"Jesus Christ, now what?"

How I love my friends and blog readers. Thank you all! After my last post, I got such lovely replies. Isobel's note made me laugh out loud.

Thinking of your latest blog post when I saw this: 

“I don't know about other people, but when I wake up in the morning and put my shoes on, I think, Jesus Christ, now what?” 
― Charles Bukowski 

He kind of nails it eh?

He certainly does. Me too, Charles, me too. (Met him when he came to Vancouver, fascinating reprobate that he was. He put the make on me, told me I reminded him of a young Lauren Bacall. Good line, buddy. I was having none of it.)

Carol wrote from Ecuador:

Take all those essays and make them into a book! You are a writer, a teacher, a thinker - a person who embraces life! There needs to be a record of all that - a collection of your essays - part of a lifelong endeavor in your craft, needs to be out there with your other works. Think of it as creating a healthy reading list for the future generations who will be studying your work once you are long gone.

I wrote back, Sure, an essay collection, just what the world is waiting for! But ... it's a good idea.

And Lani wrote from Ingersoll, Ontario:
Your blog today certainly coincided with my mood lately. I did NOTHING much for the past few weeks except berate myself for doing nothing. I blame the heat but I'm sure a lot of it is this isolation. You, on the other hand, are still doing tons of stuff - teaching, being a Glamma, a mom, a landlady, a friend, a writer and a musician. So relax, my Bethes. You are fine.

Thank you, dearly beloveds; it did me much good to hear from you today.

Other wonderful things that lifted my heart: I saw the goldfinch again! A few days ago he flashed by with his lemon yellow feathers and I thought he was just passing through, but he came back. And I think I saw his mate too. Lynn sent me a picture of what Mrs. Goldfinch looks like. Could she be more beautiful? Is it not a miracle that so many such creatures exist in this world? We must do everything we can to protect them. How can we protect them?

Speaking of beauty to protect, more pleasure today: a Zoom coaching session with a former Ryerson student, aged 27, a keen reader and writer raring to go. Love is.

This morning, a visit with old friends Anna and Tom, in for the day from Stratford. And tonight - be still my beating heart - I watched part of a five hour documentary about Macca. FIVE HOURS! I just watched the first two. It starts at the end of the Beatles and goes from there. Hard to believe how vicious the critics were about his first solo albums; Rolling Stone editor Jann Venner, a huge John fan, the villain here. They dismissed everything he did. And yet he persisted. The two conclusions of the doc: 1. He is a very nice man. 2. He is a musical genius.

Well, duh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjjqUCvHNIs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1MGX0gkXAuYmh1SWDMw3LVDBNl689PuzR40O12fmq6wNJUlS4jIu1cxGg

Dusk, cool, quiet, the pale mauve phlox and orange lilies and white jasmine and purple clematis glowing in the fading light. A sole bird chirping. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, but - tomorrow I will wake up in the morning and come downstairs without shoes and drink coffee and say, "Jesus Chris, now what?" And something will happen.