Having passed through Gonder, right now Monica is in Debark, Ethiopia. There she will see "if I can get a seat in a 4x4 headed to the Semiens," the country's northern, highest mountain range. From Lalibela, built as a "New Jerusalem" after Muslims captured Jerusalem in 1099, she wrote: My first day, I went to St. Giorgis, a cruciform church cut into solid rock. And I don't mean flinty, flaky rock--I mean rock as hard as meteors. And just explored and sat there for hours, writing and thinking and looking. There are hermits' cells carved into the surrounding rock, and I crawled into one and sat there cross-legged for a bit. Very comfortable. But one of the guides came over, looking concerned, so I crawled out again trying to explain, I'm a writer, I just wanted to see what it was like!
Mary Anne
- Mary Anne is a mother of five, sister of six, and beloved of countless more. Her symbol is a palm tree.
Donald Edward Jr.
- Donald Edward Jr. is a farmer, poet, musician and freelance monk living in Chatham County, North Carolina. His symbol is Canada geese.
Julie Elizabeth
- Julie is a professor of religion living in Brooklyn, New York. Her symbol is a flower.
Donald Edward III
- Donny is a farmer, teacher and freelance monk living in Chatham County, North Carolina. He is wedded to Lakaisha Nicole. His symbol is a butterfly.
Clare Siobhan
- Clare is a dancer, teacher and choreographer living in Vermont. Her symbol is a seashell.
Mary McMonigal
- Mary is a writer, songwriter and musician living in Brooklyn, New York. Her symbol is sage.
Monica Catherine
- Monica is a writer and playwright living in Durham, North Carolina. Her symbol is a star.
Family
- All of us in various combinations. (Not chronological.)
Leaving Annville
- The magnolia tree bloomed just in time for our departure from Annville, Pennsylvania.
« December 2008 | Main | February 2009 »
January 26, 2009
January 23, 2009
Such joy
With two million others from around the country and the world, our aunt and uncle, Frances and Alan Wiener, made the pilgrimage to Washington for Inauguration Day. Francie said she packed "all my Obama buttons" and hit the road in the company of friends. From there, "it was really all about talking to a million people and
hearing their stories...such joy." With everyone, they took in the day--"amazing and exhilarating...exhausting and freezing!!"--and attended a ball, "but we left before the Obamas arrived." Other best moments: "Aretha's
hat--LOVED it! Watching the helicopter depart with roars of happiness
from the crowd...Michelle's
sunshine outfit...the poem." From that poem, Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day," I quote: In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air/
any thing can be made, any sentence begun. Dear readers, what are your words for the day? Please post!
January 19, 2009
Prayer flakes
It has been snowing in New York for two days now--ethereal diamond specks or flat opaque disks, but always so far individual six-armed crystals, each and every flake. This is the view from my back fire escape in Brooklyn. In the distance, the gray-roofed building is an old armory that takes up a whole city block, now a home for men, but being eyed by developers for condos. In the foreground are Tibetan prayer flags that showed up in a mass mailing for a tenant who no longer lives here. The tradition is to pray over the flags, hang them outside, and when the sun, wind, rain and snow have completely worn them away ... your prayers are answered. So, snow is good! And at such a time--Inauguration Day hard by MLK Jr. Day--aren't we all knowing that hopes and dreams do become reality, in their season.
January 11, 2009
Ciao and dehna hugni!
Goodbye but not really!--since international travel happily comes with lots of virtual visiting these days. Monica departs for Addis from Washington tomorrow morning. For there, she knows some Italian and Amharic. From Chapel Hill, she writes, in inglese: I've done everything I can, stateside...I feel ambivalence about my upcoming adventure--a natural defensive reaction, I'm sure. "What's so great about Ethiopia? I'm so happy here, with my boyfriend and family and friends and wi-fi wherever I go. Fiji? Ho-hum"...as if I haven't been dreaming and planning to travel for years, exactly like this, on my own terms and purely for the sake of my craft! It's laughable, really, all the reasons one comes up with to Not Go. In fact, they're similar to the reasons to Not Write: "But I'm so tired." "But I'm so comfortable." "But I wrote a lot yesterday"...I bought a wedding ring...I've read that it's a good idea for solo women travelers, to at least stem the flood of catcalls, hustles and proposals...I went to Wal-Mart and got their cheapest ring, a silver-plated band...And when I see it on my finger, of course I can't help thinking: now I am my own husband and my own wife, united in purpose, despite my cold feet.
January 07, 2009
Happy birthday, Don Byrne
DB2 has been breathing this earth air since Jan. 7, 1942, from Minnesota birthplace to Pennsylvania householding to North Carolina 'nother-birth...and never more breathing the air than now...and walking the earth...and working the soil...and husbanding new creatures...and chanting the hours...and tussling with the goddess...and writing the rains. Happy birthday to a Capricorn man, our amazing dad and beloved friend of many. This pic comes from a dusk of relaxation in August.
January 05, 2009
Love out for 2009
At year's end, I spent ten days in North Carolina, where the weather careened between warm & foggy, cold & sharp, back & forth, toward 2009 ... here are some pix from the last of 2008. As for the new year: "May peace break into your house," "May thieves come to steal your debts" ... open the doors and windows! The happiest for 2009 to all.