Watching From the Edge

We live less than a half mile from the Mississippi River. We love the particular mystery of this great river, stretching from northern Minnesota to the gulf of Mexico.

Parts of the river freezes over during the winter, depending on both temperature and its rate of flow. Usually in the spring, the river rises from melting snow here and further north. But not this year of little snow. Since May, we have watched the river rise from torrential rains here and further north.

Still, the birds that inhabit its banks find life among all the river's changes.

Winter river birds watch from distant,
tree-covered islands and
from bushes beneath
towering cottonwoods.

There they roost
to seek food
throughout long
seasons of ice and snow.

They wait for a first sign of
melting ribbons of water
along the river’s edge.
For now, a place to explore
until broad expanses of ice
show glimpses of spring change.

Then it happens!

Crows flock to land on
edges ice plates.
Still frozen to each other,
but allowing cold, dark water
to be heard and seen.

At least for now,
potential places
for new food.

Dodging Raindrops

It has been raining a lot this spring where we live.
Enough to encourage vigorous growth of trees, shrubs,
and garden plants. Not the devastating downpours that
created untold hardship and havoc in Duluth last week.

As a young child, our neighborhood gang would get bored
as summer dragged on. We argued about the darnedest things.

Like this debate . . .

When a light rain shower began, we would sit under a tree.
We discussed whether we would get wetter going from
“point A to point B” if:

1. we walked slowly, looking up all the time to skillfully
dodge as many raindrops as we could
                           or
2. we ran to “point B” as fast as possible, getting hit
by more raindrops along the way

We discussed this intriguing question endlessly . . .
                                    and we experimented.

Just as, in today’s world we discuss whether short,
intense, catastrophic wars are better than long,
drawn out ones.

A Life Without Periods, And, Comments on Commas,

I never dreamt it would happen to me, But it happened, just out of the blue, Two days ago without warning,

I’ve always had a plethora of periods gracing my life, those tiny little dots at the end of sentences, For me, it started back in grade school, The very first time I printed my first sentence, I remember my teacher’s name was Miss Daisy Rose, She was very strict about putting periods in the proper place, at the end of each sentence,

Here I am having gone almost 72 times around the sun, And now I have lost the capability of placing periods at the end of sentences! Or rather, it’s because of my computer keyboard, "Who’da thunk it”, as singer-song writer Greg Brown was wont to say, Two days ago, at 4:31p,m, in the middle of writing a piece of poetry, the periods just quit, PERIOD , , ,

How frustrating to have to have run-on lines, phrases, and hugely long poems! Because I couldn’t end them, since I couldn’t insert a period anywhere, So, I printed up a copious supply of huge commas and put them where needed! AND THAT REALLY DID THE TRICK, IT TOOK CARE OF THE PROBLEM,

I mean, poets get to break the rules whenever they want, They have a special exemption other writers envy, Those poor souls are required to follow common usage rules for punctuation, And Whether to capitalize Or not , , , another poets' Exemption,

However, the biggest difficulty was with the Internet, Some URL addresses are downright fussy about periods and commas, Like   ,com and www,   and other such use of periods, I tried apostrophees like   'com or www,'   But that didn't work either,

I think I need to go and have a cup of tea ,  ,  ,  Constant Comma perhaps,

Another Article!

I had another article published on MinnPost, an online news source. Go to MinnPost. Click on Perspectives and scroll down. The headline to the article is Deep political divides can lead to despair — or to action.

It's gotten some nice commentary. I am always amazed when I publish an op ed commentary. Never thought this opinionated, "uppity woman" would have this kind of voice.

And all because opportunity crawled across my path and I tripped. Like when one of two cats gets in the way - though no tripping over them, having learned to keep an eye open for them.

As we grow older, life sometimes seems more difficult.

Traditions, by definition, are things that simply don’t change much. One of Elizabeth and my traditions is closing the day by relaxing to quiet sounds of nature. During most of the year, we open the window by our bed . . . and feast on music of evening birds, insects (lacewings are one of our favorites), and sounds of wind-chimes. In winter months we play the gentle sounds of ocean waves or those of nature on a bedside CD player.

At some point, we unwrap the plastic wrap from two small squares of dark chocolate. We slowly savor them. Then turn off the light.

But . . . gosh, darn! Our nighttime ritual nearly has ground to a halt! The wrapping of our chocolate has become so impervious and resistant, that removing them from their protective shields has become nearly an act of absolute and blatant warfare!

First, I bite the edge of the plastic . . . to give it a little nip in order to start the opening process. But I am hesitant to try too hard for fear of chipping my teeth.

Lately, I’ve cut off the end of the wrapper with kitchen shears and then insert a sharp paring knife into the slit to liberate the dark chocolate. When I succeed, I bring the two pieces on a plate into our bedroom.Such elegance!

What is going on? Friends say that they have been noticing the same increased toughness of plastic packaging in other ordinary situations.

My question: will our human species be able to adapt and evolve in time to stay ahead of the curve of increasing plastic toughness?!

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa

"When the right hand doth not know what the left hand doeth" . . . has a nice scriptural  sound to it, doesn't it.

My grandfather was a faithful reader of his Bible. and he was fond of quoting scripture. But the catch was that often his quotes were not found in the Bible - though I think he sincerely believed his treasured sayings were.

My right hand and my left. Yesterday, Clem and I both had been dealing with cranky computers. The coup d'etate for him was when he wanted to post something on this blog. His computer informed him he could not post. It was 5 pm and we were both hot and tired. Rather than try to solve the problem, I told him to email his piece to me and that I would post it for him. He did and I posted.

But what did I post? This morning, he asked me when I was going to post what he had written. I said I had - but when I looked, it was not there. Grrrr  . . . more cranky computer?

Tired of the whole computer-thing, I had managed to post "Check It Out" - an email blitz to people inviting them to check out our blogs . . . His lovely reflection still sat in my email.

 Guess it just reaffirms that I am human and humans err. And that posting anything when so "done for the day" is not a good idea!

I will try again - and this time watch what both the left and right hands are doing!

Check It Out!

Elizabeth posted a new entry this week on her blog. The essays title is "The Changing Face of Creating Change." Enter these words in Google, and it will appear: essays from the heart Elizabeth Nagel 

Also, there are several new entries on the blog that we share: nagelandnagel.com

We will be reading some of our poetry as part of the Annual Northwords/Rice Creek Writers Reading Night on this Friday, June 8th, 7:30 pm at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, The event will feature a number of folks reading a variety of their work - ranging from fiction and poetry to non-fiction.

Refreshments, of course! Come and bring a friend . . . they will be glad you did!

The address is 6666 East River Road in Fridley, MN.

Cherry Blossoms and Floating Ice

Japan's springtime cherry blossoms are revered by the Japanese people. The trees become covered with pink clouds and people take time to enjoy them. Families plan picnics under them. Inter-generational groups of ancient grandparents, busy parents, teens, and young children take river boat trips through their busy cities to admire the trees' profusion. Other people stroll alone under the trees' canopies and reflect on their lives. Men gather together to celebrate by drinking sake - lots of sake. And women too have their gatherings under the beautiful trees.

When we recently in Japan, I had reconciled myself to missing the cherry blossoms. After all, the bloom happens early in April and I would not arrive in Japan until April 20th. However much to my delight, the cherry trees were in full bloom when I landed on Honshu, Japan's biggest island. Due to unseasonal cold, the trees' blooms were two to three weeks late. It was a good news-bad news occasion, since the cold that slowed the trees so dramatically was part of the pattern of worldwide changing climate.

After some time in Japan and South Korea, I continued traveling along the Asian coast to Vladivostok,where we spent a rainy time exploring this Russian Siberian city that once was  a military installation and a closed port. From there, the plan was to sail between Russia's Kuirl Islands and Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. Instead, the ship encountered immense amounts of floating sea ice.  It was a glorious and unprecedented experience. People poured onto the open decks to watch. Cameras clicked and clicked recording the sight.

As the number of ice floes became more numerous and larger, they began to pile on top of each other and push  against the ship. We slowed to one to two knots - roughly the equivalent of about one to two miles per hour. Finally, the Captain concluded it was not possible to find a pathway through the ice. We turned around and headed back to Japan to find another route.

It was another good news-bad news experiences.It was nothing I ever expected to see. It was an experience of a lifetime. The bad news? Strong northerly winds of over 50 mph had pushed the ice southward from the high Arctic, where ice was melting. In April, where it should have still been winter for several more months. Another result of worldwide changing climate.

We did re-chart our course, going south around Hokkaido Island and then headed straight into the Bering Sea above the Aleutian Islands, further north than I ever expected to be. We had two and a half days to make up in order to reach Kodiak, Alaska.

Sixteen Seconds

A news article this past week reported the conclusion of a court trial in which sixteen seconds dramatically had changed the lives of a number of people.

A man driving a truck had bent down to pick up his sports drink on the floor. When he looked up, it was too late. Traffic ahead had slowed and stopped due to road construction. He crashed into the cars stopped ahead of him. Two women died, one of whom was pregnant. He was charged and found guilty of criminal vehicular homicide. Now he waits to be sentenced to prison.

So many lives affected - or lost. Two women lost the promise of years of to live. A baby will not have a chance at life. Families of these women will grieve long into the future. And the man driving the truck will spend time in prison for committing a felony. All because of sixteen seconds of inattention.

An act that ALL of us have committed at some time or other. Looking away from the road momentarily - perhaps to pick up something  or put a CD in the little slot or to answer (or silence) a ringing cell phone.

It doesn't take alcohol or drugs to be the cause of so much loss. Only sixteen seconds of our inattention.