The Apostrophe Blog
This afternoon we made our annual pilgrimage to Canby, Oregon—an hour or so south of Portland near the Willamette River—to see the forty-plus acres of dahlias in peak bloom at Swan Island Dahlias. Every August and September, they open their fields to visitors—there are food carts, live music, fresh-cut bountiful bouquets, and general festivities all around for the attendees. Sunday afternoon was no exception as we lucked into a performance by the Salem-area blues band, Hank Shreve. It had rained in the night but the day cleared around noon with blue skies and highly dramatic clouds all around. It was calming to walk the paths between row after row of blooming beauty—a far cry from that memorial service spectacle for the fallen martyr (aka hate rally) that was happening at pretty much the same time near Phoenix, Arizona.
What a contrast in worlds! I cannot be the only person who needs respite from the nastiness more and more these ugly, lying days. Of course, it was not as if the Dahlia Festival was off the grid. Of course, there were people holding their cell phones to take photos of the gorgeous flowers but I did notice that pretty much nobody was actually talking on the damn things for a change. Instead, they were strolling, laughing, eating tacos, tapping feet to the blues music, enjoying time with family and friends, showing their children the abundance of pollinators and all this in the midst of so much beauty—an afternoon of simple weekend fun. It felt out-of-time, weirdly. It felt cleansing and restorative. Necessary and essential. A pleasant outing away from, outside, beyond the madness that has taken over this land. What a gift to be able to visit such abundance year after year after year…
Interests: Reading, writing, not arithmetic. The art and craft of poetry. Photography. Vegetable and flower gardening especially heirloom bulbs and dahlias. Movies in real theatres. Theatre on real stages. Art in real galleries. Crossword puzzles and, of course, Wordle. Singer-songwriters like Aimee Mann and Patti Griffin. All kinds of music especially 1930s jazz. Venice, Italy! The Dude abides.
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