Tuesday Afternoon Mindscape
we wrote stream of consciousness 'poetry' in 7th grade as taught by mr. miller, he of the red beard and the hippie consciousness though actually looked likehe belonged in a midwest liberal arts college as instructor. but mr. miller, i will forever remember him bringing in the recorded music and the printed lyrics to janic ian's "society's child" and how i was mesmerized by the images and the message and it still moves me to think back on it...then in a creative writing class i was baffled by the sensitive and mature poetry of one of my more conscious and adept female classmate...and that this same classmate was moved to tears by the untimely death of otis redding, and at the time, i barely knew who he was, though i think i knew dock of the bay, yet he was not able to enjoy it in terms of the attention it got, this all in my 56th year, enjoying the unseasonably cool weather here in greenwood, california, just hangin' with monica, looking out to the evergreen trees against the early clouds in a baby blue sky.

Spring Has Arrived in Greenwood, California

Not everything about living in Greenwood is paradise. But spring is. Today was a Sunday to remember. It began with help from my close friend, Mike. Monica had given me permission to cut down the cedar tree that--thanks to plenty of water from our leech line--had grown to a majestic height. But it was also blocking all sun to our garden. Monica couldn't watch--not for sentimental reasons but because she feared the worst with my amateur chain saw skills and the narrow swath of our backyard that I had planned for the cedar to fall into. She said that it could fall onto the flower bed if necessary, but the unfortunate curve of the trunk and the lean of the tree had it heading straight for our back deck. Soon into the adventure, our friend (and bass player, and much younger) Jessee showed up in time to offer some sound advice on angles, depth of cuts, etc. The tree laid down just as we had planned, we retreated to the house for splendid mamosa's (orange juice and champagne) and Lucy's pancakes--nicely accompanied by strawberries and coffee. The temperature outside was perfect with an even more perfect light breeze. We then headed off to the studio for a couple hours of band practice. Oh what a day!