Thursday, April 13, 2017

EXPERIENCE

The Hawthorns are flowering all along local streets where they were planted a decade ago. Now strangled by stone in insufficient tree wells, their tortured elephantine roots pushing upward against the earth, cracking cement, they endure. Neglect and abuse have not deterred them from their natural inclination.

TUESDAY
I continue to be self obsessed,
as though I were still trying to discover myself.
Precisely because everything that lives changes, I'm constantly changing, experiencing myself at the mercy of thought winds whatever way they drift. Yet, I remain grounded. Because of this intensity of attention, I carry a short list to remind me just what errands I meant to accomplish while out, and in what order. They get done, and in the right order, while I float through the few hours accompanied by my stabilizing 'walking stick'.
That night I arrived at the murky East River where I was due to meet friend Wendy Daly at 7PM. Twenty minutes early, I sat on a boulder staring through the streams of runners like a musical score punctuated by several bicyclists. I speculated, hearing music from Bach to Bernstein in my mind. Families with active young children and those with new babies in prams, professional dog walkers and individual dog owners all passed by in a moving picture of the current world at this location. I was mesmerized until I asked the time.
7:05.  'She's late' I thought walking to the rivers edge. It seemed more viscous at closer range ; a thick soup.
Then a circled back looking down.
At 7:20 I asked the time again, turned to look up at a seagull just moving out of frame, snapped this shot and continued on to her apartment across the street.
The funny part was that she said she had spotted me but wasn't sure it was me at a distance, and since I was circling around that plaza and so was she, she kept losing me.  When I got to her place, her son phoned her and she returned. We spent a few hours in pleasant company sharing rice noodles and soup. Then she walked me back to my place.

Wednesday 
Posted small packages to two more friends and a request to my MD for a letter excusing me from Jury Duty, then down to Union Square and a surprisingly quick purchase of Turkish Honey and Liquid Stevia at Trader Joe's very reasonable price.
On to the Mt. Sinai Beth Israel radiology clinic for Xrays of both knees, emerging hours later into the still balmy evening.

THURSDAY
.
My dear friend Nayra sent many useful gifts including a new companion for "Teddy".  He calls her "Little Bear"

 Invitation to break bread at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square
Maundy Thursday - also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names - is the Christian holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels. In the context of Holy Week, the word Maundy refers to the commandment Jesus gave to his disciples while washing their feet, as recorded in John 13:34-35:

"Love one another.
As I have loved you,
so you must love one another."


https://youtu.be/jHN8mKiVsfk


LINKS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judson_Memorial_Church 

3 comments:

Mo Crow said...

love the resilience of a tree in the city

Anonymous said...

well if vibrant and poetic language is any measure, you must be feeling better! wonderful post.

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

watching moving water