Christopher Donahue

Mondays are always a tough start. There’s a lot of inertia to overcome. A body at rest wants to stay at rest, of course.

And a body on the weekend, wants to stay on the weekend!

But alas, I must suit up and head out. Unfortunately, not only is the weekend over so is summer. Now, I know summer ended on the calendar a month ago.  But we’ve been enjoying some nice warm weather since then.

Yet, this morning is looking pretty gloomy– literally! I look out the window with a cup of steaming coffee in my hand and Quiet Rustle my cat and by my side. We are both appalled with this morning’s weather!

Outside, it is 50 degrees with a cold driving rain that is supposed to go all day.   Welcome to New England. This will turn to snow in a couple months and then back to rain. But for all intents and purposes, this is going to be the weather forecast until approximately mid-June of 2022!

But there’s nothing I can do about the weather so I might as well get going anyways.

Time to get this body in motion!

copyright 2020 Christopher Donahue

It’s early Monday morning and I’m enjoying my first cup of coffee while relaxing in my bathrobe and big woolen socks. I’m looking at my cat, Quiet Rustle, who is looking back at me. We are both listening to the radio.  The news program has gotten to the familiar segment known as “traffic on the threes.”

As we sit there, comfortably starting our week, we listen to the various traffic jams afflicting the region.   It sounds like everybody’s having a bad time going to work. Except me and my cat.   But I haven’t left for work yet. And that’s the problem.

I have resumed working at the office downtown. Unfortunately, thousands of my closest friends have also resumed working downtown.   So, it is time to pick my poison.   Do I drive in to work and deal with the traffic?  Or do I take the train and deal with the breakdowns and lousy service.

I look at Quiet Rustle and he looks at me.

Time for another cup of joe.

Copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

It was one of the last weekend’s of the summer, and we were driving through the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont.  Earlier,  we had dinner with old friends we hadn’t seen in person since before the pandemic. It was a nice evening.   And there was a hint of Fall in the air as we drove up through the mountains in a cold rain.

The night seem darker than usual beyond the glaring beams of our headlights. We crossed over the peak and headed downhill into Wardsboro. I was driving, and talking to my wife, when suddenly, a giant white flash burst from the tree canopy in front of us and almost crashed through the windshield! It all happens in a nanosecond.

It was an owl!   Somehow, I managed to hit the breaks and swerve a bit but to try to avoid hitting the owl. The owl swerved too and together it was enough to avoid a crash.

Then it was gone.  It must have been diving down on a mouse of something crossing the road and not see our car coming.

We continued on the road, looking through the cone of our bright headlights with the glittering raindrops falling amidst the blackness. Almost as a shadow,  I saw a deer standing on the side of the road.   The only witness to this near fatal encounter.

We drove the rest of the way uneventfully and stayed the evening at a bed and breakfast.

I will be forever grateful I didn’t hurt that owl.

copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

Summer was winding down. It was one of the last Mondays of the season  and I took the day off.  And the early morning weather was perfect.

I sat on my front steps sipping coffee and watching the world go to work. Traffic was backed up from the corner light and I could see all the people in their cars ready to go to work. They were all dressed up, most likely showered, smelling nice and rarin’ to go!

I was right out of bed, barefoot,wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt . My coffee was holding out.

Monday had left me behind. It and the rest of the world were getting on without me.

And that was a good thing!

copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

It rained again. And it rained. It rained and rained and rained.

Rained again.

Oftentimes more than once a day.  To break your spirit.   Make you think it stopped.

It was the summer of rain.

We get rain in the morning and afternoon, rain in the evening, rain in the nighttime. There is rain before the sun comes up,  rain when the sun goes down.   And, of course  so much rain you can’t tell IF the sun is going up or down.

It has been one long, wet summer.   Apparently, the only way out is to…

Let it snow!!!

copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

This summer, we’ve been going through a stretch of unseasonably cold and rainy weather here in New England.  All the wet and cold is certainly not good for my tomatoes, or for people who are  on vacation. Everyone is down in the dumps because of the weather. Everyone that is except for pollywogs!

And that is the problem. My elderly dad has a above ground pool, and we didn’t get it prepared for an early start this year precisely because of the poor weather.  But we didn’t realize that just because we weren’t using the pool someone else might have different ideas.

And that someone else, happened to be a tree frogs who spawned in still waters of the swimming pool. In all the years my family had the pool, we never had polliwogs take up residence.   We can only guess it is due to the weather related late start we had opening the pool up. And frankly, we were astonished: we didn’t notice the predicament until there were thousands of polliwogs in various stages of gestation swimming all about the pool.

They’re really are  quite remarkable. Some look like little blobs with tails. Some of them are sprouting legs. It’s kind of relaxing to stand at the edge of the pool and watch the polliwogs come up and take a gulp of air and then go back to the bottom. Be that as it may, we need to use the pool at some point so we have to move our little friends along.

It’s a tricky and labor intensive endeavor to  catch and release them. We succeeded in relocating several hundred, but at some point we’re probably going to have to at some point just chlorinate  and start the pool.

But then again, all this cool, rainy weather is actually great for catching pollywogs!

copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

It was a summer Monday at the end of June. The weather was scorching hot and humid in the 90s.  And, although the pandemic was winding down and working from home was drawing to a close, I found myself working from home indeed. The car was in the shop and I didn’t have to be at a meeting or in court.

So there I was. At the exact time I usually would be  commuting, I was in the back yard in  barefoot,  wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt watering my tomatoes in the tropical heat. It was a nice to stay in the moment and have gratitude for all the good things in life.

Starting with tomatoes.

Observation: Pandemic or not. Stay-at-home orders or not. Watering tomatoes on  a summer morning in June sure beats commuting to work.

Copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

        Starting Over was the theme of this year’s Friends of the West Roxbury Library Poetry Contest.  Here’s my contribution that won honorable mention for the second year in a row!!!

Starting Over

Starting over

whether

I like it

or not 

but at least

not at

the beginning

back now

to the new-familiar

to give another go

but friends are missing

I begin again

after an amnesiac year

not sure just when

is when

or even

now

Copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue

You plant a tree for the next generation. You plant tomatoes for this one!

I’d like to take credit for first half of that quote, but I can’t. However, I can say the second half of the quote is is definitely me!

Growing tomatoes is one of my favorite activities. In this digital age, growing tomatoes is a nice calming hobby that keeps me connected to the natural world. And, this year is no exception.

Each Spring, I wait until the end of May to put the plants in the ground because of the threat of frost. It doesn’t seem real that it can get that cold in Southern New England in May but past experience has proven the theory.

And this year, after procrastinating a bit, I put my last four plants in during a driving, cold  rain in forty degree weather on Memorial Day Weekend.

Just a reminder that planting tomatoes aside, Mother Nature doesn’t need a pandemic to make us stay indoors all (Memorial Day) weekend!

Copyright 2021 Christopher Donahue