A beautiful day

Dear Friends and family,

This photo comes from my dear nephew Paul. A woman who lives under the hummingbird fly-by area put a small dish with sugar water (shown here in her palm) and the birds came! Dawn gave us a Hummingbird feeder, but I can't find it, and I don't think we are exactly in a hummingbird fly zone. Wish we were. Dave, who knows all bird songs (he sells recordings of "There's food here calls" that entice birds to come) tells me he hears orioles in our trees, but we are not offering them what they like to eat, so they do not come into view.

I started the day today with a long walk up and down hills in the neighborhood. When I walk by the lovely development of condos, tucked in a woods, I begin to think of how good it would have been to buy a few when they were first offered for sale: they were very inexpensive, about $60,000 I believe, which even at that time was a very good figure. Our two unmarried sons could have been living in two of these. So I have to take myself in hand and say "Don't should on yourself."

Yesterday was a good day in several ways. I drove the car to a destination, the nail shop in Glen head, less than a half mile away. This is only the second time I have driven, and this time I had to park and walk a short distance to my destination. I gain confidence as I see I can do it. It was a pleasure to get all 20 nails done.

Antoinette asked me how I made the Lima Bean casserole I served a few evenings ago when Gert and Sylvia were here. Its leftovers returned for supper last night. So simple: I used a mix of baby and Fordhook beans. I sauteed red pepper strips and onions till very soft. Added the beans and a little water and baked along with the other dishes I was making that night. Doesn't take long. For the leftovers I poured the beans into a very lightly oiled frying pan, added egg-beaters and chunks of nice cheddar cheese, covered the pan and simmered till the cheese was melted, then added a little crushed tomatoes from a can that was almost empty and heated it through. Creative use of what's around! Delicious. Maybe I'll have the leftovers of that for my breakfast. Antoinette has been traveling, and when we get together I hope to hear more about it and her interesting family.

Merwin and I had errands to do: For one thing, we went to Rising Tide in Glen Cove. This is an organic store that we have supported since its inception—we lent them money because they offered a very good deal and we were so pleased to have the first organic, vegetarian grocery. We gave the money up front, spent it down, and got an extra amount tacked (10% if I recall correctly) onto the principle. Yesterday we got some delicious spinach pie there, Sophie! This was the best store bought we have had. It had tofu (undetectable) and artichokes as well as a delicious spinach filling in a good crust. I heated it briefly in the micro.

Last night we dropped off the machine that Miriam and Eli had loaned Merwin. It converts 33 records into CDs and Merwin then transfered the contents onto his iPod. Wow what a lot of old friends on these recordings, including Caedmon records of poets reading their own work—Yeats, T.s. Eliot, and also Façade read by Edith Sitwell. Merwin gave M and E CDs of some folk songs he thought they would like. They have a great condo, with lots of room, decorated beautifully with the art they have collected over the years and the great objects Eli makes in his workshop (like a floor to ceiling giraffe). An impromptu visit with friends we have known for so long is a real treat.

One interesting event was a request from the Folger librarian Georgianna for me to answer some questions for some students (high school I infer from the questions she listed). I was reluctant at first because the questions seemed too picayune, things they should ferret out for themselves, but she urged me to try to help them. I was so busy all day on Tues. when her second request arrived that I didn't get to respond until late that night, saying I would be glad to help them. And late last night when we returned from M &E's home, there was a communication with better questions from the leader of the team who are studying Romeo and Juliet. I spent about an hour—not answering their questions exactly, but posing questions of my own that I hope will get them where they want to be. I also sent them a paper I had published about the play that did not include any of the films they needed to discuss. It gives them a model, I hope. Part of their assignment, it seems, was to seek expert (ah hum!) advice. I do miss teaching, but not so much that I would want to go back to it on a steady basis.

It's a bright and sunny day, and the plants are popping: dahlia shoots are springing up all over the Mother's Day Garden, a little patch near the road. Merwin has also planted more lavender there. Phe pansies are flourishing.

Looking forward to the preparation for our hamletworks.org summit meeting in two weeks!

Love to all,
Bernice