Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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Afternoon of my 83rd Birthday (Train of Thoughts). Guests at 1700 Hours have departed and I sit alone By my small pond in a gentle breeze. Quiet, with a bucolic sense all around. A Great Egret patiently fishes, then slowly rises up and disappears. Recounting my birth certificate, recording the time I emerged into the world-- 0115 EDT--if daylight time had been created then (it had--March 1918). That would mean the exact time of 83 years, Would have been 2215 Hours PDT on 24 August 2024. Funny how things shift around our planet. So, at 1100 Hours, Pierre's and Basil's mother, Christine, came to celebrate! When your ex-wife comes to truly visit, you have done something right! (I think she might be a little bored, lacking a challenging conversation now and then On some aspect of Nature, such as the proposed extermination Of the increasing range of the Great Gray Owl into Spotted Owl range in the NW.) Then Pierre (son) and Julia (his wife) and belatedly Rebecca (a friend) Tumbled in for a moment of greetings and tumbled out, just as fast, to Burning Man. Christine and I were left with cake and South African Gem squash and figs To discuss for a full four hours--she was to stay only for one or two. Reluctantly on both our parts--so different in life's orientation, I had to send Christine on her way into the five-o'clock Sunday traffic. A very nice interaction of two, who seldom interact. How wonderful if Kamala and Trump and their followers Could interact in such a peaceful and sane manner. This was, indeed, a thoughtful and meaningful meeting of two differing minds. Thank you, Christine, to take the time and be tolerant enough To propose, to expond, to contemplate and allow the possibilities of compromise, Which could exist in a world of needless, non-empirical debate. Frank Maurer 25 August 2024 1745 Hours.