Greenwich Pen Women, a branch of the National League of American Pen Women is a non-profit organization of women artists, writers, and musicians. We offer mutual support and exchange of ideas to encourage and inspire excellence in original creative work.
Photograph and poem Waterfall by GPW Cathy Horn
Water falls
careening fast
down the steep mountain side
rushing past inviting us all
to gaze.
Note from our President:
May, 2024
We just celebrated Earth Day and we are very proud of our two members, Cathy Horn and Linda Hortick, who had poems and an article published in The Pen Women Magazine. Kudos to you both!
An outdoor program at Round Hill Community Church on the day before the 22nd celebrated these fabled raptors just as Linda and Cathy wrote about them. There were two barn owls (one a pile of down with a flat, beaked face), a Eurasian owl (like Flaco), an American kestrel, a buzzard (no, not a vulture but an African hawk), a ger falcon, and a red-tailed hawk. Myths exposed: owls cannot see in total darkness but can in very dim light and their eyesight is much better than ours; a hawk being chased by smaller birds is not aerodynamically able to reverse course and attack them. The most amusing event took place in the midst of flying these hawks, when a mockingbird who had a nest nearby, flew over to tell them it was his territory and to go away!
I have personally experienced an encounter with a screech owl. This is a very small owl, about the size of a beer can. Many years ago, returning from leaving my son off at pre-school, and just having crossed the Silvermine river, I came upon a murder of crows. Crows spread all over a stonewall and crows circling overhead. I stopped my car to see what was going on – about eight feet away – and realized the crows were mobbing a redtail hawk. When they saw me, the crows began to fly away. I noticed the hawk had some sort of prey grasped in his talons, and after staring at each other for a few moments, the hawk flew away too, leaving his catch. Ever curious, I got out to see what he had caught and it was a screech owl, who, when I reached for him with my hand bundled in my coat, fell off the wall. (On using the coat, if a raptor gets his talons into your hand, because they are designed to hold a struggling prey, you can’t get them out.) I climbed over the wall, wrapped him up in my coat and set off for the New Canaan Nature Center. His face was visible in the folds of the coat, and about halfway there, his eyes turned black. I thought he had died. So, in a move that bordered on idiocy, I undid the coat. For the rest of my drive, I had a screech owl flying around the inside of my Volvo station wagon. I finally caught him when I got there, and having warned the nature center about my experience, not heeding me, they too undid the coat and now the tiny owl was flying around the nature center. They finally caught him. After a clean bill of health from the local vet, he was there about three days. To my surprise, the nature center then called me and asked me to take him back where I had found him and let him go. I picked up the cardboard box with owl inside, and later, at dusk, with my two children, went back to the river. I opened the box. I still remember how tiny the owl was, and how he sat there, all eyes, looking up at us. Then he rose, and without a sound, disappeared into the night.
Then yesterday, as I waited in the car, the storm door partly open, that little troglodyte, a Carolina wren flew into my house, even with my son’s smoothie grinding away on the counter. To my horror, I saw his mate was right behind him with a two-inch stick. Don’t worry, we got them out.
For the rest of the month and early June, we are looking forward to our new slate (mostly all new), a few GPW members who are painting 3-D printed violins for the May 1st program of Project Music, an exciting piano recital in Wilton under the auspices of MUSIC, and our Annual Meeting at Arlene’s glorious home in Belle Haven.
Here is the scoop on the recital:
Greenwich Pen Women Music is proud to offer a luncheon event: please join us Wednesday, June 5th from 12-2:00 pm
“From Wilton to Europe: An Afternoon of Piano and Vocal Music”
Featuring Leon Reid, piano and Anna Tornello, soprano. This event is held at the lovely home of Ross and Karen Tartell in Wilton CT. Karen is a member of a local small piano club and the members are also invited to attend the lovely event. Space is limited to 25 people. The home is fully handicapped accessible with elevator. Please email Adrienne Reedy to RSVP and get the address. adrienne.reedy@gmail.com
See you there!
Onwards and sideways,
Leigh
Leigh Grant
President, Greenwich Pen Women
