Day to Night

Night Fall, Elizabeth Park   Hartford, CT   October 13, 2012

My friend Nancy called last week and wanted to know if we were up to anything special this weekend. She needed to come in from CA for her brother-in-law's funeral. Last week was a tough one for people my age that we know...two friends, one age 50 and one 55, died of sudden cardiac arrest. Both men were well loved and generous of spirit. Then there was Rosie the puppy clown. She nicked her leg and we had a terrible time stopping the bleeding. We were devastated to learn she had thrombocytopenia, possible brought on by her annual vaccines. Her platelet count was terribly low, well into serious danger of  internal or external spontaneous bleeding that would most likely require transfusion at the minimum. We started her on high doses of steroids and tried to figure out how to navigate our best laid plans...joining friends in the park  Saturday and the East Windsor Farmers' Market Sunday.

Anne Cubberly http://www.annecubberly.com/ is a fellow artist whose work I admire and have watched develop over the years. I had gone to one of her lantern workshops where we recycled water bottles into lanterns by changing their shape and cutting and combining them into something that could carry an LED candle light. All the lantern workshops culminated in a performance in Elizabeth Park...Night Fall...celebrating the change in seasons. I had been planning on attending from the moment I heard about it, but how to juggle this set of circumstances?

I picked up Nancy at the airport and she simply joined our stride. We experimented with leaving Rosie alone for very short periods of time, then forayed out to gather all our farmers' market supplies...cornstalks and pumpkins, gourds and mums. Okay. whew. Rosie was hanging in. Then we gathered a little picnic, a blanket and lawn chairs and headed out to Elizabeth Park. What a beautiful spectacle! Literally, as dusk deepened into night we were entertained by costumed creatures dressed as birds and trees and leaves. Even winter herself danced before us. Then the sun goddess creature entered, lit from within. The music was perfect, making the scenes complete in their magic. We were momentarily transported away from our grief and worry by the spectacle of dancing lights.

Sunday morning dawned rainy and we slept almost too late, but managed to get out and get our farm stand set up. Thank goodness for friends and family or I think we would have ended up totally alone out there. The memory of Saturday night's lights kept me warm as Nancy went off to the calling hours and Donna went to nurse Rosie~ she had taken a turn for the worse. By the end of the day, the end of the weekend, all of us showed some improvement, I think mostly because we chose to walk the path together. Today the sun has returned and it is the epitome of Autumn in New England...brightly colored leaves and bone-warming light. As we say goodbye to friends gone too young I am reminded "to everything there is a season..."