Spring has sprung here, and everything is a bright young green. Going to leave you with a photo from this year’s first trip out on the water, late one afternoon this week, while I see about catching up on some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Sweet dreams Professor and all who walk the bridge to Truth and Justice. Today’s image, a stone bridge over still water, reminds me of working together, collaboration. Martin Luther King: “Let’s build bridges, not walls.” Isn’t that what we witnessed with the debt ceiling agreement? President Biden is the shining star of bridge building. He may be criticized for an imperfect agreement, too much, not enough, not standing up, or standing too long. He knows the process. President Biden, Oval Office, June 2, 2023: “Look, the only way American Democracy can function is through compromise and consensus, and that’s what I worked to do as your President- you know, to forge a bipartisan agreement where it’s possible and where it’s needed.”
On Thursday, I had my first day of the year on the river in my kayak. It was very cathartic to be on the water with no other people or traffic! The resident bald eagle was perched high in a tree on its nest, three pair of swans with little cygnets were making the rounds, a few geese with goslings, and a blue heron was perfectly camouflaged in some branches not moving while others could not hold still and were suddenly in flight. Typically, there are a lot of turtles sunning themselves on downed trees in the water, but there were none this time. That was a bit unusual.
Beautiful! I happen to have tomorrow off and am looking forward to sleeping in and also catching up on sleep. 💖 glad to hear you are taking a well-deserved break! Sleep well!
Rest well, Heather. Thank you for your work and for the community that you have forged between so many of us that read and comment here.
I wonder if this particular setting just two months ago with ever so slightly variant weather could serve as a stand in for the opening of one of the great New England poems---
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flags to April's wind unfurled,
there the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world"
To all of my fellow HCRites, I wish you good night, and a peaceful tomorrow.
The garden has baked above 90F for the second stretch of days already this year.
The deer have completely disappeared, just bones near the brook from Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease carried by enormous swarms of midges. I used to love to watch for the new twin fawns gamboling on the lawn twith their friends, shepherded by their skittish mothers in spring, and the young bucks and noble stags in the fall. They helped me start my day.
The woods are dominated by the skeletons of giant dead ash trees, killed by invading emerald ash borers, reaching broken supplicating hands to the sky.
Sitting on my porch for an hour I only saw a single robin and one butterfly.
Crabapple blossoms lasted two days before being wiped out by a torrential rain storm. Wild wisteria blooms lasted just a few days as well, but the vines are advancing relentlessly, stealthy underground creepers choking out everything in their path, I used to remember them at June graduations in Princeton, garlanding the gothic buildings in celebration.
Lilacs now bloom in mid May. I remember bringing them to my teachers at the end of the school year in late June 65 years ago.
Beautifully Soothing! Thank You! Here and all over northern Michigan our windows are shut against the smoke drifting from the 3,000 acre fire in Grayling. We are on Red Flag Alert: no campfires, no discarded cigarettes. Stay safe and do a rain dance for us. Thanks.
You are the best at illuminating the history that has led to what we refer to as current events. And the tone you use, while you name all of the darkness in this Repub vs the Dems political bifurcation-allows we the readers to read disappointing world and national events without drama and hype.
‘Going to leave you with a photo from this year’s first trip out on the water...’
___Heather Cox Richardson
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” — Loren Eiseley
“Water is the driving force of all nature.” — Leonardo da Vinci
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.” — Jacques Yves Cousteau
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” — Isak Dinesen
“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” — W. H. Auden
Sweet dreams Professor and all who walk the bridge to Truth and Justice. Today’s image, a stone bridge over still water, reminds me of working together, collaboration. Martin Luther King: “Let’s build bridges, not walls.” Isn’t that what we witnessed with the debt ceiling agreement? President Biden is the shining star of bridge building. He may be criticized for an imperfect agreement, too much, not enough, not standing up, or standing too long. He knows the process. President Biden, Oval Office, June 2, 2023: “Look, the only way American Democracy can function is through compromise and consensus, and that’s what I worked to do as your President- you know, to forge a bipartisan agreement where it’s possible and where it’s needed.”
Thank you for all you do and for sharing such beautiful relaxing photos of a world so peaceful.
I just love how you write to us each night, and how you stay connected when you're off. Thanks for this piece of beauty and for sharing your spirit.
Sleep well, total stranger who feels like my friend.
On Thursday, I had my first day of the year on the river in my kayak. It was very cathartic to be on the water with no other people or traffic! The resident bald eagle was perched high in a tree on its nest, three pair of swans with little cygnets were making the rounds, a few geese with goslings, and a blue heron was perfectly camouflaged in some branches not moving while others could not hold still and were suddenly in flight. Typically, there are a lot of turtles sunning themselves on downed trees in the water, but there were none this time. That was a bit unusual.
Beautiful! I happen to have tomorrow off and am looking forward to sleeping in and also catching up on sleep. 💖 glad to hear you are taking a well-deserved break! Sleep well!
Magnificent Spring pic, on the eve of Summer.
Rest well, Heather. Thank you for your work and for the community that you have forged between so many of us that read and comment here.
I wonder if this particular setting just two months ago with ever so slightly variant weather could serve as a stand in for the opening of one of the great New England poems---
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flags to April's wind unfurled,
there the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world"
To all of my fellow HCRites, I wish you good night, and a peaceful tomorrow.
DANNY
Sping used to linger here in NJ but no more.
The garden has baked above 90F for the second stretch of days already this year.
The deer have completely disappeared, just bones near the brook from Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease carried by enormous swarms of midges. I used to love to watch for the new twin fawns gamboling on the lawn twith their friends, shepherded by their skittish mothers in spring, and the young bucks and noble stags in the fall. They helped me start my day.
The woods are dominated by the skeletons of giant dead ash trees, killed by invading emerald ash borers, reaching broken supplicating hands to the sky.
Sitting on my porch for an hour I only saw a single robin and one butterfly.
Crabapple blossoms lasted two days before being wiped out by a torrential rain storm. Wild wisteria blooms lasted just a few days as well, but the vines are advancing relentlessly, stealthy underground creepers choking out everything in their path, I used to remember them at June graduations in Princeton, garlanding the gothic buildings in celebration.
Lilacs now bloom in mid May. I remember bringing them to my teachers at the end of the school year in late June 65 years ago.
What a beautiful place to kayak to and appreciate a moment of peace and reflection. And how nice we all get to share this! Thank you.
Beautifully Soothing! Thank You! Here and all over northern Michigan our windows are shut against the smoke drifting from the 3,000 acre fire in Grayling. We are on Red Flag Alert: no campfires, no discarded cigarettes. Stay safe and do a rain dance for us. Thanks.
You deserve it Professor. Thank you. .
Perfect!
You are the best at illuminating the history that has led to what we refer to as current events. And the tone you use, while you name all of the darkness in this Repub vs the Dems political bifurcation-allows we the readers to read disappointing world and national events without drama and hype.
Thank you for a daily education!
Heather, sweet dreams! What a lovely spring image. Thank you!
I think you may have posted on this little bridge before... what is the story about this bridge?