A Year of Celebration

We have been celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary. It has always been a joke when people ask us how long we have been together. We met in 3rd grade, although I did not much pay attention to Clem until 6th grade when he got a Mickey Mouse watch for Christmas - which I thought was really cool (and he kept looking at it in school).

We had our first date in 7th grade, the standard time to start dating in our hometown. By the time we graduated from high school, we knew we would marry - but waited until we graduated from college, in deference to our parents' wishes. After all, as the man, Clem needed to earn a living - and I needed a college degree, "just in case something happened to my husband." But it was clear I was not to use that degree otherwise. How much has changed in 50 years!

We actually married the end of August after summer jobs gave us some financial padding to start married life (another change - can you image summer jobs providing enough to start marriage life). We never had a honeymoon - rather packed up our meager belongings and headed east to Washington DC, where Clem was enrolled in graduate work. Going from our isolated rural community where access to news was limited to the news briefs at the movies - to becoming immersed in the international city of Washington in the sixties was like moving to another planet. And it changed us forever!

So we have decided to celebrate all year. First, we went on a 3 1/2 week voyage via cruise ship - from Kobe Japan all around the northern Pacific Rim's ring of fire to Vancouver, BC. It was wonderful - cold, challenging, and and filled with adventure. We encountered sea ice too thick to navigate at the south end of the Kuril Islands and had to return to Japan and chart a new course - all of which left us over 2 days behind schedule. We sailed above the Aleutians across the Bering Sea - something not in the original plan. And we revisited Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska for the 3rd time - one of the very special places on this earth.

The next celebratory event was an Open House here at our home, where 80+ of our dear friends and family gathered. It would have been a successful party (the rain held off until evening) even if we had slipped away and left our guests to meet each other and converse. We have accumulated a diverse group of people in our lives over the years - and count ourselves as rich beyond words for this community that came together and blessed us with their presence.

On Sunday, we renewed our vows at our parish. This time we knew what these vows really mean - to promise ourselves to each other for "better or worse." We certainly didn't have a clue when we married so long ago. Then we celebrated at dinner with our family at a favorite Indian restaurant. We re still basking in the glow of all this love.

And the celebrating will continue throughout the fall. We will report as events unfold. How fortunate we are to have found each other and to have all these years together!

From Drought to Flooding

I acknowledge people in the upper Midwest do obsess a bit about the weather. Not like people, in say San Diego, where the weather is downright boring - and perpetually pleasant. Here the saying is that if you don't like the weather today stick around, it is sure to change by tomorrow.

However, we now live in a time of weather extremes. Not just here but in many places in the country. (Pay attention San Diego folks - you may develop a new interest in weather). Something like 15,000+  new weather records set across the country in recent months. It is a scary statistic to consider. Since one result of changes in climate is for weather extremes to become more common.

Here, we have been suffering from drought - in this state where water is so abundant. Deluges last July were replaced in August with months of no noticeable precipitation. Not even snow in the winter, something we have considered one of the dependable things in life - like birth, death, and taxes.

This May, it began seriously raining. By the bucketfuls. In a month, we have moved from drought conditions to flooding possibilities. Creating temporary road closures, because we are not like Tucson, which does not have our elaborate drainage system to send excessive water to places such as rivers, where the overflow can be handled. After all, it does not rain often in Tucson! I can personally attest to a cloud burst in Tucson being an interesting experience!

And these heavy rains here have caused flooded basements. Last August 3/4 of our suburban community had water in their basements - and we live in a sand plain that filters water quickly into the lower reaches. (we were spared). At the rate we are going lately, since underpasses  often flood in deluges, street maps will need to mark underpasses. So we can find alternate routes to return home when it rains.

One weather prognosticator has suggested that with warmer temperatures we can expected tropical monsoon rains more frequently. Something about the warmer stratosphere and rain formation - you figure it out.

I always have enjoyed being in the tropics! And with warmer temperatures the planting zones are inching upwards. That lovely Japanese maple, hardy only to Zone 5 that I have lusted after for years, may become a reality  in my garden . . .

Pablo Neruda as a Birdwatcher!

You never know what you might find in your local library! Clem was checking out the poetry section today and found the book, Art of Birds by Pablo Neruda. It was first published in Chile in 1966, and recently was translated by Jack Schmitt into English with illustrations by Jack Unruh. It is a treasure of a book.

Neruda is one of our favorite poets. He grew up in a bird-rich place in Chile in one of the most beautiful places in his country. How could anyone who pays attention have not noticed the diversity of bird-life there.

It makes me wonder how it would be to live in a place where there is a relative absence of birds. I so take them for granted - such as the robin who begins caroling at 4:00 am, as regular as clockwork, making me wonder whatever there is to sing about when it is still pitch-dark! Jenny-wren has been singing in our flower-garden the last few days. We are hopeful she is moving into the wren house in the back. Even though she gets a bit territorial when her babes hatch and scolds us when we come near her house. A downy woodpecker has dedicated himself to beating out a rapid rhythm on a dead tree nearby. We wonder if he is marking his territory - and his sweetheart - as off limits to other competitors.

Canaries are given the position of warning when coal-mines are unsafe. But now we have other indicators of danger to all life with the signs of climate change all around us. I hope people begin to seriously listen. Not only do we risk living in a bird-less place, but where the destruction of habitat affects everything - including us humans.

I imagine if Neruda were still alive, he would have plenty to say. Anyone who pays attention to birds would be noticing so much else about our beloved earth.

B A R R I E R S

The concrete retaining wall, lining the freeway
keeps everything in its place . . .
cars, people, bikers, dogs, rabbits.
But it is also a playground for vines of all sorts,
scribbling out messages for those who have eyes to see.

Their motto is:
as long as your roots stay firm, and you get a bit
of water, you can grow however you want. With
one exception: stay clear of the maintenance sickle.

As a vine . . .
     You have a certain freedom of speech to
            spell out messages for all to see.
     Though the traffic rushes past, you can
            stay anchored and enjoy life –

such as it is . . .

Happy May Basket Day

I remember May Basket Day when I was a small child. My memories are mixed!

The idea was to deliver a May Basket to some one's house and then run away as fast as you can. I can't remember why we were to run - and why my mother picked the house's I was to leave this little tidbits of goodwill.And sometimes it rained, making the whole experience less than optimal.

But I did know the day somehow was special. We had survived winter, which on the prairie was no small feat, given the amount of snow and the wind that drove the snow into huge drifts. It was springtime and everything was celebrating.

We still have peonies from my grandfather's garden. they huge dark reddish blooms were like magic. I have no idea how long these peonies had grown in  his garden. But the red spears of leaves that emerge in the spring must be over a hundred years old.

Petty awesome when you think about it!