Skip to main content

It's quiet here Lord, in Western Pennsylvania

     Years ago I remember reading that Title line from a poem.  I've long forgotten the poem, the poets name and even the book I read it in.   

    However that first line has always stuck with me.   

    It is quiet here in Western Pennsylvania, I can hear the two dozen or so different species of birds sing in the trees that surround my home.  They swoop in sometimes, chickadee's and mourning doves, to eat at my feeders.

    I've not seen a robin yet, and I do miss the family of Cardinals that used to come home every year and build a nest not far from my home in Tampa.   The young ones first flight was often to our feeder, where they would feast on black oily sunflower seeds and knock the little grains to the grass below.  Where rabbits and squirrels would gather to feast. 

    Here a lone chipmunk bides his time and avoids the feral cats that would gobble him whole.  I watch as he nervously stuffs his cheeks before disappearing into the underbrush.

   


    It is quiet her Lord, as I lie awake in bed staring into the black and hear the snort of my neighbors house.  I smile as a doe takes a tentative lick off of salt block, then blurs into the woods surrounding my home.   

    I turn on some Grateful Dead in the middle of the day, letting the music loop lazily through the home as I stare at the data on my work computer screen.   As I start to hum Ripple to myself, I think about how I'm connected to people I will never meet.  My actions will bury someone's love, send grandchildren to college, and keep a roof over someone's head.

    It is quiet here in Western Pennsylvania, as my cats count in the few passing cars in the warm autumn sun.  They purr lazily as they drift into sleep, happy and content with bellies full of milk and food.


    It's easy for me to forget that any life other then this one ever existed.  I have, in a month, grown used to the quiet and solitude.  Of course, it's easy to say that as the last boxes of our move are unpacked and the rooms start to come together. I've been kept busy

    Come winter it will be time to paint the walls and read those books that I've put off.  I can't help but wonder if I will soon miss the noise and activity of city life. 

    For now though, I am happy enough to wake; wake before the dawn and start out my window to watch the day begin anew.

    The world may be crazy and I'm afraid for my country, but for now...I am at peace.


 

 

     

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Buyer's Remorse - Part 2

What you see is the front end of my previous car.   I spoke about buying it just a little over three years ago in an article that I called  Buyer's Remorse .  At the time I lamented having to buy a car in short period of time, due to an engine blowing up, and not being happy overall with my choices. At the time I was hoping to move into a hybrid or even an electric car.   I was not happy with the results as I felt that I got pushed into buying a used Toyota for cash. The other reason I was not happy was because the research I was doing into hybrid and electric cars was not showing much promise at that time.  Electric cars simply did not have the infostructure needed to make buying one worth while.  Three years ago charging stations were few and far between and I am happy to report that several gas stations near me now include several electric car charging ports in addition to the traditional gas pumps.  I take that as a positive. My current j...
Post a Comment
Read more

On Marches, Strikes and being a keyboard warrior.

 This is not the America I grew up in.    It occurs to me that those days are long gone, and that I am probably looking back on those days with rose colored glasses as well.   However there was a time in America when, if two parties disagreed, they could hammer out some sort of compromise.   Where opposing viewpoints were respected.   Where, if a heated argument did break out the chance of violence was very low. I miss that America.    Recently I was threatened with physical violence for something that I posted online.   I ignored the comment, I didn't bother to respond to it.  Not because I feared the person - I've no idea who they were, etc. - but because I am a pacifist.  To respond to violence with more violence makes little sense to me.  Plus, it's been my experience that such people are paper tigers.   The anger that is felt however, by both the right and the left is very real.  I can no...
Post a Comment
Read more

This Inevitable Ruin. Is there hope in the darkness?

I consider myself a smart and well read man, so up until recently I was surprised that I had never heart the the the concept of "This Inevitable Ruin" before.  It's an idea or concept that downfall and destruction is unavoidable.   That chaos is an unchangeable outcome no matter what actions we take.   That what ever victory we obtain will have a high psychological and moral price, and may be short lived.    As my own family, friends, and readers face an unknown future on so many fronts I wonder if  such "Inevitable Ruin" awaits us?  If it awaits our country or even our world? I am not a nihilist  but the concept has been ringing in my ears lately as we seem to careen from one crisis - be it personal, economic, local, state wide, natural or global.   This article has started and stopped many times, yet I can't seem to get it right.  I even played around with an AI program to see if it would help focus my thoughts, it did n...
Post a Comment
Read more