Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

I find it interesting that the gospel reading this weekend is about the breaking of the loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes (Mt 14:13-21). The OT reading from Isaiah (55: 1-3), too, mentions bread: "You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat" and "Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?" It is also the old Celtic-Christian feast of Lammas, which is also centered on bread. The word lammas comes from OE, translated as "loaf-mass" and the feast day is usually celebrated on or about August 1st. The loaf referenced directly connects to the Eucharist, and the festival is intended to bless the First Fruits, the early harvest, and a loaf of bread signifies all the blessings we receive through hard work and faith. In some communities, a loaf of bread is brought to the church to be blessed.  Bread is central to human existence; every culture has some form of bread. The basic elements of water, wheat, salt, and ...

Y'know, I just cannot believe that I have something new to worry about. Freakin' Elon Musk's stupid rocket dreams have now threatened the whole world: he has an out of control rocket about to smash into the moon at full tilt.  What the ever loving hell.  Knocking the moon around could cause serious, global-devastation kind of repercussions. He is a mess, he is dragging us all into an abyss that we can't get out of.  And speaking of an abyss, or at least an abysmal failure of epic proportions: AI. Two companies have models that have gone rogue and have hacked into other companies' systems. Have we not learned one damned thing from decades of science fiction? Putting our lives, the life of the very planet, into the data stream of a soulless machine-entity is just plain stupidly dangerous.  That tracks: we are back to billionaires (trillionaires) not giving one rat's rectum whether we survive, as long as they think they can cash in on our despair. When they've ...

Holly and I had a really good day again yesterday; it was pretty low-key, and we got everything done. We got the groceries, and she got to play with clay and watch a movie. What movie? The Little Rascals from 1994. Holly was greatly amused by the scene where Alfalfa gets chased from the dance recital through the streets in his underwear (heaven help us, four year old humor). I'd forgotten that the current president had a cameo in that movie as the father of an insufferable, entitled kid named Waldo. As Waldo is leaving the Fourth of July celebration after his defeat in the go-cart race, he threatens the other kids with a call from his lawyers.  That tracks.  It's a cute movie, though, and I'd not seen it in a long time. The boys learned that girls have skills (Darla saves them and their favorite racecar driver-- AJ Ferguson-- is a female, played by Reba McIntire), and they should have a club that is based in something they like, rather than something they hate.  Imagine ...

Yesterday, we had a really good day. It was sort of fun, sort of errands, and it all worked out. We skipped swim lessons (it was cool and rainy anyhow), left early, and went to Tilton. We started out with breakfast at the iconic Tilton Diner, then went to poke around and shop at Old Navy (got Holly some school stuff), picked up our online order at BJs, and came home by 12:30. Later, Holly and I went to the library for a fun little cupcake decorating thing. They started with a fun story titled Peanut Butter and Cupcake, then each child got two cupcakes to decorate. They showed them how to use a piping bag. That was funny stuff.  At any rate, Holly had fun, and she had a cupcake for dessert. All's good. I ordered a copy of the book. =) Today, it's rainy and cool again, and we are both a little tired, so we are going to slow things down a bit. I have some minor chores to do (ahhh folding laundry), and we should go get groceries later on. Nothing huge.  It's almost August, so c...

Rainy day! I don't mind one bit.  We are off on an adventure... Tilton, then home by midday. Holly is also signed up for a cupcake decorating class at the library. We had a lovely day yesterday, Meg, Holly, and I-- just did a little shopping, went to the diner for lunch, then hit the pool. The rain came in on schedule at 5:30, but not a thunderstorm. It looks like showers today as well. Good day to skip swim lessons and go south.  I even started the day with a quick coffee catch-up with a retired former colleague-- that was nice, too. I could use a lot of days like that. They just take a little planning and a dollop of luck. So, this is a short note. The days are marching onward. Keep safe, keep your loved ones safe, and we'll manage. C

Strange things happen.  A little over a week ago, our guest poet at The Frost Place was Abbie Kiefer, a delightful person whom I had never met in person, but whose work really spoke to me. I had the pleasure of introducing her at the start of the reading, and I had read several of her poems in order to get a sense of who she is. One of the poems I read, and one that I quoted from in my introduction, was her poem, "Assistance."  So how cool is it that yesterday's poem of the day on The Slowdown was that exact poem?  Here is the audio , with a nice commentary by poet/ podcast host Maggie Smith.  And I spent a few minutes reading through my almost-manuscript, and reordered the sections and the poems in the sections. I'm still not sure what's going on in the narrative arc, what story I am trying to tell with these poems. It is so much easier to arrange 25 poems into a chapbook; a full collection is more than 45 poems. I am going to try to have an even 50.  I think ...