Struggling! Poem: The Pine Wood Diner - Reminder: Your home should be a thing of beauty

Scott spent his two-week vacation doing yardwork and throwing things out! The Trashmen took it all.

I emailed Laura McKenna a letter of thanks for always championing ND. Sent her this pic of my bulletin board in my upstairs office.

And, yes, that's me, studying piano at Goddard College with Ray McIntyre, who now lives in California.

WHERE would you live, Dear Reader.

Personally, I might like to live in a squirrel nest, and be a baby squirrel once again.

Let's pretend!

 Am working on a Guest Column for the Intell. Sent it out for some comments before I submit it. Still have a lotta work to do.

The editor did not publish my last column so of course I'm worried he won't like this one!

Was feeling down about it. You've gotta be prepared for sad moments, as our guest speaker Jason Matlack told us. For his gift, I gave him a gift card from Rita's Water Ice, which I ate on Father's Day at the Rohrer's house in NJ. It was delicious!

So what did I do to cheer myself up? And I've gotta remember this.

I opened up a book.

Becoming Wise by Krista Tippitt. I read and read and read until I fell asleep.

All is well in the morning.

THE PINE WOOD DINER

There is no restaurant or diner
where I would rather eat -
sorry, Double R, from Twin Peaks-
than the Pine Wood Open Air Diner

There I rest my legs like the
dray horse they will become
today, and taste every bite
of an omelet where the hens -
speaking about dray horses -
will never see their chicks,
o sadness roll through me now,

And I can only honor them by
enjoying the flavor and creamy
texture of what could have been.

As I sip my Wild Berry Tea
the drosophilas whiz by
as do the birds. The female
cardinal, a dusky brown, and
the bluejay as aggressive as
General Stanley McChrystal

To all of us, I say holding
out my cup, and to you, most
of all, my friend Denis, whose
people hail from Lebanon, and
before that the sea-faring Phoenicians.

We laugh together on the phone.
Now Denis's body swims with
liquids. He can't get rid of
them. This man with the radio-
announcer voice, a voice like
God, is tethered to a
dialysis machine.

****

Which really means that God himself is also tethered to a dialysis machine. He experiences everything we do.

***

 Chris Trotter came over to pick up a recommendation I wrote for him. He wants to be a certified peer specialist.  His son, who just grad'd from The Air Force Academy, is in Rome, at the Vatican. About 500 young Catholic men were blessed by Pope Francis.


In the Krista Tippitt book about faith, she writes about many holy men and women. One thing they do is bathe others' feet.

Chris took this pic of me by the geranium plant that still blooms. I just didn't want to waste this photo.

***

 Kym Cohen is in our writers' group. Every now and again I send her a postcard. Here's Mailman Joe.

***

Today's film at the HV Library is Lady in a Van with Maggie Williams. It looked simply terrible!

***
Last night I ate at the Willow Grove Giant Cafe. What an awful place! The good energy is gone since they turned it into a bier garden. I know my friend Martha would agree.

As I lay in bed last nite I thought about Energy. The new Wawa and its gas station have energy.

Feng shui?

My house has energy.

Will eat my luncheon salad and then go upstairs and write in the hottest room in the house.

Just noticed this on the bottom of my fridge.

Off it goes and into the paper recyclables.

We were not among the chosen ones, Chaim Potok!