1) Monday afternoon I took a 45-minute walk through Franklin Park, where two things happened. Walking near the golf course, the air was suddenly full of a dull roar: one or more lions at the nearby zoo. I thought “Well, I guess I’ll turn around now.” Returning uphill the way I came, a mother and her two boys were coming down. None of us had masks on, but I was super-conscious of social distancing. Courteous greetings as we passed, but that wasn’t enough for the youngest boy. “We heard the lions roar! And all the squirrels, they ran away!” I couldn’t help but see the excitement in his eyes. At a time when we’re having so very few in-person interactions, it was just beautiful to see that.
The Metaphor Tree in Franklin Park.
1a) The second thing was the discovery of a couple downed trees of very large size. Undoubtedly blown down during the Big Wind last week, workmen had already begun to take them apart. A beautiful felled pine of grand proportion turned out to have a hollow trunk. And I thought sadly, “Hmm, a metaphor for the nation.”
A view of the Metaphor Tree featuring the hollow trunk.
2) Yesterday my sister called to ask me to look around for some particular family documents, and soon we were talking about our favorite children’s books. I think I probably got the ball rolling remembering Miss Twiggley’s Tree, about an introvert who lived in a tree with a bear (!) who ends up saving everyone in town during a flood when they have nowhere to go but her tree. And then Laura remembered Andrew Henry’s Meadow, which had been a favorite of mine I’d nearly forgotten. And Mother’s favorite, Mexicali Soup. It was just one of the happiest conversations! Surely we all have childhood books we return to.
2a) Mother and Daddy always made sure we had age-appropriate things to read. Aside from books, there were subscriptions to Wee Wisdom, Ranger Rick, and Highlights for Children.
Striking a pose with my morning coffee. These are my “formal” hemp yoga pants, gray faintly striped with black in poor imitation of a gentleman’s striped trousers for morning dress. The mug is from the Ballet’s production of Cleopatra, 20 years ago next month, part of Boston’s “Egypt in Boston” season.
3) Today is starting off with uneasiness, restlessness, and fatigue - not a great combination. I thought I'd been awake since 3:05 AM, but Snorelab recorded at least 45 minutes of snoring between 4-5:30 AM. So I've slept more than I thought I did.
3a) I have jumped like a magpie from one thing to another: morning pages, coffee, devotional, social media, email, back to devotional, online research of a scriptural passage, coffee, email, social media . . . I can't seem to light anywhere! And it is 36 degrees outside, at the end of the April. I swear February was warmer . . .