Dreaming the World

A lovely, sunlit day. Last night a there were few showers amidst a chorus of spring peepers.

Spring is definitely here, although cold is forecast to return late week. We have new bird species at the feeder and plants are coming up in the garden. The squirrels seem determined to drive away the birds and harvest the new plants; hopefully we can limit their ambitions and damage. Slowly, trees are leafing out in a wide range of colors and hues. The progress of spring leaf out is like a greenish, more subtle version of fall color change.

We are in week unknown of shelter at home; everyday and week runs into the last. Like many of you, we’ve both been on teleconference calls most days, often several meetings in a day, and we are beginning to have no ability to focus. Zoom is both a blessing and a burden, and after weeks of computer based contact my brain has simply stopped processing.  Getting out for walks, one quite long and lovely, over the weekend helped. Still, there is something so alien about ONLY interacting via screens!

Yesterday we tried to walk along the shore in New Bedford, but there were many people out and about without masks, so we hung out for a few minutes on the relatively empty beach, then come back home. Earlier in the day Jennie managed to conduct our bimonthly shopping at one of the local groceries, amidst hordes of people who were both unmasked and refusing to distance. We are trying to keep both of us safe and are finding the local community increasingly refusing to follow safety guidelines; this does not bode well given our town’s Covid numbers are still rising. Certainly the sudden warmth has not helped as I suspect pretty much everyone is desperate for a moment of normalcy in the sun.

I find large clumps of people congregating without taking any care to protect themselves or others, especially against the background of new infections, nightmarish. How disconcerting that people are threatening violence in demand of the freedom to infect others! It does not help that we have a government that keeps raising the NECESSARY number of dead and ill, while continuing to dismantle our meager social safety net including Social Security and Medicare, all in the name of economic necessity. The world appears to be run by mad people! And the greed! It’s like a frenzy of sharks out there!

In spite of all this we try to take time to work in the studio, walk in nature, and meditate. It is good to make room for the small voices of the spirits and Creator. It is good to recover a sense of self and belonging, and to be with our family and communities, if abet virtually. Now, when there are so many dehumanizing forces at play in the world, these things are more important than ever.

It feels good to check in. Please tell me: ow are you faring? What is on your mind these days?