After a dozen years on this farm, I can name most of the plants and nearly all the birds. But what’s the word for the wake the pileated woodpecker leaves as it dips, flying across the pasture? How can I imagine that land speaks in a language when I’m surrounded by animals whose wordless attention is at least as great as mine? All I can do is put a period to this sentence and hope I can live, for a while, in the pause that follows. – VERLYN KLINKENBORG via Editorial – The Rural Life – What the Land Says – NYTimes.com.
It is funny what a change in perspective can do for a person. I drove across Houston yesterday and spent an hour watching evening fall in a small neighborhood park. By moving myself fifty miles north the land arround me spoke a different language…It’s funny how such a short distance makes such a big difference.
The trees became mostly pines instead of the oaks that grow around my place. The birds were the same…But, at the same time they were different.
There were lots of people out. Jogging, walking dogs, kicking a soccer ball…I am not uses to seeing that many people not in cars…We have a lot of folks drive by our house on any given day, probably more than I saw driving by the park last evening, but you never really see the people…Just the cars.
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In case anyone noticed, I’ve been missing this week…It was family reunion time around here and Sunday we headed off to the west an hour and a half or so to spend some time with my Dad’s kinfolk. They have been doing this every year since at least the ’50’s. When we were young we always complained about having to go. Now I look on it as a privilege and almost a duty.
I am a member of the third generation of this particular family that gets together. There are only two members of the original second generation left. My mom, even though she and my dad divorced in the ’60’s, and my Dad’s twin sister, Helen.
The reason for my absence from these pages though, is that I was handed a box containing one of my Aunt’s genealogy research. Since I first opened the box on Monday I have spent the majority of my time reading , transcribing, researching based on the information in the letters in that box…There were letter’s and obituaries from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Family group sheets on all of our family…A lot of stuff it took me years to track down myself was hiding in this box…Gotta love it.
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The weather this week has been more reminiscent of August than any June I have ever known. The mornings have been starting out in the mid to upper 70’s each morning before moving up into the mid 90’s…Lord help us, cause the at this rate the grass will be burning up within the month…
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It was panic time this morning. I saw that WordPress had been updated and hit the automatic update button…Then I spent half of the morning trying to figure out where my blog went…I hate it when that happens.
Now I sit and wander, do I or don’t I on the other four installations of WordPress I have running?
What do you think?
