Mary Beth Writes

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

5/17/2023 

The local TV weather folks talked about ‘a pneumonia front’ for two days. I’d never heard the term before but we all know temps can change fast, right? It’s more generally called life on planet earth. Keep a jacket handy if you can.

Yesterday I went for a walk with a hoodie tied around my waist, JIC. I was one block from Discount Liquors (yes, walking for wine is part of my exercise routine) when the wind shifted. Suddenly the weather turned over and I was inside a lovely sensation of cool pillowcases swirling around hot and sweaty me.

I bought some wine, put on my jacket, and started back home.

I was not thinking about much as I cut through the lawn around the library. There are two Indian mounds there which remind me that Wisconsin was once the home of Pottawatomie and their predecessors.

“More mounds were built by ancient Native Americans in Wisconsin than in any other region of North America—between 15,000 and 20,000, at least 4,000 of which remain today. Most impressive are the effigy mounds, huge earthworks sculpted in the shapes of thunderbirds, water panthers, and other forms, not found anywhere else in the world in such concentrations.” https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5559.htm

I saw a homeless woman right up against the biggest mound. She was sound asleep with a pillow under her head and coats and maybe a blanket tucked around her. She looked peaceful.

I don’t have words for how beautiful and sad that moment was. This woman was tucked in against the pneumonia front. She had chosen for safety to sleep between a library and ancient ones.

The human spirit endures so much.

I kept on walking and came home and had a glass of wine and talked with Len. That’s what I noticed yesterday.

 

 

 

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love this, not that the woman is homeless, but that she found some peace in her world
Mary Beth's picture

Yeah. I think that's what moved me, too. That she found her way to the place between a library and the resting place of a people who were not greedy.

Walking for wine. I bet you could start a “group”. I will remember that homeless lady in my prayers.

You struck a nerve with me with the description of the Indian mound and the homeless woman near the library. We had a homeless couple who spent a lot of time near the town library. Like you said, perhaps there is some semblance of safety there. There was warmth and facilities during library open hours. The kind library staff offered them help in the form of taking them to shelters but she would have had to go to a women's shelter, him to a men's. Added to this was their little dog would have had to go to an animal shelter. The three didn't want to be separated. They refused. I haven't seen them lately but it was troubling to think of them in the cold New England night. Twice I gave them Care Packages from my church. Besides that and praying for them, there wasn't a lot to do. Hope they're in a more stable place. Perhaps they found housing. The Indian mounds are beautiful and interesting. I wonder if I've seen one or more anywhere. I'll be looking now.
Mary Beth's picture

I struggle to know how to even respond to what we see and witness and know about people in our communities who are so vulnerable. Keep our spirits humble and tender, I guess. Give money and time as we can. Offer our respect to our fellow humans.

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Y is for Yellowstone

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GNTL - NAMI

9/7/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

NAMI

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IRTNOG

My cousin-in-law Dave has some powerfully thorough avocations (for fun and profit he earned a PhD in biochemistry; you will notice this in his list). This year, among other pursuits, he has been collecting words which have appeared in our culture since 1945, which was the year he also appeared in our culture.

Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone
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