Learning Hebrew and Yiddish Words

Today I have to thank Drora Oren for helping me to pronounce the Hebrew and Yiddish words in my Crossing Delancey script. I love it that some of them are paired with gesture. I always talk with my hands anyway.

Rain

My grass loved last night's rain. Short though the showers were, this morning I was greeted by a sea of green and lovely popped open bleeding hearts along with columbine that is reaching to the sky.

Bubbie

Today is another step to becoming Bubbie in Crossing Delancey. My hair should be happy because it will be more of a match to my accent. Songs of Kugel are running through my head.

Relaxed

I have to say my morning walk with Sis did relax me. I love to let my steps take my tension away. The smell of the morning air, the sound of the birds, the beavers and the muskrats, the pace of the walk, the pleasant conversation is the best way to start a day.

Sun Through the Trees

The sun is shining through the trees. The wind blows the branches that have the smallest of leaves and buds. It feels like Spring. All this through my window while I work inside.

Wind

Swirling, whirling wind

I want to fly with you today.

Mattie Culver Travels to Montana

Mattie Shipley Culver 

The Mattie Shipley Culver home sources display will be finding a 2012 summer home at the Yellowstone Historic Center in West Yellowstone, Montana.

Mattie is buried at the confluence of the Firehole River and Nez Perce Creek in Yellowstone National Park. I have written a biography about Mattie relying upon home sources to reveal her identity:

Not unlike today, life for women in the nineteenth century served up hearty challenges on a daily basis, though the burdens of 100 plus years ago certainly were of a different flavor. Mattie: A Woman's Journey West offers a taste of that life through the story of Martha "Mattie" Shipley Culver, whose life passage took her from her childhood in industrial new England and work in the New York textile industry to her role as the wife of a winter caretaker in Yellowstone National Park, where she died and was buried in 1889, at the age of 32. 

  

This autograph book was instrumental in discovering Mattie's past.

Check out Mattie's Facebook Page:

Mattie, A Woman's Journey West

Soft Spring Morning

The morning is gentle  and warm. A filmy cloud cover helps to soften the sunrise.
I love to stretch in the Spring air and watch my rabbit explore her yard.
Everything grows.

Crossing Delancey

Yes, like my director asks, I am reading and re-reading "Crossing Delancey" until it becomes a part of me.
Crossing Delancey

Spring Crops

I have moved all the spring crops from the greenhouse to the garden today. So the spinach and lettuce are high above Bunny Boo's reach, but she still gets her quota each day.
Strawberry plants have joined their outside "cousins" which have quite a bit of growth themselves.

Long Time Coming

It seems like a long time between roles for me but there's always a reason. I am cast as Bubbie in Crossing Delancey. Rehearsals begin tomorrow night. I have always wanted to be a Yenta. Not too gossipy but definitely a match maker.

Busy Thoughts

Today is one of those busy thoughts days.

So many tasks that have to be done. So many ideas swirling around.

Arranging them, loving them, discarding some.

And on top of it all the flowers are blooming.

Guided by the night sky

The night sky seems to be my 2012 beacon. Though I'm always drawn to the night sky, this year it seems to continually call me. Recently it has been Venus and Saturn but lately it is Mars. Mars so wonderful and red. I wonder about the orbiting spacecraft around Mars. I sometimes believe I visit the planet in those spacecraft. Dreams are made of wonderful visions.


I know these are the bright planets that I can see with just my eyes, so maybe that's all there is to it. Night sky in the city has little to offer these days. But I do wonder about the polar caps, the water that is there, on Mars.

Home North

It's nice to see signs of home:

Ice on the reservoir

Snow in the canyons

Sun on the muley's ears

That's March in the mountains

Moon Leads the Travel

I have to say the moon has lead me through this work trip. Although it has held much conversation with Venus and Saturn it has also lead me around Arizona.

From whole and red to half and blue it has guided me from Phoenix to Tucson. I look forward to it's guidance in Moab and back to Salt Lake City.

Thoughts on the Road

I love history. I learn from it but I read all different aspects of history because I understand authors tell the story from their point of view no matter how objective they want to be. I learn for other people's perspective in other words.

I have just had  two day of celebrating the written word. Spending my weekend at the Tucson Festival of Books however has me taking offence at something stirring in Arizona--banned books. All because of fear. In the spirit of suppression here are the reasons for the ban--
 A school district or charter school in this state shall not include in its program of instruction any courses or classes that include any of the following:

1. Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
2. Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
3. Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
4. Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

                   - Arizona State Legislature

With this kind of legislation perhaps we need to ban all books. We are a nation with a history of revolt. After all the United States was formed from this exact behavior and without concern of indigenous peoples. And yes I know we understood very little then but what about presently. Read this link to know about the books:

Banned Books in Arizona

Perspective

Yes it's time for travel!

Night so Bright

        The snow made the night so bright. There was unlimited ground light. You could read a book or play a game of chess. Plenty of vision to make a night snowman or play with your rabbit.  Plain view to have a tea party, present a skit, play snow baseball. A pleasant time to relax with a crossword puzzle and watch the night life. Nothing so perfect as a night so bright.

Happy Birthday Yellowstone

How I celebrate YNP Birthday while being in the city.

In my mind I recall:

 The smell of fresh snow in the lodge pole forest.
The sound of a fumarole.
Cool wind on a hot sunny day.
Huckleberries in August.
The smell of Phlox on a Spring day.
Spray from an unexpected geyser eruption.
An Elk bugle at night.
Snort of a nearby Bison.
Wolf howl on the Madison.