WORTH VISITING

One of the rituals we’ve happily and gratefully resumed is monthly visits to Marshfield where Keith’s older brother Al lives. We pick up his younger brother Greg on our way and spend a special day together. There might be a local event, a nice lunch at a favorite restaurant, a picnic at Wildwood Park, or just reminiscing at Al’s place. When I write it on the calendar, I call it “May Boys Mayhem.” Our most recent visit involved a trip to the cemetery where we visited the graves of their parents, family, and friends. Our next visit will be for Hub City Days.

There’s no relationship quite like the ones with the people who’ve loved you your entire life. They witnessed our failures and heartbreaks. They watched our dreams grow. They were participants in our becoming, the first people we loved. It was a poignant day of loss and love.

”When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong
as their common life.” — Antisthenes

WORTH PAUSING

Speaking of rituals, we have enshrined a new one. During our isolation this past winter, we started taking daily trips to frozen water on lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes. The sheer expanse warded off our “cabin fever.” Then as the ice thawed, these trips became bird watching expeditions. Now they have evolved into daily pilgrimages to water where, for a precious hour each day, we can feel our true selves — silent creatures on a vast planet with the other animals. Feeling the breath of the wind and the warmth of the sun. Watching the sky, the water, each other. Listening to birdsong and waves lapping the shore. About three months ago, we started bringing breakfast and launching our mornings with a quiet picnic on the water to welcome the day. Such peace. There is no doubt, we are both Aquarians by sign and by soul.

“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.” – Alan Watts

WORTH HIDING

My website is just for my family and a few friends. Guess what. I was scrolling through some stuff and discovered there were zillions of page views. It made no sense. I never pay attention to analytics because I’m not selling anything, so I had to learn how to use them. After some digging, I found out these visits were coming from 41 different countries. I thought I was being hacked. More digging revealed they were all playing around in the little sub-site I made for my two youngest granddaughters called “Hogwarts Online.” It seems someone put a link to it on a fan site and I have been drowned in traffic. I have password-protected the Hogwarts site now because I have photos of my family on it and it feels creepy. The main site (Life at 240) is still unprotected and public but almost everything is down right now as I am building. Anyway, I will be starting up Hogwarts in a few days for summer school. If you have grandkids who want to do some of the activities they are welcome. The password is “breatheincourage.”

WORTH PAINTING

This month’s installment of my curated tour through Keith’s artwork features this painting of our granddaughter Ada when she was about six years old. I wish you could see the original. This photo doesn’t do it justice. It hangs above the couch in our Naked Room (which is a combo craft center and TV emporium). Ada is in her early twenties now, but she still looks like this to me.

”I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will." — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

WORTH LEARNING

I can’t tell you how much ecstasy I’ve gotten from Masterclass. It was a retirement gift I gave myself six years ago and I’ve renewed every year. We just started a new course with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on “Scientific Thinking.” If you are unfamiliar with Masterclass, you can see the breadth of the offerings and sample the courses. The teachers are world renowned, the production values are superb, and the content will excite your every molecule. When people love what they do, I can’t help but love it too. Their passion and enthusiasm is contagious and I catch on fire. I wish with all my heart we could find a way to do that for all children. (You can visit Masterclass by clicking HERE.

“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn,
the more I realize, the less I know.” — Michel Legrand

WORTH WRITING

One of my life goals was to start writing more. These love letters are one of the ways I do that. Six years ago, my brother John and I started what we lovingly call “The New Moon Writers Fellowship” (even though it’s just the two of us). John is a gifted writer whose work is much more intelligent, polished, and enduring than the little poems and stories I write, but he loves me and takes the time once a month to critique and comment and teach and inspire me. We’ve taken some classes together, shared resources, and enjoyed the craft. We meet once a month at the New Moon Cafe and last week we enjoyed our first in-person meeting since the pandemic year of Zooming. He is working on a complex essay which I believe will be outstanding. I am toying with an outline of a Young Adult novel. Aside from the writing part, John is one of my favorite people on this planet and I love spending this time with him. Sometimes I wonder if I would write at all if not for him and this special little fellowship. I think of John and writing whenever I smell fresh coffee. Maybe I’ll write a poem about that.

"Ignore all hatred and criticism. Live for what you create,
and die protecting it." — Lady GaGa

WORTH COMPETING

For any of you who have been following my baking competition with the witch Ugly Bugly, you will know that we each submit cookie entries each month to the two youngest granddaughters who judge the winners. When one of us wins two months in a row, we will be crowned the winner and Best Baker. The contest is in its third year with no sign of ending. I always write a little poem to go with my cookies to give me an extra edge. I made my classic chocolate chippers for June and its classic poem is below. I’ve been watching the Great British Baking Show for inspiration. (I am addicted). I realize I lack talent, but, fortunately, the witch does as well. I am determined to win this thing, so your cookie suggestions are most welcome.

“The Best Thing to Hold Onto in Life Is Each Other.” — Audrey Hepburn