Day: August 19, 2016

When I first moved to the country, I ached a bit for New York City, and the theater, movies and culture so readily available there. Maria and I were struggling with a number of things when we first got together, we tended to stay at home and talk and read.

This year, we are finding culture all around us, and we are enjoying it very much. We have been to three plays in the past month, several movies, and a half dozen music performances at the Round House, we  saw “Stories Told” with Gary Moon and Alice Jenkins tonight.

It sounds almost biblical to me, but my idea is that what we must do today and every day is appreciate the day itself and all that is good and promising and beautiful in it. In the Bible, God instructs us to do this, but even if you are not religious, good sense and a grounded disposition tell us the same thing.

Maria and I were talking the other day about the good things we are finding to do all around us, the Round House, the Williamstown Theater Festival, the Images Independent Theater, the Old Castle Theater Company in Bennington, for some reason we avoid Sarataoga (it’s getting to be too much like New York City) but there is much there if we ever choose to tap into it.

Tomorrow, we are taking Maria’s mother to Hubbard Hall in our town to see their much loved opera company perform “Madame Butterfly.” In September, I’m having a portrait show at the Round House Cafe.

Sitting in the cafe tonight, listen to the sweet music of Moon and Jenkins, I reminded myself that this is not New York City, of course, and will not ever be. But there is culture all around us, our days and nights are filled the intimate sense of art and community, all finding one another and keeping culture very much alive.

You don’t have to go to Broadway to appreciate the driving creative spirits that mark humanity wherever it is.

Sometimes, the crowds at the Round House Cafe are big and loud on pizza night, the cafe can be jammed. Tonight was a sweet summer evening, a mellow night, a two -member group called “Stories Told” sang some beautiful folk and contemporary harmonies at the cafe,  a small but attentive crowd.

I was struck by singer Alice Jenkin’s expressive fact, I took her portrait.

There was something special about tonight there, it was a soft night, there was a rich sense of community in the cafe. Scott and Lisa Carrino were refreshed after a short vacation, the pizza operation was running smoothly, the pizza was delicious and Lisa brought me some of her very wonderful gaspacho soup, a favorite thing for me to eat in the summer.

Maria and I didn’t intend to stay, but we were drawn into the sweet evening, and the lovely music of Jenkins and her partner, Gary Moon. As I am increasingly drawn to to, I wanted to capture the feeling in Jenkins singing, hard to do in a photo, but I liked this one.

I admire singers. Even more than writers and other artists, they stand up there in front of people and just put themselves out there.

In a small town like ours, boundaries and roles are often blurred, there aren’t that many of us, and we cross and blur the lines out of necessity. I normally would not know my massage therapist out of our work together, but Many is a close friend of me and of Maria.

She is one of the Good Witches who meet every Wednesday at the Round House Cafe (Mandy, Athena, Maria.)

She is also  a student in my writing class.  She eats regularly at the Round House Cafe.

Mandy, a single mother of two wonderful young women,  is also a gifted and conscientious healer who has helped keep me healthy. I was intensely wary of massage before Mandy, her manner and professionalism calmed me and opened me to this powerful kind of medicine.

After my open heart surgery two years ago, Mandy came to the farmhouse every week to do massage and energy work, it was a transformative experience for me helping me to rest, feel strong and experience some of the most intense peacefulness I can remember.

I fell asleep within seconds of her arrival, and felt so extraordinarily rested and healed when she left. I miss that feeling sometimes.

We manage all of these different roles together almost seamlessly and with care and respect for boundaries. We respect these lines.  My massage work has nothing to do with the writing class, and those roles have nothing to do with the lovely dinners we often share with Mandy, where we talk easily and openly well into the night.

And Maria rarely speaks of her own conversations with Mandy, unless she asks that they be shared.

I think in cities those criss-crossing of roles is less likely to happen, here, it is something we know how to do, and is necessary to do. It is a part of real community.

Today, I had lunch with Mandy to talk about her writing, she is a natural writer doing terrific work in the class.  We went over story ideas, I try to meet with my students whenever possible to clear up any misunderstandings and see what I can to do help.

Then we went to her office for a massage. Massage is important to me, I never thought of massage until a few years ago, and now it is essential to me, especially as I age and work to control my diabetes and my heart.

Both are under excellent control and Mandy is one of the reasons. Today she did some energy work, and this is something I barely understand but have come to love and respect.

I find it meditative, relaxing, it transports me to another place. Today, I saw myself floating high above the earth on a crisp, cool day, the wind carrying me along, as if in a balloon. Below me, cows grazed, I sailed over rows of corn and alfalfa, then over green hills and streams.

It was a beautiful feeling. Transported again. This week was stressful, Maria and I were working on fund-raising for her trip to India. I needed this message, it was important. Mandy’s energy work lifted me up and put me down gently.

On the way out, I saw this beautiful light streaming through the window and I asked Mandy if I could take her portrait, she hesitated for a moment,  but agreed.  Mandy is one of those people who would rather not be photographed, I guess, but also respects the art of it. I guessed the light and her face would be a good match and they were, I think the camera captured the serenity and warmth of Mandy, the healer.

Friday night is wood-fired pizza and music night at the Round House Cafe, Scott’s new outdoor wood-fired oven helps him to churn out pizzas Friday, he may purchase another one to move things along even faster. Scott’s gourmet pizzas are an elemental part of our Fridays, along with music in the care. The first few weeks were hectic, but Scott has it under control now, you can tell by the mad gleam in his eye.

It looks like hard work to me, but Scott loves making his pizzas, firing up the oven, rushing pizzas back and forth from the oven to the care. I caught the slightly mad gleam of excitement in his eye tonight, he wields his pizza oven shovel like a baton.

Caught the sunrise with these nasturtiums outside this morning. They are especially radiant flowers.