Somehow an entire month disappeared
in the space of an hour, the longest minute
where everything changed for my dearest
girlhood companion- my poppy pomegranate princess,
dew-drop hummingbird heart-
as soon as I heard the news,
my heart stopped, it broke into pieces up in
the mountain town, by the noisome
locomotive bleating great black belches,
its wail drowning out my own.
Oh my dear, so much have you lost.
When we were wee little girls it seemed
impossible- but now this tragedy has
turned epic, taking on the gestures
and masques of myth, or the very
darkest kind of fairytale.
The orphan lost in the woods,
a family of Ophelias,
as she said, a private world of legends
and phantom rivers..
Both father and mother
more beautiful, more terrifying
than any meteor, any angel.

Baby Pea and her Papa
In loving memory of
Richard Adam Gastelum-
July 18th, 1944-July 7th, 2007

What else could we do when
their birthdays fast approached but
bake cakes, nibble them through tears,
throw them into the river?
Rose and lavender cake,
black sugar cakes for mourning,
salt cake for the weeping,
seaweed for the drowning,
ruined wedding veil whipping cream
for the widowed ones.

What else could we do but have a little tea..

Our little friends crept out for a small gathering
in the house of sticks, the grackle grove..

Grizelda Sassafras perched precariously in the branches.

and Kitty!

Here is the Pea-pod Princess,
on her birthday- July 22nd, 2007

One of her gifts was an elf-spoon
crafted by Colin of steel, copper and bronze.

In her honor, I metamorphed into a mermaid.

A Perseid Meteor Shower amidst the Northern Lights. Photo by Jimmy Westlake.
Sunday, August 12th around 11pm- go outside and look up!
In early Europe, the Perseids came to be
known as the “Tears of St. Lawrence.”
Laurentius, a Christian deacon, is said to
have been martyred by the Romans in A.D. 258
on an iron outdoor stove.
It was in the midst of this torture that
Laurentius cried out:
“I am already roasted on one side and,
if thou wouldst have me well-cooked,
it is time to turn me on the other.”

Century Girl
100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis,
Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies
By Lauren Redniss
I treated myself to this wonderful book the other day
and sat and read it all at once and just cried when
I had finished it- what a life!
What an incredible way to present a biography:

This one looked promising, as I have a deep love
and appreciation for Miss Opal Whiteley:

Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness
by Kathrine Beck
It is a very sloppily written, flawed depiction-
though worth a look if you’ve already read everything else
about “petite Francoise” already.