MaryAlice Musings and More

For over three years I have been yearning for a tai-chi class in my new home in the Katahdin region of Maine.  There were several times when it looked like there might be a teacher available, but to no avail. Amazingly, when I found my way to the UU Church of Houlton, I also found my way to an incredible Tai Chi teacher, Sue Glick of Laughing Dragon North TaiChi and QiGong.  In January I did two Saturday workshops, and was looking forward to resuming lessons after I returned from my "spring away" time.   Then came the Pandemic.  I came home early from my "spring away" time.  All of sudden I had options to do tai chi.  Sue offered weekly classes on Wednesday, and I have since I returned home doing weekly classes with Sue.  It is a great class and a bonus is my BFF, Lonnie is doing the class with me.  She is in Philadelphia,  I am in Patten, Sue is outside of Houlton, and many of the other class members live in Canada.  This woul...

Y esterday I took a drive on the Scenic By-Way West of Mt. Chase to get some spring water.  I consider it an essential trip.  The water tastes so good, so I fill up my water containers for the week.   I don't know the name of the spring, I know it has one.  I meant to take a picture when i got there but I was so focused on filling up my jugs, I just forgot.  There is the sweetest little sign that hangs from a tree, is swings back and forth and says "Spring"!   Oh the water, the clean, clear water.    Today I took a trip down to my brook, Webb Brook runs along the south end of my property.  I have this little bit of scruff woods and then the brook,  it is my little enchanted space and I love the sound of the rushing water and discovering all that has been uncovered with the melting of the snow.  Unfortunately I have not figured out how I can put a video on my blog.  It is on my list of this is what I want i...

Today has been a good end and beginning of the week.  Our UU Houlton congregation had quite a lovely, open-hearted and deeply touching "coffee hour" together.   As Sue said, we are getting better at this, and I do believe that that is true.  We all come as we are and Rev Dave leads us loosely and then off we go.  I started going to services at the Houlton Unitarian Universalist Church last fall.  I am so glad that I found this sweet group of practitioners, a very diverse and deeply welcoming crew.  So seeing them on my zoom screen and having a little time where we come together is both anchoring and freeing.    A good way to start and end the week. Next I put away a few things that have been sitting on my screen porch.  I will have the winterizing taken off the porch within the next few weeks.  The porch looks tired,  untended and cluttered.  Today I made several trips to the "auxiliary kitchen storage" and ...

Today was the kind of day that you wait for if you are in the North in April.  The sky was an amazing blue that neither my iPhone or my photography skills do justice.  I have loved the air, the atmosphere in Maine since my first trip to the Katahdin Region.  I know why painters came here to paint, and now that air pollution is decreasing around the globe I do believe that the light is even clearer, the sky bluer.  Today was a picture postcard day.  I started out the day with a little road trip to Ludlow.  I had found a croquet set on one of the local buy and sell sites on Facebook.  It was an old set, in very good shape and the price was right.  When any guests were here last summer and fall I thought about croquet, the back yard is just right.  So in hopes of once again having visitors and guests I headed out to get a vintage croquet set that I can set up in the backyard.  I might even have a croquet party.  It could...

This has been a long "pause" and it is not over yet.  What has not paused (despite what it feels like sometimes) is the evolving of spring.  Today I got a wonderful delivery - pussy willows!  Thank you Kathy.   I love pussy willows they are a harbinger of spring,  the last gasps of winter.   Here is what the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has to say about Pussy Willows:  At the tail end of winter, fuzzy nubs start to appear along the branches of pussy willows. These soft silver tufts—as well as the plant itself—are named for their resemblance to tiny cats’ paws, and they feel so much like fur that young children often wonder if they are animals instead of plants. What are those little nubs? Are they seeds? Fruits? And why are they fuzzy? They're actually flowers just before they fully bloom. The soft coating of hairs acts as insulation to protect these early bloomers from cold temperatures. The species most commonly called pussy wi...

 I could hear the snow last night,  when the winds are blowing and the snow is heaving and wet my metal roof bends and moans as the snow slides down from the top of the peak.  I   heard the snow last night, slipping and sliding and when I woke up this morning the sun was bright and once again I was in a snow globe winter wonderland.   The 50th Earth Day,  thank you Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin native.     "On Earth Day 2020 , we seize all the tools and actions that we have, big and small, to change our lives and change our world, not for one day , but forever. While the coronavirus may force us to keep our distance, it will not force us to keep our voices down."  Earth Day Website  I loved stomping around in the yard.  Boots on, winter coat, hat, no mask.  Taking in the beauty.  The way the sun and shadows met. The birds were sitting in the trees.  I saw my first robin.  The crows were ma...

More than one month ago spring was officially here.  I was in Phoenix, getting ready to head back to Maine in less than a week.   I am done with quarantine time, and yet there is very little that is different in my daily life right now.    There have been several big snow storms, several power outages and today I got the Severe Weather Alert that you see above.  The sun is not yet winning this battle.   The sun is higher in the sky, the light is longer, but the northern cold seem to still have a few bursts left.    It has been shifting from rain/sleet/snow for the last little bit.  The house is cozy.  I am hunkered down for the right and am going to continue my version of "binge watching" by continuing to watch "Unorthodox" it is a mini-series and I am half way through the four part season and looking forward to the next two shows.   Today I did a few more errands and my need to get some order drove me to get out a...

It is Monday,  another week.  I did a few errands today.  I emailed my grocery list to Ellis's Market and for the first time since I returned home I drove over and had them put the groceries in my "way back".   I stopped at the post office and was glad that no one was there.  I talked to Rob,  he is one of the people who have worked on my house since the first day that I bought it over a year ago,  I had a list of outside things around the house and he will stop by tomorrow or the next day to look at what needs to get done.   I paid some bills online.   I rescued the clothes from the dryer.  I participated in the first of a 16 session Tai Chi class on zoom.   All of this I did with the backdrop of feeling just a little uneasy,  I am not at ease.  I feel both sad and angry that I feel such tension around me regarding our ability to look towards the greater good.  That those who profit by fuel...

I got an email this morning that let me know that Ada's farm stand was now open.  Ada is a dear young Amish woman, who is working hard with her new garden and farm stand.  I went over to Golden Ridge where their farm is almost weekly all last summer and fall.  I built up quite a friendship with Ada who moved here in Ohio.   Every time I had a visitor we went to Ada's,  she loved that I brought friends and enjoyed the conversations with my friends from around the country.   Ada, saw my car pull up and came out.  We were both so very happy to see each other (at a safe distance).  Ada just had a new baby at the beginning of March.  She lamented that I couldn't come into the house to see the new baby, and we both expressed great hope that I would be able to hold this new one in my arms soon.    I saw lots of signs of spring on my way to and from Golden Ridge Road.  I stopped and watched the lambs and goats just s...

Today Today I’m flying low and I’m not saying a word I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep. The world goes on as it must, the bees in the garden rumbling a little, the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten. And so forth. But I’m taking the day off. Quiet as a feather. I hardly move though really I’m traveling a terrific distance. Stillness. One of the doors into the temple. ~ Mary Oliver

Wednesday mornings bring my Tai Chi class, and I am always so glad to have that hour + with my teacher, Susan and the other students in the class.  This is one of the silver linings of "sheltering in place".  I actually have access to many things that I did not have while living in the northern part of Maine in a small town of less than 700 people.  Now I have classes that I can attend,  museums that I can walk through, concerts I can hear.  But this is not exactly a good news story.    Each day brings overwhelming news, more deaths, and now protests by people who want to get rid of stay at home orders, they want to golf, go to wrestling matches,  go back to what life was like in February - this is all a hoax.   We have a society where there are many people who don't appreciate or believe in science, facts are not facts,  and this is making america great again.... I try not to blog around politics, but it is a toss up ...

I have not had a lot to say in the last couple of days,  it was not so much a decision to not blog,  I just didn't do it.   Then yesterday,  I decided to create a few goals,  set up some plans,  try to bring a little more structure to myself during this time of sheltering at home.   It was sobering to for the second time to end a self quarantine, and then be left with how little would actually change in my life.  So I had to sit with that again.   I sat with memories.  What arises,  what we have lost,  how are we going to live.   Just little questions, big memories, and now I have a beautiful little "road map"  for my week.  I add things as I do them....I check things off that are in "the plan"  I love the colors.  I wish that I was able to do better drawings, but I am sure that my weekly plans will improve over time.  I have fun materials to work with....My big paper is...

I am just going to spend a moment, imagining.....I have this small back porch it faces south and gets morning sun and well into the afternoon.  I saw this shelf on some post.  I am imagining morning tea, reading the paper, listening to the birds and feeling the sun on my face.   If the bugs are on the prowl, I will go inside my lovely screen porch.  Sit in my favorite rocker and watch the day go by.  I am imagining walking to the falls, sitting with a book or maybe my knitting and listening the water flow, watch the sun dappling through the trees.  Climbing over the rocks.  Being in the woods.  I am imagining exploring parts of the north end in the National Monument and in Baxter Park, taking Luke fishing and hiking with Myah.   I am imagining going to the coast.  Smelling the sea.  Going to a lovely spot to eat.   I thought that  I would be in Houston or maybe on the Gulf Coast,  eating as some spe...

For the past few days we have been hearing about a spring storm that could dump up to 18" of snow in our region.  Early in the evening yesterday the snow started in earnest, it had been snowing on and off all day long, and when I woke up this morning it was like an absolutely amazing winter wonderland.   I got dressed, put on my boots and bundled up, put my phone in my pocket and went outside.  It was so beautiful.   There was snow everywhere.  The trees were so very heavy with the snow.  It was wet, heavy, every surface was covered.   I worked slowly and carefully as I moved snow from the back porch,  off the back stairs, and then made a little path in the front.  I stopped frequently and just tried to take it all in.  A little while later I Larry, my snow guy showed up.  He is very careful and was particularly so today.   The temperature was so high,  the ground is not frozen on the top, and...