Earth Day 2020

 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 making a racket.  The snow was so heavy.   The sun did not last today, and there were at least three additional rounds of snow that fell today.   Mid-morning there was a squall that was so dense, you could only see snow for a few minutes and then it was gone.  

I was happy to be able to join my tai chi group this morning.  I am now doing three classes a week, and it is so good for my body, my heart and my soul.  

After Tai-Chi I got to go to the theater.  

Of course,  I was right in my living room, but i spent two hours mesmerized, delighted and transported while I watched and listened to Octavia E Butler's Parable of the Sower  This opera was written by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon and was streamed live all around the world today.   For quite awhile I have tried to get to one of the performances of this opera and today was the the if only through my laptop and if only alone in my home.  


Octavia E Butler was an incredible science fiction author, and as with many writers of that genre, she was able to paint a very real story of the future, and watching this opera based on the her work today was a testament to how prescient and talented she was. 

Parable of the Sower (Grand Central Publishing, paperback, 1/2000)

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death Lauren Olamina, a minister’s young daughter, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny… and the birth of a new faith.

All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change.” —Octavia Butler

The songs are still ringing through my head,  I will do my very best to be able to sit in a theater and once again be transported to a future that in so many ways seems like now.  

Yes,  those moments of imagining what will be put back into our lives when we are not staying at home.  

I did make one foray out of the house to drop mail off at the post office and to pick up my mail.  

There were so many cars on Main Street, I mean as many cars as there usually are (like not in the middle of a pandemic).  I have seen one man wearing a mask while out,  more women are wearing masks, but not anywhere close to all.   I was glad no one was in the post office.  

It used to be that my walks to Main Street included many stops along the way.  I would poke my head into the greenhouse, take a good smell and maybe give and get a few hugs.  I would stop and talk to people as I walked  from the post office, maybe a stop at the drug store, then onto the hardware store and off to the grocery.  Now I am happy that no one was in the post office, I don't go into the office to say hello, I just open my mailbox, get my mail and leave.  

It is Wednesday,  it does have a little of the feeling like oh let's hope we are half-way through,  not exactly sure what I am hoping the we are half way through - I think maybe that the snow will melt.  The sun might score a few more points as it shines higher in the sky.  We have one more week in April.  We have had more April snow storms than April showers.  

And on a final note,  the animals are still loving the human pause.  In the middle of our tai chi class a turkey came up to the window in the room where Sue was holding our "class".  it was a moment,  all of sudden she just burst out laughing,  trying to stay in teacher mode, and letting us know that a turkey was looking in on the class.  Oh life in the time of a pandemic.  

Happy Earth Day - I did not plant a tree.