Day: June 16, 2017

Portrait, Mary Kellogg, poet. North Hebron, N.Y., June 16, 2017. See story below.

We went to the top of the mountain today, to visit our great friend Mary Kellogg, the poet. Jackie Thorne, another poet and friend came with us. She and Mary have become friends, as Mary and Maria are friends. Me too. The three of them have the most beautiful appreciate for and connection with one another.

Something it is so rare for men to do.

Mary is a central figure in my life with Maria, she was with us from the beginning. “She will keep you in line,” she told me when I told her Maria and I were in love. Mary has seen me at my worst and my best and stayed with me through both. I was the first person in her life she showed her poetry to, she had been writing poetry since she was eleven years old and thought people would think she was strange – even her beloved husband – if she showed it to them.

We have published three of her wonderful books of poetry and today, we realized Mary has enough poems for a fourth, which we will publish hopefully in time for the October Open House.

Jackie is a student in my writing workshop, last year she published her first volume of poetry, “Gone To Ground.” Like Mary, Jackie reads her poetry at our Open Houses. Like Mary, she is an exceptional gifted poet. The two met one another at our farm.

Maria is 88, and has dealt recently with the effects of Lyme disease, she couldn’t make the Spring Open House, I believe it is the only one she has missed. Mary lives by herself at the top of a mountain on 30 acres and purchased and lived with alongside her husband Dick, who died more than a decade ago. She took care of it herself until

Mary raised funds to build a hospice far out in the country a few years ago, is a passionate gardener and works on her poetry.

It was a wonderful thing for me to see these three creative, compassionate and beautiful women – creative goddesses all – have tea and ice cream with Mary at the top of her mountain, which she loves so much and will never leave.  They talked openly, laughed and shared their lives and ideas with one another.

Mary has seen me through some of the most intense phases of my life, and she says she loves me the most lately.

I love her more and more all the time, too, she is one of the most remarkable people I have known, full of compassion and character. Her poems are rich in poignancy and wisdom and Mary read several of them to us today.

Maria edited Mary’s first book of poetry, and the next two as well. I submit a number of my photographs, and the two of them choose which ones to use. It is one of the sweetest collaborations of my life.

We made tea for Mary and brought her some black raspberry ice cream. She says she needs to gain weight.

Mary is full of character and humanity, like the other two goddesses at her table. It was a creative summit of the goddesses, or so it seemed to me. I could almost feel the white light radiating from them. They gave one another love and strength, the work of goddesses.

She plans to be at our October Open House, and so does Jackie. The creative goddesses will all be doing their thing.

On Friday mornings through June, I go to the Mansion and work with Julie Smith, the Mansion Activities Director, on the stories of the residents. I work with each writer, offering suggestions and critiques.

The residents will read from their stories on June 30, and a friend Abrah Griggs, a book designer and artist from Vermont, will help assemble the book, which will hopefully be published and sold in paper and as an e-book. A blog reader has ordered cookies for the event from the Round House Cafe and paid for them. Thanks.

About a half-dozen stories have been completed. I brought several home with me today to read and edit.

Sylvie gave me a quite beautiful and remarkable story today when I went to the Mansion with Red.

She was the daughter of an America diplomat who traveled across South America and Europe before, during and after World War II. She remembers the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the devastation of the Nazi Empire after the war.

“We headed for England where we stayed for four years,” she wrote. “I fell in love there but marriage was not to be. Daddy retired and we headed back to Vienna, Austria. My mother and daddy had loved Vienna, as I had, but my love there did not last. I became mentally, ill, something that lasted many years.

My life was shattered at my having to leave Peter, my first love.

But my traveling was not over. I traveled first to a sanitarium for a cure. I hated it there, but I loved their geometry lessons, I was good at it. I played a miniature harp in my bedroom; I was good at that too. It was called a lyre. The sanitarium was supposed to be in the Black Forest, but I only saw one tree there while taking a walk. Then I traveled to a home for handicapped children to help however, when my Uncle Ralph came there to visit me it was pronounced by the authorities to be mentally ill.”

Sylvie was to deal with her mental illness for the rest of her life, searching for love.

After the war, her life was bounded by the institutions she lived in.

She was hospitalized in Massachusetts for 15 years, and her boy friend Dan died of complications from diabetes. She doesn’t write much about it, but she was rescued from an awful fire and came to the Mansion. I don’t know if she wishes to say more. She suffered three strokes in 2016. Her intelligence and humor always shine through.

Sylvie and I have developed a close friendship, we are always happy to see one another, she always greets me somewhat formally but affectionately. I think she is one of the few Mansion residents that is happier to see me than Red.  We just see to get one another.

Her life has some wonderful stories – it is in itself a wonderful story –  and her perspective is much shaped by her extensive travels around the world during one of the most tumultuous periods in history.

Her story is important for many reasons, and I am excited to help her tell it to the world. We don’t need any funds to prepare or host the stories. I’m not sure what it will cost to publish the book, if I need help, I’ll ask for it.

Next week, I’ll get the final version of Sylvie’s story – it is nearly done – and it will be exciting to have it read at the Mansion. Her story needs to live.  I volunteered to read it for her, and I think she will be happy for me to do it. We’ll talk about it further.

You can write Sylvie at the Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, Mass., 12816. Lo Ann Sanders, a long-time reader of the blog, came to the Mansion yesterday to visit Sylvie and some of the other residents. She came bearing gifts.

Here is an updated list of the Mansion residents who wish to receive your messages:  Bruce, Allan, Sylvie, Jean, John Z,  Alanna, Peggie, Ellen, Joan, Brenda, Connie, Alice, Madeline, Mary, Barbara, William, Brother Peter, Diane, Helen, Jane, Dottie, Anita, Gerry, Arthur. Thanks.

A reader of the blog gave Peggie a cat named Pumpkin, and Peggie is carrying it with her everywhere she goes. Peggie is a sweet and cheerful soul, on Friday’s I teach a story-writing workship, the Mansion residents are reading from their stories on June 30 in the Great Room.

One reader of the blog bought $100 worth of cookies from the Round House Cafe for the readings.

We will choose some of the best stories for awards and recognition. I hope to find a way to publish the stories into some kind of book or pamphlet. The stories coming in are beautiful and touching, about life and memory. Peggie’s story is about her husband, who died more than eight years ago. She talks with him every day and her story is about the conversations they have.

It is very beautiful. I hope to share them all with you after the story-telling competition ends. Another blog reader sent her a jigsaw puzzle yesterday, she loves working on puzzles and loves getting your letters. You can write Peggie at the Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

Maria and I decided last night to change Leroy’s name to “Gus” and we don’t even own him yet.

We talked about it, but not for very long. We just like the name Gus better than Leroy, and Leroy was a fine name. I like one syllable names for the dogs, a border collie thing. Maria just likes the name, she thought it fit the dog we are seeing evolve.

Gus strikes me as a gentleman. He is affectionate, calm and curious.

He is coming home in a week and tomorrow we set out to purchase some toys and training treats for him. I like to be prepared.

Gus can’t wander around much until he gets his final shots, but I will bring him right to the Mansion to let him and the residents take a peek at one another. They are very excited.

We’re just about ready. We got a nice metal pen to put outside on nice days in the fenced in yard (where Fate often hangs out) and no, it will not be six feet tall, as many of you seem to want us to do. We do not have coyotes coming into our fenced area with Fate, and in any case, Gus will not be spending time alone out there.

We have a crate upstairs and a crate downstairs, crate training is important for me, and we will use it to housebreak Gus, then show him how to be calm. Also a safe refuge for him.

When people tell me they have hyper dogs, I twitch a little. I’ve lived with Labs an border collies for yeas, and have never had a hyper dog inside the house, I wouldn’t like that. It’s  up to me, not the dog, to make that happen.

Even Fate, who is as energetic and cranked up a dog as there is,  is calm and still in the house. We’ll see what happens, but I am expecting no serious problems with Gus, and with dogs, you usually get what you want and need.

Maria and I seem to need Gus, I’m not sure why, that will reveal itself over time. Thanks for the (mostly) good thoughts.