Ache for the Land

Having once put his hand into the ground
seeding there what he hopes will outlast him,
a man has made a marriage with his place,
and if he leaves it his flesh will ache to go back.
Wendell Berry

My cousins and I know what it is to ache for a place. Our fathers came from the Adirondacks, and though they may not have “put their hands into the ground” in the sense of farming, they certainly were tied to the land by hunting, fishing and love of place. Their livelihood was tied to its natural resources.

As solitary people they found solace in the quiet of the woods, though anyone who has been deep in the woods knows its quiet is not silence but an insulation from unnatural sound.

We ache to be there. If there was work to be had, we would be there. We return often and often together. Our earliest and fondest memories are of sharing family time there. We are tied to the community through experience and family stories. We spend time and energy to pass this treasure onto our children and grandchildren.

In today's urban, chaotic, move - move - move society do people still experience this attachment to place​? Perhaps. I have been chased twice now by city folk who, having moved to the country, have then worked hard to bring Manhatten along with them.

I ache to go back, break up the concrete, and put my hands into the soil.

Singing Rock

One of my first posts included this picture of a rock with water surging around it.
I was worrying about my position as the rock. Was I in the middle of chaos or was I the cause of the chaos? I recently came upon this quote ...... now I have more to think about.

"It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings."

— Wendell Berry

Maytag

What is it with people in laundromats? I have some great laundromats in my neighborhood. They are cleaned 2x daily, the machines normally work and if they don't your money is promptly refunded. The people I see there are pretty good too. So my question is ... why do people leave their dryer sheets all over the floor? I mean - they are clean - they are yours - PICK THEM UP AND THROW THEM AWAY! What's so hard to understand about that? Oh - and while you're at it - clean the lint filter.

Be a good scout - leave it cleaner than you found it.

I get really irritated in public bathrooms. How can folks be so disrespectful of others? Here's a few rules I suggest.....

If you drop a piece of toilet tissue - pick it up!
If you must line the seat with tp - throw it away or flush it!
Sit down - that's what a SEAT is for.

If you must perch, hover etc - clean up your sprinkles - you're going to wash your hands anyway -aren't you?
Flush.
Use your paper towel to wipe your puddles off the sink counter.
Throw the paper towel in the trash.
If the paper towels in the trash are piling up - use yours to push them down.
If you drop your paper towel -pick it up- and -throw it away!

If we all made respectful use of the facilities more places would let us use the facilities, we could have paper towels instead of weak winded blowers and we wouldn't have to go to automatic flushers which scare children.

Sun stroke?

Today was an absolutely gorgeous summer day in CNY. The sky was clear, it wasn't too hot and the sun was shining like crazy. Walking past the bus stop I overhear 2 coeds trying to figure out where to find something so I ask if I can help. "Oh thank you", they said," we're trying to find a tanning salon." Oh - well let's see. That big yellow thing in the sky is the sun. If you stay outside, you'll get a tan. FOR FREE.

BEEP BEEP

I am beginning to hate automatic door locks on cars. The locks that respond to a "clicker" on your key ring. Someone on this block has one. They seem to come home about 2 am, and instead of just pushing the lever inside their car, they use the remote to lock it. This wakes me up. Then sometime in the early morning, either they or another neighbor goes to school/work and they use the remote and their car goes beep-beep and wakes me up again. Couldn't we just use the key?

Behind the Handlebars

I haven't written here in a long time. I have been focusing my energy on another site about farming. It is very specific so doesn't soothe the need to rant about other cultural annoyances. Another change is a life without a car. I have given up the steering wheel for handlebars. My bicycle gives me an opportunity to see things at a more "ground level" so to speak, but also requires more attention to traffic on my part with less time for musing.

I live in a small city with great pride in it's bus service. I don't have a lot of experience but it is probably very good service for such a small city. The problem with the system is also the reason the system is as good as it is.

Our small city is home to a very large University. Finances dictate (supposedly) that everything in town must revolve around and cater to the University. Buses (I looked it up, that's the plural for bus) go through campus more than anywhere else, and for longer periods of time. The buses to many of the shopping areas stop running before the stores close. So if you need to shop after work, or if you work the evening shift, you are out of luck. However if you are a student who has spent the night into the wee hours of the morning, at a local bar, there's a bus home for you.

More on this later.