Morning, the same exquisite swim, my mile, my usual route, the calm and cool pond, the satisfaction. A very hot day with high humidity. We are in a heat wave. I made sure the plants were well watered. And I am trying not to be discouraged by the animals who are grabbing what they can. How hard do I want to fight them, is the question. Not very hard, I think. Wave helped me buy a few more plants on sale at my favorite garden shop, 40% off, and now I have a lot of plants to plant and Frank away still. Heat projected again for tomorrow. Tonight I had a long Zoom with two poetry pals whom I’ve spent a lot of time with workshopping poems, but not in about nine months, and we just caught up and it was really special to spend time with them and hear about their lives. We just dropped into deep conversation. We met in Truchas, New Mexico at a poetry retreat. Oh, and I had a delightful conversation with my friend Liz, the actor who has inspired me to write this new play and we had some good laughs, and also we’re excited to work together on this project, and I hope to have the play ready for a first reading in October.

Tonight I’m sharing a photo from about a year ago, from Croatia, when we were on the Adriatic sea, to celebrate my poem, Beach of Hvar with Po, which has won 3rd place in the Common Ground Review Annual Poetry Contest, judged by Rebecca Hart Olander. The issue will be published in two weeks. Rebecca's thoughtful and appreciative comments really moved me.