Words

turnbuckle

spoonbill

moonbeam

ash can

meadow

pomme de terre

titmouse

cocksure

roiling

boiling

calendula

larkspur

lupine

lapis

soot

bedecked

bedbugs

ragamuffin

mariposa

papillon

butterfly

men, boat, dog, LA, and what else?

Last night I went to the lake with Charlie and Django.  We yelled out hello to Sunny when we went past Bishopswood Camp.  

We swam and the water wasn't even close to chilly.  Django tried to save Charlie many times.  Being saved by him is dangerous.  I hold my hand up like a stop sign when he comes swimming at me full speed and he turns around, thank goodness.  Django might have saved some 40 year lichen in the woods, unfortunately.  He's a good boy ... but he smells bad and has rough-around-the edges habits. Charlie asked if I would go to Pulpit Harbor tonight but I want to see a movie.  I need a break.  I've been on the water every single day.  Mostly, I want to practice reading French which I'm doing a lot of lately.  

I like Guy de Maupassant short stories.   I don't read very well.  I need more practice.

Tonight I will go see Before Midnight.

When I lived in LA I used to see Julie Delpy at my doctor's office.  Ha!  My life is so far from Los Angeles now.  Here is a picture of my friend, Josh, Fiona's dad, the man I used to

be married to at work yesterday.

race

Here is the race. Sam is so far ahead that he stops to check on everyone before he climbs out of the water.  Charlie is in second place, trying as hard as he can to beat one of the fastest swimmers around, one who says he won't race anymore.  (We'll see.) 

And the great champion of all things, Fiona, way back there in third place.  She emerged from the water minutes after the guys were already wrapped in towels.  She walked out of the water, smiling broadly, and announced, "I win, you forgot to say Uno."

picnic

We had a nice picnic at Duck Trap.  Some of us needed cooling down more than others but we all had a great time.  I didn't put any hot sauce in Charlie's wrap because he has more than enough pitta to deal with right now. 

We'd been all packed up with the boat to head to the lake but there was a storm showing up on the radar over Augusta so no boat trip -- Charlie decided at the last minute.  

Duck Trap is great, plus the water is colder and salted.  I prefer salt.

Whenever I'm there, especially when no one else is around, I feel like I'm in a Robert McCloskey story.  Just where I belong.

Sunny is still at camp so it was just the four of us.  We all swam a lot, then Fiona and Sam made up games where they had to swim carrying big rocks to a certain point, skip rocks, and do a lot of other things with rocks.  Luckily there is no shortage of rocks.

Weeds

Photo print of weeds

Studio Puppet

puppets

We had art camp this morning.  

It was just Fiona and me.  

At 6 o'clock in the morning I set up the studio with a bunch of supplies and covered sections of windows to block out the heat that would be coming later in the day.

We made stick puppets and put on some plays.  Hers was about a woman named Latte who needed a lot of Pepto Bismol and two boys, Pablo of the Forrest and Rodney.  They were British and members of a band.

My story was about a British girl who came to Boston to watch the marathon and then she ended up with a stump arm ... and then I had a Jahar puppet who shouted yay for himself because he got on the cover of Rolling Stone.

goofball

Delirium from heat

I organized some rocks.

And some sticks.

Evening outside

Nasturtium Borage

Flowers

HollyhocksCosmos

heat

I wilt in the heat.

I also find myself needing a break from our house being the hang out for every kid in town.  I am exaggerating, but that's what it feels like sometimes.  I told Fiona to get a job and start doing the grocery shopping.

6 a.m. is a nice time of day; it still feels cool at that hour.  I start my watering and do my yoga and everything is quiet.  No one is barraging

me about pre-teen dinner parties.

The car was making a clanking noise but Joel

fixed it.  I finally caved in and bought some box fans.  Last night I listened to Leaves of Grass all night long.  I slept some.  

I am pitta insane.  It's like vata deranged, except it means you're over-heated and cranky and your digestion is wonky and you need to be plunged into the icy Atlantic Ocean and then fed aloe gel for dinner and put to bed with legs up the wall.

Ugh.

I love the summer with the color -- the flowers, the vegetables, the swimming and collecting ... but I actually function more comfortably in the cold.  I was so out of place in LA when fall rolled around and the Santa Ana winds set in.  Hot fire in the air.  I would get so homesick for the cold breezes of Fall in Maine ... and the crisp blue skies against the orange leaves.  I love summer.  I really do.

But it doesn't quite agree with my body type.

Woe is me....

ha ha

Om Namo Narayanaya.  Om Namo Narayanya.

I spent all day yesterday trying to pull loose ends of various projects together.  I made a cover for the Om Namo Narayanaya book.

That's a mantra for worldly peace, mercy and goodness.  I probably wrote the mantra out 5,000 times.  I filled a whole book.  It occurred to me last night that I am still easing back into writing.  I shut my mouth for a long time.  I also stopped drawing for a short period of time.  I didn't want to perform.  I didn't want to make anything because I was looking for some kind of pat on the head.  I have probably always been looking for a pat on the head -- in a way.  

If I made this blog more public I might start performing -- possibly posting pictures of my world and my people so that it looks like some kind of entertaining show.  

Fiona's coughing/asthma is much worse since we got back from the cape.  Walter says it's probably not a coincidence.  Now her ear is congested too.  Ugh.  We're reading Anne Frank's diary out loud today... and I teach yoga later. I watched a documentary about Why Ships Sink with Charlie in the heat last evening.  If I got up to go move the watering hose to a different area in the garden he would make me back the film up so I wouldn't miss anything.   Last night I fell asleep listening to Emily Dickinson poems.  The dogs are listless today in the heat.  

back of the house -- where it is 100 degrees right now

fence with driftwood

new trees planted by Charlie early this morning

Fernald's Neck

We took a little boat ride yesterday afternoon on Megunticook.  The usual landing at Jump Rock was busy with kayakers so we kept moving.  We explored a few spots, some too

muddy, some too buggy but eventually we found a perfect, quiet swimming spot on the back side of Fernald's Neck.  Finn came along.

In the evening we ate leftovers from the big dinner with Brenda.  Then I watered and Charlie put hens to bed.  We were all tired out from all the swimming.

black beans

I'm peeling like crazy.  So is Sam.

Mom and I went out to the farm yesterday, got chard, broccoli, radishes, summer squash and zucchini, pea shoots, parsley plus we picked a bunch of strawberries.  On the way home I picked flowers in various places -- E. Fork and Harden Avenue -- to make a flower arrangement for our dinner with Brenda.  On our way back into town we saw our friend Sharon collapsed in a heap half way in and half way out of the road.  I thought she'd been hit by a car or else had a heart attack.  She was clutching a pizza box.  

It turned out that she had fallen off the curb when she'd turned to wave at a truck that was trying to park illegally.  She hit the side of her face very hard and when we got to her it was already swelling badly and turning purple.  We got her home, and got a bag of frozen peas on her face.  My mom had known it was Sharon right away because she recognized her green fanny pack.  Sharon was the first friend my mom made here in Maine when we arrived in 1975.  After we got the frozen peas on her face and made sure her head felt okay we walked outside to see the new garage.  Behind the garage, the woods look just like they did almost 40 years ago.

I soaked, rinsed, soaked, rinsed the black beans for two days before I pressure cooked them last night.  Dinner was great.

Lots of fresh veggies and the black beans and rice.  

trees and diabetic shoes

My dad got a new pair of diabetic, Velcro shoes from the veteran's hospital today -- even though he isn't diabetic.  The shoes aren't either.  He's just not bouncing back after his surgery and the doctor thought some special shoes might help.  Magical shoes.

They don't have seams, I really do understand.

Brenda, Charlie's sister, arrives tomorrow.

I have most of what I need for dinner.  

Her house is perfect.  It's my favorite house.

I love the gardens and the feel inside the house.  It's tidy and beautiful and filled with windows ... plus it's private.  My house lacks privacy.  Sometimes the commune gets me down, especially when people complain about the sound of ladders.  All I normally do outside is putter around.  I'm not noisy and I only have one of those old fashioned push mowers with the blades that spin around in a cylinder.  Not noisy at all, but to some, my little push mower is a curse.  Maybe if I am out of sight I will be out of mind.  I got three little trees at the plant store today.  They will grow tall over time.  It is a start.

I don't remember what else I did today.

meatball

Fiona and Sunny had dinner at Finn's house.  This was a first.  I live downtown so kids often end up here.  His parents wanted to have Fiona over since Finn has eaten here often and generally hangs out here.

The kids bounced on the trampoline (something you can have when you don't live downtown) and played ... I mean, hung out.

When it was time for dinner they went in and sat down.  Fiona and Sunny have just come off of a week at the cape -- mostly going from one big family party to the next where you gather your food on a plate and then find somewhere to sit to eat -- preferably away from a heated argument about the teenage girls' workplace or whether or not one should give beer to a dog.  So they filled their plates and sat down and Fiona immediately took a bite of her meatball.  Sunny elbowed her and whispered, "I think they've got something going on here...."  Sunny is usually more aware of her surroundings than Fiona.  

Quickly, Fiona wiped her fork off and as she described to me when she got home, turned her meatball so the bite-part wouldn't show.

Finn's family sat down and said that they like to begin each meal by holding hands and going around the table saying what they are thankful for.  (I'm thankful that my sisters and various other relatives helped me to understand using loud voices that I behaved like an ignorant redneck when I gave my dog a beer. That's what Mark could have said last week.)  Anyway, Sunny said she was thankful for the people who love her and Fiona said she was thankful for Finn's cat.  That's my girl!

Cape Cod

Driving from the hidden pond swimming hole back to Uncle Don's, along the water.

Flowers

Paint and Flowers

The house was painted while we were away at the cape.  Last night I was informed by my neighbors that they didn't enjoy the sound of ladders.  Oh well, what can you do?  I haven't minded the sound of their dog using my driveway as a bathroom for the last 10 years but that is not the point.  Smile and move on.

I tidied up the gardens today.

Fiona and Sunny were invited for dinner and a movie at Finn's house tonight.  

I found a Taza chocolate bar in the car today after about 3 hours of doing errands.  It felt like a miracle.

I had a dream last night that I was going to go running with Brenda, who is a marathon runner.  I have never been a long distance runner, or even a short distance runner.  I run if I have to get off of hot sand quickly or if someone is chasing me.  But in the dream I thought that I should just relax and have fun.  We started running and I immediately felt like I needed to perform, to run quickly -- but within moments I relaxed and ran just for the fun of it.  We ran and ran and I didn't feel anything but comfort and happiness.  Then we turned to come back, crossed paths, traded sides and ran some more.  I asked her if she minded switching sides.  It was all very easy and I woke up happy, as I usually do.  Only rarely do I have a stressful dream, but I used to all the time when I was younger.  Charlie still does.  He'll spend the night having to play hockey against an entire team alone, AND have to repair the arena.  He'll wake up stressed and feeling like he has worked all

night.

sing

Charlie and his siblings burst into song when they're all in the same kitchen; they can't help it.

Bloom video

Fiona and Sunny followed me down through the paths, away from Marge's house.  We watched babies and dogs and talked about why girls should stick up for other girls.

And Sunny did her death voice, which is what she does these days.

Coming Home

Leaving means cleaning, packing and doing the rounds to say goodbye.  Charlie and I do well cleaning a house together.  

We cleaned, kids swam; it all worked out.

The trip was a success.  

It usually takes 40 minutes to get from Eastham to the Sagamore bridge but it took 2.5 hours.  Traffic was crazy, as if it was the Sunday after the 4th of July on Cape Cod.  

A fender failed on the boat trailer.  

Luckily I noticed it in time before it wore through the tire.  We'd still be out there....

The trip really was a success.

Provincetown

We spent the day in Provincetown yesterday -- after swimming ... after moving a table saw of Bob's to Donny's house ... and after visiting at Ireland Way and looking at photo albums of Louise when she was a girl ... and talking to Joe and Jan about yard sales.  Joe sells hot dogs at yard sales and makes a killing at 7 a.m.

P-town was unbelievably hot.  We got there and Fiona and Sam wanted to spend a little time at the skate park.  Sunny and I wilted under a small patch of shade and Charlie tried to pass out drinks and snacks.  

Then we went into town.  I love the houses and little gardens in Provincetown.  I love the health food store -- 141.  I got a Greena Colada, which was coconut water, frozen pineapple, banana and spinach.  It saved my life.  I also bought a little peppermint oil water spritzer to cool down our skin at the farmer's market... and kept spaying every one of us all day.  It was 100 degrees and so so humid.

It sort of took the fun out of it a little bit.  We were dazed.  

I LOVED seeing a kid playing his piano in front of the town hall.  He wheeled it up on a homemade cart and sat down and played, sang and smoked in the heat.  I could have listened to him all day.  He sounded like an old man who had lived a hard life.  He is, however, a 17 year old who has quite a few older, drunken gay men following him around.

One guy sat on a bench shouting out to Willy while he drank from a bottle of vodka and then a bottle of grapefruit juice. This old lech

appeared to be smitten.  

Willy is playing the piano and Charlie is not the old lech.  Just an overheated 45 year old guy who in all his life has never been so hot at the cape.

More

Arguments galore last night at Marge's party.

Should 18 year old girls be teamed up with 26 year old men newly arrived to the country, known to their employers for only a couple of weeks, as house-cleaning team mates in Cape Cod (or anywhere)?  They would be alone in houses, cleaning, for hours at a time.  

I say No.

Should people give beer to their dogs?

On the bright side, Charlie helped Marge clean out the closet of Bob's clothes.  Bob died last fall.  Charlie took some of the shirts with fish on them and an unopened package of socks.

I needed a break and walked to the pond.

I spent a lot of time with the girls.

Brenda's Party and Ice

Aunt Marge told Charlie and Brenda to get some ice water for me.  Brenda found a brownie tin and filled it with water and ice for my burned toes.  I sat outside and talked to Kate (Brenda's wife) and big Joe (Charlie's dad) while I sat with my feet in the brownie tin.  Charlie's brother Joe told me about getting third degree burns on his feet in Mexico years ago when he was chasing a guy who had just stolen his camera.  Joe ended up in the hospital -- so, I'm doing pretty well.

All the siblings sang songs and performed for their parents.  The night was a success.

And when we came home we watched fire works from the second floor deck.

(All six of the siblings were at the party last night and I took pictures of everyone.)

The Day After

We swam on the ocean side of the beach but I don't have any pictures because I was too busy having a double sided beach experience.  Five years ago this is where I broke my nose and banged up my whole face pretty badly in a BiG wave adventure.  This year Sunny and I swam, again, too close to the 5 and 600 pound seals that the Great White sharks feed on.  I turned and saw two large seals very close to us.  Immediately I steered our swimming toward shore where I could see Charlie pointing and walking quickly toward us into the water.  He wanted us out.  Sam and Fiona had been messing around close to shore in some kind of game that involved "dislocating your butt."  It all worked out; we had fun, played in the nice cold waves and did not get tangled up with seals OR sharks.

However, something happened to me that had never happened before in my 41 years.  I burned my feet running on the hot sand over to the lagoon side of the beach.  It's not a

short run.  I loaned my flip flops to Fiona so I was barefoot.  When I was running I had a thought (clearly thinking at all was a mistake) that the yogis walk on burning coals and they're fine; it's all in my mind.  I am fine, I will be fine, I don't feel any pain, pain is just a part of life .... And then I got to the other side and cleaned my feet off in the bath water warm lagoon, looked at the bottoms of my feet and discovered big blisters on the underside of every toe.  

I did not complain.  However Charlie was irritated with me because I should have been wearing my flip flops.

It took most of the afternoon but I think he got over it.  

And like when I broke my nose, there was no opportunity for first aid.  I just kept moving the best that I could, being far away on a beach we had to take a long boat ride to get to.

Poor Sam got a sun burn on his back.

I drew some pen and inks while I sat.  

I had a great time in the cold water waves.

And I am definitely not a yogi.  I burned and burned.  But I wasn't bothered by the pain.  

Burned feet are easier for me than tense boat captains. 

He means well.  He doesn't like it when any of us get injured, and although he can be very helpful, we (particularly Sunny and I) pick up

on the tense mood.  Fiona and Sam usually continue to push the limits, unbothered by the moods of others.

Morning

Everyone but me is asleep in Uncle Don's house.  I was up at 4:45 a.m., which is not unusual.  It's nice to have the quiet time in the morning.  I did yoga out on the deck, tidied up the house, did laundry and am about to do some pen and ink drawings at the beach.

Why did I only bring a bottle of orange ink?

Later we'll take the skiff to the double sided beach.  And after that is Brenda's big party.

All Sam and Fiona want is to go back to the skate park.  And Sunny wants to go to Provincetown to look at drag queens.  

messing around in Cape Cod

The beach and the Red Barn.  Eastham, MA

Park

While Fiona and Sam hung out at the skate park Sunny let me draw her under a twisty tree that was shading us from the roasting hot sun.

Charlie conversed with a grown man who was living the skater life and talkin' the skater talk. 

July 3, 2013

At Uncle Don's house.

Sunny, Fiona and I swam this evening while Charlie and Sam went to a Firebirds game.  We all ate dinner at The Red Barn.

All: Louise, Joe, Marge, Brenda, Kate, Julie, Mickey, and the five of us.

Louise said she wasn't sure she was going to make it to this birthday.

But she did.