#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
. . . Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear,—. . .
~ William Wordsworth, Excerpt from “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798”
Housework first; then, out to a short walk before poetry workshop. River is high from rain. Frank’s stepping stones are completely submerged. It’s a buzzy walk. July wet. I stop at the garden too—no sign of my baby bunny inside the gate. I pick some zucchini and squash and look with pleasure at my butternut and winter squash sprouts. No watering necessary lately. What a storm last night of flashing sky and pouring rain! Such interrupted sleep. I am almost finishing listening to an audio book I’ve really enjoyed, The Victorian and the Romantic, by Nell Stevens, and read very skilfully by her as well. And tonight I splurged on three new audiobooks, eek! but I’m going through them so fast: Fox and I, An Uncommon Friendship (memoir), Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart, a bio, by Claire Harman, and Wayward, a novel, by Dana Spiotta. I’m so excited to have such a wonderful library full of listening. So, I brought a brand new poem to workshop, and got helpful feedback, and it wasn’t a very emotionally charged poem for me, so that was a relief. Later in the day I did a poem exchange with another poet friend and got some very helpful feedback on the poem I shared in workshop Monday night. Tonight, worked on three or four of revising the poems from letters-so close to being done with this revision! Also, I am reading and rating the proposals for the Power of Words Conference produced by the Transformative Language Arts Network in late October. It’s truly wonderful to see what strong proposals have been submitted since this will be a digital conference. My dear friend visited in the late afternoon. I made us a batch of very strong ice tea. I have a party to put on for Frank this weekend, and much to do, with his father coming into town as well. The whole family will pitch in and I’m excited to celebrate his turning 60. I expect it to be very wet in the morning for my walk, which may be more like a bath. Will be, certainly, forest bathing, which is always great for the body, the mind, and the spirit.