How lovely it was to see Zoe
And how lucky that we could take a tour of the historic
Boston Athenæm
What a thrill it was to see books from the 17th century
Books then considered to be essential for human knowledge
Desert island books if you will
Sent from England to Boston (via the Caribbean)
And now sitting in an old glass lined cabinet
(There was an exhibit a few years ago that asked
What is essential knowledge?
…
What do you consider Required Reading?)
Being able to walk between the narrow aisles of the stacks
The wonderful smell of old books
It fills my soul and raises my heartbeat
I want to read ALL the books!
And see all the films
And watch all the plays!
And hear all the music!
And play all the instruments!
Why is our time so infuriatingly finite?!
Rachel and I decided on our afterlife meeting spot
And promised to one day haunt the halls of the Athenæm
Reading for all eternity
In this lifetime
We had lunch on the Common and
Sat with Zoe on her break
The full breadth of humanity on display

The afternoon was reserved for the quiet of Mount Auburn
A stunning garden cemetery full of faery energy
A resting place for the dead
A home for the towering trees
Moss covered mausoleums
And stone statues
Gravestones and crypts and a
Verdant landscape
That takes your breath away with its beauty
And you whisper to the trees
Thank you for this day.

How appropriate that the morning after pride
There was an enormous full arc of a
Bright beautiful rainbow
Gracing the sky
She made my heart sing

​How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Join a chorus and practice practice practice
And with a dainty string of lights
Upon your head
Become a fairy who declares
We must dance and
We must sing...

Oh yes, we must!

What a joy to be on stage again
What a joy to sing in the choir 
(After all, happiness truly is...) 
What a joy to play dress-ups 
What a joy to be a fairy 

We should all become fairies
And trip the light fantastic
And fall in love with music
And dance upon the wicked stage
And sing with all our collective might 
And delight
In our existence.

The singing fairies
Shall wear
Wreaths of light
In their hair!

The feeling when you learn when Tiler Peck is going to be in your show next week.

The feeling when you’re watching The Carol Burnett 90th birthday special and it takes you to another world with shiny stars and witty quips and gorgeous dresses and comedic performances of the highest level. 

The lands of dance and play and story-telling and art
And fabulous women.

I got to visit camp
It was strange being there in the winter
I think of camp as verdant green
With trees full of foliage
But it’s the end of winter and
The trees were bare
And all the colors were muted
Even the evergreens were dull

But oh how wonderful it was
To be on that hallowed ground
Sharing what camp is all about
With new families
Our tour group was a little hesitant at first, but
By the end, the kids were asking questions
A little glint in their eye
Thoughts of projects and doing as they please
All summer

It was hard to leave
Despite the grey, the mosses were still glowing
Fairy magic at play
It felt mean to only stay a few hours
And have to drive back to Jersey

Tomorrow is 100 days until staff arrive
I can’t wait.

You are on the upper west side
You walk past the second hand book store
And glance at the $1 trolleys and crates
Sitting on the sidewalk
A book with a yellow and red cover
Draws you in
The Telling Room
It is about cheese
The Wall Street Journal — according to the blurb on the back --
Says it is “a must read for all who think of Spain as magical, who consider cheese as the ultimate gift of love, who love stories of betrayal, despair, revenge and redemption.”
Yes please!

You go inside the store to pay
You're waiting for the customer in front of me to finish their purchase
You look out the window and
There is a real life fairy browsing the books!
Right there is broad daylight!
On Broadway and 81st!
She is wearing a tall, pointy felted hat
With a red rim and a thick strand of purple felt dangling from the top of the pointy tip
A rainbow colored ribbon tied in a giant bow under her chin
Secures the hat
And frames her wizened face
Her coat is also felted, red and orange stripes
And flecks of dark purple
The coat is lined with the same deep dark purple
Visible from her rolled up cuffs
The coat buttons are crocheted
She is smiling while she peruses the books

The cashier is ready
You look up and see
An old friend from camp
And his mom
His sister, her daughter,
Was one of my first campers
When you were a guidance counselor
A thousand million years ago
Before COVID, cancer, FoCo, London, Aaron,
Before Kris ended the engagement, before the camino, and
During your very first overseas adventure
Now that sister/daughter/camper
Is a Mumma of her own to a mischievous baby boy
We catch up on the sidewalk

Then it is chorus rehearsal
You're told you didn’t see actually see a fairy — it's Purim! 
You still choose to believe you saw a fairy
You sing in Hebrew
The music is challenging and complex
And beautiful
As you're leaving rehearsal
Your friend passes you a homemade
Hamantaschen filled with apricot 

Even though it is cold out
You feel warm
All the way home.

When a fellow faery
Shares delightful wings with you
Crafted from sticks and flowers
Hot glue, and a little elastic
And a dash of imagination.

​The air is chilly
But the sky is blue
And it’s almost warm in the sun
Into the woods it’s time to go
On a Sunday
To breathe in trees

The trees are bare
And beautiful
The air smells of earth
There are still leaves underfoot
Hundreds and thousands of
Brown leaves
Blanketing the forest floor
By the spring
They will have decayed
And broken down
Preparing the soil
For new shoots

The trees and earth are brown
Pale brown and chocolate brown
Bark brown and woody brown
Earthy brown and muddy brown
The brown of forest

But the moss
Oh the moss!
The moss is verdantly green
It glows on fallen logs
And stumps of once were trees
And appears as if out of nowhere
Surely it was made by fairies
Passing by
Between their homes
In the hidey holes of the tree trunks
And secret bowers in the undergrowth

Admire the moss
Keep watch for faeries, and
Breathe in trees.