Every Grave a Sacred Place

Photos:
The headstone and foot marker of my grandson's grave.

When I started writing this last night I wasn't thinking that today was going to be Philip's birthday. Happy 21st to the big blue teddy bear.

So often, on the news, I hear of vandals romping through a cemetery destroying headstones, urns and other adornments that mean so much to the families of the deceased. When I hear stories like that my heart goes out to the families and I wonder what kind of person would do this.

Unfortunately the desecration of gravesites has hit closer to home. Who could possibly want to uproot flowerpots, flags, an in-ground marker and the trinkets of remembrance left there? This is personal. This is my grandson’s resting place.

Did Lance Cpl. Philip Johnson give his life for his country so you, thoughtless and demented, are free to desecrate his grave? Does it offend you that he was a proud Marine? Does it offend or frighten you that he was willing to give his life for our freedom when you are obviously a coward? Why do I call you a coward? Apparently you operate under the cover of darkness so no one will know who has come skulking into the cemetery intent on doing harm. Has it ever occurred to you that because of Philip and other men and women like him, English is not a second language in the United States of America?

You have taken away more than trinkets from the gravesite. You have done more than toss markers and flags and flowerpots. The necklace you stole that had half of a heart on it—Philip’s mother wears the other half. How does it feel to have ripped out half of a mother’s heart? You have spat in the face of a family’s grief, which is still very raw.

Come out of the woodwork you coward and show your face. Tell me why you have done this to Philip’s grave and to his family. I do not understand.

What do I do now?
The above ranting deserves to be a Letter to the Editor. As much as I would love to do that, I fear it would just fan the flames and worse things would happen at the cemetery, or worse, to Philip’s family. Everyone in town knows them because they are active in so many projects that benefit the town and those living there. I would not want to do anything to bring physical harm to them or their property.

So I’m left with this. I have vented my frustration. Do I feel any better? No.

Two Special Gatherings

Photos:
Top left: South Congregational Church in Hartford
Top right: Mike and Sue taking their vows
Next left: Mike and Sue
Next right: Sandy (Mike's Mom)
Bottom left: The gang at Olive Garden (back row L to R: Kathy, Jeff's dad, Keith, me; front row R to L: Jeff's mom, Liz, Jeff, Lou, James and Jessica)
(As always, click on any picture to enlarge.)

Mike and Sue Renew Their Vows
I met Mike and his mom when the three of us worked at CNG. Last year I was invited to Mike’s birthday party and this year I was invited to be at South Congregational Church in Hartford as Mike and Sue celebrated their 22nd Wedding Anniversary by renewing their vows. There was a reception after services in the church hall.

The church building currently at the corner of Main and Buckingham is the third one having been built in 1827. The original church was built in (I think) 1637 (might have been 1657).

Finally Met Jeff
The second gathering was at Olive Garden in Enfield. I met Jeff for the first time, one of the Marines I have been writing to. He’s home from Iraq for a short time and it was an opportunity to celebrate before he has to report back for duty. The meal was fantastic and the company was even better. We enjoyed Love and Laughter for dessert.

All B&B Reservations Have Been Made

Photos:
Comstock covered bridge in East Hampton. Unfortunately it had to be repaired and reinforced so it was done in the most unsightly way possible.

Resting our weary bones
Take a look at the web site links for the four bed and breakfasts Kathy and I will be staying at on our Erie Canal bike ride. The final reservation for Angels Nest was made on April 19th.

Hambleton House in Lockport
Victorian in Brockport
Canaltown in Palmyra (no picture, just description)
Angels Nest in Rome (perhaps the most interesting – used to be a convent)

In addition, we will be staying in four motels along the way, and, in Little Falls, NY, we will have the comfort and pleasure of staying with friends. That in itself is a story of co-incidence (if you believe in such a thing). Lets call it a story of synchronicity—to be told some other time.

My biggest concern was getting the B&B reservations settled. These don’t have that many rooms each and fill up fast; especially at the time of year Kathy and I are traveling—early September. I was having a problem connecting with Mary Davis at Angels Nest. I knew she had put us down for our stay, but the reservation had not officially been made. She would call me and leave a message; then I would call her and...leave a message. On the 19th, as I was sitting here at my computer, I looked at the clock and saw it was 8:30 a.m. The thought struck me that if I called Angels Nest right now, I would get Mary. I was right on the money. We talked. The reservation was confirmed. We talked some more. Now I can relax relative to bed and breakfast reservations.

Nearly Attacked By Demented Swan

Photos
These pictures taken at the Windsor boat launch yesterday.
Left: a pile of rubble caught by a log jam on the north side of the bridge.
Right: the river is not too far from the top of the embankment at the picnic area. Notice the old beaver chew on the tree. That happened last year during the spring flood. Once the river is where it belongs, that chew is maybe 4-5 off the ground.

Yesterday's bike ride
Thursday, yesterday, was such a beautiful day I had to ride. It was the second day in a row I rode, and I have to confess my butt hurt, my legs were super tired and I was agonizing over how was I ever going to ride 9 days in a row averaging 40 miles per day. I have to remember this is only mid-April. All that other stuff is 5 months away. So the agony switches over to is that enough time for me to get my distance capabilities, strength, and speed up to where they need to be. One agony after another, and, so it will go until September gets here. The only way I will ever be sure of the answers to any of those questions is to be dropped off in Niagara Falls with nothing but a bike for transportation and Kathy to keep me out of trouble.

Quasimodo Swan
While on my ride, I stopped on the Strong Road bridge over a branch of the Podunk River. As I was looking into the water on the north side of the bridge, I heard the pitter patter of feet behind me. Looking up I saw the swan that guards this area. One look and I yelled, “Oh no you don’t.” Thank goodness I can still move fast! I took off like I didn’t want to be attacked by this lunatic. He looked like a bad imitation of Quasimodo on drugs, dressed in feathers! He had one wing held at an awkward angle, his neck seemed to be unnaturally crooked and he was looking at me with only one eye. This bird attacked me a couple years ago. That was before someone beat the poor thing to near death when the swan attacked someone else. I don’t know who – I only heard the story. I think all it did was scramble its brains and made it more vicious. Swans are nasty to begin with. I wish I could have taken a picture of this so you could see what I mean, but there was no time.

On the way back I looked for him again. He was swimming back and forth from one side of the bridge to the other and his appearance had returned to that of a normal swan. That made me feel better.

Windsor Boat Launch
I rode to the Windsor boat launch. The river is high but receding. I could see the mud line and the ground all around the picnic area was very soggy and muddy. I’ve seen it higher in past years.

Ah! Spring!

Photo
I think this picture looks like a Monét painting. If he had painted it he would have titled it “Dead Leaves on Stagnant Water”. I happen to like it.

A good day for a ride
What a glorious day today. Sunshine. Temps in the upper 60s. Too good to waste, so you know I was out on my bike. Today I chose to ride the Hop River Trail from Vernon toward Bolton and beyond.

I started riding the Rockville Spur, but just past the Tankerhoosen River bridge there is construction and the trail is closed. News to me! I turned around and went back to Church Street and rode north into Manchester. Turned around at the industrial park and headed for Bolton Notch.

Along the way I stopped to chat with two very nice young men, Anthony and his brother Joe and their mom Linda (I think). We talked for some time then I was off. When I got to Bolton Notch, I met a sister bike rider, Valerie, and chatted some more. Her mom is about my age and an active bike rider. That makes my heart stand up and salute the active senior citizen.

By the time Valerie and I parted company I looked at the time and, oh my gosh, it was ten minutes to four. With the sun starting to go down, the air was cooling off quickly. My ride back to my car was none too slow, either!

When I got home the laundry was more than ready to be taken in off the line. It smelled so good!

My bike is still on the car rack and you know what I’ll be doing tomorrow. I won’t be out so long, though. Wintonbury Library in Bloomfield has its poetry reading and open mic and I look forward to the feature poet and taking part in the open mic segment.

Another Reservation Made

Photo
Click on the photo to enlarge and look at the end of the tree that's fallen over the water. See the large lump on the end and three smaller lumps above it? Those are turtles sunning themselves on the Windsor Locks Canal.

News
I’ve made another reservation for the Erie Canal trip. This last one is for Hambleton House in Lockport. The only B&B to be heard from is Angel’s Nest in Rome—the converted Convent. Oh, I’ve heard from them, but not by phone where I can give my CC number to hold our reservation. It really sounds like a neat place. Now Kathy and I need to decide on which motels and I’ll make those reservations.

A good bike riding day
Yesterday, Saturday, I went for another ride. The weather forecast originally said we would be cloudy, off and on rainy, and in the 50s. That was changed to mostly sunny, and temps in the 70s. I hit the road for a short ride, 15 miles, and by the time I got back home, it was 80 big degrees on my thermometer!!!!! The official high temp at Bradley International in Windsor Locks was 79°. Even though I had sunscreen on, my face feels a little tight and it looks like my upper arms might have a slight pink tinge—even though I was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt.

It felt good to have the furnace off and windows open.

That was yesterday. Today we have had little sun and barely 50°.

Bicycles and Beavers

Photo
Left: can you make out the darker shape in that cut out on the canal bank? That's it.
Right: My furry friend surfacing on the other side of the canal. Notice all the silt or pollen floating on the surface of the water. The canal needs dredging and repairing.
Click on pictures to enlarge.

Let the season begin!
Wednesday and Thursday offered good weather and you better believe I was out riding. Wednesday kicked off my bike-riding season. Temperature in the low 60s with little wind made it the best day I’ve seen in a long time. Since it was my first time out since January 8th, I decided on an easy ride. There is nothing easier than the Windsor Locks Canal bike path. Only 9.5 miles round trip, but for a first time out that was enough.

Muskrat Suzie or Muskrat Sam?
As I finished my ride I saw a furry something slide down the embankment into the canal. I stopped to look. I think it was a muskrat – not too big with a long thin tail. I observed it for a while and took some pictures of it as it hugged the side of the canal. When it became aware of my presence it went off (through the water) like a shot and gone—only to surface on the other side (see picture above).

Beavers have been at it all winter
Interesting to note that a lot of evidence of beaver activity was on the river side of the canal. With all the evidence on both sides of the canal, it’s interesting that I sighted of only one possible beaver lodge. Several trees had the bark taken off completely around but were left standing. I found a website about Beaver Solutions.

Trees and Beavers
Beavers are famous for their ability to topple large trees using nothing but their specially adapted teeth. Beaver teeth never stop growing, so they do not become too worn despite a lifetime of chewing hardwoods. Their four front teeth (incisors) are self-sharpening due to a hard orange enamel on the front and a softer dentin on the backside of the tooth. Therefore as beavers chew wood the softer back of the teeth wear faster, creating chisel-like cutting surfaces. Because their teeth never stop growing it is believed that beavers need to constantly chew wood to prevent their teeth from growing too long!

A beaver's diet consists solely of vegetation. They derive nourishment from the inner lining of tree bark, as well as twigs, leaves, and aquatic vegetation. They topple trees in order to gain access to all the bark on the trunk as well as the many branches on the tree. Branches will be chewed off in sections that are small enough to drag into the water for safe and leisurely eating. The bark of large tree trunks will be chewed where it lies if the beaver can reach it. Beavers prefer to cut down smaller diameter trees, but will chew on any size or species of tree. Preferred tree species include alder, aspen, birch, cottonwood, maple, poplar and willow. Once beavers eat the bark off a branch, they reuse the stick to build and maintain their lodge or dam.

In cold weather climates beavers are most active cutting down trees in the fall because they are preparing for the winter. Beavers do not hibernate, so they plan ahead and build a stockpile (cache) of edible sticks in order to survive the cold winter. They stick one end of these sticks in the mud at the bottom of their pond near their lodge so that when the pond freezes over and they can no longer access new trees, they can swim out of their lodge, grab a stick, and bring it back to the comfort of their lodge to eat.

Back to bike riding
Yesterday I did a loop through town – 15 miles. I was bucking some pretty stiff WNW winds and I was pretty tired when I finished. I have to increase distance and speed slowly after a lay-off of several months. I don’t consider the ride I did on January 8th as part of my training for the Erie Canal Ride.

Sports and Wild Life

Photos
Top left: Look closely at the top center, close to the chain. See those faint prints?
Top right: Again, at the top of the photo. Two solid prints from right to middle.
Bottom left: Look center, just above the white siding. One print is very good.
Bottom right: The storm door handle looking dirtier than it was the day before.
Click on photos to enlarge.

Red Sox
Yesterday the Red Sox had their ring ceremony before their Fenway opener. I’m so happy they honored Bill Buckner. That poor guy had been vilified for year because of his error in the 1986 play-offs against the NY Mets. Did you know that at one time he considered changing his name because the anger/hate directed toward him and his family was so great? Good to see him back and being given a 2-minute stand ovation. Boston fans finally understand it IS human to err!

Basketball
Staying with sports. The Tennessee Lady Vols beat the Stanford Lady Tigers by at least 20 points. I won’t bother looking up the exact score – it was something like 63 – 48. I watched most of that game and I know in my heart of hearts UConn would not have beaten the Vols last night. They played like a team possessed! I don’t like Pat Summit as a person but I take my hat off to her as a coach (even though I don’t like some of her coaching tactics).

At this point you might be asking are there any coaches I like. Yes, there are more likes than can’t stands. ☺

Raccoon Paw Prints on My Back Door
As I was going out the back door yesterday afternoon to get the clothes off the line I saw what looked like a paw print on the storm door glass—a distance of more than 5 feet off the deck. Naw, I thought. Can’t be. Then I took a closer look. Sure enough – a raccoon paw print! A big paw print! I took some pictures just to prove I’m not nuts. I didn’t notice it in the morning when I went out to hang the clothes because the light wasn’t hitting the door right. On the outside I could see dirty marks around the door handle. That bugger must have been trying to get in. Thank goodness the storm windows are still up and not the screen. It must have smelled the bread crusts on the counter just inside the door. I won’t go into what I went through trying to calm down my mother. The bigger problem is this: what do I do about putting the screen up and the storm window down when it gets warm? Of course the back door is always shut tight at night, but how will I know if I have a raccoon is stuck between the doors when I open the door in the morning? A clue might be seeing the screen all chewed up? DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR! ☺☺☺☺

UConn Women and The Faxon Poets

Photo
You are looking at the southern tip of Terry's Island as seen from the Windsor Locks Canal Bike Path on Saturday, 4/5/08. This is the spot that was a sandy beach where we landed our canoe for our island adventure last July. We are awaiting more snow melt to come down from Vermont and New Hampshire that should swell the CT River even more.

What Happened?
Were the UConn women complacent or asleep? In last night’s Final Four the UConn team that took the floor were not the same team we are accustomed to seeing. I’ll tell you what went wrong.

1) The cream-puff non-conference teams on their schedule do nothing to toughen them up. I’d rather see them lose some games and get smarter, tougher, than see what they did in their last two games.

2) When they played Rutgers in the Elite Eight, they ran the Scarlet Knights to death. Rutgers had UConn beat until they ran out of gas. Then UConn came in for the kill and won by 10 points.

3) UConn thought they could do the same to Stanford as they did to Rutgers. It didn’t work. Stanford was too smart. They watch games on TV, too.

So we wait until next year. At least Pat Summit got her wish. I had heard that she was quoted in the New York Times as having said she did not want to meet UConn in the championship game.

Wish granted.

On to more pleasant things.
Congratulations to The Faxon Poets!

Yesterday the Faxon Poets (who meet at the Faxon Library every third Saturday of the month for poetry reading and critique) had their Second Annual Publication Party. Their publication, Perspectives II, contains poems written by members of the group. Most of these same poets were present to read their poetry for us, and it was a pleasure to applaud their efforts. After a short break it was open mic and we heard more excellent poetry. There were a couple new voices and I would like to hear more from them.

I have been to one Saturday workshop and hope to attend more. It all depends on getting out of the house on time.

Happy Things To Report

Photo
You might mistake this railroad bridge for the one that goes over Tunnel Rd., in Vernon. This bridge goes over River Road in Colchester and is part of the Air Line Trail now. On a guided hike last year it was explained that the railroad ordered these bridges as kits. Because they needed so many, this way was cheaper. Even the blocks making up the arch are numbered to make it easier to assemble.

What's all the excitement?
Every once in a while life gets so exciting and this is one of those times!

May 1st I will be one of two featured poets reading at Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor (next to Union School). (6:30 p.m., open mic follows features, and refreshments follows open mic)

Then, if that wasn't enough,

May 9th I will be THE ONLY poet reading at Magic Intent, 46 Union Street in Rockville (next to the Library and across from the Hospital). 7 to 8 p.m. No open mic and I have no idea if there will be munchies.

I am so excited I can't contain myself!

Erie Canal Ride Becoming More Real

Photo
This is the bridge over the Erie Canal in the town of Hulberton. When a boat is coming along the canal, someone on that boat has to radio ahead to the person controlling the bridge (I think they are called the Bridge Master or the Canal Master - not sure) to let them know the bridge has to go up. It's quite fascinating to watch the bridge go up to let canal traffic come through, then watch it come down so roadway traffic can resume. There are all sorts of bells, whistles and/or horns to warn everyone the bridge is about to move. In the days when the bridges didn't move, the boats didn't have much height to them and passengers had to duck down when going under the bridge.

Do you remember the lyrics from the song, "Erie Canal" where everyone had to get down because there was a low bridge as they came into town? Click on the link to get all the lyrics. Then click on Play Song to get the wonderful rinky-tink piano playing the tune.

Where we will sleep
Yesterday I booked reservations at two of the four bed and breakfasts Kathy and I will stay at on our Erie Canal bike tour. So far I have booked the Canaltown in Palmyra and the Victorian in Brockport. Since Kathy and I rode through those two towns in 2004, I’m familiar with the B&B’s locations. This is exciting! I'm still waiting to hear back from two more B&Bs. One is a former convent, Angel's Nest, in Rome and the other is Hambleton House in Lockport!

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday afternoons are predicted to be around 60°. If it’s not windy I’ll hit the road on two wheels.

UConn Women Grind Past Rutgers

Photo
In the fall of 2005 we had lots of rain. Many areas had severe washouts. This one is just down the road from me. A natural depression in the road that went over a small brook, it frequently flooded. This time it did more than that.

Another UConn win - barely
It was a basketball game fraught with terror for Lady Husky fans as it looked like the Rutger’s Scarlet Knights would eliminate UConn from the NCAA tournament. Maya Moore was face guarded most of the night—her team mates unable to get her the ball. The first few touches she did have yielded only 2 points. The Lady Knights were all over UConn like a blanket, smothering every move UConn made. And that is the reason UConn won the game.

Toward the end, Rutgers was exhausted. They could no longer contain UConn. Maya slipped around a screen set for her and fired off one of her effortless three pointers. She ended the night with only seven points. Ketia Swanier and Renee Montgomery had 15 points each.

UConn gets the win: 66 to 56 in a hard fought game. The score does not even begin to tell the story of that game!

The Huskies play Stanford on Sunday in the Final Four. Tennessee goes up against LSU. The winners of the Final Four go head to head for the championship. Everyone says it’s going to be UConn vs. Tennessee. It would be the game everyone has been waiting for all season.