Loose Leaf Notes

1. Sometimes my social life amounts to walking to the mailbox and seeing and talking to friends who are on their way to my mechanic neighbor to get their cars fixed.

2. Other times it comes out of the blue, maybe while passing other boaters from a canoe.

3. Me to Joe: Do you know what canoodle means?  Joe: Cuddling in a canoe?  Me: I think it’s pasta.

4. Much Ado About Canoe HERE.

5. The birds are my angels / Their old songs are new / I tell time through the windows / by the flowers that are in bloom

6. We recently saw a beaver up close while camping and canoeing at Gatewood Park. According to Sun Bear, who was a sacred teacher of Chippewa descent and founder and medicine chief of the Bear Tribe, a multiracial educational society, I am a beaver on the Earth Astrology Medicine Wheel. “The beaver spirit animal is the symbol of creativity and stands for persistence and hard work. The beaver totem enables you to put your best foot forward in the tasks you desire to accomplish and stands for productivity.”

7. “If you’ve ever seen a canoe with no one in it out in the water, it’s a disturbing sight. Something is really wrong when you see that… If a canoe is out there in the water and the wind has it, it’s a fitful turning thing… but when the canoe is in the current, it moves very faithfully…  and that’s when I knew that canoe is leaving, and it’s leaving without me… Stephen Jenkinson on his mother’s death, Mother Canoe 

8. If I had a boat, I might call it “Dreamboat.”

9. I think Joe should name his bicycle “Sally” as in ‘Ride Sally Ride.’

10. I used to call my 13-year-old grandson Byrce a dreamboat when he was a baby. I sang Row Your Boat to him, but changed the words to: Row row row your boat, gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Bryce is but a dream.

11. “I saw a young woman lying stark naked in Central Park the other day and of course didn’t stare but noticed an older man, fully dressed, sitting near her so I figured he was with her and if she needed me she could’ve yelled, which she did not. Where there are people, you’ll find surprises, and sometimes you’ll see solo dancers or a man juggling flaming torches and now a naked woman. I am more moved by the sight of young parents, sometimes they seem detached from each other, one irked and the other anxious. Two brave venturers and it hurts to see them unhappy. You never get over parenthood, it simply never ends. I was 70 when my mother died and she still worried about whether the stories I told on the radio were true. I went into the comedy line of work because my mom loved comedians and I wanted to please her but still she worried. I have friends whose grandchildren keep them awake at night, friends who gave up religion long ago but who still believe in prayer because what else is there? Your beloved granddaughter has schizophrenia and you, a former atheist, switch to agnosticism so you can say, “Dear God, please look down on Angelina who is living in a bad dream and show her Your love.” – Garrison Keillor

12. “Speak truth to power. Speak calm to crazy. Speak loudly to old people.” -My Dharmacratic friend Will

13. “The proper term for senior women should be queenagers.” Unknown

______________Thirteen Thursday