Category Archives: rural doctor

by

Squash blossom 2

I am out of order: I already put up Squash blossom 3. But it’s the Kinetic Sculpture Festival and why do things in order! Just don’t get run over by a sculpture! Even though they are covered with feathers or glitter or sequins, some are very heavy and have impressive engineering. Hooray for human powered vehicles!

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

by

Red and yellow ribbons

We are half way through the Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race.

https://ptkineticrace.org/2022-annual-art-kontest-and-parade

Yesterday was the Parade and the Brake Test and the Bribing of Judges and the Going Full Speed No Brakes into Port Townsend Bay and then paddling or floating or somehow getting out. And the glorious Kinetic Ball and Krowning of the Kween!

Today, so many more events! The race up the winding hill and then the Mud Bog at the fair grounds! The Teddy Bear trebuchet! More Bribes! And the coveted “most mediocre” award!

Blessings on all the Kinetic Kops for keeping everyone from being run over and for everyone who contributed! The Chimacum High School Marching Band and the Unexpected Brass Band added to the festivities!

For the Ragtag Daily Prompts: ribbon and red and yellow.

by

Dressed in yellow

Today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt is red and yellow. It brings up a jump rope rhyme from when I was a kid and lived in Johnson City, New York. I am sure there are dozens of versions of this. Do you know one?

Cindareller, dressed in yeller
went downtown to see her feller
on her way her girdle broke
how many people did it choke?

And then we would count until the jumper tripped or lost her place. I don’t think we knew what a girdle was, either, except that it was not a respectable word to shout out.

The picture has nothing to do with the jump rope rhyme. I took this at the Farmer’s Market in 2014. The baby is much older now, but Gypsy Coffeehouse still serves delicious coffee. Such colors!

by

down

I’ve let myself come down again

it’s not really quiet down here
whales
the earth shuddering
new mountains being born
the ebb and flow
as the earth makes love to the moon
and small bubbles

I am quiet
when I let myself
go all the way down

the ocean is not quiet, but it is dark
dark as a dungeon
damper than dew
I keep sinking

and my eyes slowly adjust
my lungs adjust too
it hurts like knives at first
but I adjust faster than i used to
like the sea lions
I can go down and get back up
no bends
I have learned from them
I hold the oxygen
and let the nitrogen out slowly
through my gut

my eyes adjust
and then they come
the glowing ones, slow and fast
like ghosts swimming towards me
maybe they are my dead
someday I will join them

I expect to return this time
maybe
or not
I don’t know if I will find pearls
or a leviathan
who will swallow me whole
and barely notice

this time I walked in
myself
I don’t blame you
or family or past or circumstances
it is time for me to go down
I go
down and down and down
deep

___________

by

Thunderbird

I walked on East Beach the other day. I thought the clouds were amazing. Then I thought they were a bird. Then a Thunderbird.

From a mythology site, about the Thunderbird:

Thunderbird Causes a Great Flood and Separates the Quileute Peoples

It is said that once, Thunderbird became so angry with the people that he caused a great flood to occur. The oceans rose so high that the Quileute were forced to get into their boats to take shelter. The oceans rose so high that even the tops of the mountains were covered with water. This went on for four days.

After four days the Quileute sailed with no sun or landmarks to guide them. When the waters receded (again for four days) it was discovered that many of the Quileute had been scattered. When they found land again, some of the Quileute found that they were in Hoh. Others discovered themselves in Chemakum. Both of these groups decided to stay there to live out their lives. Very few of the people forced to flee were able to find their way back to Quileute.

Meanwhile, I could also see the smoke from the fires in the east.

The Thunderbird is facing to the southwest first.

Then she is facing me.

Thunderbird punishes people who are immoral. I must examine my conscience. What have I done that is immoral and what must I do to correct it? That is private, between me and Thunderbird.

The story website says that “any man who has a vision of the Thunderbird during a fast will one day become a mighty war chief.” But what about a woman? I was fasting, in the early morning. Not war, please. Perhaps if a woman sees a Thunderbird she will work towards peace, she will peace the world. That is what I would like, to peace even one other person.

And the Thunderbird is hanging over the fires east of me. I can see the smoke and smell it later in the day. The Thunderbird is here about the environment: the Thunderbird controls weather, doesn’t she? I am paying close attention. Reduce, reuse, think about reducing our effects on the environment.

Blessings and may peace creep upon you like a warm blanket, a daydream, a laugh.