sun 11-01-98
Valerie took me to Borderlands state park. Saw irish setters and
horses and a big stone house and trees and lichen and fungi and moss
and winterberries and water and islands and greenbriar and a
woodpecker and a bird with a yellow spot on its head and roots and
mallards and two canada geese and two black duck not very well and a
hawk or buzzard on the wind against the clouds. I looked up and saw
the tops of the trees swaying in the wind, but the dead ones didn't
move. We tried to go between the Leach ponds but wound up going
around.mon 11-02 Twelve people at tai chi, crowded. Worked on shoulders stretched out and around forward, with spine stretched and erect and head lifted at the ears. Then try and do the form in that position. Bill said to leave out the sits and rises to concentrate on the new stuff, but it's harder for me to not do them, after spending a year putting them in.
tue 11-04 Moonlight and flutes. Valerie was very careful with the peanut butter cookies. I complained that if I wanted to blame her for crumbs I'd have to put them there myself. She is cute when she's confused.
thu 11-05 Time and falafel. Valerie recovered her fanny pack and bought a pot of flowers with two orange blossoms for the person who helped.
fri 11-06
Power failure in Brookline early this morning, just a full moon shining
on streets and trees and buildings, and emergency lights in the hallway
and fire station and stairs of other buildings. Couldn't read and the
batteries for my cd player were all dead. Lit my beeswax candle.
Had set it up before in a saucer in front of a big piece of mirror at
the far end of my high dresser, with a large box of wooden matches at
this end, but had not used it. My votive candle holders keep braking
when the wick gets near the side of I try to wash them in hot water.
The first match went out. Lights back at 6:19 am.
Five pigeons spaced along the wooden railing of the third floor
recessed brick balcony next door in the early sunlight, the fourth
from the right turned sidways.
Almost run over twice in crosswalks.
sat 11-07 The batteries weren't dead. The hold switch was on.
mon 11-09
When I was leaving for tai chi, there was a policeman in the hall.
He asked which apartment overlooked the garage.
Expand midriff, sink pelvis, lift ribcage.
tue 11-10 To Vermont with Valerie. Took an hour to get to Dorchester on two busses. Dark clouds, saw a sun dog at the edge of the one the sun was behind. Moved well once out of Boston, traffic thined at 495. We saw a hawk in a tree. In Stowe, Food For Thought was near closing when we got there, got a square piece of carrot cake and a wheat puff. Dinner at the Whip, steak and a large bowl of pasta primavera, a chocolate bag filed with mousse with orange, pear, and grapes, in front of the fire. The electric train used to go through one of the buildings. Stayed at the Fitch Hill Inn, there was a small very friendly siamese, dark with a pointed face.
wed 11-11 Breakfast was broiled grapefruit with kiwi, some apple muffin, and filled french toast. Went down the hill to Valerie's office and got computers and chairs. Drove by her house. Stopped at Cold Hollow Cider Mill and saw them stacking the press trolly with layers of mushed up apples. Went to the UU church, used book stores, and Horn of the Moon in Montpelier. The chili burrito was marked as non dairy but wasn't, so I had the falafel plate. There were balconies over the river, and Onion River Sports. Winooski, the name of the river 89 follows a ways, means wild onion. There is not much echo under the Quechee Gorge bridge. It was raining a bit as we read the sign. My back hurt. There was a rainbow.
thu 11-12 John's farewell at Longwood. The place looks a lot different. There are two big pieces of gray swiss cheese suspended by the doorway, and upsidedown chandeliers at the ends of the bar, with many tiny upsidedown lampshades. Talked to George about magic, and to Warner about wealth.
sat 11-14
Heard some good guitar while walking in Harvard Square, Here Comes the
Sun. Not the Beatles were setting up and getting coffee. Waited and
stood and listened a while, a little girl in a long red dress danced,
some high school age people sat in front if me, sparrows flitted.
Was on the left end of the third row for Alasdair Fraser, behind the
two fiddlers and the monitor. Could not see any of the dancers.
Danced with Judy afterwards, when she and Ken did not find each other,
sets of six.
sun 11-15 In the small maple below my window in back, I saw a downy woodpecker hanging beneath a very small horizontal branch, as it swayed in the breeze with a few yellow leaves. All I could see was her white underside and part of her head as she moved along the branch. At first I thought it was a nuthatch. She seemed to be eating ants. The indian man and his daughter went by in the driveway. The bird moved to the trunk and went up it, pecking sometimes, then flew to an tree nearer my window and hung looking at the narrow trunk, moving her head back and forth.
mon 11-16 The woodpecker was back this morning. I watched her moving along the trees, getting closer to me, then the male showed up and kept chasing her away and taking her spot.
wed 11-18 Valerie had an interview downtown at seven pm and didn't want a bagel before she left. So I went to Trader Joe's and got chili and lime chips, mushroom and leek fillo pockets, black bean and corn enchilada, ginger beer, ginger cake, and there was some lemon sorbet from three weeks ago. She was late getting back.
thu 11-19 Valerie called me after her conference and asked if I wanted to have dinner before her talk. I was still thinking of the good curry sauce we had some weeks ago at Pan-Dan Leaf and wanted indian, so said yes when she suggested Star of India, near Symphony Hall. We had nan, pakoras, chicken curry, rice, and aloo dal. We went to Jordon Hall for a schedule of free proformances and found the building at Northeastern where her talk was. On the calendar of events on the wall had Turtle Island string quartet in feb, and there was a photo mural of Kronos quartet with four narrow sections, and a large brass huskey. The building is at the back of the quad and doesn't look large, but kept going back with a bookstore and large food court in the basement, a floating, curved stairway, then more stairs up to the ballroom, which still overlooked the food court. The ballroom was locked. We waited a bit then went back to the information desk and found the talk was cancelled.
fri 11-20
Saw Bell, Book, and Candle at the community theatre in Sharon with
Judy and Lois. Valerie was going to go but forgot she worked then, so
Lois used her ticket. We went back to the house after the play.
People were talking though Ken was yawning. I left when Judy
started yawning. She says I owe Valerie money.
When I got home, there was a car in my parking place.
I knocked on the doors of three apartments where I saw the lights on,
asking about it. Then I tried where I saw lights first, but thought
that was the blond lady who yells at other people about parking. It
wasn't. The woman there said it wasn't her then her guest asked was
it a silver car and I said it had New York plates and she said it was
her, she thought that was the guest spot she was told to park in. I
was a little upset. I didn't feel angry. But I did want my spot.
sat 11-21 From the taoist meditation workshop: any tension or strength, something that doesn't feel quite right, especially if you don't know what it is, or any kind of contraction.
tue 11-24 The male woodpecker was in the trees near the window this morning.