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Just hanging out at home. Back to blogging. Some reading. Nap coming up. It is 8 pm, Monday, Oct. 23rd in New Mexico; 3 pm, Tuesday, Oct. 24th in New Zealand. A world of miles and attitudes apart. It feels very April-like today. Chilly sun. But big bright flowers and a lush maritime green. According to an organization called SafeAround, I’m in the 5th safest country in the world. The US is… Read More
Where to begin. Here in cloudy damp cool (it is, after all, spring here) Wellington, New Zealand…life is very good. Teresa is mostly off today, just a bit of morning work and I am determined to break my long blogging-block spell. We’ve just had a lovely breakfast of baguette, olive oil, coconut yogurt, kiwi and dark hot coffee. T. shares a house with four roommates from Italy, Spain, and Japan—an old cold… Read More
Minnesota…to Vietnam Minnesota is fading quickly into the background as I immerse myself in preparing for Asia. Oh yeah and then there’s also work—long hours because of evenings managing the theatre for renters; preparing my apartment for a stay by the bro and Marsha while they search for their Albuquerque winter apartment, and the minutia of daily life such as putting gas in the car and doing the laundry and watering the… Read More
My River Runs To Thee My River runs to thee— Blue Sea! Wilt welcome me? My River wait reply— Oh Sea—look graciously— I’ll fetch thee Brooks From spotted nooks— Say—Sea—Take Me! (Emily Dickinson) Beautiful morning along the Mississippi. *** On a pond of Mississippi backwater in Robert’s Green Hornet.
Fall, leaves, fall Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me Fluttering from the autumn tree. I shall smile when wreaths of snow Blossom where the rose should grow; I shall sing when night’s decay Ushers in a drearier day. (Emily Bronte) I come home almost every summer, stay at Robert and Marsha’s in Grand Rapids, and walk in the woods along the… Read More
I’m going to be cremated. Partially so I don’t have to be stuck in one place. First of all…a handful or so of my ashes (mixed with Max, my last border collie’s) must go out on the Old Place, some more in the Bosque down by Tingley Beach and at Neset Camping in Byglandsfiord, and…finally the rest should be here at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Northome, Minnesota. Burrowed in right between… Read More
Thanks to Friend Beth’s invitation I walked/climbed 6.6 miles/1162 feet yesterday. Now granted I wasn’t appropriately grateful on some of those long uphill stretches but nine hours in bed and a pain pill later I am ready to offer up an earnest thank you. One of those goldy fall days, nice people, such a much better way to spend a day off than binging on netflix (really!) Here’s a two-part photo album: The… Read More
(This set of posts comprise an addendum for Time and Place 2015-16, accounting for previous travels and events.) My grandchildren have already guessed that grandma is not leaving them a huge fortune or even a tiny fortune, just a lot of books, the 100 year old couch and travel memories. ‘Oh well,’ they say, ‘a fortune would have come in handy but we love you anyway Gma.’ At least I’m remembering that’s what… Read More
(This set of posts comprise an addendum for Time and Place 2015-16, accounting for previous travels and events.) The Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland host a spectacular dance festival (Ice Hot Nordic Dance Platform) every winter, highlighting contemporary dance that is uniquely Nordic. Both the festivals pictured below took place in the winter although I’m not sure the Norwegian one that Kristine Maltrud and I attended was part of… Read More
(This set of posts comprise an addendum for Time and Place 2015-16, accounting for previous travels and events.) Yes, Bill Clinton is very popular around here for his generally active role in subduing the Serbs in the Balkan wars of the ’90s. And yes, Mother Teresa is from Skopje, Macedonia. But best of all, Macedonia has reclaimed Alexander the Great from Greece…although Greece doesn’t acknowledge the claim. On behalf of my friend Gordon… Read More