Fragments From Floyd

If you listen carefully, you'll hear the sound of quickening currents from just around the next bend: it is the precipice of waterfalls that come before the peaceful float that comes afterward--for the survivors. The end of the semester, the end of my little sortee back into academics that began in August--is about to culminate in a flurry of four impossibly condensed lectures over the remaining 400 pages of the book; a lab practical a week from today that I cannot imagine how I will manage to set up alone (two cadavers, four cats, lots of diagrams to label); and at last, a final exam on May 5. And then, the uncharted green fields of summer (that will need constant mowing--not to spoil the metaphor.) Who knows what will rise up to fill that seemingly vast and empty space?

Closer to home: I think I'll venture back up onto the Buffalo this Wednesday--a little earlier in the season than last year's foggy hike up with Doug and Joe. I may take a sandwich and stay long enough to see the sun set and the moon rise.

Friday, if you're nearby, stop by the Jacksonville Center for the Earth Day festivities. Be sure and stop by Sue Nees' place and enjoy her whimsy, wit and wisdom in paper and stone. You'll be glad you did. Sue, by the way, is involved in the soon-to-come Jacksonville School for Arts and Culture that will be opening its doors in early June.

And Saturday, we may be visiting once again the resurrected Pine Tavern Restaurant, recently reopened under new management. Most of our visits there were on Sunday nights for Open Mic Night, when our son, Nathan often performed the music he wrote. The clientele was quite Floyd-eclectic and ran the full spectrum of local and imported characters in World Dress of all sorts. After his first time performing there--which included a pair of 'interpretive dancers' who incongruously writhed and shimmied to Nate's ballads--Nate said he felt like he'd been an extra in the bar-room scene from Star Wars. (Guess you had to be there.)

Well, those are the known events for this week. We'll see what other unexpected happenings fall into place, as they always do, to keep life interesting. Oh, I remember one upcoming walk I'm looking foward to this week while the wildflowers bloom: a return visit to the waterfalls our neighbor told us about. Such magic makes one believe in fairy tales. You'll see!