The Wordsmith's Forge

Tonight when the Veil is thin, take a moment to remember those who died over the last year. 

Today is sunny, breezy, and cool.  My last shipment of plants has arrived.  <3

I fed the birds.  I was excited to the see the oriole feasting on the orange that I put out yesterday.  Since that one was devoured, I put out another, and he very quickly found it too.  :D  Despite never seeing any here before, it turns out my yard is exactly what they like: tall open woodland with some sunny meadows.  Just in case you need to know ...

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Baltimore_Oriole/id#

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-birds/bird-nesting/how-to-attract-orioles/

https://www.worldbirds.org/attracting-orioles/

https://www.thespruce.com/tips-on-feeding-orioles-386565


We did some more trimming of a plum tree to clear line of sight for later internet installation.  I still need to haul the brushy ends to the ritual meadow brushpile, but we got another handful of kindling from this.   

EDIT 5/7/20 -- Round Two, I planted 3 yellow bellwort and 2 Virginia bluebells in the forest garden.  Bellwort is a flower I have that is growing with enthusiasm.  I have a few bluebells but they have yet to bloom.

EDIT 5/7/20 -- Round Three, I planted 3 Maximillian perennial sunflowers in the prairie garden.  Also, a couple of my sunchokes have sprouted.  :D

In the process I noted that the cup plant -- which was a single sprout several years ago -- now has numerous seedlings scattered around the western part of the prairie garden.  <3 wildflowers I did not have to pay for.

EDIT 5/7/20 -- Round Four, I cut pieces of yellow yarn and put them in an empty suet cage for the oriole.  The second orange is well pecked but not empty yet.

I also hauled the plum branches to the brushpile, then picked up a trolley full of other trimmings and fallen sticks.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Today is mostly sunny, hot, and muggy.

I fed birds.  Then I watered plants. 

EDIT 7/13/19 -- Round Two, I watered more plants.

The "moment of silence" tag contains the various posts I've made about people who have died.

These are the elegies I've written since last Samhain:
Moment of Silence: Stephen Hawking and Poem: "Stardust to Stardust"

Remember your dead in comments below.

Someone has evidently named a daylily Here Lies Butch.  It is pink, purple, and pale green with ruffled petals.  Like most fancy flowers, it's expensive, and also sadly out of stock already.  But daaaamn.  I am so tempted to put that in the yards of my lesbian characters.  Dale and Kelly would love it.  Fortressa probably would too, and imagine that greasemonkey lair of theirs with frilly purple flowers  by the door.  LOL

Here's a good article on thinking about death.  I will add two things:

* Make sure the people who matter to you know how you feel about them.  Say it in their own love language, not just yours.  For some people it's words, but for others it is something else like service or time.

* When someone is moving out of your life for whatever reasons, take steps to fill the roles  they serve in some other way.  Maybe you used to socialize with them once a week, or they drove you to get groceries, or whatever.  Both the social and the practical roles need to be filled, or there will be a huge gap when they're gone, and then that creates functional problems on top of the challenges inherent to coping with grief.  Usually you will spread out the roles over different people, which helps avoid the sense of trying to "replace" the irreplaceable.  This makes it more feasible to let go and reassure the person that you will be (eventually) okay.

* Treat every goodbye as if it were the last.  One day it will be.

Apparently it is still feasible to do a version of the flaming boat funeral.  I am delighted! 

May you be feasting and drinking for a day and a night in Valhalla before the Christian devil knows you're dead.

The "moment of silence" tag contains the various posts I've made about people who have died.

These are the elegies I've written since last Samhain:
"The Wind on a Distant Hill"
"Darkness Before Dawn"
"Voyage on the Sea of Night"
"The Artist Passes Beyond the Edge"

I wrote this haiku today as a 9/11 memorial.  One of the details from the original event that stands out in my mind is how all the aircraft were grounded for several days afterwards.  It was eerie to be in a modern world with an empty sky. 


I still remember
the taste of distant ashes
under silent skies


You may also wish to visit the National 9/11 Memorial.  Furthermore, today is a day for religious tolerance.  Please offer your support to Muslims and help make sure they have a safe day.  Understand that just because some people distort a religion doesn't necessarily mean the whole thing is rotten.  If you want to learn more, Religious Tolerance has a good entry on Islam.  Be gentle with your New Yorker friends too -- some of them may have a rough day.

red_trillium linked to this memorial post about zellie_bean's passage.  I knew zellie_bean from crossing paths with her in various friends' journals, and she has been on my Friends list also. We weren't especially close, but it's always a bit of a bump to realize that a familiar voice is gone.  She will be missed.  So I wrote this...

in this acre of voices
conversations never still
and yet silence comes
unexpectedly
as one speaker falls quiet

a stone sinks through the water
breaching the still pond's silence
the ripples spread out
the center grows smooth
rings ebb toward eternity