June

A woman’s name. The sixth month in the Gregorian calendar and preceding that the Julian calendar. Ovid variously attributes the name to (1) Roman goddess, Juno as the inspiration for its name, (2) the Latin word iuniores as its source–iuniores means younger ones as opposed to the maiores, the older ones, translating into May, preceding June (age before youth).

What do you find yourself focused on these days? What influences what you pay attention to? Seasons? Moods? Tasks? Interests? Chance thoughts? Events? Schedules? Do you wander through a day? Do you march through a day? Does your day’s end show that the day you expected is the day you experienced? If not, which would you rather–expected or experienced?

What is your first response to a surprise? I think I like to be surprised. There is so much I don’t know, and how much I pursue to know is limited by how much I observe or what I think about or what I feel. Yet there is way more outside my physical, intellectual, emotional purview, and it seems that surprises are the best way, perhaps the only way(?), to step outside of my limitations. What do you think?

When June arrived this year in New England, so did some remarkable heat! I wore shorts!! (Usually I am not warm enough until later in the month)

But then it cooled a bit, and then last night it poured, and I am happy, because my vegetables (abundant arugula!! healthy looking mustard greens, tomato plants, eggplant, cilantro, basil, sage… may they all continue and thrive. May we all as well) needed the water, as did the Concord River on whose side I stand in the photograph above. I am standing at the top of the fish ladder in this photograph. In the distance may be the great blue heron, but maybe this one of the moments when he was elsewhere. He did spend a good deal of time with me during the final week I herring watched. I mean, it’s in his interest to do so. Herrings<->herons. Food!!

I worry for the western half of this country. I worry for the many, many dry, hot, fire burdened segments of this world. I worry for the many, many drenched, tornadoed, cycloned, tempestuous water events-laden segments of this world. I worry for the homes destroyed–be they tents of available materials, walled edifices of found and assembled materials, of brick, of lumber, steel, glass; be they places of pride, or just shelter; be they urban or rural or somewhere between; be they owned or rented or squatted in; be they cooled or heated or not enough of either; be they windowed or without–I worry for who they had been protecting. I worry.

I worry for felled trees. For the communities they engender, support, stand in and lie down in, suspire in. I worry for air they enable all living forces to breathe.

I worry for fish finding themselves in uninhabitable waters. I worry for foxes ousted, for horses captured, promised long lives in wide ranges, and sold instead at auction, their purchasers lying, lying to any who is fool enough to believe them.

I worry for us all.

I worry we won’t learn.

InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident information management system. The web-based program provides information for wildland fire emergencies and prescribed fires, but can also be used for other natural disasters and emergency incidents such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc

If you read all the way to the end. Thank you.