Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art and Environment

Ed Hessler

Good morning from St. Paul, MN, November 27, 2020 on the 332nd day of the year. More than 90% of the year has passed, not by much--90.71%. 

In weeks  and days this adds up to 47 weeks and 3 days.   

Sunrise is at 7:26 am and sunset is at 4:34 pm.

Winter is on our doorstep. In five days, December 1, it will be meteorological winter and in 25 days, December 21, it will be the winter solstice, an astronomical season. Here is information about the difference between the two.

Today's quote. On December 15, 1907, a letter by Helen Smith of Wimbledon, ND appeared in The Dakota Farmer, an entry in a contest on how women managed farm homes without hired help. Ms. Smith lived on a 500-acre farm with 1-5 hired men, and six children under age 10. She won, This is from that letter. "[L]et me say right here that my little girl of 10 can bake cake, set table, wash dishes, and sweep with any housekeeper in the country, and when mama is working with her, and making a companion of her, she thinks 'tis  all pay,; and she is laying by  store of knowledge and ideas of management, that will be of use, too, some time in future years."--Barbara Witteman, Prairie in Here Heart: Pioneer Women of North Dakota. The letter is reproduced in full.

There are two poems for today. The first is by Bruce Guernsey.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, a time when we once gathered with family and friends. This year was different. Asked to stay put many of us did just that. This next poem is a Thanksgiving favorite and I have sent it to others many times.  Thanksgiving will go on and we will sit at a table again with family and friends to share a meal and to be thankful. We can still be thankful. However, there so many "Ifs." between now and this "then."

The poem is by Joy Harjo, the first American Indian ever appointed Poet Laureate of the United States.