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Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Bat
Just back from a Village Church Concert given by Quintetto Sonare, a very fine woodwind quintet
comprised of musicians from northeastern Michigan. The audience was relatively small, but very appreciative.
During the encore, in flew a bat -- as if they were playing Die Fliedermaus. First bat we've had
since Edna DeBats' funeral over two years ago, and the the timing was less appropriate by far!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday evening already! It has been hard to do a daily blog of late, but -- if excuses are allowed,
I have some. Like funerals. We buried Gordie Collins, age 51, today. His parents survive, and suffer what the professionals
regard to be the toughest bereavement. So, too, do a son and daughter and wife/best friend, likewise grieving.
No songbirds at the cemetery to cushion the blow, but plenty of wind and snow. Bleak. Leaving the family
and grave after the committal, a funeral home employee remarked that he had heard summer was going to fall on a Sunday this
year. "Let's have a picnic!"
I cannot remember the community's ever being so tired of winter. In line ahead of me, a Seven Eleven customer
announced loudly that he was "through with Alpena" and that, even though a native, he was returning to Arizona after trying
it back home for five years. That he was younger and hardier than I made me wonder what I will do in retirement.
Nonetheless, for anyone reading this blog who is not familiar with Alpena, be assured that at least six-or-so
months of each year, this place is justifiably called "God's Country." And the two geese I saw headed north day-before-yesterday
suggest that you might want to come up pretty soon yourself.
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