Today was quite a day. It was hot. In the upper 80s.

It was a day of triumphs for the Deeley women. George and Betsy went to Hilbert, I guess actually Appleton and ran in the Cheesehead Run. I am SO impressed. Betsy won her class and Kathy won hers also. The announcers commented on the fact that two Deeleys in a row were the winners of the event. Betsy won a cheese tray.

I went to the Aestival Festival with Jane and Sylvia from Writer's Club.
The Aestival Festival is really a great day for Wisconsin Writers it lasts from about 8 to 3. They provide a really nice continental breakfast and a great lunch. They always have a well known Wisconsin Writer as the keynote speaker. This year the author of The Final Frontiersman, James Crawford. There are two workshops, one before and one after lunch. You get a choice on these. Three choices in each time slot. I chose Journalism and Poetry. Then there is a final speaker and away we go. All of this is in addition to the writing contests and the prize drawings.

Jane got an honorable mention in the poetry contest and I GOT FIRST PLACE. I was SO excited. It was for a poem I wrote several years ago called They Soar. I will add it here for you.


THEY SOAR

They Soar.

We send them – Emissaries to the edges of the grasp of the planet.

They stride
These heroes of our time,
With joy and pride and courage.

With reckless abandon, they enter the capsule
And we fling them into the void.

We name them astronaut – cosmonaut.
These names make our hearts and minds ache with pride
Because they are human – like us.

We thrill as they rise from the shackles of Earth,
Feeling as they rise, the thrill in the pit of our stomachs.
As they experience
The ultimate carnival ride-
A journey beyond the clouds –
A reach for God in his heaven.

They satisfy
Man’s eternal curiosity,
His need to see a little further down the road.

We see them leave the womb of the capsule and float in the nothingness
On a man-made umbilical cord.
So Brave – So foolhardy.

We watch them walk on other worlds – with Giant Steps.

They talk of God, and of Pride and of Beauty that leaves them breathless.

In view of the whole world and yet beyond our reach,
They perform their deeds in glory.

And sometimes our emissaries don’t come back.

And we cry for them.

Have a neat Sunday.

Monday we leave for D. C.

Love

Mary