Lump in My Throat and a Few Tears....

Tuesday, July 27th - 9:00 a.m.

I followed my usual morning routine today....got up about 6:30, walked Fenway, brewed some coffee and watched GMA for awhile. I was about to turn off the TV when the hearings called to examine what happened in DC on January 6th began. There were opening statements and then a video.

Watching that video....some "familiar" footage but much that I'd never seen before was a real blow to my heart. The sound was "improved" so you could hear what the police and rioters were screaming. You could read captions highlighting the calls from on-site police to headquarters asking for help and declaring "This is a riot!" I watched, again, as insurgents used their flags or poles to smash windows and rage into the Capitol complex (while trying to carefully stay between the ropes for their peaceful "tour").  Listening to the first witnesses was just crushing..... four police officers who had been overwhelmed by an armed mob determined to get inside the building.

Anyone who says "oh this wasn't really a big deal", or "let's just move on" needs to sit in a chair and watch every second of what I watched this morning. How dare they suggest that our democracy was not at risk when these angry protestors tried to interrupt America's historic peaceful transition of power from one administration to another.

It's 9:30 and I am still listening to words like "brutal fighting", "violent attackers", "armed insurgents" "swarmed by a mob" "stripped off my badge" "get his gun" "kill him with his own gun" "I was electrocuted again, and again, and again with a taser" . These are words I never expected to hear in order to describe an event in the House of Representatives and Senate Chambers.

Never forget January 6th......follow the facts.....prosecute those who participated....do whatever it takes to insure that this can never happen to America again. 

And I still hope they never repair the one window in the Capitol's door - that should remain as a visible reminder that our democracy is not infallible.

Words Per Minute…..

I’ve always enjoyed reading for pleasure. I can’t remember too many times in my life when I didn’t have a novel with a bookmark showing me where I’d left off and where to start up again. Even when our kids were young I usually read two or more books a week…..plus all the children's books I read out loud to them.

When COVID hit and we basically stayed home I thought reading would be one way to pass the time but it turned out that I had a hard time concentrating and actually read very few books during 2020. My book club met on Zoom and, although it was nice to see other members, it just sort of got “old” after awhile.

Last week I was watching Good Morning America as I moved around the kitchen and toward the end of the show they presented their list of recommended summer reading. I half listened and then headed off to do errands. I stopped at COSTCO for a few things and as I pushed my cart past the books on display I saw one from the GMA list and decided to buy it.

Back home, after lunch, I sat down and opened it to the first page. To say it’s a thriller is putting it mildly. I finished it at 8:00 that night (with breaks for dog walks, dinner and to rest my eyeballs). This was the author's first book and she spent ten years as a flight attendant and certainly had insights on what it meant to be moving along at 30,000 feet above the ground. If you want a good summer read look for it…..but my advice is not to read it the day before you board an airplane to go off on an adventure.

The Twins….

It’s been awhile since I spotted a fawn. This spring I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I did see a mother with one fawn coming down the bike path and the up the hill through the condo window. But when Fenway and went for our walks we would spot birds but no deer…..until this morning.

Today we walked north past the brew pub next door, along side the sandy volleyball court and continued along the east side of the almost dry (today) creek. It was so quiet as we entered the wooded area….no one else around and birds calling, but hidden in the trees.

We turned for home and retraced our steps. Just before the trash rack, where the stream goes under the street, I caught a movement. The twins! One on the side of the hill and one at the edge of the water…..no mom in sight and they were watching us carefully.

Morning walk, birdsong and Bambi times two…..a good walk.

Drought.....

I've enjoyed writing ever since I used to open my fifth grade pink diary and fill a page for each day.....I kept diaries all through college. Before the internet, there was letter writing to friends and family. And while living in New Castle, Delaware, after our kids were grown and gone, I had a weekly newspaper column for the small town paper. I enjoyed that space to share random thoughts.

Then, a few years ago, I started my small blog. It was just another tool that let me wander through my mind and share my ponderings. Usually I have maybe seven to ten entries per month.....but nothing is set in stone and I have a very small "following". I don't do this for any other reason other than I like to think about "things" and then put my thoughts down in black and white.

For the past two months or so I've just felt "dry".....nothing much to "say". It wasn't any kind of life change or pressure but I was feeling sort of "bad" that I had nothing to share. Today, our daughter, posted something that made me feel better. She is an artist working more than full time in her studio....and she makes some amazing pieces and is represented by some very good galleries. But today, on her instagram she shared the following: "I used to beat myself up when I didn't perform/excell....I'm changing my expectations and allowing much more grace." (I hope she doesn't mind me sharing that!)

So I've decided that I am in some kind of fallow state.....a drought of ideas if you like. I trust my brain wanderings will return, sparked by something I see while walking Fenway, or read. For now I'm just quiet.

Doing Its Job......

In August 2018 Port Washington was hit by a huge rain storm in the middle of the night. Sound asleep we woke about 2:00 a.m. to someone pounding on our front door. It was a neighbor letting us know that the parking lot was flooding and maybe we could get our car out of the lower garage. Dave threw on some clothing and ran down the steps only to find about six feet of water in our garage.....no way to save the car or the other 20 parked on that level.

We all faced about a week of clean up, several weeks with no elevator, the purchase of a new car....quite the memorable event. In the months and three years following the condo board did a lot to find out why our garage flooded and to fix the pumps and do everything they could to assure homeowners this would never happen again. And the city had its own to-do-list.

The flood was as terrible as it was because a huge tree trunk floated down the raging "stream" next to the bike path plugging the entry to the culvert that should have directed most of the water under the park and into Lake Michigan. So, after months of discussion, a company was hired to install a trash rack at the culvert so any floating trash would be directed up and water could flow freely below it and out to the lake.

I walked Fenway today and glanced down at the trash rack. We've had several days of on-and-off much needed rain....nothing like the fast and furious 2018 storm, but still our little stream is much higher than normal. Water is running over rocks and up the side of the banks....but nothing too dramatic.

And the trash rack is doing its job!