august on the delaware west branch

picassa album

cloud appreciation day

picassa album
Looking up at the panorama of sky around us As we drive the interstate highway You read from the book explaining what we see. We learn the finer points of cloud appreciation. Some clouds are created by thermals Rising up in the morning of a sunny day We see them appear like cauliflower. These are the various cumulus cloud types. Some clouds are created by mountains Forcing the air up as it flows past the ridge Making a kind of standing wave cloud on the backside Something like what boulders do to a stream. Some clouds are created by weather fronts advancing Moist air condensing as it chills The storm clouds lowering down upon us Immersing us in precipitation. In northern Australia in the Gulf of Carpentaria Sometimes a giant cloud wave rolls in The locals call it the Morning Glory Delighting the waiting glider pilots who surf all day. I hear this story while maneuvering in the traffic As you provide our entertainment. What fun to go for a drive like science class Sharing a greater appreciation of clouds.

those who listen

Hearing foreign languages spoken around me

Living in a multinational community

I hear the tone of voice but understand little

Except a few words in Spanish and fewer in Korean.

Going for a walk beside the lake in the park nearby

Hearing many other languages and seeing the person

I make a tenuous guess where the speaker was born:

This one perhaps Eastern Europe, the other perhaps South Asia.

As I try to understand what they are talking about

A strange remembrance passes through my brain

Before I understood language, when words were a jumble

Before my first conscious memory.

The awareness is something like a waking dream

Like when some smell or sound takes you back

A strong feeling that you can’t place exactly

That has no words but takes hold of your thoughts.

Half awake first thing in the morning I hear the fish crows

Calling kwok kwok through the open window

Speaking their familiar language I do not understand.

For a moment I have a vague memory of some time before.

This indistinct recall is a recurring experience for me

Different particulars but somehow the same elusive recognition

Like feeling someone looking at you

Who looks away when you look at them.

I think this is not an early symptom of memory loss

Since I remembered well the details from 60 years ago

Last month revisiting my childhood home

Talking to another kid who grew up on the block.

Is this what happens to the older brain?

Daydreaming more, letting the mind wander

What’s happening in this moment not so important

When millions of moments have come and gone.

Like a reverie looking out the bus window

Traveling the same familiar route

Catching a glimpse of someone or something

Imagining being off the bus and in that other place.

We soon move on to the next thought.

The river of time takes us along asleep or awake

Babbling away to those who listen

Who may understand its tone like a voice.

brooklyn bajan birthday

picassa album

Four daughters, a son and a grandson;

Your dear girlfriend since childhood;

Your daughter-in-law and her mother;

Your daughter’s good friend and me:

We are all together to celebrate you

Making a party in your honor.

You bring us all together.

That’s the main thing, being there for you.

Wilma had to work but got off early

Making a happy surprise when she arrives.

Dondre and Deon shop and cook all day

Having a good time as mother and son.

Michelle shows the video I made of you

Telling your black cake recipe to her and Sharon

Delighted to see that it has 2700 views

That makes her mom a kind of famous person. 

We are all proud of you for what you accomplished

Against great odds as an immigrant here

Remembering your years of struggle and sacrifice

Raising a family every child grown into a good person.

You worked hard.  You made an honest living.

You are still the strength at the center of the family.

Today you are the birthday girl in a special pink dress

Still a good looking woman with goodness in your heart.

Neville and Roseanne are admiring the photo of you and Deon

That I took of you two working together in your kitchen

Bandannas on your heads like the bandanna on his head.

You stay relaxed not minding as I snap pictures to show your love.

Smiling Eleanor tells us of your childhood years together in Barbados.

Josephine dances in her special way.

Dondre lights 24 candles and directs the cake cutting. 

Neville listens closely as you read each card again.

But tonight to my dismay I forgot to bring my camera.

The best I can do is cell phone pictures in the dim light. 

I make a video of the cake and candles and Rhonda’s toast:

Here’s to 76 years and many more to come!

always gorgeous willowwood

picassa album google map

Visiting Rosie

Visiting Rosie is a very special time together

Talking to someone who has been around

More than 90 years

Sharing many of those years with you

And a few with me in my youth.

We talk and look at photos and videos

Telling Rosie about the places we have been

Answering her animated questions

Enjoying her enjoyment of us

Marveling at her quick wit and good humor.

Milt is there, too, happy to talk with us.

We listen amazed and delighted

Munching on the cookies Rosie baked

Discussing the best upgrade for her computer

Making plans for getting together more often.

Here is this person who is interested in new things

Telling us about the documentaries she has been watching

Learning, absorbing information and sharing

What she knows, caring about everyone

Here now and in the future.

We brought binoculars for you to look

Across the way from her bedroom window

To identify the big old tree as a red oak

Standing there as a companion to Rosie

Looking at it each day from her apartment. 

They don’t get out much any more

Milt and Rosie, life partners for such a long time,

But for us it is such a gift that they are here

For us to have a conversation

Filled with such sweetness and light.

summer friday in august

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acadian exploration

sunset treat arrival album sunset on the cove video	otter point trail album google map	jordan pond trail album google map	asticou terrace thuya garden album google map
sieur de mont jessup trail album red squirrel tail talk google map	acadia seawall album google map	bass harbor album bass harbor panorama	ship harbor trail album google map
misty maine cove album union river cove loons video google map	schoodic mountain bog album google map	hollingsworth trail petit manan album google map	schoodic peninsula album waves breaking on the point
hadlock pond carriage road album google map	indian point blagden preserve album hermit thrush singing in blagden preserve google map	lamoine beach quahogs google map	dawn's doorstep on union river cove album

southern maine coast

rachel carson preserve album google map

south portland album google map

gisland farm audubon album google map

down east tourist album

a week to go

A week to go now before your surgery

Counting down the days in July in 2013

Your family and friends helping you

Ready for the cancer to be excised.

I think of your two young children

And remember being a child of 13

When my mother was stricken with cancer

Though no one told her or us what it was.

I think of you preparing yourself

And remember how it was for me

When I was diagnosed and waiting

My turn on the surgeon’s table.

I send you the thoughts in my heart.

May you have the strength to bear what you must.

May your children know their mother’s love is assured.

May your husband be your comfort and help.

Everyone’s life changes over time

But sometimes it changes overnight.

We don’t get to choose what comes our way

How we respond reveals who we are.

We can cherish each day we are given

Tell the people we love that we love them

Let go of any minor annoyances

And enjoy the time we have with each other.

the person you are

It’s happy for me and all the people in your life

That you were born

And became the person you are

All these years every day

We know you will be good to us

Living with you is a pleasure.

It’s not easy getting old if you’re aware

Each year is gone never to be lived again

One less year left to be a human being

No matter that it was a good year

A certain sadness visits our thoughts

Thinking of loved ones taken from us.

Time stretches out more behind us than ahead

Looking back generation upon generation

Back and back to the beginning of life and the universe

It’s harder to imagine far into the future

We make plans for this year and next

We think about what might be 5 or 10 years from now.

Time stands still when you are in the moment

Today we are here with each other very much alive

We marvel at this amazing complex experience

Taking in what’s going on around us and with us

The flow of events near us and far distant

We have such a wonderful life.