+ 6:10 a.m. Saturday. 41°. Calm, light drizzle. Cove Island Park Walk. + The Body is pulled to this part of The Cove, and it softens along the gentle, sloping embankment at the estuary of the Noroton River and the Long Island Sound. There is Something about this spot that’s magic. William Stafford in his book “Even in Quiet Places“, in his poem “Time for Serenity, Anyone?“, describes it: “It stretches out there shivering toward its own creation, and I’m part of it. Even my breathing enters into this elaborate give-and-take.” And there I stand. Soft rain falls on me, the Mind rests, and I breathe it all in. + Speaking of breathing, COVID cases have surged in Connecticut, up 50%. This in a state where vaccinations and masks are religion. Fodder for the idiots spouting that masks and vaccinations don’t work, ignoring that 75% of hospitalizations are among those not fully vaccinated. NY Times front page story this morning: “Despair Sets In As Cases Bury Hospital Staffs. Medical Workers Feel Crisis Has No End.” Hospital workers back living on the edge… Aerosmith’s Living on the Edge: “There’s something wrong with the world today / I don’t know what it is / Something’s wrong with our eyes / We’re seeing things in a different way / And God knows it ain’t his… / The light bulb’s getting dim.” + I near the end of my walk. Gulls stand in low tide, in ice cold water, preening. Something about this act of their preening that soothes me. These beautiful creatures, with their little heart beats, and wings that keep them aloft. Yet here we are. Seemingly grounded, as the world burns. Patricia Highsmith: “Such is the human mind with no hand on the steering wheel.”
Notes:
- Photo: DK @ Daybreak. 6:23 a.m. & 7:05 a.m. & Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 41°. Calm. Light Drizzle.
- Stafford quote, thank you Whiskey River.
Lots to digest here, pal. I share your anxiety at the current state of affairs and work zealously to find those places that allow me to catch my breath. So glad that you have the cove and the birds, and that you share them with us….
Yes. Me too Lori. Thanks.
proof that life goes on as we worry, and fuss, and just try to keep going. lucky for places and sights like this
So true Beth.
Beautiful share, David.
Today, I took a two hour walk, while listening to Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days” (thank you, by the way. Again.) Her essays touch me in surprising and inspiring ways. Normally on these long walks, I prefer silence because I do become rather contemplative but this time, maybe it’s the essays themselves that matched my mood and my feeling, they didn’t disturb me but rather enhanced.
What up with this format? I just have to ask…
Thanks Dale. (1) Reading Patricia Highsmith’s diaries. New 999 page book. It stolen from her style. (2) my daughter turned turned me on to Tik-Tok. I’m addicted.
🙂
Interesting… dammit, another book to add? stolen from her style… you mean the using the + signs between paragraphs?
TikTok? No way! I know those damn reels on FB can steal away time… good gawd.
Not recommending book (yet). Yep on the TikTok!
Hahaha!!
‘Seemingly grounded as the world burns’…however nature can soothe is an essential part of living – especially these days…
So true Mimi.
As I was reading your post Dave, I had goose bumps…so well expressed…
Thank you Vera. Really appreciate the kind thoughts.
Wonderful photos, DK. This is because you’re there so early and capture it as it happens.
Thank you Anneli. 25 minutes later and I find that the magic is gone.
Yes, exactly. I’m a morning person too and I often feel sorry for people who are missing out on those little treasures I see and hear even out in my yard. I hear loons calling way down in the bay, or sometimes a sea lion barking, or the bell buoy clanging. Later, the world gets too noisy and, as you say, the magic is gone.
So with you on this Anneli. Yet I’m happy that everyone sleeps in. 😄
Hahahaaaaaaa.
at least be grateful that the gulls aren’t wering masks, yet…
Laughing. Yes!