English country, squares, and rounds, or folk rather than ballroom or rock – though a tango fascinates, I do the Swedish  hambo, when a partner appears at one of our contradances.

~*~

This note came from before I discovered the line dances at Dover’s annual Greek Festival and then the “secret” of dancing them. The event took place every Labor Day weekend, though I did come to find other opportunities to dance in Greek circles.

All of them to date, though, have been in New England.

What a Treat to explore

Officially, Treat Island is part of the city of Eastport, Maine, and once had its own thriving fishing village, school, and post office.

Today, though, nobody lives there. Instead, it’s one of the many preservations of the state’s coastline now held by the Maine Coastal Heritage Trust.

At low tide, it’s connected by a rocky breakwater to Dudley Island, which is officially in the town of Lubec.

The only way to get there, do note, is by water.

To take a quick tour upon landing, including its 7,000 feet of shoreline at the mouth of Cobscook Bay, check out the free photo album at my Thistle Finch blog.

Last chance!

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get back in shape – or even simply to get more physically fit, period – the characters in my novel Yoga Bootcamp will stand by you as inspiration. Or, as I’ve been confessing of late, as a reminder of what 50 years of neglect can do to you. (Some of the easiest hatha yoga moves are beyond my ability these days, and that’s before getting to my sense of balance. I don’t think I’ll get around to writing that story, though.)

Yoga Bootcamp tells of a back-to-the-earth funky farm not far from the Big Apple and covers a day in the life of its founder and followers as they seek to ride a natural high without tripping over themselves. As they discover, yoga is about much more than just standing on your head.

The humorous and insightful ebook is one of five I’m offering to you FREE as part of Smashword’s annual end-of-the-year sale, which ends tomorrow.

As they say, Act soon!

Get your copy now, in the platform of your choice, and then celebrate.

For details, go to the book at Smashwords.com.

Come on in to Big Pumpkin’s ashram

You don’t have to stand on your head for this bliss

Some folks actually came to the ashram for their holiday breaks, and now through these pages, you can, too – for free. If you think this means getting away from it all, though, you’re in for a surprise. The real intent is to pare away to essential truths of life and the universe.

The answers, surprisingly, are often more down-to-earth than any mystical platitudes you were expecting.

In my novel Yoga Bootcamp, chaos and humor are essential components of their spiritual quests. The guru is better known as Elvis or Big Pumpkin than by the long Sanskrit formal name he officially goes by. As for tradition? Theirs is essentially American maverick, centered in the hills not far from Gotham.

This may even come as a refreshing turn after all of the frantic ho-ho-ho rushing this time of year.

The ebook is one of five novels I’m making available to you for free during Smashword’s annual end-of-the-year sale. Think of it as my Christmas present to you. It’s available in the digital platform of your choosing.

You may even want a stick of incense when you sit down to read it.

Hari Om Tat Sat and all of that, then. Namaste!

For details, go to the book at Smashwords.com.

Come on in to Big Pumpkin’s ashram

Where to from here, as a writer or a person?

Creatively, I’m feeling a lull or perhaps more accurately adrift.

After my Cape Cod presentation via Zoom earlier this month, I have no other Quaking Dover events on the horizon. Nor do I feel compelled to undertake another big writing venture.

Authors these days are often saddled with the promotional end of any publication, and I’m coming up on a year of launching the marketing push on my latest book. Admittedly, I am proud of my public appearances on its behalf – each one unique, reflecting what another writer declared a “rich feast of a book” – but it’s also exhausting, especially, as I hate to confess, at my age.

Do I cut the ties and say it’s time for the book to sink or swim on its own, or do I find new ways to try to generate a buzz? It is the one book that seems to speak to a wider audience, especially, say, than poetry or my hippie novels.

The blogging hits have slowed down, perhaps as many viewers have shifted to other platforms. Social media and mass media both appear to be hemorrhaging there, so I can’t say I’m alone.

I’m certainly out of touch with youth and often can’t understand their conversations. That really hurts. I believe there’s so much knowledge that needs to be handed down but don’t know where to begin. Besides, I’ve often found them a source of great energy in my own outlook.

In short, I don’t have a big project calling for my attention and devotion. That part feels really weird.

I do have a big backlog of periodicals and books to finally tackle as well as a shelf of personal journals that deserve visiting, so that points to an overdue reading orgy.

There’s plenty of outdoors around here to indulge in, too.

I may even have to look at my remaining possessions and reorganize and cull them.

As I’m saying, I’m feeling a bit strange.

Still the talk of the town

So far, so good. The deer haven’t yet pushed the garden fence over or managed to get in despite the chicken wire.

That, in itself, gets a lot of the locals coming by to take a look at my fortifications and then talk, as well as a number of summer folk. Eastport is a pedestrian-friendly village. Others are in vehicles that slow down and roll down their windows.

Beyond that, many are also avid gardeners who admire what’s growing and then advise us while introducing themselves. Some have even left packets of seeds on our front-door steps.

Strangers have also come up to me downtown to say how much they like what we’re doing. As I acknowledge, my wife deserves most of the credit.

Either way, it’s one more positive small-town aspect of living here. You’re simply engaged with life all around you.

Nor have I mentioned how heavenly the buttery fresh lettuce tastes or how much a sugar-snap pea vine can grow in a day.

The fact that all this is in our front yard does, no doubt, make the garden more public, but it is where our best sunlight falls. Folks around here are practical and take that all in stride.

Speaking of practical? It’s that much less lawn I need to mow.

The next steps

Filling the new beds with clean soil atop a landscape fabric and cardboard barrier against weeds and the tainted ground below takes shape. Our planting season here naturally runs late – early June still had overnight low temperatures in the 40s. So transplanting seedlings is running on schedule.

The plastic is to help warm the soil.

The upright frames are for peas, which will probably continue to produce through the summer, thanks to the cooler temperatures. Tomatoes, though, will be tricky.

The biggest challenge will be deer, as you’ll see.

Just look at our new garden beds taking shape

Warning! Don’t get your soil tested. Ignorance can be bliss, until you discover you’re being poisoned.

Well, others in town told us we really should submit the samples. And then, when we opened the envelope with the results from the dirt we sent to Orono, we had to face the reality that the lead levels here are way off the charts.

It’s not just old paint, either, but decades of pesticides used on the apple trees all over the island, even before we get to the long-gone canneries. Maybe even the pearlescence factory, too.

Flowers are one thing, but what we plan on eating is another. And my wife is not only a devoted gardener but also a fabulous cook. Meaning fresh food from the garden is essential.

Contrary to the website blurb, these cannot be put together in five minutes. An hour and a half per bed is more accurate. The front yard, do note, has the best sunlight.

So here’s what’s happening. New raised beds, using kits ordered online. We went with metal, which prices out roughly about the same as wood these days and will definitely last longer. My experiences maintaining wooden frames in Dover had me leaning toward change here.

Set atop a layer of landscape fabric and cardboard to suppress grass and weeds, we then filled these with (ugh) purchased bags of soil and compost. As we were counseled, there was no guarantee local loam had been tested. We want to be safe.

Well, as she says, it’s cheaper than therapy.

Besides, we’re finding it’s generating a lot of talk around town and the conversations from the sidewalk are lively.

Now, if we can only keep the deer at bay. As they used to say on TV, please stay tuned.