Loose Leaf Notes

1. I remember asking my parents as they were aging, ‘what do you do all day?’ Now I ask myself. I don’t buy into the elder years being the best time of life. It has its pluses but also has a lot of loss. Instead of crossing things I want to do off my bucket list, I’m also crossing off things I don’t have to do.  For me, it’s not about living life to its fullest, it’s about living, and that means lots of maintenance, keeping things simple and being present for the small beauties and joys of life.

2. When we were kids we believed / we were angels in training / and the wing bones on our backs were proof / We propelled ourselves in dreams about flying / but let no leg hang over the bed.

3. One day the brown chameleon wakes up blue / but I can only change my clothing / shop for every color of the rainbow / and stuff my closet overfull – HERE. 

4. Everything is a hobby now.

5. “Voting isn’t marriage, it’s public transport. You’re not waiting for “the one” who’s absolutely perfect: you’re getting the bus, and if there isn’t one to your destination, you don’t not travel- you take the one going closest.” – Debbie B. Moon

6. We’ve been living out of kitchen boxes since our cupboards have been being repainted. Now we are living out of boxes and suitcases in our cars in case we have to evacuate because there is a wildfire out of control just a couple of miles away.

7. So, what would you take if you had to leave your home quickly for a fire.  I took my money, my lockbox, my files and photos on a hard drive, my toiletries, my medicine, my life book album, a hot plate and few pans and lots of clothes (a small fraction of what I have) because I’m a hard fit and my favorite clothes would be impossible to replace.

8. That exercise reminded me of these lines of a poem, written for my late sister Kathy…  You wanted to decorate the bedroom we shared / with purple gingham curtains and matching rugs / but our mother said we couldn’t afford that / I hung the laundry and imagined a house fire / The clothes on the line were all I had left – More HERE. 

9. Our language is inadequate to describe quantum reality – The quantum world — and its inherent uncertainty — defies our ability to describe it in words. …First, images we build in our minds when we try to picture light or particles of matter are not appropriate. Language itself struggles to address quantum reality, since it is limited to verbalizations of those mental images… Second, the observer is no longer a passive player in the description of natural phenomena. If light and matter behave as particles or waves depending on how we set up the experiment, then we cannot separate the observer from what is being observed.” – From Our language is inadequate to describe quantum reality 

10. A new study reveals a significant disparity in neural activity during face-to-face conversations compared to Zoom interactions. Using advanced neuroimaging, researchers observed suppressed neural signals during online exchanges. In contrast, in-person discussions presented heightened brain activity, with more coordinated neural responses between participants, emphasizing the richness of live social interactions. “Zoom appears to be an impoverished social communication system relative to in-person conditions,” said Yale neuroscientist Joy Hirsch.

11. Linda Fallon, who was a long-time board president for the Floyd Center for the Arts, had the idea for a poetry tea to benefit the Center after attending a 2018 poetry tea party at Fiddlesticks Farm where Katherine Chantal, Chelsea Adams and I read tea poems wearing our high-tea lady’s hats… When past Floyd resident Carolyn (Kirby) Grace posted on Facebook that she had completed a MFA in creative writing and had a first book of poetry published, Linda suggested that a poetry tea with the three of us would make a good FCA event, and it did. More from Poetry and Tea for Thirty HERE.

12. Hey, where ya going, to a fire? See HERE.

13. Not a flying saucer. Watch a flying helicopter drop water over the Tuggles Gap wildfire.

______Thirteen Thursday