Corona Chronicles: August 17, 2021
Corona Chronicles XXXVI
Photo by Doug Chamberlin
Monday Morning
Reflection
Nancy Perkins
Following a sobering look at the news this morning I opened my email to find a message from Rev. John Nieman, interim priest of St. Margaret Episcopal Church in Belfast. He forwarded the passage below from a Meditation of the Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, retired Episcopal Bishop of Alaska of Choctaw Ancestral Lineage.
“How dark these days seem to so many. The old reality becomes the new reality through the fog of war, of retreat and realignment. The earth shakes and an already crippled society struggles to stay on its feet. The wind blows and whole towns are consumed by fire, the cinder and the ash testimony to a hotter world. A pandemic continues amid a political hinge-point between ideology and reason, which way will it go? How dark these days seem to so many. That is why I want to stand just a little taller, reach just a little higher, and let the light of our liberation shine just a little brighter. Dark days are what faith was made for: we are not naïve about what we face and neither are we afraid. The work to come will be long and hard, but as believers we are used to that. To respond, to repair, to renew. Look up, and see the faithful of all creeds creating light out of shadow.”
His words helped me absorb the multiple crises I both see and read about today. The overwhelming sadness of watching the Haitian people deal with another disaster, the horrible pictures from Afghanistan and the fate of all who live in that war-stricken land, followed by the increasing numbers of children and adults diagnosed with the Delta variant make me realize how the world is struggling in so many ways. As humans we search to blame one another, to castigate politicians, to lash out at ignorance and greed. But Bishop Charleston’s words are inspiring and are a call to action and we must heed them and “respond, repair, and renew.”
Celebrating
Ann Mullen
Public Gardens Are a Gift
Jim Owen
Ann Mullen came here late in her life…
Acting years younger,
she plunged her hands deep into our soil,
sharing 70 years of garden passion,
bringing plants to life and beauty to our eyes;
Grove Cemetery,
and the Post Office garden
both felt her devoted touch.
Public gardens are a gift
local gardeners create,
again and again,
their hands working the soil,
bringing joy into our lives.
Acting years younger,
she plunged her hands deep into our soil,
sharing 70 years of garden passion,
bringing plants to life and beauty to our eyes;
Grove Cemetery,
and the Post Office garden
both felt her devoted touch.
Public gardens are a gift
local gardeners create,
again and again,
their hands working the soil,
bringing joy into our lives.
For many years, she was
a familiar sight in town,
one of many
Garden Club volunteers…
garden tools in hand.
Her smile
was as full of life
as her plantings.
Ann Mullen will be remembered,
a master gardener,
She was a radiant perennial herself.
It takes special people,
to invest their lives
in flowers, bushes, trees,
knowing that they will not live
to see them all full-grown,
in leaf or in blossom,
but others will.
Celebrating Penobscot Shores
For your entertainment, a YouTube video made by residents of Penobscot Shores, including many members of Senior College, to celebrate 25 years.
‘Art Matters’ exhibit
by the Mid-Coast
Salon
The Mid-Coast Salon exhibit “Art Matters” is on display at the Hutchinson Center from 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday–Friday through September 30. It is free and open to the public.
Mid-Coast Salon is a monthly discussion group of two dozen accomplished artists brought together by their love for and commitment to art. In this exhibit, 16 artists present 54 diverse works of drawing, painting, photography, pottery and flex-forms. Participants include nationally known Belfast painter Harold Garde, now in his 99th year. Garde’s painting, “Tell a Story” is one of the few he’s done “where it felt appropriate to incorporate words.”
This show was first exhibited in July at the UMVA Gallery at Portland Media Center.
Photos by Doug Chamberlin
Help Wanted: Graphic Designer
Arlin Larson is working on a huge project to put all issues of Corona Chronicles into book form. We are looking for a graphic designer to create the front cover for this book. If you or anyone you know could help, please contact Arlin at arlintlarson@gmail.com.
Thank you!
Thoughts for the Day
No matter how dark the cloud, there is always a thin, silver lining, and that is what we must look for.
~WANGARI MAATHAI
The important thing is not to think much, but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.
~ST. TERESA OF ÁVILA
If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
~WILL ROGERS
Courtesy of Gratefulness.org