Crisscross of lacy stone
A weave of winding, endless.
We follow as breath follows life,
winding our path.

Winter 2020-2021

Fall came with the gift of clear, early evenings and mornings that hesitated to erase the bright jewels still hanging from the heavens. Then November arrived with nothing but wind, cold, storm, and darkness. This year, that darkness was cumulative. The first hints arrived earlier, before spring was even sprung. Though the sun shown, its warmth just did not reach. It is hard to see those jewels hanging in the night when the clouds movie in and won't move out. So, I set up lights this year with even more determination than before: in the trees, in the windows, hanging from gutters. I twined solar lights along the back fence and around the bird bath. All this in the hope I could ward off melancholy. Success was neighbors telling me how beautiful the decorations were.

I hope you are keeping safe and healthy during this time of isolation, grief, and challenge. Dave and I have found an even simpler rhythm of life than we already had. We feel lucky that we are healthy, and happy working at home. We don't mind spending a lot of time together, even though we aren’t visiting friends and family. Entertaining each other can be a challenge. But together we manage to enjoy breakfasts, happy hours, and dinners; frequent role-playing, card, and board games; listening to favorite music; and watching favorite television and movies. And we now share walks. The pressure is eased, too, because we have discovered the magic of group phone/video calls and virtual happy hours. It's great to "see" and hear folks both far and near.

Right after lock-down, I signed up for a daily 30-minute poetry web seminar cleverly titled “POEMUNIZE.” taught by friend/poet/writer/editor/teacher Marj Hahne, the webinar began right around St. Patrick’s Day and ran for five weeks. I learned new ways to read and write poetry, and have written some pieces that I like. I have since taken two more webinars from Marj, including one called “Writing the Elegy.” I wrote about lost loved ones and lost opportunities, and soon began to recognize and express that extra layer of grief and loss I felt with the pandemic. I am sure you would recognize some of these losses: hugs, casual walks and greeting neighbors, recognizing neighbors in masks, eating out at new restaurants or traveling farther than a mile to go to the store or pick up take-out.

I confess we did make it to the mountains and to our favorite place, The Frisco Inn on Galena, in June. Before we arrived, the staff had been isolated for a month while they did a makeover of the inn. And the owner was there overseeing everything. The owner and his staff followed safety rules, and had all guests do the same, taking our temperatures upon arrival and drilling us about our health. Then we had a week of quiet strolling about town, riding our bikes up to Vale, and eating meals outside or at a distance from other guests inside. We hope it will be less restrictive when we return this June. But with the slow roll out of vaccinations, it will not likely be back to normal.

We also spent two nights in our own cabin at the Boulder Chautauqua for our 30th anniversary in September. The second night, an ice/snow/rain storm hit and took down branches, cutting power to our cabin and ending our stay. But we got a rain check on our anniversary dinner at Corrida, returning the following week for a decadent and romantic dinner.

We continue to play Dungeons & Dragons over the internet and are glad for the fun and challenging distraction. Dave is preparing to return to running D&D games as a Game Master (GM). He played and GM'd in high school and college, so he has a lot of experience. And now there are cool digital tools he can use for drawing maps and for 3D-modeling landscapes. When we play, we use a gaming environment called Roll20. It keeps track of the characters in the game and their abilities. And it handles dice rolls. For those who have played D&D the old-fashioned way with physical dice, you know how tedious rolling can be. Just the two of us played a 3-hour campaign over Christmas, with Dave as GM and me as the single player-character. Dave played the other characters in the game (including a cat and three crows named Cameron Crow, Russell Crow, and Crowtopher Walken). It was weird and fun!

The D&D character I play now is a half-elf bard called Divine. (My previous character Lia, a wood-elf monk, died along with all her companions in a necromancer accident – I don’t want to talk about it!) Divine believes she is divine: the gods interfered in her birth to make it possible for her human father and her elf mother to conceive. No one else believes her. She is quite full of herself but loves everyone. She collects and tells stories, plays her Bandore (like a lute), and sings at a drop of a hat. Anyone who knows me also knows how this is so-o-o-o up my alley. The other players don’t mind when I pull out my guitarlele and actually sing a few lines. My favorite tunes are simple story songs like “Little Black Rain Cloud” from Winnie The Pooh or “Feelin’ Groovy” by Simon and Garfunkel. I love this low-pressure way to perform. And what a great distraction from outside events!

We wish you a merry and warm winter season. Be safe. Keep your chins up.