Transition

My son Max is now a high school graduate. I'll always have the responsibilities of a parent but it changes now. I no longer need to be right there, able to meet a crisis at the drop of a hat or a crosstown drive. He and I are both transitioning into a new phase. I'm sure I don't remember correctly but it seems to me that starting a new life was easier for me when I was a teenager. 

Max is kind and brave and smart and he'll do just fine and so will I. 

Time on the farm has taught me the productive wisdom of the old nursery rhyme:

1-2 buckle my shoe (essential skill before any child can help out.)

3-4 shut the door (keep the goats out of the living room.)

5-6 pick up sticks (a good way for a child to be helpful.)

7-8 lay them straight (makes for a neater, more effective pile. Not a comment on sexual preference.)

9-10 a big fat hen (a lot of that going on here, plus now the child can count to ten.)

My first stop on this journey of discovery is a week at my brother's farm in Minnesota. This is a wonderful way to start. Here it is not possible for me to continually stress out about how I am to live. I can only do that some of the time. Other times I need to stress about the chickens. They are super-anxious and never seem to be having any fun. Perhaps, if I listen, they will speak to me.

I take walks these early mornings. No phone or earbuds or any of that. No camera either, so you'll just have to believe me that I saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes in a fallow field. Or don't believe me. I can hardly believe it myself.

  Magnificent. (Not the chickens, the cranes.)

 

Appeal

Here is a card I made using only hand-set type and a linoleum block I carved. I've sent out a few dozen of these and I have plenty left. Send me a mailing address and you can have one ( or more) too.

Looking for a home

For a whole lot of reasons I am on the road, scouting for a place to move. To share this journey, and to recruit help, I am reviving this blog. My itinerary started with a flight from New Orleans to Minnesota. I'll stay here at my brother Billy's farm in North Branch for a week. Then on to Amtrak with a 30 day pass. My route sends me through Seattle, Portland area, SFBay area, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, and New Mexico. This route is based mostly on where I want to move and where I can cop a free couch-surf.

I'll be passing these out around town, especially at the action at Lee Circle this Sunday (June 28th) at 4pm

For wild City Park