Delights: August 14 to August 22

August 15: When my boys were small, I used to take them to the National Building Museum for the annual Construction Equipment Petting Zoo. We couldn’t climb into the seats, but we could get very close to the gears, blades and switches.

(Once, though, when Nate was in preschool, a backhoe operator invited him to sit in the operator’s seat high above a skyscraper pit. I was slightly envious.)

Well, happy day! A Construction Equipment Petting Zoo has arrived at my doorstep. Three asphalt rollers (in different sizes and colors), a mini pay loader, and an I-don’t-know-what now rest where our cars would be. 

Sure, the sounds, smells and window-rattling vibrations will be unpleasant for a day or two. And my car is inconveniently parked. But I get to study these critters all day long. And maybe climb into a seat when no one is looking?

August 17: Like all cities, Washington, D.C., is replete with neighborhoods: DuPont Circle, Kingman Park, NOMA, Foggy Bottom, Capitol Hill, and on and on.

This morning, I walked past a license plate reading “FRGY BTM.” I imagined the father-child conversation years ago that prompted the plate:

“Hey, sweetheart, where’s Mommy?” “She’s still at work, Daddy. You know — at Froggy Bottom.”

August 18: I’m driving to Brooklyn this morning to visit Jeremiah. I’m proud to report that New Jersey — my native state — has two automobile rest stops named after poets.

August 19: Last night, we ate yummy Haitian food in Little Caribbean. Tonight, we ate great pizza on slightly gritty Rutland Avenue. And this morning, Jeremiah and I enjoyed a lovely shaded walk along Brooklyn’s Paris-inflected Eastern Parkway. We wound through the beautiful 21-acre Lincoln Terrace/Arthur S. Somers Park, created in the 1930s under Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and wandered along the tree-lined streets of Crown Heights amid brownstones and tiny gardens. And, of course, we achieved my heart’s desire: amazing bagels. (Ah, the cream cheese with chives!)

August 21: I’m back at home, my headphones are on, and my “Cassie Wholeheart” playlist is blasting. I knew Kevin was heading out the door, so I felt free to sing along when “Surfin’ USA” came on.

I was loudly memorizing all the beaches in the song to impress Nate — Del Mar and Ventura County, Santa Cruz and Trestles, Australia’s Narrabeen (“No, Mom, it’s not ‘the Caribbean.’”) — when suddenly I hear Kevin announce, “I’m finally going!”

Oops. Now you know what I’m doing, Kevin, when you’re not around . . . 

August 22: Although Jeremiah offered me tons of swag from the Southampton Writers Conference he recently attended — tee shirt, travel mug, book bag and, of course, a pocket  journal — what I really wanted was the experience itself: workshops, readings, craft lectures, camaraderie. 

“I’ll budget for next year!” I cheerily announced to Jeremiah. Fine, he replied, but you need to prepare your writing. You need to decide what you want out of the conference and do the work in advance to ensure you get it.

Like what? Join a local writers group. Experience giving and receiving workshop critiques. And, most important, get your writing to the point where you think you’re done, that you’ve squeezed your own creativity dry. Only then should you apply to the Southampton Writers Conference.

Game on! 

So, dear readers, today I printed out a long personal essay I’d abandoned four years ago, attended my first (of many?) biweekly writers groups, and started to write again. 

Why am I reporting this to you? Well, certainly, it’s a delight. But it’s also a temporary farewell.

I realized a few weeks ago that my Delights constitute for me tiny personal essays that I write each day in response to the world’s prompts. Now I have my eye on something different.

If you want to get a flavor for my personal essays, here’s a very short piece published in 2019 by The Christian Century (the same magazine that published the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”). You can also find links to three more published pieces on my Welcome page. 

I’ll be back, certainly. But right now my ink will spill elsewhere. Wish me luck. Talk soon!

Readers, to receive notifications by email each time I make a post, just scroll all the way down this page (next to the “word cloud”), look to the left and click on the black button that says “Join Me!” And if you think a friend might enjoy these, please share the Delight!

If you’d like to browse my past delights, please consult the “word cloud” featured at the very bottom of this post. Find a theme or two that interests you and sift through the sands. Or learn a bit more about my Blog by visiting my Welcome page. You’ll also see links to four essays that were published in print magazines. I’m glad you’re here!