Vessels of Memory

 

    There is a special bond among long time friends.  Those people you have known since you were a child, must be counted amongst your greatest treasures.  Possessed within these lovely woman's minds are memories of me.  They hold the secrets of my past.  If I should leave this world any day soon, I can count on these woman to hold my memories after I am gone.  

 

   I cherish my brief moments in their company.  We all have our own lives, busy, all consuming at times.  We no longer live within a short drive of one another.  A gathering takes effort and planning each time we see one another.  I count this effort to gather as time well spent, the resulting meeting is a chance to deposit more memories in one another's minds.
      So I will hold my memories of this latest gathering tight, until we can gather once more.........
and I will have the opportunity to place more moments into these lovely Vessels of Memory.

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Home Coming

My sweetie pie is coming home today !  We have the next few days together to share adventures and company.  Tomorrow you can find us in Ogunquit on some stand up paddle boards, eekkkk.  I am not sure of the wisdom in this choice of activity but several things will be accomplished at once.  The day will be hot and we will spend much of it in the sea, good idea.  We will be challenged physically, so there is no need to go to the gym, good idea.  We will be driving into Ogunquit Maine at the height of summer, which every savvy Mainer knows is a, bad idea.  Most importantly at all.......I will have my soul mate and best pal with me for the entire day,  GOOD IDEA !!  Perhaps pictures will follow ???

Making Room

When I first met him

I knew in a moment

I would have to spend

the next few days

re-arranging my mind

so there'd be room

for him to stay.

                                                                Brian Andreas

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Go ahead, hug someone

This video always makes me smile. 

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Friends

Sunday Brunch

     A wonderful morning on Dragonfly Hill, our friends Connie and Glen joined us for brunch.   We shared belly laughs, fish bait stories and arthroscopic views of the knee.  Many thanks for the lovely book "Across the Porch From God" by Flavia.  This book will be a permanent addition to my night stand, inspirational, touching, and thought provoking.   This is the poem at the beginning of the book:

If I could sit across the porch from God,

I'd thank Him for the glory of the morning, and for starry skies.

I'd thank Him for the magic of a
child's soft smile, for memories, and

for this wonderful feeling we call
love.  I'd thank Him for the hopes 
and dreams of this sweet life, but
most of all, I'd thank Him for 
lending me you.

    Our days are planned for us, some of us just don't know it.  There are people you are supposed to encounter, moments you were meant to be a part of, snippets of wonder that are there for you to be a witness to.  All we need to do is be waiting and open.

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Breakfast

Yes I know Kale is a scary word, but this smoothie is soooo yummy TRY IT !!!

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Let the Games Begin

  


     When I die and go to heaven, the first question I will ask god is..............."what is the purpose of the Japanese Beetle ? "  I have pondered this question since my early days as a gardener.  What on earth are they good for ???  The beetle devours almost anything that is green, once it has reproduced it will burrow into your lawn and lay its eggs.  The eggs will then become larvae that devour and destroy your lawn, which as every home owner knows is a direct reflection on your success as a human being.  Oh the shame of a brown lawn, it is equivalent to a large zit on the end of your nose !
     My war tactics over the years have varied.  There was my milky spore stage, messy , expensive, and not very successful.  I then tried the earth friendly concoction of mustard powder and dish soap, this is sprayed on daily to make the plants distasteful to the beetle.  I am sorry to say beetles like mustard on anything.  My final and most successful solution is a hands on approach,  a bowl with Lestoil and a bit of water.  Each morning I make the rounds in the garden knocking the unsuspecting beetles into the deadly solution.  I must admit I do find some evil delight watching them struggle and then slowly succumb to death.

     I am sure God will tell me the beetle is designed to teach us.  The beetle teaches us, patients, perseverance, and the ability to deal with pain.   You see there is nothing more painful then seeing your prized flowers reduced to an outline of what they once were.

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Looking Back

I have been spending so much time looking back lately.  I have been meticulously extracting long lost memories from my child hood.  My search has its purpose, I am trying to recapture that care free time when I was a child.  That time in our lives when we played out side all day, we had no plan when we left the house, just to seek adventure and have fun.  Once we returned home there was always something warm to eat, and someone very glad to have you home, eager to hear about your adventures.    The most important aspect I am trying to retrieve from these memories, is that ability to believe that anything is possible.  That if we are playing a game or having fun, one more person added will only increase that joy.  That is something that is lost in most adults.   Socially children still feel a part of the entire world, exclusion is not in their venacular, their lives have not been sequestered yet into, my neighborhood, my family, my friends
 I observed this in action at Pemaquid Beach last week.  A small group of Moms, Dads, and toddlers were having fun in the waves and sand.   A grandmother and her three year old were passing by,  when the little girl noticed the children were digging with shovels and buckets she told them "I have a bucket too !!"  The little girl then proceeded to run down the beach to her blanket , scoop up her bucket and shovel and run back to play with her new found friends.  An adult would never presume to step into an activity without being "invited".  That is such a shame, so much social interaction lost, so many friends unmade.  The group of toddlers, including the newest addition, played without incident for the rest of the afternoon.  The grandmother brought her chair over to keep watch on her grand daughter and  actually did  find some lovely conversation with the young parents.
I vow to be inclusive,  I vow to be child friendly, I don't mean friendly to children, but to be aware of all people and their potential in my life.
I am currently reading Charlotte's Web  by E.B. White,  a delicious trip back to fourth grade, my fourth grade teachers Miss Poulin and Miss Picard appear before my eyes.  I have been dipped in the waters and emerge on the playground at Pleasant St. School.  oh life is so sweet, go ahead take a big bite!!!!!

In the back L- R   Bob Muzeroll, Ed Muzeroll,
front           L-R     Anna Muzeroll, Kathy Muzeroll

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In the Zone

        Am I really 49 years old ??   Some days I can still feel that 8 year old little girl deep inside me, she is still there, and when all the right elements come together on any given day she appears.  Today was just that sort of day. 
       I arrived in  Brunswick early for a nice long bike ride, trying to beat the heat, and the traffic, 7 am seemed like the perfect hour.  Now there are certain senses that allow my 8 year old self to  appear, auditory stimuli of just the right kind and there she is, but the strongest pull of all is by far the olfactory senses.   
      My bike trip today took me from the heart of Brunswick to the end of Merepoint, and through the country side.  That little girl first emerged at the sound of the meadow birds singing that summer song, we all know that song, it is imprinted in our memories.  I felt her the strongest as I rode past  a dense pine forest and the primordial scent of balsam fir and wet earth filled my nose.  I was transported back to Litchfield Maine and my girl scout camp, Camp Cedar Cove.  Along with her appearance came those long forgotten certainties of any 8 year old..........all is right with the world....... Today, anything is possible......I can go, do or be anything I want in the whole world.   What an epiphany !  What is it in this grown up world in which we  live  that squashed those simple truths we lived everyday as children ?

Perhaps I should adopt those truths once more, and let that long ago little girl emerge more often?

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July 4th Weekend

      Casco Bay is so different today, the view during lunch last week included a few lobster boats here and there.  The change is stunning, dozens of sails full of wind, hardly a lobstermen in site.  Summer has truly arrived, and is very welcome here.
We have enjoyed bright sun today, a gentle sea soaked breeze, and nothing particular on the calendar, aahhhhhh.

      The David Austin roses are blooming, the scent of ancient roses, so overwhelming, I will fill the house with them.  It is nearly time to say goodbye to the glorious Peonies, this year they gave their all.  There were not any casualties due to heavy rain or winds this season and the gigantic blossoms were spectacular.  My life's clock in summer ticks now to the passing of each season's flower.

Gather ye rose buds while ye may,

     Old Time is still a -flying

and this same flower that smiles today

     Tomorrow will be dying.

                 Robert Herrick

William Shakespeare -  David Austin Rose

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