Equinox!

It's been a rough few weeks and a rough summer and a rough six months for many. We have been lucky to keep our health and friendships going. Many of us are reeling from the sad news of the passing of RGB and that aftermath of this. What one neighbor (possibly not thinking of the pun) termed "Ruthless." Indeed.

I find it hard to believe the summer has slipped by and I have not posted to this blog since the beginning of summer. Where has the time gone? Well, it is here in photographs, as you can see, I have been taking all along, including a wonderful escape to Cape Cod, our special magic here on Lake Winnipesaukee, and my trips to my home in MA getting it ready for sale. Yes, that's right, my home in Framingham is for sale, while I am moved out and in process of moving into the Carlisle house. So, big changes and small ones, all welcome.

We now have a sign for our place: It's called "East Meets West" since the front of the house faces east, and the back of the house faces west. At equinox time, it's very nice to see the sunrise from our living room and the sunset from our kitchen.

Another big change is our boat collection has grown. Claude, with the help of folks at Y-Landing Marina, has build a solar-powered Alumacraft boat, a 14 foot electric boat with 2 solar panels for charging it.  The name of the new boat is "Solectric." This brings our total number of boats to six, including the boards, but none of these uses fossil fuels. 

We survived the hurricane that passed through the east coast the first week of August, which included a 3 day power outage, wherein we powered our water filtration system and water pump and fridge from the tiny house. That was nice. The only problem was the lack of internet. 

I participated in zoom meetings with friends, zoom poetry workshops and readings. Here is a link to a reading that took place this week a the Old Frog Pond Farm (virtually) via zoom. My poem comes in about 11 minutes into the video. it's on facebook, so you might not have access if you are not on facebook. The title of the poem is "Bifurcation." You can find  a link to my poem here http://penandanvil.com/hw/chapbooks/refuge/carla-schwartz/ . You can order the book associated with the reading  to be printed by Pen and Anvil Press by sending an email to hawk.and.whippoorwill at gmail dot com.

Today is a crisp autumnal day. The winds are blowing from the Northeast, and the laundry on the line is floating skyward. 

We are still swimming, and this morning was no exception. Hopefully we can swim here for another few weeks at least. 

We, I have so many photos here, I am not sure where to start. 

Maybe the goldfinch I caught flitting about one lazy afternoon on a pond-side deck at Cape Cod.

Solectric, the New Solar-powered electric motorboat 

It started out as a gas-motorized alumacraft. First  Claude and folks at Y Landing installed the electric battery and motor. Afterward, they solarized the boat with two flexible solar panels, two charge controllers (one for each panel), and a bimini. We can take it over 13 mph.

East Meets West

I named our house a few years ago, but now we have a sign! I took this first set of photos early in the morning when the sun rises into the sign. You can see how the sign was built in the later pictures. The final picture here was taken at sunset. You can see the colors through the trees in the western sky.

The Boating Life on the Lake

Here are some photos of our lake life here in Bear Island and around the lake. These photos are in random order, but include our experience of the hurricane the first week of August, our loss of power (hence working in the tiny house) and rainbows, sunrises and sunsets.

In the Boat, wearing my old camp shirt

More Boating Photos 

Claude tried to winch out a rock embedded in our cove. We met some friends via paddleboard at Five-mile Island. And we took photos with the waterproof camera here and there.

Riding Home in Roiled Waters

A Kayak Tour with Neighbors

Walking the Island

Claude goes for a Hike

Claude hiked up Mt. Carter with a neighbor yesterday.

Mousing Around the Grill

We opened our grill to see a nest made from my hair, and leaves and plastic bag and grilling tools and a mama protecting her brood. Here are some photos, of mouse action, including the mama holding little ones in her mouth or dragging them with her feet/claws to "safety" of the lower part of the grill.

More Lake Photos, Sorry not sure if these are already in here

More Mousing

Home Gardens

Our other gardens include my beloved raspberry patch (where I found this moth caterpillar) and our trug.  Here are some pictures. Oh, and a few more mice showed up too from our Bear Island grill.

Cape Cod

We had our annual trip to the cape this year. It was different because of Covid-19. We managed to stay safe and healthy and enjoyed the trip. 

Poems

I had some poems published in journals and anthologies during this period of time. I am including some images of these here.

This next poem appears in Workers Write, an anthology of poems about work.

                                                     

This next poem appears in an anthology of New Hampshire poets responding to the pandemic. It's called Covid Spring (the anthology). My poem that appears here is a "golden shovel" in which the last word of each line is taken from a full line from another poem, in this case, "What I Wouldn't Do" by Dorianne Laux.