#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stre
~ Martin Lowenthal, Excerpt from Dawning of Clear Light
Sunny, after a promise of grey skies, defying expectation. And I wake late––my body so tired I cannot force myself out of bed any earlier than 9. What a June morning to walk into. I go to the garden and water, in my pajamas, the few vegetables we have planted. My magnolia shrubs, planted last summer, are blooming in their various locations. My milkweed is thriving in bloom. Oh, the monarchs that will come! The weeds, the weeds, the disarray; I am coming to peace with all the work that could be done, and yet, I have other priorities to attend to. Like the Special One. I pull a few weeds here and there in a moment of convenience. I cannot devote hours to this right now. Just being outdoors in the sun with a light breeze and all the greenery and flying beings, the pollinators and birds, that is so much pleasure. I get a swim at Farm Pond. It’s so lovely. I am appreciating the difference of pool to pond; the ability to actually go somewhere. Sure, it’s a circle, I make, toward the island and back. But it’s somewhere, from here to there, instead of the back and forth of the pool. There is green vitality of the pond and the ripple responding to breeze. Bugs on the surface that I occasionally swallow. The depths below me. I swim a half hour exactly, just as if I was watching the clock and counting laps. Late this afternoon, Frank and I got to a dear friend’s 80th birthday celebration in their backyard garden. There is music by a band, his friends—Satigata. Dancing and blessings and readings to Marty. No rain, and the yard and garden are a lush and lovely setting. We are socializing again! There are parties and people and music and friendship. We have been invited to choose passages from Marty’s many books that are our favorites and to read them back to Marty. I had difficulty deciding. The one quoted above here is the one I didn’t read but really appreciate. How grateful I am to know Marty these last twenty years, and to have had the chance to be at his 60th and 70th birthday rites of passage.
https://satigata.com/home