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| Leaving Maine...Summer still |
I headed out to Illinois for a very long trip, medical tests for a daughter I was greatly concerned for, all is well. Traveling through New Hampshire to check on the son who literally fell off the trail down a ridge, broke some toes, got back on and then fell again in the Wildcats; not to terribly far from ending his long hike. He'll have to wait until next year and tackle it again. All in all, my young man hiked hundreds of miles and I am quite proud of him. Hikers and I mean the majority of them, are truly decent and good people. They look out for one another, feed one another, keep each other dry in the rain and laughing in the storms. There's a bearded, hairy bunch of humanitarians out there and by gosh, I'm awful thankful my kid had the gumption to go out amongst them and live like that.
I drove through New Jersey and Conneticut on a GPS snafu- never again, no sir not even on a million dollar bet. How anyone can do that, day in, day out is beyond me- traffic and intolerance. Seemed like such disregard for one another and even themselves, passing blindly- I know that there are many individuals among them, good people. But I can tell you, I only met a few- one genuinely kind construction worker trying to get me around traffic through country directions. Another really funny yet serious guy at a gas station who saw my pick ax in my door as I was exiting the truck.
"Don't let them see you with that!"
"Who?!"
"The cameras."
I looked around, didn't see any of those...
"It's illegal to defend yourself in New Jersey."
"Get out of here!"
"I'm serious, don't get caught with that thing- they could arrest you."
I am back to uncivilization and thanking my lucky stars. Between being civilized and treating other people like they just don't matter,treating children like they are to be disrespected in the most sad and ugly ways, no thank you. I'd just as soon be uncivilized and take my chances with a Black Bear and her cub, four feet of snow and storms that raise the rain right up through the rafters. I'd rather be able to see the stars at night and not be considered weird because I mention "did anyone notice the harvest moon, isn't it lovely?" at a lonely old rest area in the middle of the night. People have just stared at me, like I'm from some other planet- all because I dare smile at them or say hello. It's a grave concern when folks look at you like your Jack The Ripper just because you wished them well, they're more open to rudeness and dishonesty- apparently, they do trust that kind of behavior.
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| Autumn invades Maine |
Life is good. Sometimes maybe only in seconds, and sometimes those seconds aren't even consecutive- but the sun came up this morning and I waited on it. Lovely. It only lasted a few seconds, but man oh man it restored a goodness in me.
There's clouds out there right now waiting for me to notice them. There's fat yellow butterball hens cleaning up some of the remnants in the garden, I like to hear them talk. And they treat their little ones well I notice, so I'll make sure to keep their water up and their grain bin full so they'll keep that good business up.
And I'll keep here, a good word. For you. Hope it helps.
Take care-
