Camp May 2013

I've always wanted to spend extended periods of time at camp, especially during the spring, but had never done so.  This year I decided it was going to happen.  I think I'm in my third week; I kinda lose track of time out here, even working 4 days a week.  It's an easy commute to work: not a single traffic light instead of the 10 traffic lights I encounter coming from Belgrade.  And it's only 15 minutes from the gym instead of the 45 to Belgrade.  I don't have a tv so I listen to a lot of MPBN (love In Tune By Ten!) but often just find myself listening to the peepers, loons, bullfrogs and other night creatures.

I like the simplicity of it:  Just one big room really so there's no space for a lot of extra "stuff."  I don't have a cook stove or oven so food prep is a little more primitive, using the grill, toaster oven, microwave, or crock pot.  Well not very primitive I guess.  But I make a crock pot chicken on Monday and have it all week on top of a garden salad, or a Greek salad, or cold with some avocados and tomatoes and sprinkled with oregano.  Sometimes I'll take a kayak paddle either before or after dinner, beat on my djembe for a while or just sit on the deck and read a book.

I do like having internet access here through my Samsung Galaxy.  I can do a little Facebook, post a blog and stay in touch through email.  I guess that's not exactly being a hermit but it's nice not hearing another human voice, other than on the radio, for 12+ hours at a time.

It was quite exhilarating coming home tonight after the gym, knowing I had 3 days here and being able to do anything I wanted.  My girlfriend Betty is coming tomorrow for a day or two.  We have tentative plans with a couple of other women to come out and try doing a drum circle.  If that doesn't materialize then we'll probably just go into Hallowell and listen to some music for a while.  Maybe we'll have a campfire but we're pretty low on firewood at the moment.

A Mother's Day plant from Rick

Efficient

camp from the stream

A grey November morning

Flames dancing

Slightly unseasoned wood snaps, pops and hisses

Steam rolls from my coffee mug wafting seductively toward the updraft of the fireplace

A cozy last rain before winter snows lay siege to the landscape

I cried at diagnosis; death was a gift

who are these people who claim to operate on brains

all I could think of was Jethro Bodine

driving his hillbilly truck and crowing

about how he was studying to be a brain surgeon

There’s a big old house in Gardiner, Maine

Fourteen rooms and twenty five years

of births, deaths, holidays, and daily life

and one perfect moment

I pull out from time to time

Home reclaimed from tenants

Working in my freshly painted kitchen

Midway between two weeks vacation from work

The abundance of Christmas just days past

Endless rooms upstairs filled with kids and chaos and love

Aroma of turkey and fresh baked rolls wafting throughout the heating system

Brings the kids running down the stairs in unison

At just the right time

A flurry of table setting as everyone exalts over the smells and sights

With no grumbles about a moment for grace and gratitude for this life,

                This day, this moment

Happy faces, chatter chatter chatter

Not a thought about work, school, cancer, legs that don’t run, responsibilities

                Between us

A smile spreads through my whole body

                For that moment

                                Even now.

San Francisco 2013

We had a wonderful trip to San Francisco despite having some kind of crud most of the time we were there.  Lots of Afrin and Advil got us through.   We left home at 3 am to catch a 6 am flight out of PWM and arrived in San Francisco around noontime.  Took a van to the hotel, dropped off our bags and went walking around Fisherman's Wharf until our room was ready.  Stopped for some delicious spicy shrimp and ate outside in our shirtsleeves listening to some live music across the street and drinking in all the local flavor.  Freshened up in the room briefly and then took a town car over to Sweetwater Music Hall (owned by Bob Weir) in Mill Valley for a night of beat poetry.  And what a night it was!  Jerry Nicosia hosted the night with poets and story tellers from near and far including Al Hinkle (aka Ed Dunkel from On The Road), Ramblin Jack Elliot, Joanna McClure, Wavy Gravy, and many, many more.

Wavy Gravy getting down 

Al Hinkle telling great Kerouac and Dean Cassady stories.

Joanna McClure reading her poetry

Jerry Nicosia reading poetry

Jerry Nicosia

We stayed the night at Jerry's house and he took us back to the city around noontime on Wednesday.  We took quick showers and met up with Jason and Adri and went walking.  Unfortunately, having been up about 24 hours the previous day kind of caught up to us and we ended up back in our room by 5, and asleep by 7.  I woke up about 3 am drenched in feverish sweat and I felt like a new woman when I woke up at 9 am.  We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel with Jason and then took showers and headed down Columbus Street to the North Beach area.  Stopped en route at a sweet little Italian coffee shop and split a cannoli and iced mocha with Rick and then continued until we reached The Beat Museum.  Rick introduced himself to the owner, Jerry Cimino, who knew Rick from his book and blog, and he gave us all free tickets.  We took photos of ourselves in the 49 Hudson that was used in filming the recent On The Road movie.

After an hour touring the museum and talking with Jerry we headed across the street to Vesuvio's for a beverage.  

Janet, the bartender and one of the owners of Vesuvio's recommended Coppola's for lunch so that's where we headed.  

Owned by Francis Ford Coppola, the place is loaded with great movie photos and the pizza was quite delicious.  

We hailed a cab for a quick trip back to the hotel to get ready for the big event - Rick's participation on a panel at the San Francisco Public Library to talk about the beats in anticipation of the San Francisco release of the On The Road movie.  Unfortunately, the powers that be decided not to fully release the movie yet but that didn't put a damper on things.  Every seat in the house was taken and there were crowds standing in the back.

Actor Peter Coyote, a dapper dresser, and poet Joanna McClure. 

About 275 people in attendance

..., Actor Peter Coyote, Joanna McClure, Jerry Nicosia, Brad Parker, and Rick Dale.

Dinner at The First Italian or something like that: Adri, Penney, Brad, Jerry, Rick, Me, Allie, and Jason.

Friday morning we walked down Columbus a little way and found a sweet little place for breakfast before catching buses over to Haight Ashbury.  We browsed the stores, watched the local flavor, and had a delicious lunch at Cha Cha Cha's.  Nice people all around.  And some rather unique ones, as you'd expect at the Haight.

We were up early the next morning to share a taxi to the airport with Jason and Adri for the long trip home.  Flights were stuffy and crowded but all on time and without incident.  Overall a fabulous time.   Hope for an opportunity to return soon.

Thanksgiving 2012

Here are some pieces I made especially to use at Thanksgiving this year which I was hosting for the first time in many years.  A couple of serving bowls and a big platter.

 And here's a vase I made back in September but hadn't gotten around to glazing yet.

And here are the results.  The platter obviously cracked rather severely.  C'est la vie.  The others came out pretty nicely though.  I love the firebrick red and the others are all done in celadon froth.

And here we are all hard at work preparing dinner.  Justin mashing potatoes, Linda and Glen making gravy, me getting the ham out of the crockpot, and Rick carving the turkey.  Donnie's sitting back there supervising, I guess.

Paul, Linda, Jared, Chris, Justin, Glen, me, Rick, Donnie, and Cece. Bill took the photo. 

Me and sister, Linda.

Buttering my delicious yeast roll that Cece made.

The beautiful 24 pound turkey.

Brother Bill and Paul preparing the deviled eggs.

In all we had 11 people at the table.  We had invited our friend Robert Pangman but unfortunately he declined.  We played a few rousing games of Party Pictionary after dinner - always a fun time.   

November morning at camp

I woke to a soft fall morning on the stream; muted reds and yellows, a warm blue sky filled with wispy clouds; ground almost fully obscured by fallen leaves.  Slept soundly from 10:30 last night till 9:30 this morning.  I really needed a good night sleep after the conference yesterday that I’ve been planning since April.  Big success.  And a fun night out in Hallowell: dinner with Mary Sampson at Hatties while Katie serenaded us with some mellow tunes and then drinks and dancing at the grand reopening of Higher Grounds with Lisa, Tammy, Jen, Ellen, David, and Sue as Stevie and friends belted out the blues. 

I filled all the bird and squirrel feeders a little earlier this morning.  It always takes them a while to discover the food so I beat on my djembe to let them know I was here and sure enough, they arrived with haste.  I see a couple of red squirrels, some nuthatch and chickadees.  I’m sure the blue jays and woodpeckers will be along soon.  And of course, the ubiquitous crows. Not a huge variety this time of year, but once a food source is discovered they tend to hang around pretty regularly till it’s gone.  I spotted Edmund out exploring in the marsh this morning and was relieved because I hadn't seen him in several weeks.  An eagle soared out over the stream this morning too.  Thanks for visiting, Mom.  

Took this photo last weekend as the fog lifted slowly on a Saturday morning.

This guy was out in front of the camp paddling and fly fishing

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, October 2012

Had a good time this weekend at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.  Went down on Thursday for a performance by Ann Waldman which was just terrific!  Then, as always, had a great time on the Pubs of Lowell tour, led by Roger Brunelle and Mike Wurm.  Below is a photo of David Amram taken at Cappy's which was the last stop on the tour.

Me with David Amram at Cappy's Copper Kettle in Lowell, MA

Friday morning we had a late breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then headed over to Jack's grave in a light rain.  

Click here to see a video of my reading this year.

Our next activity was a reading of random pieces of Jack's writing held at the hotel where we were staying and then a fabulous dinner at Ricardo's and a walk over to the Merrimack Repertory Theater for a showing of a play Jack wrote back in 1957.

Richard, Michelle, Tess, Jason, Rick, me, John, and Kurt.  We first met on the FB Kerouac
page and it was nice to put real people to the names.  

Saturday morning we went to a "Commemorative at the Commemorative" before heading north to Portland for a Poetry, Poverty and Blues event sponsored by the organization I work for, Maine Equal Justice Partners.  

Just chillin' at home on this drizzly Sunday, writing and enjoying a cozy fire in the fireplace.

I came across these photos of my old bedroom at Highland Avenue in Gardiner from back in 2003.  I'd forgotten what a nice room it was.  It's the only time I've ever decorated a room exactly as I wanted it.  I love the pinks, reds, and greens.  

The sitting area where you could watch tv, read, or just hang in the big comfy chair.

The curtains were actually shower curtain that I had altered to fit my doors and windows. 

White chenille bedspread.  You could turn the tv so as to see it from bed too.  

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Mugs for Cindy and Grace

I'd been meaning to give Cindy and Grace some pottery so took these mugs up to them when I visited this past weekend.

Chain of Ponds, Labor Day Weekend, 2012

I realized I hadn't seen Grace or Cindy all summer so got up early Friday morning and headed to Stratton.  I arrived around 10 a.m. and visited with them at Grace's apartment for a bit and then we decided to take a drive down to The Narrows on Chain of Ponds.  With the help of Cindy's new boyfriend, Ron, we got Grace and her wheelchair into my Subaru and drove about a mile down a very rough dirt road.  I was shocked to see someone had hauled a little 15 foot camper trailer in there.  I really can't imagine how as there are some major rocks and washouts that you just can't avoid.

We parked at the shoreline and got Grace into her wheelchair and enjoyed a nice picnic in the sun.  Grace was using the Subaru as a shield from the wind but eventually made her way down next to the water.

Grace and Cindy

This Great Blue Heron watched us from the opposite shore

Ron and Cindy

I love this section of Maine - everywhere you look there are mountains and water.

We also drove down to the Natanis Campground to see if there were any sites to rent this weekend, thinking Rick and I might come up and spend a few days.  However, they were sold out of waterfront sites.  After a few other scenic stops we returned to Grace's and I headed home.  I decided to stop and visit Christopher in Farmington for a little bit and arrived home about 6ish.

Rick and I drove over to the Emporium in Readfield to see Rick Dosedlo and Logan play but the place was packed so we drove into Augusta and had dinner at The Gin Mill.  It was our first time there and we really enjoyed it.  Jim Carey and Sa Rah were playing music and the place was pretty quiet but we enjoyed the food and the music.  The next morning we slept in till 9ish and then decided we'd jump in the car and take the kayaks and head out.  We weren't sure exactly where we were going but were loosely thinking of checking out the scenery at Height of the Land and maybe ending up back at Chain of Ponds, which is just what we did.

Height of Land - Route 17 - this definitely doesn't do the view justice. 

We drove up to Weld and then took the dirt access road for Tumbledown Mountain over to Coos Canyon to get to Route 17.  We stopped briefly at Height of Land and then drove up to the overlook for Rangeley Lake and ate sandwiches.  We drove into Rangeley and walked around the waterfront, took a drive through town and then headed up towards Stratton.  We couldn't reach Cindy when we got to town so we went up to Natanis Campground and parked the car there and paddled the kayaks for a few hours on the ponds.

Me with the Bigelow Peaks behind me

Rick

Rick in the waning sun

We loaded the kayaks back up and made a pit stop at the Maine DOT lot on Route 27 in hopes of seeing a moose but no luck.  We also made a quick stop at the so-called moose quarry on Route 16 but again, no moose to be seen, though there was certainly a large audience waiting in hopes.  We then went over to the Stratton Plaza for beer and burgers and met up with Ron and Cindy, as well as my cousin Dennis and watched some fireworks the locals were shooting off.  There were rooms available at The Tranquillity Lodge in Stratton but given the weather prediction of cloudy and rain for Sunday we decided to go ahead and drive home and arrived just before midnight.  It was another very enjoyable spontaneous trip.