December 19: Social media

From a Portland bar

a friend shares with me

the holiday cocktail list.

Posted with Blogsy

October 9: Rain day

Waiting out the rain

in a warm, dry place with friends

coffee and krullers.

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May 4: Afternoon tea

Visit with an ailing friend:
first tea, then whiskey,
because why not?

May 2: Before the rain

With pending rain, I decided today's walk needed to be faster than my usual slog up Mount Battie. So I hit the trail at Beech Hill Preserve, which is less steep, and tried to hurry. But then I ran into my friend Brian, who walks there daily; he'd had similar thoughts about trying to beat the rain. (He posts a bird report every day from Beech Hill, in poetry form in the past few weeks.) So I spent more time than I'd planned, in the drizzle, but I didn't mind. And I don't think he did either.

Fast morning hike
trying to beat the rain
til I run into an old friend.

April 22: Pink Moon

A friend lies near death

yet still the full moon rises

still the bloodroot blooms.

 

 

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April 3: Spring snow

Just as we began this morning's hike up Mount Battie, the snow started to fall and the wind started to howl. We three women and the dog accumulated snow as we walked quickly to keep warm against the wind. Fortunately the inclement weather didn't quiet the season's first sapsuckers and Winter Wren.

Snow falling faster.
Long trilled song of the wren
from somewhere in the woods.

January 23: In memory

Your yard a rose garden

attracting rare birds

just as you drew in friends.

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December 4: Birthdays

Today is the birthday of both my co-worker Susan and my best friend Susan, who lives in Vermont.

Eating chocolate cake
to celebrate one Susan,
thinking of another.

November 21: Night out with old friends

Moon a frosty blur

we stop and notice

before we share hot sake.

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October 19: Tom's house

Visited a friend's lovely, sunlit, beautifully landscaped home full of books and art, met his cat named for a favorite poet, walked in the woods, left with a bag of pears from a tree in his backyard.

 

Golden afternoon--

Mary Oliver (the cat),

basket of pears.

 

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August 16: Late summer afternoon, Owls Head harbor

Beach bared by low tide,
kids and gulls screaming.
Later, homemade blueberry pie.

July 18: Quest

Chased an alleged Yellow-billed Loon reported yesterday on Green Lake in Ellsworth. No luck, but spent a lovely morning with two friends scanning the waters from the pine-shaded dock owned by a random nice woman who graciously invited us to watch for it from her property.

 

No rare bird found.

Instead: wren's song, blueberries,

loon chicks, wide-open lake.

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February 20: Birthday

The Chinese Year of the Sheep began yesterday, and today I begin a new turn around the sun. The way a new year begins always feels auspicious. I have a good feeling about this one. We celebrated Chinese New Year with tea and dumplings in a sunny Portland cafe yesterday, and again last night with more dumplings (and cocktails) with good friends at Empire. This morning began with breakfast on the go from Standard Baking Co., which I ate while tromping around the frigid Portland waterfront looking for white-winged gulls with a birder friend--an outing puncuated by calls from my mother and sister singing "Happy Birthday." The white wings of Iceland Gulls shone in the sun, seals surfaced nearby, crows chased a Red-tailed Hawk overhead, a Peregrine stood sentinel on the Casco Bay Bridge, and all is right in my world.

A new year starts well:

coffee and croissant,

gulls along the snowy pier.

Update: And my birthday closed with a brilliant conjunction of the young Moon, Venus, and Mars in the southwest sky... All signs point to yes.

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February 19: Happy hour

Before dinner with friends--

a strong drink shared with you,

snow falling, streetlights.

 

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December 11: Girls' night out

How do sharks mate?

Women talking together

on a rainy night.

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September 22: Bluster

Friends shelter from gusts,

gulls spreading overhead--

stiff winds, cocktails.

 

 

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August 22: Summer on the hill

Beers on the porch.
Waxwings catch flies in the field,
fly off together.

August 11: Waxwings in the blueberries

My mother's birthday.
Waxwings gorge on blueberries,
a happy flock.

And Mom, you'll appreciate this: later in the day, the blueberries were approached by an acquisitive family of four crows that strutted together right down the driveway for a snack, much to the annoyance of the local Blue Jays.

July 10: Fat Full Moon

Full moon over the harbor.
This rich life we lead--
dining al fresco with friends.

July 1: Hot night out

Went out with a girlfriend for dinner and a gab session. Sat on the harborside deck of Peter Ott's in Camden, where we watched the daysailers head out for sunset cruises and enjoyed the breeze off the water at the end of a long, sultry day.

Sailboats motor out
to catch the breeze.
Conversation turns to sex.