Spent the morning editing the new book manuscript (editing is way more fun than writing the thing in the first place, but I can’t put a comma where it belongs for love or money). By noon it was in the high 50s and sunny, and it seemed virtually a requirement to head out in the kayak.
Heather commas, semi colons, and —- in the morning necessitate an afternoon in the sun. Enjoy, relax, and kayak back into our lives whenever you choose to be our modern St. Francis, We await your guidance.
Heather Cox Richardson, you have enriched our minds by elucidating the weave of our country's racial and political rope past and present. Today you bring us autumnal beauty with your photograph in orange, white, green and gold on land and reflected on the water. Thank you for this week's bundle of reality.
For the Chipmunk in My Yard
BY ROBERT GIBB
I think he knows I’m alive, having come down
The three steps of the back porch
And given me a good once over. All afternoon
He’s been moving back and forth,
Gathering odd bits of walnut shells and twigs,
While all about him the great fields tumble
To the blades of the thresher. He’s lucky
To be where he is, wild with all that happens.
He’s lucky he’s not one of the shadows
Living in the blond heart of the wheat.
This autumn when trees bolt, dark with the fires
Of starlight, he’ll curl among their roots,
Wanting nothing but the slow burn of matter
On which he fastens like a small, brown flame.
***
Robert Gibb
b. 1946
Poet Robert Gibb was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Homestead Trilogy, a cycle of poems detailing the history and culture of a steel-working town. The trilogy consists of the poetry collections The Origins of Evening (1997), selected by Eavan Boland for the National Poetry Series; The Burning World (2004); and World over Water (2007). Gibb’s other collections include Fugue for a Late Snow (1993) and What the Heart Can Bear: Selected and Uncollected Poems, 1979–1993 (2009).
The recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Gibb has also won a Pushcart Prize and grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
I can hear the water lapping under the oar. And see the ripples in the mirror image of the beautiful fall foliage. So peaceful...so what we need right now. Thank you Heather
That golden glowing image is why "a picture is worth a thousand words." I have no arfully crafted words to accurately describe the feeling I get from your kayaking image. I can smell the fall foliage, hear the light dip of your paddle, imagine the water bugs skittering across the lake, feel the afternoon sun on face and back, see the wind ripple through yellow leaves reflected in water...Thank You!
Such gorgeousness! Thanks for sharing the beautiful Atumn colors. Living in California (from N.Y. 30 years ago) we do miss that transition from summer. Thanks also for keeping up "Letters" which we depend upon to keep us focused, even when news from around the world makes us despondent. Helen from Berkeley.
Wow what a beautiful photograph. Living down here in Southwest Florida yes, Port Charlotte where we didn't get entirely devastated like Sanibel, Captiva or Fort Myers Beach, I forget the colored of the of Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. What a beautiful photograph. As a former photographer who never converted when everything went digital I recently purchased and upgraded to a Samsung S21 from an old Samsung 5. And I'm now learning the ins and outs of what my phone will do with respect to photography. I've learned to do things that other people didn't know smart phones were capable of doing and then sending it it around at the speed of light. Actually the speed of the internet. But the colors, as an old Kodachrome User, are absolutely stunning in this photograph. Thank you so much for sharing this as well as your excellent history and research. My professors from the University of California and Penn State would be proud of my interests in history and politics. And it is all because of you Heather Cox Richardson. I thank you for helping me to develop and interest in both domestic as well as International geopolitics. I'm sorry to say when I was younger in college and the university I just didn't have as much appreciation as I do today as a result of reading your posts. Thank you so much for your extensive research. You are my main source. I appreciate the detail and I realize the work that goes into it. So good luck with the manuscript and the kayak trips and of course the photography. Any chance if I visited your area I could go kayaking with you? I have a friend who lives and has a camp in Portsmouth Maine and when the weather warms up in the spring I intend to come up and visit. But to reiterate the purpose of this post is to express my sincerest appreciation for the warm colors of the leaves turning color which we just don't have in Florida. Actually for those who are wondering since our hurricane, and I am someone involved in Horticulture the amount of new green growth and the rate at which it's flushed out is absolutely incredible. Truly a testament to Mother Nature's ability to recover. Unfortunately we're causing Mother Nature a difficult time as we continue to put fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere. Again I say thank you for posting this beautiful picture. Best of luck and I'm grateful for you that you're able to kayak in an environment where you're looking at Landscapes like this in addition to my phone and I really wish I could come up and visit and see this place. Best of luck to you and your new spouse. Please have a nice day thank you, Jim Leidich, Port Charlotte Florida.
Evil is so boring and humourless. How people open their hearts and minds to it is a profound mystery to me. When all around us the glory of creation is showing us such vibrant beauty and calling us to dance with it.
Heather, thoughts on Brazil? First bit of good international news in a while (apart from Ukraine’s resilience). Next up, Israel, and I hope we are done with Bibi.
Heather commas, semi colons, and —- in the morning necessitate an afternoon in the sun. Enjoy, relax, and kayak back into our lives whenever you choose to be our modern St. Francis, We await your guidance.
Heather Cox Richardson, you have enriched our minds by elucidating the weave of our country's racial and political rope past and present. Today you bring us autumnal beauty with your photograph in orange, white, green and gold on land and reflected on the water. Thank you for this week's bundle of reality.
For the Chipmunk in My Yard
BY ROBERT GIBB
I think he knows I’m alive, having come down
The three steps of the back porch
And given me a good once over. All afternoon
He’s been moving back and forth,
Gathering odd bits of walnut shells and twigs,
While all about him the great fields tumble
To the blades of the thresher. He’s lucky
To be where he is, wild with all that happens.
He’s lucky he’s not one of the shadows
Living in the blond heart of the wheat.
This autumn when trees bolt, dark with the fires
Of starlight, he’ll curl among their roots,
Wanting nothing but the slow burn of matter
On which he fastens like a small, brown flame.
***
Robert Gibb
b. 1946
Poet Robert Gibb was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Homestead Trilogy, a cycle of poems detailing the history and culture of a steel-working town. The trilogy consists of the poetry collections The Origins of Evening (1997), selected by Eavan Boland for the National Poetry Series; The Burning World (2004); and World over Water (2007). Gibb’s other collections include Fugue for a Late Snow (1993) and What the Heart Can Bear: Selected and Uncollected Poems, 1979–1993 (2009).
The recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Gibb has also won a Pushcart Prize and grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
I can hear the water lapping under the oar. And see the ripples in the mirror image of the beautiful fall foliage. So peaceful...so what we need right now. Thank you Heather
That golden glowing image is why "a picture is worth a thousand words." I have no arfully crafted words to accurately describe the feeling I get from your kayaking image. I can smell the fall foliage, hear the light dip of your paddle, imagine the water bugs skittering across the lake, feel the afternoon sun on face and back, see the wind ripple through yellow leaves reflected in water...Thank You!
So very lovely. Thank you for sharing! And happy editing!!
Absolutely gorgeous, I went for a walk in an old cemetery on a beautiful day in Duluth, MN.
Editing: Read your writing out loud. That will show you where the commas go.
Such gorgeousness! Thanks for sharing the beautiful Atumn colors. Living in California (from N.Y. 30 years ago) we do miss that transition from summer. Thanks also for keeping up "Letters" which we depend upon to keep us focused, even when news from around the world makes us despondent. Helen from Berkeley.
below as above
reflection feeding spirit
respite rekindles
Wow what a beautiful photograph. Living down here in Southwest Florida yes, Port Charlotte where we didn't get entirely devastated like Sanibel, Captiva or Fort Myers Beach, I forget the colored of the of Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. What a beautiful photograph. As a former photographer who never converted when everything went digital I recently purchased and upgraded to a Samsung S21 from an old Samsung 5. And I'm now learning the ins and outs of what my phone will do with respect to photography. I've learned to do things that other people didn't know smart phones were capable of doing and then sending it it around at the speed of light. Actually the speed of the internet. But the colors, as an old Kodachrome User, are absolutely stunning in this photograph. Thank you so much for sharing this as well as your excellent history and research. My professors from the University of California and Penn State would be proud of my interests in history and politics. And it is all because of you Heather Cox Richardson. I thank you for helping me to develop and interest in both domestic as well as International geopolitics. I'm sorry to say when I was younger in college and the university I just didn't have as much appreciation as I do today as a result of reading your posts. Thank you so much for your extensive research. You are my main source. I appreciate the detail and I realize the work that goes into it. So good luck with the manuscript and the kayak trips and of course the photography. Any chance if I visited your area I could go kayaking with you? I have a friend who lives and has a camp in Portsmouth Maine and when the weather warms up in the spring I intend to come up and visit. But to reiterate the purpose of this post is to express my sincerest appreciation for the warm colors of the leaves turning color which we just don't have in Florida. Actually for those who are wondering since our hurricane, and I am someone involved in Horticulture the amount of new green growth and the rate at which it's flushed out is absolutely incredible. Truly a testament to Mother Nature's ability to recover. Unfortunately we're causing Mother Nature a difficult time as we continue to put fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere. Again I say thank you for posting this beautiful picture. Best of luck and I'm grateful for you that you're able to kayak in an environment where you're looking at Landscapes like this in addition to my phone and I really wish I could come up and visit and see this place. Best of luck to you and your new spouse. Please have a nice day thank you, Jim Leidich, Port Charlotte Florida.
Evil is so boring and humourless. How people open their hearts and minds to it is a profound mystery to me. When all around us the glory of creation is showing us such vibrant beauty and calling us to dance with it.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
– William Wordsworth (1802)
Ethereal...the essence of Autumn...
What an absolutely gorgeous picture! Wow!
Perfect day. Nice walk with the dog, and a bracing swim. Water temp still 58°.
Woods Hole, MA.
I know how to edit with commas and ellipses in order to make a reading sound like your speaking cadence.
Heather, thoughts on Brazil? First bit of good international news in a while (apart from Ukraine’s resilience). Next up, Israel, and I hope we are done with Bibi.
Great photo and fabulous excuse to get out on the water.