Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Flu in Maine is the Same as in Michigan

Blogger: Deborah Music: James Taylor, Fire and Rain, on The Maine Grind coffeeshop (Ellsworth, ME)sound system Weather: rainy, gray, windy, cold, foggy

The first photo is the view of the bay I'm on, Pigeon Hill Bay, from atop the hill south of my cottage. I thought this view was cool, with somebody's summer house and garage in the foreground.

The second photo is what I saw further up the hill ("behind" the camera) at the Petit Manan nature preserve -- an inland swamp surrounded by wild blueberry bushes -- they're the red things. The wild blueberries here are a major income source, and though they're wild they're actually cultivated, harvested, and sold worldwide. The bushes are only about eight inches tall, and they cover the hillsides wherever there aren't trees.

Well, I've had the stomach flu since two days after I got to Maine. I went to MedNow yesterday and they said it could be the flu or it could be the microbes in the water at the cottage I'm staying in, so they took blood and I'll know in a few days, after I get home. All I know is that having chills in the middle of the night, alone in a cottage on a desolate peninsula hundreds of miles from home, isn't fun. But hey, Immodium A.D. is my new friend!

This coffeeshop I'm in is really cool -- it's in the former Masonic Lodge, a hundred-plus year old four-story brick building that has a dance studio on the lower level, and two cool gifts shops in the front of the main floor, and this big open coffeeshop/deli in the back. They serve fresh sushi made by an Asian restaurant in Bar Harbor, and beer. All the coffeeshops here serve beer. I didn't think the sushi would sit well on my tummy, so I opted for homemade spinach quiche instead, and that was really good.

This place has the original wood floors, original dark walnut trim and built in cabinets, and the walls are painted a sunflower yellow and the ceiling is grass green. I love being surrounded by these colors.

Well, I've got my new blog designed, but haven't written on it yet. I plan to "tap" into that today or tonight. This place is only open until 5:30, then I have a 45-minute drive to the Eagle Hill place where I can get online until they close at 9 PM. The blog address is www.urbanappeal.blogspot.com (I think) -- and right now it's entitled Urban Appeal.

I'm quite excited about the blog. I want to do some serious writing about the writing I do, the people I talk to, the developments I see happening and how I see (or don't see) God's hand in it. I think people often think they can only encounter God in nature, and they have to get out of the city or get to a park to do it, and I want to push back on that idea. Although God is certainly in the beauty of the trees and sky and moonlight and flowers, he is also in the beauty of architecture, a revitalized neighborhood, and a thriving city. He's in the new grassroots efforts to reduce light pollution and to build buildings, indeed entire neighborhoods, that are earth friendly, energy efficient, and feed the souls and lives of the residents.

And I want to write about these things and explore my thoughts in writing. Or, more accurately, I'm GOING to write about them. And I'm starting today.

Hey! I forgot to say that 31 years ago yesterday I became a mom! Wow. That's unbelievable it was so long ago. And it's also very cool. Very cool. Blessings!

Deborah

3 comments:

mike stratton said...

Deborah,

Sorry to hear about your illness/microbe mishap. Hopefully you are feeling better. Being far from home and sick is tough.

Love what you said about God. "Try to practice the presence of God" is one of my favorite mantras. Or "Are you the God in hiding?" When I am most spiritually centered I'm aware that every person I meet is God, wearing his Joe Smith disguise. And then other times I'm blissfully agnostic.

Be well, oh God in her Deborah disguise.

Mike

outdoorwriter said...

God's work is easier to see in Nature than in the city. That said, it is truly amazing to watch a weed or blade of grass push up through asphalt. I'm fascinated by the weeds and seeds that lie dormant in the ground for years awaiting just the right conditions to erupt into stardom either as a flower or a weed--and really someone said weeds are just plants we haven't discovered a use for yet.

dreemryter said...

L & M,

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the encouragement regarding the God commentary.

Mike, your comments remind me of something my therapist once told me that changed how I pray. He said that since he believes Jesus is in everyone, when he prays for someone he prays to the Jesus that's inside them. When I do that, it really helps me focus on Jesus.

Larry, that thing about the grass and flowers in the city reminds me of the two rose bushes that popped up in my yard after I moved to my "city house." Both had lain dormant under unmown grass and years of unraked leaves (the previous owner was elderly). The first bush popped up a year after we moved in--the leaves had been raked a couple of times by then and it got some sun. The second popped up TEN years after we moved in, and this year was loaded with pink blossoms. In the city--not between concrete slabs--but in the city, nonetheless.