Ok the good thing that happened recently was I made it home safely. Hurricane Irene tore up & down the east coast and I arrived home last night to my home unscathed. I passed a number of roads that were closed, holes in bridges and trees down.

Little by little the news is coming to me of calamities which befell others, but not me. A friend of my sister’s outside of Albany stepped out to evacuate her house and was swept away and drowned. Extreme sports enthusiasts went white water rafting on my normally quiet swimming hole and had to be rescued after one died.

My home is pristine in its quietness this evening. The cicadas are in concert, punctuated by a vehicle cruising by in the distance from time to time, or the distant soothing clatter of the train passing. I almost hate to go to sleep. It’s so hypnotically wonderful, this nighttime moment.

The town lights glitter from the other side of the river like a string of beads tossed there. The reflected colors of my tifffany lamp look back at me from far away, reflected in the glass of the window.

There an African beaded necklace hangs on the wall, rich in patterned colors. There, the face of the Buddha. The plants are crowding out of the corner and threaten to take over this room. The dog sleeps on his bed. All is natural, peaceful and embracing.

My sincerest gratitude for all the perils that paraded by me, to one side and the other, and those that paraded around my family.

My condolences to those who were not so fortunate.

It’s a melancholy happiness which I experience with tonight’s happiness homework. I can learn that happiness may come in many shapes and sizes and feelings of intensity. I can learn to embrace them all.

the church bells ring.

thank you

Good night