HANGING MOSS

Here in north Florida you will find lots of Spanish moss hanging from the trees - especially the old oak and pecan trees. It is a haunting and beautiful site and in the winter, when the trees have shed their leaves, the moss is even more spectacular.

The memorial service for Peg McIntire on Monday night was attended by a couple hundred people from all over. The pot luck supper, with lots of pasta, had a line a mile long and there were more desserts than anyone would want to imagine. Lots of her favorite red wine too.

During the program Mary Beth and I were invited to speak about Peg. I concluded by saying that Peg did more to stretch herself outside her normal boundaries - her box - than anyone else I have ever known. I urged everyone to honor Peg by thinking about how they could push beyond their usual boundaries. Some of St. Augustine's best musicians also sang Peg's favorite songs. The whole event, held on the beach at the covered city pier, was a moving experience. We saw a couple young people who had years ago attended the summer youth peace camps I organized while working for the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice. One of the young women, Cara Jennings, is now an elected city council member in Lake Worth, Florida.

We are staying in Peg's condo on the beach and hanging out with Peg's son Jo and his wife Sali. They are both active in Cuba solidarity work and have over the years organized many delegations of people to go to the forbidden island. Sali told us they mostly take Republicans from St. Augustine who have come back and become advocates for an end to the economic blockade of Cuba.

We head back to Maine on the train, leaving from Jacksonville, on Thursday afternoon. We'll arrive in Boston and pick up our car and drive home. During the July 4th weekend our town of Bath will hold their Heritage Days celebration so we will be in the park at those events gathering signatures opposing Maine's participation in the Homeland Security program called "Real ID."