Geraniums

 November 13, 2026

Woke after the coldest night of the season to find that my porch geraniums had not only survived, but the white one has bloomed. If you want to live, sweetheart, then you shall live. Hauled them inside, the white one and the orange one. The scarlet one is in an enormous pot which, full of dirt, cannot be moved. Not by me. This grieves me, but there must be some sacrifice to winter. Went to the hardware store and bought a white Christmas cactus. The check-out boy had a full face of metal inserts, including metal fangs. 

All flights are canceled now at American airports, some sort of communications problem. Every report quickly adds: “It’s not a cyber-attack.” So it probably is. 

Veteran's Day

November 12, 2026

My barber complained about Veteran’s Day, said it should be moved to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so people could have a long weekend. She had no idea that the selection of the date was not arbitrary. I explained Armistice Day to her. She said they’d never touched on WWI in school, and WWII only insofar as to read Anne Frank every year. The haircut was fast and good. 

 

 November 11, 2026

Radiant days continue, though colder on some days than others. Put together a new pump for the pond, $200 more expensive than the last one (which was out of stock), much harder to assemble, and doing, as far as I can see, exactly the same thing. How long will it last? I am completely at the mercy of the bears. Potted a cutting I rooted from one of my houseplants. They multiply into a jungle. Worked on the play, waiting for fresh inspirations to come like rapids along a river, which is how you know it’s working. 

Tony remarked that my garden looks messy in the winter. I split a stalk open to show him a bee (I think it was) hibernating inside. Every upright stalk, every heap of leaves is a palace for some tiny be-wintered creature. 

Tiny bits of AVLGMC rehearsals have been recorded on B’s phone. We sound charming. Our sounding charming does not contradict my conviction that we’re singing crap. But we sound great doing it. I need to shut my mouth abut this.  Nothing’s worse than a person ruining everybody’s fun.

Teeth

 November 8, 2026

Tooth marks in two of the pumpkins, where a bear tested them. Either not to his taste, or not softened enough to get a good bite. Bear proceeded to the pond to destroy the pump. It didn’t look destroyed, but if you pull it out of the water, the little motor quickly burns itself up. 

Robes on at church today– an inconvenience, but one which apparently encourages the congregation. The scriptures– both of which I read– were the wise and foolish virgins and Joshua admonishing his people to choose among gods. Both are problematic unless read as theater– characters speaking their lines, sensible in context, unsatisfying if taken to be universal. 

A review of JD Vance’s new and evidently hideous book led me to think of things in my past I did for praise or to gain approbation. The fact is I never completely understood the things that got me praised, nor those that got me disapproved of. They seemed to me part of a continuum, one point to me indistinguishable from another. I waited till the dust settled to decide if I had triumphed or flopped.  

Woke in at 4 AM revising my play, half in dream, half awake. The dream was about a colossal dinner party I was giving, worried that the plates were coming out too slowly and there wouldn’t be enough wine and that nobody had thought of ice. 

 November 7, 2026

Pileated woodpecker in my dead maple.

Brief walk at Sleepy Gap. It was colder than I had prepared for. A Japanese family was strewn over the grass, taking photos of one another.

 November 6, 2026

Continuing to feel a great weight lifted from my heart. I’m more political than I thought I was. 

Rehearsal last night barely infuriating at all. Plus, there were cupcakes. 

 November 5, 2026

Learned that classmate M shot himself after coming come from Vietnam severely wounded, blind in one eye, soaking in PTSD. Knew that he’d died in the 70's, but, having known his mean and bullying ass, I assumed it was drugs or murder. Live and learn . . . .

I continue to be stupid with joy over the election results. 

Cleaned leaves and pine needles and other detritus out of the pond. Fish come up in the net, and it gives me the opportunity to hold them in my hand for a second while I pluck them out and dip them back in the water.  I hope they remember it. I do.