The Fluttering of Nearby Wings

Eureka Car(t) 2007

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She fit the stereotype of a bag lady. Her cart had weak ankle wheels and although she was strong it must have been well packed as she pulled it with jerks. She parked it by the rear exit of the M4 bus.Then she sat next to me, not interrupting my reading. I was lost in the world of painters and the grand opening of the Eiffel Tower. Suddenly she commented on the bicycle marathon at the north end of Central Park. Since I was agreeable to conversation she began telling me of where I could get freebies. It turned out she rode in from the Bronx on Sundays to bring food to the food pantry at the cathedral. Bring food?? Every Sunday??? I would have guessed that she was the one needing food. She had done this for ten years! Yes, she had help with the rent through a welfare program but her time and money went to amassing food for the destitute. I mentioned Riverside Church having a food pantry and she glowed. In the days before the Bronx, she lived near Riverside and took the food there. Now, what with the train/bus connections, the cathedral worked better. I told her how wonderfully generous and enterprising she was. She giggled as though this was the least big deal imaginable I said I like to do the "buy one, get one free" thing and keep one for myself and give away the other. However, I could tell she would give away both. I asked about what she herself had to eat. She replied, "Oh, I got plenty! People 'n given' me stuff all time." It reminded me of Porgy and Bess, "Oh, I go plenty of nothin' and nothin's plenty for me." When she reached her stop, I told her she would live long and bless hundreds being as how she was such a cheerful giver and housed a merry heart. I thought about her a lot during the service. She had so little! yet radiated contentment. If only one out of every ten people could be like this nameless errand girl, what a wonderful world this would be!

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...may the blessings of unseen angels visit you this day...

A Short Recap of the Last Twenty-One Hundred Days, Give or Take a Few

Photo Credit: George Page

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I was thinking of the post wherein I mentioned books written in letter form and this thought came to me, "Why not write my entire post in letter form?" An ideal opportunity arose when I found an old e-mail address . Instead of writing to the addressee alone, here it is for you also:

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Hi Jennifer B.!

I'm glad I found your address. A lot has happened since I left Roanoke all those years ago and I don't think I even sent you a postcard. You cross my mind every day because when I remember you, I remember most the books you brought by on your walks with Lucy. I stayed seven months in San Francisco in a lovely studio in what used to be an old hotel frequented by opera singers and actors with wood floors and huge windows. There was a clawfoot tub on a pedestal, the first of a succession of clawfoot tubs on pedestals. More about them later. The studio overlooked a magical garden completely planted and cared for by a Vietnamese man. I put some pots of chrysanthemum on the windowseat to show my appreciation and sometimes he waved. On the floor beneath (the basement), services were held for Muslims. I loved hearing the long sonorous prayers coming up through my floorboards. On night I was moved to reciprocate with Amazing Gracy in what my mother called my carrying voice and found an invitation at my door the next day. I responded with a note on the door saying I had my own faith traditions but appreciated their invite. A flyer at the library led me to a part-time training job serving lunch to about 50 Chinese women at the Salvation Army residential apartments close to Market Street. Unfortunately, I didn't learn any Chinese which would have been useful as a couple of months later, I was getting a flu shot at the Fisherman's Wharf Walgreen's when I inadvertently helped six elderly Chinese ladies fill out forms. Their interpreter had failed to show. I was touched that they trusted me with their phone numbers and home addresses. Hand motions and smiles work for all languages. Life in the City by the Bay was stretching the budget so I moved on up to Eureka in redwood country where I had visited my son when he was at Humboldt State. I lucked out with another winning place to live, a cottage divided into apartments diagonally across from the famous Carson Mansion which at Christmas lit up like an old movie set. Another part-time job came my way at the Humdoldt Senior Resource Center. It was there that I thought of you most as "Young Boss" recommended my reading Water for Elephants. That brought a flood of memories about the Patchett books you loaned me and the beautifulThe Solace of Leaving Early. And how surprised you were when I said the time traveller was "a jerk." I wondered if anybody in Eureka would be as kind to me as you were when I was so sick with the shingles and you asked me what I would like best. You brought Sprite which I considered the ultimate prescription. I stayed in Eureka for the two years of my lease and then headed back to Chapel Hill. But guess what! I'm now in New York City. More later. So, enough of me, what have you been up to? I've lost track of how old George is by now. Does your bookclub still meet around your fabulous kitchen table? Do you read Cheryl's blog? All for now. Keep in touch.

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...may the blessings of reunions be yours...

Serendipity Street on the Road to Enlightenment

Photos Credit: Kaye Barley

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I told you the Tale of the Ring, the wonderful symbolic event of not being the Wrong Mimja but instead winning the ring on Linda Blalock's site, http://atclindab.blogspot.com/. which came to me by way of a link on Cheryl Dolby's page. http://healingwoman.blogspot.com. She has heaps of links so I tried looking at another earlier in the year which led in turn to http://meanderingsandmuses.blogspot.com. What a nice "small world" surprise! The writer is Department Secretary for Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State. I wrote her a quick note to tell her that I had lived in a cabin and had sung in the Appalachian Chorale which met in the music building. I mentioned that my daughter had been an anthropology major and her daughter is now at ASU. I kept meaning to get back to Kaye's blog but...no excuses. I just didn't. Well, she took care of that by sending me a message last week asking if I would like to be a guest blogger on her site September 12, 2011. I was floored. I thought maybe I was the Wrong Mimja again. I mean, Kaye's guests will include the likes of Pat Conroy. Yikes. The majority of bloggers have published works. Doubles yikes! I did start on an autobiography in 2003 and made it all the way to page 2. What to do? What to do? I decided not to turn down the offer. "They also serve who only" post a note. And this was another opportunity to show my philosophy and religion by example. Who would have thunk I'd be hobnobbing with Name Recognized Mystery Authors Who Tour? Given as I am to Signs, I think this means it's time I scurried (in Mimsey fashion) to LuLu.com and published my 6 page (mostly drawings) children's book. The Walrus Who Loved Yoga. Watch for me in the NYTimes. Ha ha. With blurbs such as "short and endearing" and "short and quixotic." Or more likely, "If you are looking for a quick read, this is short." I have a whole year, give or take a day or two, so maybe this will be finally done. Wish me luck. I got the idea in 1964. Maybe a better choice than luck would be a ghost writer.

...may the blessings of chance invitations be yours.

What Would Your Brother Do?

...art courtesy of Robert Janz

"IN YOU BEGINS AND ENDS

THE UNIVERSE." Lorca

This is the week that marks that horrific day, 9/11. I remember my brother visiting Durham in November of 2001 at my small apartment. I remember looking out through the glass door which opened onto a corner screened porch. I was surprised he wasn't coughing. He had come for an interview by the Raleigh News and Observer and for an exhibit of his drawings as an eyewitness to 9/11. (He had been walking peacefully towards the the World Trade Center on a mission to buy a muffin). I told him how I'd been volunteering in the library that fatal morning when the librarian came to tell me the news. She asked, "What would your brother do? Would he want you to go home or stay here working?" I said he'd want me to stay. As we sat talking on my couch about the show he would have in Raleigh, he looked through the drawings in his portfolio. He came upon one which didn't belong. Puzzled, he commented, "I don't know how this got in here. It's an old drawing." The minute I saw it, I knew. It was the U. You can see in the above why it is my favorite of my collection. Amidst the building hateful rhetoric, I keep in mind this beauty and pass it along to you.

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...may the blessings of chance findings be yours...