December 31, 2020

New Year’s Eve– so different from our usual. No friends gather, but we try to celebrate by changing the evening up and end up being somewhat inadvertently hip– watching a few of the original Rocky & Bullwinkle TV shows, a DVD Christmas present, followed by Fellini’s 8 1/2, while sipping champagne. The juxtaposition seems curiously appropriate.

week 636 ~ stop being who you were

stop being who you were
change into who you are
miracles won’t occur
stop being who you were
throw out the furniture
go buy a new guitar
stop being who you were
change into who you are

December 30, 2020

The holly and the ivy– bits of green in the dull palette of our current snowless winter.

December 29, 2020

Watching this year of cancelled plans and isolation fade away. Hopes, from the vaccine, of a better 2021. Worries, from the heedless travel of so many, of a Covid surge to come.

December 28, 2020

Christmas card from my daughter– one of those serendipitous things you find and say “Wow-perfect!” A mandolin-playing hedgehog serenading another atop a mushroom. For those who don’t know my roots, I come from the Mushroom Capitol of the World, a small town in Pennsylvania. And, as most of you well know, I am a mandolinist. Fun to receive and to give!

December 27, 2020

Today we finish the puzzle! And play music, take a walk, and otherwise stay happily home.

December 26, 2020

Boxing Day! Traditionally, in my family, it’s a day to do “nothing” after the rush of holiday preparation. Today, we have a family Zoom gathering from California to France. Otherwise, a warming fire, delicious leftovers, and new books to read. Lovely!

December 25, 2020

I am not a baker, but for today I make a pie. Mincemeat, with hard sauce. Thinking of my mom and Christmases past. With calls and texted photos from my children, and the grandboys of Christmas present. Tradition is funny. Things don’t have to be the same for the annual joy to still percolate through the differences.

December 24, 2020

A day of so much pageant and ritual in years past, this year has faded in delight. But my son video-calls and texts fly with family and friends. And so we continue and celebrate, regardless of where we are, moving on to where we hope to be.

week 635 ~ I wish it had not happened in our time

I wish it had not happened in our time
this pathway isn’t one we’d ever choose
but we are on it regardless of whose
nightmare valley boxed us in we can’t climb
out by sheer will stuck in a pantomime
of the life we were living when our muse
had free reign it does no good to accuse
while mourning hapless souls lost in their prime
so we trudge on and go nowhere staying
safely home as more lost days trickle by
redrawing roadmaps as music playing
evaporates and make us want to cry
out in frustration as patience fraying
releases fading hopes in one long sigh

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.