the sun is shining and windows are open wide. the river is blue with several army green patches. when we were kids our mom bought us an army surplus tent and set it up on the beach at our cottage. it got extremely hot inside but my sister terry and i went in as much as we could stand, it was our fort on the shores of lake michigan. we strove to keep brother john out (am sorry for this now john but back then banning you and all others was part of its appeal) where we played for endless, boiling canvas smelling hours with our lennon sister paper dolls, fighting over who got to be janet but otherwise united in our exclusivity. marty and i are watching american idol for the first time this season; i wonder if little girls these days have crystal or didi, siobhan or paige paper dolls or "barbies"? the only thing i didn't like about the lennon sisters was that you had to watch the lawrence welk show to see them, and that was never cool, even then.
our best beloved friend dayle is here all the way from california and daughter sarah now in nyc comes tomorrow. sarah could be a stand up comic, few people make me laugh like she does. she used to direct a morning talk show where she had to rent elephants (Q: how do you find rental elephants? A: the internet) and host a water skiing squirrel, which is just as complicated and ridiculous as it sounds. we have been best friends since sarah was 2, and being with dayle is like having one of the ground notes back in our raga.
Life on the Salt Marsh is a journal of what i am learning and experiencing in this breathtakingly beautiful place, where the Dyer and Sheepscot, both tidal rivers, meet and merge.
Sweet Last Days of Summer
Author
- Rev. Mary
- Midcoast Maine
- Rev. Mary is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served congregations in San Francisco, Sonoma County, Houston, Marblehead and Winchester MA, and New Orleans, in a variety of ways. She is President and co-founder of Gulf Coast Volunteers for the Long Haul and has led 14 service trips to Louisiana and Mississippi since a few weeks post-Katrina. She has 3 children, Sam, 22, Julia, 26, and Jason, 41, and the best spouse in the universe, Marty. She was diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease in 2006. Rev. Mary can be reached at duckdreams at gmail.com. Due to her illness her ability to reply is unlikely but she would enjoy hearing from you if that's OK.
From Mary's Journal in December
after simple surgery turned into a nightmare: "the pain has been excruciating and for 3 days was unrelenting, even breathing was an agony. i tried to picture our mallard in maine who i studied one day when it was freezing cold, windy, pouring down rain and he was in his spot in the grass all tucked up and i tried to imagine how he could handle the elements. i decided he must go very deep inside and have duck dreams. so i tried to emulate him."