Fall Rolls In

Fall rolls in

by Mary E. Gerdt 2009

all rights reserved

Fall rolls in with a fury

Like squalls on the oceans

Or when you can't open a can

Or you drop a nice thing.

Fall colors amazing

While the weather holds out

Lots of brown this year

The summer was hard.

Falls I remember were sad with my loss

Some were happy

relief

was tucked into bed

For the long winter is coming

The starlings they fly

In a great

Brilliant

Miraculously

Circuitously

Bizarrely

Together

pattern of aerial dance

for such a silly looking bird.

have a nice fall.

mary

Small things

Small Things
by Mary E. Gerdt 2009. all rights reserved.
("Paws off!" Tommy would say)

Small things
can mean a lot to humans.
No this is not philosophical.
This is practical. My cubicle neighbor suggested it for just about anything external to a person's or dog's body.
I guess I had been warned in nursing school 30 years ago, that it could be harmful and should be treated with caution.
Well, that is true to an extent. The percentage/concentration was higher then for our mother's remedy nicknamed "peroxide"
or "Proxide" for expediency since it usually meant a scrape, bump or sore.
In fact it works well for all those uses unless a very deep abscess and even then just keep it out of the inside of the body because it foams.
For athlete's foot, fungal stuff, I keep a dark colored (light degrades it) squirt bottle in the bathtub. Squirt areas prone to fungus after shower and towel off.
Then I spray the tub area and shower curtain.
It turns to water and oxygen. No residue.
I clean all bathroom and kitchen surfaces and the scrubbing bubbles help de-scum and makes things shine. I spray on my sponge to keep fresh.
I know there are more uses. We have found less reliance on lysol, etc products and anti fungal stuff and also feel better for it.
So I know that you too may appreciate one of the little things that make this a better stay on Earth.
Think about it, it is just water and oxygen.
Watch out for heavier strengths-may need to be diluted. I can hear my nursing instructor after all these years.
Mary
P.S. Pat Leahy and Peter Welch wrote back their standard form letters. Better than nothing but not as personal or passionate as I was when writing them. Same old expectations getting in the way. It was to me as if what I wrote had no meaning. That hurts an egotistical writer like myself.mg

The Sun Came Up

The Sun Came up
by Mary E. Gerdt
2009 all rights reserved

The Sun
Came up this morning,
In all its full glory,
A great friend I take for granted,
What if the Sun did not come up?

The Moon,
A companion on nights when
I cannot sleep and I wonder
If there is anything softer than moonlight?

The stars,
So often I ignore,
Or just cannot find the time,
To go out to see them,
Instead watching them through
The Hubble images I get
On the computer.

The Space,
In between this and that or this star and that star
Or me and you,
The space we never see
And think we know is there
Because someone told us there is space
Between this and that.

Molecules and atoms look different in my mind than in the minds of my grandchildren
Because science has changed and
I still see the electron orbiting the nucleus
And wonder how I would see things differently
If I were born today
Instead of 50 plus years ago.

The Earth I stand on feels so solid,
And stationary,
Could it really be just atoms and spaces,
More spaces than atoms,
Spinning in time,
While I am feeling totally still?

The time it takes to read this,
Will be gone before you know it,
And
Will you wonder as I do,
If the time really went anywhere,
Or is it still here,
Waiting for me to notice how time
Can be a ball,
Not a line,
Orbiting like our Earth home,
Waiting for us to come back
To where we began,
Looking at the Sun, from the Earth
For the first time.

Earthly Connections

Thanks to Herrad for the connection and award.
I will try to post it when I have more patience.
Check out Maia's blog

http://maiasintothemoonlight.blogspot.com/

I love traveling through this virtual web of humans.
Somehow it all makes our problems a little distant even for a moment or two.

Herrad follows so many of us and still manages to find and post the most amazing photos and imagery.
I treasure her Trinidad descriptions.
Earthly neighbors.
Best wishes.
Mary

Blog reruns

It is Labor Day in the US where we celebrate having a job.
Here is a rerun from my early blogging.
I'm taking the day off.
Have a great fall day (or spring day south of the equator.)

Summer memories are warm and sweet. I wanted to share a poem even while fearing once I let it out I will be unable to ever outdo it in feeling and depth of myself immersed therein.

Coyote Night by Mary Gerdt * 2008 all rights reserved

When we walk down a road in the dark,
And the Coyotes are crying their mournful cry,
The smells of summer drift and hang in the valley
And little night birds chirp goodnight.
The stars peek out from the clouds of August mist
The moon hangs over the hills by home.
My memories fade to days gone by
When we looked at the nights from inside.
Now we walk on the path outside
Not afraid anymore.
While the coyotes cry.

Radio Logic

Radio Logic



I first heard Adrian Gilbert on The Art Bell Show. Late night radio where the listeners called in as well as guests who covered all kinds of subjects.

My blog is about the universe which we know consists of infinite possibilities.

Relax, sit back and check out



http://www.adriangilbert.co.uk/



All that political debating will seem minor compared to the end times.



Mary

A Change in Colors

I changed my colors and layout since reading with the black background can be difficult and draining.
I hope you are having a great day as we prepare for the coming change in color in Vermont.
For us the summer is over August 31st. Now we enter the magic cooler season, though after the summer, 40 at night is status quo.
Short post tonight.
Best wishes.
Mary

New Math

I have to be brief today because it is Sunday, not a day of rest, but is a day we try to catch up with chores and priority garden activity.I have photos but they are still in the camera and will have to wait for a rainy day. Tropical storm Danny (who is also my brother), is sending fluffy ocean clouds our way and blowing winds to hopefully dry out the garden.We want to salvage what we can of the tomatoes decimated by late blight.
What does that have to do with new math?
Well,
I contemplated what to write this week and decided the healthcare debate is still a hot topic. Getting my colonoscopy instructions drove it home.
Every time we "interface" or have an "encounter" with the healthcare system, our heart rate beats a little faster, we look around to see if anyone is watching, we make arrangements considering every possible detail and its probability.
Sort of like calculus with many variables missing.
We look at the statistics, the likelihood of something occurring.
And with the thousand page magic bill the house has cooked up with their secret recipe, we analyze the content and are not fooled by the intimidating stack of pages.
After all, they just got us used to computing in Billions and Trillions.
What is a thousand anymore??
I know the secret formula for healthcare cannot exist in a thousand page document.
The success of healthcare depends, as it always has, on the dedication of caring human beings and the detachment from bureaucracy, not the embracing.
See Herrad's story on her blog which I follow impotently.
In the US her new wheelchair would potentially take as long to order and bureaucrats would be having to approve if she were on HMO or Medicaid. But she also would have appeal rights, activists in legal aid, politicians could speak up for her.
I vote for incremental changes to the current system we have in the US.
That's where the fractions come in handy.
Have a great day wherever you are.
Mary

13 Artichokes

13 Artichokes we picked today and a few were large, a few small and the rest medium.
Glorious in spite of the problems this year. Tiny aphids trying to chew the tough stems.
More globes maturing every few days and multiple tiny artichokes sprouting in pairs.
Spiny pin like pain when I encounter a spike from the foliage or globe tips and I ignore it to get close to watching this miraculous event. Artichokes in Vermont.
I hope your day was special in some way.

Faraway Images

I invite you for a minute or more to let go of your busy life and click on one of the Hubble images linked on my site. This is a Travelogue, after all, which I have to keep reminding myself of, especially when I get stuck in one place. Travel, I tell myself.
I look at the Aurora Nebulae when I am stressed by events at hand, I go to the Nebulae and ponder how long it takes to get from one side to the other.
I fail to comprehend light years, let alone hundreds and millions.
All that useless thought takes me far away.
Reset the cogs so I can go on.
Our taxes go to pay for the Hubble, so why waste the extraordinary images like the whale and hockey stick nebulae.
And enjoy your voyage.
Mary

"When you go for end of life Counseling,

Leave your walker or assistive device in the car,"
I heard on the Radio the other morning.
So continues the debate.
Here is my viewpoint about the "urgent" healthcare ruckus.
I sent to Senator Leahy and this is not a political statement.Hey, and Why would politicians dictate my healthcare system?
I am an RN Case Manager with almost 30 years experience working in Vermont between hospital, subacute, nursing home, insurance/HMO, long term care and home based care. That is in spite of low wages initially and tough conditions.I was laid off in 1996 because I was under 40 and the legislature protected the elder workers.I have recently lost over 40 thousand dollars in my retirement/savings, was denied disability insurance 3 days after my MS diagnosis and lost a bundle-on legal expenses from a court fight. But I never wrote you before that I recall.Maybe I was just stunned by circumstances.But I write you now, not angrily, but passionately, that you must not pass legislation that promises to fix the health care system in a thousand pages.My healthcare is pretty good now so please stop saying how broken it is. I agree with Medicaid waivers because I work for Vermont's Choices for Care. And yet I disagree with the generous financial loopholes where large assets are hidden and passed to others while I visit other starving or homeless Vermonters and pay very high taxes.Managed care is not something to be undertaken lightly. I worked for Kaiser and believed in our concepts but still it soured my stomach to turn down a circumcision because the child wasn't the right age.I have cared for Canadians who had to wait or spend their dollars in the US to get our level of care.And please support tort reform. Not only for health care. But also in cases like ours, where we lost so much.Finally, I must remain in my present health care support system. Do not change one thing. Add a catastrophic+preventive system for the poor. Vermont has an ideal system. I fear we will not be able to afford it much longer.Aren't you better off really studying what is working, who is happy, and who needs what? Then make incremental changes. Do not doubt we have the best health care system in the world. This means more to me than money or time. That is why I write today, not out of anger. My anger is gone since diagnosed with MS. I do not have the time for anger. Mary Gerdt RN