Sky Watch Friday

It was a lovely early evening in Greenfield, Massachusetts, around 3:30 yesterday, November 18, when I took these photos of a beautiful part of my commute to and from work. A few miles from here, it isn't so pastoral, with plenty of traffic mediated by traffic lights and a Wal Green on the corner.  But this is a slice of paradise. And if you head northwest via the back roads, there are plenty of things to see in daylight and sometimes things to avoid at night, such as deer. I love where I live. And I am grateful every day for it.

Peace and Love,

Pagan Sphinx

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Pagan Sphinx Photo © All Rights Reserved

Martin Luther King, Jr. / Digital Poladroids / My World Tuesday

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Portrait of MLK

Robert Shetterly

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An Eleventh-Hour sign-up for the amazing international photo tag game which is

THAT'S MY WORLD 

A second version

The photo above, in two versions, was taken in Greenfield on a very cold day last week, around 3:15. I was caught trespassing on a farmer's land as he was driving his truck up the icy driveway. I stuck around to introduce myself, even though my fingers were numb and I was ready to head home. The farmer was suspicious and not at all sure he liked the fact that I was taking pictures of his barn, his house and his land. Then, he smoothed out a bit and told me that the barn below had been moved from the pasture across the road to where it stands today. He raises happy, pasture-fed cows who become dinner for the local health and environmentally conscious folk of western Massachusetts. He talked to me about a lot of things, in fact. Each topic delivered in five-words or less. Then it was time to shake hands and say so long.

The one below was taken just outside of Amherst, Massachusetts, yesterday, near the Friends' Meeting House on route 63, heading north to Montague

The Secret Life of Sheep

Snow Waves


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

For Shadow Shot Sunday - Little Red Flyer

Little Red Flier

(click photos to enlarge)

Taken yesterday at recess

Visit Hey, Harriet, who hosts Shot Shot Sunday, and see the work of other shadow seekers

Shadow Shot Sunday

The prayer flags in the front yard, sending out good vibes for peace and freedom

The Baby in the Garden
and assorted other garden shadows

This one is not of my yard but across the river in the town of Gill
taken on the same day as the others.

Later this afternoon, in the family room: the shadow from a carved wooden screen on the closet door in the family room.

Happy Shadow Sunday, thanks to our hostess Tracey at

Shadow Shot Sunday

Hey, Harriet! Thanks for hosting this meme. I succumb to it again and again.
Thanks also for bringing me the delight of seeing what it's like in Brisbain.

Love Those Barn Shadows
North County

Ruby Tuesday

Work Of The Poet hosts Ruby Tuesday. Check out other fantastic Ruby Posts.

Apple Orchard Late Summer

Sunday

(photo taken by me at The Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts)

Hello dearest blog friends,

As some of you know, my mother's been visiting. She left on Friday for my brother's house and will be arriving home to Midsize Village, Portugal (about 50 miles northwest of Lisbon) on Monday.

The telling of Supergirl One's life and future went relatively well. Both granddaughter and grandmother endured the experience well, - all things considered. I'm really pleased and proud of both Supergirl One and my mother. That was a lot of emotion to take on in such a short period of time. Phew. I'm glad it's over.

This past weekend, The Girls, their dad and I went to the Green River Music and Balloon Festival. It was, I believe, the hottest and most humid day of the year in these parts. In that regard, it was brutal but the thunderstorms that ringed us all evening held off and the final act, Lucinda Williams and her band Buick 6, went off without a hitch. We had a great day.

I, my friends, will be taking off for a much-needed mini-vacation with W.P. He is scheduled to be in New York City as part of a project he's working on there and I'll be going along to take advantage of the benefits of the free hotel room, which is walking distance from MoMA. That should keep me busy for at least one day. I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding things to do.

While in New York, I have a lot of research to do about obtaining an advanced degree in special education. I've been thinking about it for some time and based on a conversation I had with a co-worker, I began to think about it some more. Recently I went over to FranIAm's site and saw this inspiring post (but then again, all of Fran's posts are inspiring to me). So, I think I may be taking the plunge and returning to school. It's interesting that even simply investigating the possibility of a graduate degree makes me break out in hives and yet, contemplating my marriage to W.P. hasn't caused me any concern whatsoever.

I'll have to begin to try to overcome my anxiety over returning to school for the first time since, what...1983? Yikes.

Meanwhile, I will be blogging from New York starting probably on Tuesday. Off to read your weekend blogging now!

Take care. Be well. Peace. Love.

Pagan

Concert in the Park

After our family picnic yesterday we packed it up and went down to our town park for a benefit concert of local music. The night was hot but breezy and it was a very groovy scene. The proceeds are going to help support our local community theater, The Shea.

Headliners The Alchemystics. Excellent reggae, hip-hop and dub. Heavy grooves, great vocals, and positive messages.

(below)
Lin Preston’s Musical Time Machine

The band leader has an amazing voice reminiscent of Nick Lowe. The band sound is loud but melodic rock; all original material.
This dude has star-power. It seems he was once a rather good Elvis impersonator. The drummer is the talented Nick, Supergirl Two's boyfriend. This is a band that's going places, I think.

The lovely Alice, W.P.'s mother, diggin' the show

What's goin' On

Supergirl One found a summer job. She starts work next week at what I call a Storybook Farm just over the river from my house. It's a strawberry farm, mostly but they also have cows and sell organic milk and cheese. When SG2 visited, her new boss was making cheese and already giving her pointers. She felt very comfortable with the gentleman farmer and when he told her that the whole family is into literature and writing, that was it. She'd found her niche for the summer!

Me, I'm lacking motivation. I thought that Spring and all her glory would help me lighten my step and begin all the household projects that need doing. Not a chance. I just want to play and blog and read and eat and sleep and hang out with W.P. and SG2.

Supergirl One is still at college. Today is the last day of her campus job and it's the day where I go down to Mount Holyoke and help her pack her stuff to move into the massive UMass campus for summer session. She's determined to graduate with her class of 2009, despite massive setbacks in her freshman and sophmore years due to bipolar illness and frequent hospitilizations. She'd also battled drug reactions, a severe skin rash from a virus and low blood pressure that caused her to pass out on several occasions. I'm continuously amazed, impressed and otherwise blown away by this girl's determination and intellect. Is this my kid? It's what you get when you cross a pagan sphinx with a cunning runt! hehehehe

As an aside, I know I'm boasting and that my English friends rather look down upon we Americans for it, but....SG1's semester GPA was a 3.9. No easy feat at that overly demanding elitist school. We're thrilled and proud and in the hopes of sounding humble, it has little to do with us at this point. Hell, I wanted her to go the easy route because I was concerned her illness would drain the life out of her and she wouldn't be able to do academics at that level. That girl has proven me wrong and that's what makes me so in awe of her.

I'm gearing myself up emotionally, if not in regard to cleaning and organizing my house, for my mother's visit at the end of June. My mother, for those of you who may not know, lives in Portugal. My family (including CR) who read this blog, know and understand fully how much I adore my mother; what a good relationship we now have and how much The Supergirls look forward to basking in her unconditional love - because she is good at that. There are complications, of course.

This is a case where Love can't be everything. Supergirl One, whom my regular readers know is gay and engaged to be married to a lovely young woman, is intent on telling her grandmother that she's a lesbian. SG1 wrote to me an eloquent email explaining her reasons for this. Below is an excerpt from that email:

The choice is between upsetting her [where, honestly, the onus is on her, because she is potentially the party to be behaving negatively] and acting against my own sense of dignity and pride by lying about one of the most fundamental and important aspects of my life. The latter choice also has repercussions for my relationship and the trust I share with my partner.

My own personal worry is not that my mother will be rude or angry but that she will consider this another form of Tragedy. I grew up with the various forms of Tragedy. Besides death, illness and suffering, and natural disasters, Tragedy as defined by my Portuguese family comes in the form of Alcoholism, Adultry and anything else that disgraces one's family. She will doubless be heartbroken by the news that her lovely grandaughter is a lesbian and plans on shacking up with a girl. My mother understands that gays get married. But "gays" are those other people over there somewhere in a world she doesn't understand.

My mother is 77 years old and has been through a tremendous lot. I don't want this news to put her over the top. Honestly, I have no clue as to how she will come to grips with this. Especially without my father, who died almost three years ago. Who will help her to understand? It will have to be me, of course. When SG1 gives her grandmother the news, she'll then go back to her dorm for summer session, while I sit with my mother and help her to contemplate this. I'm worried and sad and frustrated that I have to be burdened by this! My mother will doubtless blame this tragedy on either my divorce from The Supergirls' father or the bipolar disorder, or both.

To complicate things, my Portuguese is not what it used to be and certain things are just so hard to labor into translation. I have this upstanding, proud family where I am the only member of the immediate family who has divorced. It confuses me, really. We have so many nutcases in the family - depression and bipolar illness have touched the lives of several family members. But something like a same-sex relationship can put everyone over the top! WTF?

I'm projecting but with a very good scope consisting of 48 years of experience being a part of my family. We'll see what happens, but Happen it must.

The Wonders of Emu

Songline Enterprises

Thanks for your caring wishes for a speedy recovery from my fall on Sunday. I'm doing a lot better. In part because of your good wishes and also because, I believe, due to the effectivenss of the product pictured below.

As if I was predicting the ill-fated event, I went to my town's art fest on Saturday and bought this locally manufactured cream. I've always been aware of the wonders of arnica but this blend of ingredients intrigued me: arnica, emu oil, menthol (which gives the treated area a great tingle), willow bark, witch hazel and capsicum. Highly recommended.

They sell emu burgers down the road, too. I intend to try one any day now and I'll be sure to give you a full report!