Loose Leaf Notes

We sang four birthday songs to Alwyn for her 90th birthday, celebrated on a sunny November afternoon in her home at Warm Hearth Village, a local retirement community.

There were a couple of deliveries of flowers, and friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen since her 85^th, filled her living room and kitchen, and spilled out onto the patio.

We enjoyed a spread of food, including a birthday cheesecake.  She asked friends not to bring gifts, but I think a few people broke the rules.

Alwyn is a poet, environmentalist and past Waldorf kindergarten teacher.  She’s currently working on a book about caring for feral cats.  She’s also an artist and had an exhibit at the Village Center in Warm Hearth Village in 2014. Check it out HERE. 

We’ve been girlfriends for 30 years, and she’s been an important part of my life.  During the ‘90s we worked together on a publication called The Bell: a Call to Peace. In 2002 I marched in Washington D.C. alongside Alwyn, a Quaker,  for peace and to protest the impending U.S. invasion into Iraq.  She has studied under the eco-theologian Thomas Berry, and last year she was a guest panelist at SustainFloyd showing of his film, The Great Story, which I wrote about HERE.

This is Alwyn’s cat Cloudy, who looked like a statue sitting on a canvas seat and acted like the party greeter.

HERE is an old post I just came across of a fall foliage trip that Alwyn and I took together and HERE is the classic 2012 post titled Alwyn’s Earth Day flag in which I chronicle our visit and post excerpts of an Earth Day commentary that she wrote Roanoke Times newspaper.

Update: HERE is a post about Alwyn’s book Never Love a Feral Cat