Back to Work and Fall

After a short haitus I am back to the series on Epping Road. Lisa came over yesterday to work, since we missed Wednesday Art Day at Judy's. It was good for us both, since we had been busy with other things. I was very glad to have Lisa back. She has been out of reach for over two weeks because of company and then a trip to see relatives in California(lucky her!). Eastport does not seem quite right to me anymore if she is not here.
The days are getting cooler and there is a sense of Fall in the air. Time goes so quickly. Not only does it seem that summer was short, but that the winter before it was short as well. It could easily be last August. I could have just moved into this house. Only the other day I could have put up the first chicken pen in the yard. I could be settling in........and in fact I still am doing just that. Yet along comes Melissa, the WHCA representative who inspects the house for Section 8, telling me it has been a year and she must come again to renew my funding. The leaves on the trees will soon be turning and dying, and the barren winter landscape of Maine will return. This seems right to me. Summer and greenery strike me as an abberation, a mere respite from the monotony of bare trees and cold temperatures. It is like the short life of one flower that emerges out of the plant for a short time and flashes itself spectacularly for a brief moment, as if it were the whole reason the plant exists. We had better appreciate the plant for its greenery alone or we will miss the subtle, long-lasting beauty that is its mainstay.

August is the month of birthdays for both of my children. There is always a moment of pause then as I consider the passing of time since their lives began. Actually, when I think of it, they joined me quite early in my own life. Not much of earth-shaking importance happened to me before their arrival on the planet......at least compared with what has happened since. It's not easy to remember when they didn't exist. Most of my life has included them, and at this point all of their life has included me. Eventually, they will go on without me, or I will go on without them, depending on how one looks at things. There is a rightness about this vast overlap, and a rightness that we spend some small time without each other. It is probably the best balance.