Margie and Snubby 2

Today it was oddly hot (86F), too hot for Margie and me to go out for coffee, so I took her a book of poetry written by a woman who lived to be 107 and began writing poetry at the age of 90. We read the poetry together until one of them reminded Margie of Dr. Kettner's poems--he was the founder of Biosophy, a spiritual ethics program Margie discovered when she was 16. Margie married a Biosophist, and they lived in a Biosophist community for a few years. So then she read to me from Dr.Kettner's poems until she began to cough and to look tired. A black and white portrait of Freydberg by Eli Dagostino opens her book, and I asked Margie if she'd like me to make one like that of her. She thought that would be fun, and she held the book on her lap and tried to compose her face like Freydberg (Extra 1), but she found it frustrating. 

"I never close my mouth when I smile," she protested. So I asked her to just go on and smile her way (Extra #2). That was delightful, and I thought I had my blip in the bag until Margie walked me to the door to say goodbye. She brought Snubby with her and cuddled him up close to her face, and boom! That became my blip for today. So much for trying to copy someone else's photograph of another old woman. Margie is just entirely herself.

If you're interested in poems written by someone aged 90-106, there's a charming article about Freydberg's book by Laurie David, who edited the final version of it, and the article includes several of the poems.