8.18 Day 73 Small City, Big Connections

If you asked me 20 years ago what attracted me to Duluth, it would have been, unequivocally, "The Lake".
If you ask me today, it would be yet much more. Not that "The Lake" has lost any of it's appeal; it hasn't. But a city this size affords opportunities not found in other places. You know just enough people for it to be a palatable, even fun, experience; but not so many that everyone is in everyone's business...
Where else will you almost always have someone you know drive by if you have car trouble and need a ride? In a bigger city, I'd never know or have access socially to folks holding such positions as director of the art institute, etc. Yet in this town; those things happen.
A great lake and a great place to live!

8.17 Day 72 Electromagnetic Radiation, WiFi, and Technology

I am somewhat of a techno-geek. Not to the extent of many, mind you, but enough.
Dr. Sue shared something Friday that made me think twice; even though in the back of my mind I should know this: electromagnetic fields are bad for you. Just like cigarette smoke, aspartame, and transfats. Flying and chest x-rays (or flying WHILE having a chest x-ray!?) provide low doses, which, while damaging, are not lethal. WiFi, on the other hand, "shatters" your DNA. "Shatters". No mincing words here, Dr. Sue!
I have no intention of going "cold turkey" on technology anytime soon; though I do spent an inordinate amount of time with it. But I did turn the WiFi off yesterday....

8.16 Day 71 Frogs, Snakes, and Tomatillos

Wow.
Back in June, the garden consisted of small plants and tall sticks, each staking out it's territory. From a distance, all you could see were the dowels poking up, like "x marks the spot." Now, the dowels are gone - vanished 'neath a sea o'green!! It's lush and junglelike, with hundreds (yes, hundreds) of hanging green tomatoes and peppers Lanterns of tomatillos spread across the soil like chandeliers on green arms. Pumpkins, squash and watermelon lurk under a carpet of giant leaves. Grapes are blushing purple. Potato greens are spreading and falling, like bowling pins - the potatoes digging themselves out of the ground.
While weeding, I just happened to look straight ahead and directly into the thoughtful eye of a tree frog. He was crouched firmly on the leaf stalk of one of the giant sunflower plants, a long dark stripe hanging out of his mouth. His tongue? An insect, half-digested? His throat gurgled as his eye kept watch. The green - oh. A shimmery greeny-yellow; like the nailpolish I bought this summer. What a gorgeous creature.
Pat startled a snake, or "Bill", as he fondly identifies all snakes (after a principal who was particularly reptilian in manner). It zipped through the blackberries and slid like a rope up into the chives.
Thousands of greens and textures and shapes. An artist's dream.

8.15 Day 70

8.14 Day 69 Pasture Prayer: A Dreamsicle Moon

Through the traffic of summer (can you say "stopped on the freeway for 45 minutes?"), I finally made it to the cabin tonight, en route home. Just enough daylight left - and it is waning quickly! - to drop off a few items in the garage.
As I pull away, the pasture falls into green-gray shadow. I can almost feel the deer and coyotes watching from the wood. The eagle and turkey vultures have perched for the night. The owls are stirring. The grasses wave almost imperceptively in the darkening light.
I pull over the hill, the engine of the car echoing gently off the goldenrod-blanketed hill. There it was: a low, huge, velvety-orange-yellow moon; a huge soft cheese; a perfect circle of soft glow.
I sucked in my breath and stopped still. Prayers. Thanksgiving. Love. Perfect peace. God's calm breath. Beyond church; beyond worship.
A perfect union of God and creation. A moon-wish.

8.8 Day 63 Polli-Nation

The garden is a sprawling, fecund, damp cacophony of greens. It's quite literally buzzing today - bees and wasps of every size and shape are having their annual convention there, flitting from tomatillo to tomato to eggplant to squash blossom. The "buzz" of activity is real....

8.7 Day 62 My Stuff's In One Place!!!

Yeehaw! For only the second time ever in 21 years, my teaching supplies are now ALL IN ONE PLACE! My assignment this coming year is at Woodland Middle School - ONLY at Woodland Middle School. I had to move things OUT of Homecroft TO Garfield this spring, then over the past several days, OUT of Garfield and INTO Woodland! YIPPEEEE!!! They even have my SMARTBOARD in. So, despite the fact that several very cool jobs have come up - a Professorship at UWS, and the State of Minnesota Visual and Media Arts Coordinator position -- I am content to not have to totally reorganize at this point.
I'm pretty sure I've decided on my PhD program; will wait for that opportunity on the horizon... Purdue.