“When lilacs last in the door -yard bloom’d,

and the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,

I mourn’d – and yet shall mourn with ever-returning Spring.” – Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last  in the Door-yard Bloom’d.”

People like Maria and I are connected to the world and yet not, in some ways. We have always lived outside of the tent, on the other side of the circles that most people form, and that is one of the many things we share. On holidays, we are somewhat outside the pale. We don’t have family functions to go to, our friends are all having family dinners, and we don’t belong to any religious organizations, unless you count Mother Earth and the animals. So we, like many people, make our own holidays. The people who make their own holidays are legion, but you read and hear little about their work to find their own connections. They are kindred spirits all. There is, I admit, a whiff of sadness about holidays for me, but Maria and I love being together, and there is much more joy than sadness. We get creative about holidays,

We are celebrating Easter by planting two big lilac bushes we got from Mandy’s Spring Hill  Nursery in Granville, N.Y. late yesterday afternoon. It was an impulsive thing. We are going to dig two big holes in the front yard and take the dogs for a walk and bless the animals we live with. The people, too. We might go to Momma’s restaurant for lunch. Louise is open today, for reasons she can’t figure out and it seems an appropriate place for us to be. We will meet a friend for dinner in Williamstown, Mass., she lives outside of the tent also, bless all of us.

It was my idea to rush off and buy some lilacs. My wonderful wife jumped at the idea. I bought them for her, in her honor, in her spirit. I want her to see how much I love her every time a lilac blooms.

“O ever-returning Spring! trinity sure to me you bring;

Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west,

and thought of him I love.”