Earlier this week I had some time between commitments. It was quite early so I picked up a cappuccino in Old Chelsea and headed out to Penguin Picnic Field to test out the bug situation. As I sat there in the early morning solitude I found myself batting at bugs, thinking I could win out, but began to realize the bug situation was really getting to me and that maybe I should just give up. At that point, the early morning sun shone through the trees creating such a sense of beauty with all the various shades of green, and then, an old friend, Ray Zahab, yelled out “Hi Margaret” as he jogged past on his early morning run. My mood was lifted immediately, and I was reminded of the poem by Wendell berry that begins with:
“Again, I resume the long lesson: how small a thing can be pleasing, how little in this hard world it takes to satisfy the mind and bring it to its rest”
– Sabbaths 1999, VII, Wendell Berry
My day was now off to a great start, however I was left with a number of black fly welts on my neck.
