When the alarm goes off in the morning, the first thing I do is hit the “snooze” button. What kind of rest is an 8 minute snooze? It’s nothing.
Then I get up and start the coffee and my new habit, a green “smoothie.”
It does look a little blurry, doesn’t it?
Where is the winter storm the alarmists were crowing about yesterday? I went to sleep thinking I would wake up and see snow on the garage roof. While the temperatures have dropped to a very un-April-like temperature, as of yet I see no snow.
In the “this is my life, not a lifestyle blog” category, last week was a disturbing mix of events. They all involved people I love and want to protect, so I’ll refrain from disclosing the dramatic details. And because this is generally a “Susie Sunshine with just a sprinkle of sarcasm” type of blog, I feel a certain obligation to remain optimistic about humanity. Some weeks are harder than others, as you will soon see.
Here’s a sprinkle, written in such a way as to protect the anonymous.
Yesterday was the long-awaited Missa Solemnis performance at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston. I wrote a feature about it for the local paper and the writing project was a wonderful learning experience.
The event itself was quite luxurious; unfortunately, some “grey hairs” sitting behind me didn’t have their hearing aids turned up sufficiently and I could hear everything they said before the performance began. For instance, during the welcoming remarks, I heard one of them say something disparaging about each of the three speakers. It was unbecoming and untoward for “women of a certain age” to be randomly blatting out every thought that crossed their minds in a public place. The loudest of the three, not being a trained singer, may not have realized the volume and dimension of her voice. Or maybe it’s just that she didn’t know the woman sitting in front of her had bionic hearing and a blog. Nevertheless, it was a “teachable moment” for me and a good reminder of how I don’t want to behave in public “when I am an old woman” in spite of the current spirit of the age.
I’m sure they’re perfectly lovely ladies.
On a lighter “lifestyle blog” note, I’ll be blending up a spinach smoothie soon and I think I’ll make a broccoli and cheese frittata for dinner tonight. We’ll have salad on the side with some homemade blue cheese dressing.
Despite the number of bumper stickers proclaiming humanity’s confusion about the “hokey pokey,” that’s what it’s all about.
I’ve spent a few evenings cleaning up my “Surprise Garden.” Someone on Maple Street is drinking a lot of vodka.
I can’t even begin to understand it.
If I were a drinker, I could use cotton candy vodka (or an excess of it) as an excuse for not writing a blog today. I’m not a drinker, but I’m taking today off because I have to get my “stuff” together for my annual tax appointment. I hope you understand.
See you back here on Monday!
Have you noticed I’ve spelled “Wedgwood” incorrectly here on the blog over the years? I was mortified to discover it. Mortified and covered in layers of embarrassment, visualizing the world laughing at me.
I picked up a set of WEDGWOOD bone china last week, courtesy of Craig’s List. It’s a short story about a long drive on a road leading to China…Maine.
I won’t be making that grievous spelling error again.
We had a busy Easter weekend. Lots of running around, church, time with family, and then a Sunday drive to visit friends in “the country.”
I contemplated writing a post about “lifestyle blogs” and how they’re a marketing fabrication targeting vulnerable demographic data sets. But I had a dream last night that I a) had a cat, b) lost my pocketbook, and c) had a home invasion. Thus, I woke up screaming at something that went bump in the night and I’ve lost my writing mojo.
This is my life, not a lifestyle blog.
There was a Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston yesterday. The Schola Cantorum sang parts of the mass in Latin and there was no shortage of incense. As I later told my brother by e-mail “I’ve never seen such a smoking. It literally hung in a heavy cloud over the altar.”
I’ve written about Good Friday before. Click on the oak tree by the river to read one of these recollections of the solemn day.
When I reviewed my photos for today’s blog, I found this one.
It was a calming image and I texted Handy from the quiet of my house “we’ve got a good life here.”
My blog stats are at an all-time low today, although WordPress would never hurt my feelings by telling me such a thing. They would only proclaim analytical information to me on days when my blog stats are “booming” from spam hits.
The truth is I really don’t care about my blog stats. And since very few are watching and reading, I’m going to recycle some material I posted on my Lady Alone Traveler blog over at the Sun Journal. Click on the picture below to read about the Fort Fairfield Carnegie Library, a lovely place if there ever was one.
I’m only here to direct the digital traffic today.
Are you familiar with the folk tale, “Henny Penny?” Here in the United States, the tale is sometimes called “Chicken Little.” In short, an acorn falls on a chicken’s head and the chicken panics. “The sky is falling!” There are two endings, one happy and one not so happy. Foxes, chickens…you know how that generally works out.
Lately, as I’ve scanned the news, read blogs, and listened to the radio, I’ve seen and heard a lot of hand wringing and Henny Penny-ism. Why wouldn’t you think the sky is falling? There is violence, riots, and a man with a big yellow pompadour strutting about the national stage. There is a daily drumbeat of “the sky is falling.” It’s hard to look away from it.
Look away.
That’s the Fort Fairfield Library in Fort Fairfield, Maine. It’s a pleasant diversion from the “falling sky” meme. This little library near the Canadian border is one of my favorites. It was quiet the day we visited and the sun brightened the rooms in a certain way that encouraged silence and contemplation. There was an inviting chair next to a now-unused fireplace which beckoned solemn pursuits like reading and thinking.
I’m glad I’m not a professional political blogger, compensated for creating new content about the same story day after day. Just this blog and an occasional article about food or events for the local newspaper. The story I’m working on this week is a feature on a classical music concert.
On April 3, 2016, the Maine Music Society in conjunction with Bates College will give a performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston. This work is considered by some to be the most difficult piece of choral music ever written, with over 100 voices and a 65 piece orchestra. I’ve interviewed a number of the singers; men and women with jobs and things to do in addition to practicing this complex piece of music. None of the singers I interviewed mentioned that the sky was falling.
As part of my research for the story, I attended a practice session at the Bates College Olin Arts Center. The singers were warming up with progressive scales when I entered the auditorium. John Corrie, the conductor, was at the piano and there was so much warmth and electricity in the room. There was not one unhappy face visible.
It felt like a locomotive train idling in the station in preparation for a long-anticipated journey.
That’s what I’m working on today. I’m trying to “get inside” this piece of music and finish my feature story. It will run on Sunday, March 27, 2017.
Let’s hope the sky doesn’t fall before then.
It’s the little things that make life pleasant, like…
…serving butter beautifully!
Julie-Ann Baumer 