Being mindful of what’s right in front of us can always be a challenge. Here are 10 new items from my end.

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1. Some years we use the Smoking Garden more evenings in September than August. Often with a small fire going and sense it may be the last time of the year. How sweet!
2. We have our own taste of the African Queen when we take the fall trip up the river from Portsmouth, starting with the broad harbor that finally narrows just before coming into downtown Dover. It’s a rather amazing midday cruise.
3. Such a joy discovering a masterpiece by sight-reading, the way I did with “There Shall a Star from Jacob Come Forth” from Mendelssohn’s unfinished oratorio, Christus. Much different from listening to a recording or hearing it in concert.
4. Some of the best ocean swimming comes after Labor Day. The water’s finally warmed enough to be comfortable. As for tide-pooling, we still have a wide variety of small crabs. They all move fast when uncovered. But no fiddler crab, so far, despite the title of my poetry collection.
5. There are no lifeguards where I swim in the open Atlantic at a relatively unknown park in Maine. While some of its pocket beaches are sandy, mine’s a field of pebbles. Sunbathing there can be surprisingly comfortable. Now comes the balancing act. While the water’s finally tolerable, even briskly pleasurable, the air can be a tad too chilly.
6. How do “real” writers live in their “free” time? Thought I’d have an answer by now, free from the office. Instead, the right pace and attitude remain a challenging mystery.
7. Still not ready to shave my head, even if I’d look like a Zen monk.
8. The night ocean: a remarkable tint of green.
9. September can be thunder in the distance.
10. Nothing we do goes quite as planned. (Not just the garden, at that.)

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Just a taste of what’s popping up. In case you were looking for a prompt.

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1. In Hebrew, breath and soul share the same word. (And thus, by extension: “I breathe, therefore I am.” As well as, “I breathe, therefore I’m inspired.” Remember, too, God breathed into the first human, Adam, giving humanity life, animation, and awareness.)
2. Without a sense of rhythm, how little progress. Never overlook the drummer.
3. Driving along, we keep laughing as we notice of every barn and not a few houses, as we acknowledge they needed of scraping and painting. As well as reroofing. Of course, we’ve just done ours. For now.
4. They’re canning tomatoes these days. And peaches. Where will they all go?
5. The Style of my own Eye. For now, back to the camera.
6. Regarding the Song of Songs, a voice cries out, “What happens when we lose that Lover?”
7. Watching two girls do the yoga sun salutation sequence on their patio, I find myself with a tinge of anger or disgust – something unexpected and hostile. Along with something else good, all remembering the circle. More centrally, whatever, about Swami that leaves me conflicted.
8. I’m still amazed by the range of color in clear ocean water when I’m tide-pooling in the rockweed. Everything’s so crystalline in brilliant sunlight!
9. A hummingbird at a prayer flag. I suppose it’s mostly about color.
10. The Dover Greek Festival held every Labor Day weekend has introduced me to more than our local Orthodox community. I love the word “kefi” – joy, spirit, happiness, triumph, feeling good, mojo, loving life, and so on. Not a bad outlook on life, when you can.

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Why wait for the dust to settle? Here are 10 bullets from my end.

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1. For two weeks each year, those of us who have annual passes to the city’s indoor pool laps are shifted to the Olympic-size outdoor pool instead. At 50 meters, it’s more than twice as long, a length that can be intimidating. Just eight laps outside equals my 18 laps indoors – a half-mile routine. Already there’s a feeling in the air that summer’s over. Yes, most of the flowers have already gone by. Evenings are cool; nightfall, definitely earlier. But the water’s crisp, and it’s fun anticipating the contrails of a jetliner-a-minute headed in or out of Logan down in Boston – even before you get to the soaring eagles.
2. Reviewing photos of our first years in our house, I find it painful to see how ugly the place was and how much progress we’ve made, still far short of our vision.
3. What would I be doing if I weren’t blogging?
4. In Genesis 3 (the second half of the Eden story), mankind loses its connection with (1) each other, (2) the earth, and (3) its God. One more dimension I’ve overlooked in my monograph!
5. Scratched my arms picking crabapples along the street. They seem to be public property.
6. A possible title, The Echo to Michigan, comes from overhearing, “We could take the Echo to Michigan.” Even that works better than “Toyoto Echo.”
7. My oeuvre, written on the run, on the fly? Catch as catch can.
8. I haven’t really retired but rather switched careers more fully to Quaker and writer. Though it seems there’s still not enough time for either.
9. Sugar Shoes. (Wherever that came from. Wherever it goes.) Pump up the Prayer Flags.
10. Just what kind of economic future are these kids facing?

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