Winter III

These pictures demonstrate a vicarious dream, one that I doubt I will or would act on, but one that at one time in life held promise.

I dream of living within the Land, amongst trees and fields, under sky and walking on solid healthy earth. Before my parents divorced, for 4 or 5 great years (terrenal speaking), they owned 36 acres in Shelby County, KY. My father's mother was born and raised in Shelby Co., and at least on his side of the family, it is a land that feels like the paternal homeplace, although he never lived there. The acreage was hardscrabble, a mix of tertiary woods, pastures left fallow with remnants of barb wire, machinery left for dead in ditches and occasional deer stands, lying in wait for the chaos that would be the kill. (perhaps a little melodramatic there). They built a fine home of stone and cedar siding, one that they would retire to from their MI working home. My mother grew a successful garden, a birthright handed down from my talented Mamaw. The front yard grass never really grew, but my father enjoyed the serenity, dare I say, empty mindlessness/mindfulness of bush-hogging the open acreage as a means of escaping the world of suits, negotiations and confrontation. We held numerous gatherings there, Christmas for my mom's clan, Thanksgiving for my wife's small family, 3 spectacular birthday parties for the Elder, college reunions with wonderful friends. It was a kind of home, not complete nor ours, but a place to find refuge.

Then the divorce. My mom did not and could not maintain such a large spread. My stepmother, she 1.5 years younger than I, refused to take part in a place that so obviously had the firm stamp of my mother's being. It was sold. That was that. I now dream of having a Land again, a place, a refuge amongst the trees and fields and streams. The previous had this special spot that I only visited once, I believe. On the eastern border runs a small creek, a drain-off really during heavy, soaking rain. Near the back corner of the property this creek ran into one slightly larger, but one that presented an opposite bank of larger open fields with a tree break. The one and only time I saw it I loved it and wish I could recapture that spirit in that spot.

These 2 pics are again of winter, but this time in Lancastershire, UK. Of course the BBC on its website presents a home for pictures of the English countryside. Would any US site actually do that, try to reserve and revere a collective culture? The first picture is the land I would want, undulating fields, tree break, patchwork quilt. The second might be the drive from the home to the larger world. You drive, in this case, slowly out the primitive gravel drive, to the left peeking around the corner to see a neighbor's barn, the roadway, a town even. The you are leaving the hearth, your garden lying fallow in winter's cold, the fire, blankets and cups of coffee. All these, though, are yours on this Land.