How the sky ignores me, forever unimpressed

[sovay]

The sapling in the side yard which was believed to be a redbud turns out to be an elm. Its thin serrated leaves are yellowing in the drought, so I have been not quite literally throwing buckets of water on it. I feel protective of it in its own right and because it reminds me of the elm tree on my former street which I adopted and named and which I hope someone else is watering this summer. I have spent this month feeling curiously and progressively dispossessed, in exile. I saw an article about the first female captain of USS Constitution and it reminded me that I can no longer walk to the Charlestown Navy Yard in three-quarters of an hour. I have a reservoir behind me, but not a river. I don't smell salt with the right breeze in the mornings or hear gulls. I have a cat who has arranged himself in the curve of the basket chair so that he is taking up the part of my lap desk that is supposed to hold a mouse and instead naturally supports a cat and the thrum of his purr against my wrist is of great comfort, but it is the end of the month and I am not looking at moving out of this limbo in the next few days, which is not for want of trying. Every few days it feels like the Globe runs another article to the tune of the housing crisis in Boston. No kidding. I was raised to believe that I carried my home with me, but it is beginning to feel a bit like the bounds of a nutshell. Hestia is crouched in the hearth, her black tail curled protectively over the stones; I have to believe that as long as she is there, the fire has not yet gone out.

Comments

[selkie]

You have homes all over, with people who love you fiercely, but it just ain’t the same as something yours. We have got to find a disused lightkeeper’s cottage and sweep the ghosts out.

[sovay]

We have got to find a disused lightkeeper’s cottage and sweep the ghosts out.

*hugs*

They can share my library, but that's it.

[selkie]

You say this, but one seaweed strand cast eldritch-ly over the Trade Paper, A-E shelf later, you're gonna revoke their privilege and you're looking at forty, fifty years of semi-annual binding spells. It's best to be firm and put a box of Friends of the Library selections outside in the burying ground so they can put ectoplasm fingerprints on those.

[movingfinger]

A Little Free Library, for the ghosts!

[selkie]

When I was extremely young and ignorant, I got a fingerprint on one of Sovay's books; possibly two fingerprints; and is is only because they truly like me that I retain ten fingers. As I pictured their long-ago facial expression, just now, my kid walked by and said "Mama, you look like someone just got KILLED."

[kathmandu]

The elm tree is nice. Can you tell what kind of elm it is?

At least you have cats. They are a great help in making a home.

[sovay]

The elm tree is nice. Can you tell what kind of elm it is?

I've been assuming an American elm, since leaf-wise it looks very much like the one on my former street, which was a Jefferson elm. How else would I tell? It's a very young tree, maybe three years old. It's barely as tall as I am.

At least you have cats. They are a great help in making a home.

They are. The home I must carry with me de facto surrounds them.

[thisbluespirit]

♥

[sovay]

♥

*hugs*

[vass]

*offers hugs*

[sovay]

*offers hugs*

Appreciated.

*hugs*

[umadoshi]

*hugs quietly*

[sovay]

*hugs quietly*

*hugs*

[davidgillon]

Hestia is crouched in the hearth, her black tail curled protectively over the stones;
I have to believe that as long as she is there, the fire has not yet gone out.

Love the incidental poetry!

[sovay]

Love the incidental poetry!

Thank you.

[aurumcalendula]

*hugs*

[sovay]

*hugs*

*hugs*

[minoanmiss]

I am thinking of you and if I find any more leads they are yours.

[sovay]

I am thinking of you and if I find any more leads they are yours.

Thank you.

*hugs*

[asakiyume]

The hardship is real... I'm so sorry you're caught in it.

[sovay]

The hardship is real... I'm so sorry you're caught in it.

I don't like being a sign of the times!

*hugs*