Not On My Watch

dammit

This nautical term feels appropriate after my morning walkies past the Thames River here in New London, Connecticut. I am writing this before I sit down to read the latest horror in the Sunday paper. The hits just keep on coming. But I am reminded of the poem by Dylan Thomas that says “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” And so that is what I intend to do.

Meanwhile, I also had a flickering thought of another quote (which I had to look up and confirm its origin)— “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” which seems somewhat apt for a rewriting of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. But this line from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno is followed at the very end by a somewhat less famous line which says “And then we emerged to see the stars again.”

Another memory struck me while I was out, which was that early in my sailing adventures I was alone in my dinghy when I was unable to course correct and ended up on the Groton bank of the river. This was years before cell phones, but I managed to drag my Dyer Dhow far enough from the riverbank to be secure, then I scrambled up to the street quite far above. The details are misty now, but somehow I found an open bar, I think, and was able to use their landline to call a friend with a truck. He rescued me and my boat and all was well. I’ll have to ask my daughter if she remembers more of the story because honestly, how did I know the friend’s phone number offhand? I certainly don’t know anyone’s number nowadays since my phone remembers all that for me.

So anyway, back to the task at hand—saving our country from the evil cabal currently in charge. When the Supremes clamped down even tighter on a woman’s right to choose, I almost lost all hope (hence the Dante quote). But as I firmly believe, we have come too far to go back now. Turning 80 soon really puts things in perspective. And I am reading an amazing book by my friend Karen Dustman entitled “Miami’s Great Hurricane: September 18,1926” about which I knew absolutely nothing. Karen has family ties to the event and shares a wealth of photographs in the book. She is also an inveterate researcher and includes a lot of local press coverage and personal stories which bring this horrible time to life for us. When Mother Nature has her way with our modern society, it’s heartwarming to know that we can all pull together to rebuild.

And my final thought this morning is about another fabulous author, Alexander McCall Smith, who has such an amazing body of work to enjoy. My bedtime soother recently is “The Dog Who Came In From The Cold” which is one of his Corduroy Mansion Series set in London, England. I find great comfort in the description of the various neighborhoods and street names which remind me of my trips with Mum as we navigated the beginning of her Alzheimer’s journey. Maida Vale stands out for some reason. Perhaps I’ll find a postcard or letter which explains the connection.

RESIST ALWAYS

TTFN