L'aura del Campo

Last day before the Fast

Winter: 4 Ayyám-i-Há (March 1st)

2006-03-01
afternoon, 75 degrees. 27 in Kane, PA.

Did some grave digging yesterday. Found some of my family in the on-line US census reports of 1900, 1910 and 1920.

To wit:
John E. Hessel, born 1843 in Sweden. Immigrated, 1879.
Christine Hessel, born 1849 in Sweden. Immigrated, 1868.
Edward V Hessel, born 1876 in Sweden. Immigrated 1879.
Lillie Lawson, born 1881 in Pennsylvania.
Laurie Lawson, born 1883 in Pennsylvania.
Nonnie Hessel, born 1883 in Pennsylvania.
Oscar Hessel, born July, 1888 in Pennsylvania.
Bertha Hessel, born November, 1991 in New York.
Amanda Hessel, born April, 1994 in New York.

Slowly I find the missing pieces. There were more children. Possibly a William, an Anne, a Middy, Florence?

Got an address too! 205 Fulton Street in Jamestown, New York.

As for my father's grand-father? Found out about them too. At one time they lived in Kane, PA, not far from Jamestown. My English great-grandfather was a glass-blower. William was born in England in September, 1855. Martha (Mary or Margrett, née Lentz) in December, 1854 in Maryland; her parents in Germany. William H, their son, born in December, 1884 in Maryland.

Yahoo is messing with my mind! They are trying out a new home page. Since I'm on a slow public computer, I don't need the extra aggravation of looking all over for things they split, don't properly highlight, hide, etc. Call me anal, but I've never beeen one to rearrange the furniture every week because I was bored, either. I went to Google instead.

Very warm here. Hit 80 yesterday, a record high. Very dry, but may rain this weekend. One of the things I didn't like about Odessa, Texas was the desert dryness. (and the stench and the despair) Didn't care for the dry in Denver either. Yet, Arequipa, that sits in the Peruvian desertscape intrigued me.

Finished another Cadfael mystery: An Excellent Mystery.

GETTING TO KNOW ME #3

24. I was short as a child and very skinny. My younger sister was bigger. (oh, for those days of being skinny )

25. Salty, sweet, bittersweet or sour? As long as it is chocolate, who cares?

26. Chicken, beef or pork? Fish, as in flounder stuffed with crab, as in almost anything from the sea and most things from the pond.

27. Black, blue, grey, green, brown, hazel? Big brown eyes draw me in.

28. 5 card stud or strip poker? Strip! I do not like being naked. I don't strip for no one, so, I'm VERY good at strip poker.

29. In school: PE, English, Social Studies, Science, Language, Art, Music, Shop, Lunch, Study Hall? Yes to Chemistry and Music. I despised PE, English, Shop and Lunch. Especially PE. As I said above, I do not like being naked. Swimming was a horror. I was painfully shy in English. All thumbs in Shop.

30. Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night? Depends. Mornings are great. It's when I sleep best! Want to get something out of me? Try between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

31. I avoided the telephone as a child and teenager. I prefered face to face conversation.

32. Who in the family ... ? I feel closest to my cousins, especially Carol. Aunt Dot keeps tabs on me the best.

33. Music or quiet? Quiet. I'm easily distracted.

SENSED

Sun on bamboo slats, the shadow of my hat; a small green insect, bird twitter; warm breeze moving the dead grass leaves and stalks; David's smile; Cary's halt of foot; a cool waft from the open rear door; 2 lemons.

Sketched February 27th from what was sensed:

Ginkgo fruit

Shriveled fruit, the green moss snuggles
between bricks, edges yellow crocuses.
Leisure of a sunny day with nose
stuffed up and a dry hack cough.
Seconds of life wasted sitting
on a couch. Outside, a yellow
dandelion blooms shy, crouched close
to ground, seeking warmth.
Inside, he shivers, watches
the black and yellow backpack
stride across the walk,
toss a shock of yellow hair.
So much sunshine out there.
He views the ginkgo tree,
leafless, pointed candle to the sky,
views the fruit, shriveled at its base,
and sees his future there. [162.774]

2006-03-01
late afternoon, 78 degrees. 61 in Ojai, CA.

Fun at end of Winter to note we are warmer than California. It can still get below Zero, though. But probably not this year.

Thinking that if I pull out a chapbook (a late or very late gift) I could call it "A Force of Nature" and include my poems based on natural disasters, some of my love poems, maybe an elegy or two.

Need to focus on my poems for tomorrow's Tea at Three.

Odd note about today and the Bahá'í calendar that most Bahá'ís don't think about. Every day of the year corresponds with a date in the Gregorian calendar, except the 1st of March. Most years it is the 4th day of Ayyám-i-Há, but in leap years, it is the 5th. The 29th of February is always the 4th day.

The Fast always begins the morning of the 2nd of March. Tonight begins the first day of the month of Loftiness or 'Ala'. The New Year, New Day, or Naw-Ruz is the first day of Spring. On the eve of March 20th, the year 163 begins.