Fall and its memories

Some legends can be brought to life by story tellers while others need to be witnessed. We witnessed an old one this past weekend. The early morning fog sat fat over the gap long enough to light the Fiery colors of Fall. Stories tell, the coming season change will first be seen as a fire on the river. This fire should happen on the Vernal Equinox. The brighter and more intense the fire, the deeper and richer the fall colors will be. This morning the river was ablaze.... almost making it too bright to look at. At times appearing almost like a lava flow from under the mountains that majestically rise alongside those two famous rivers, the Potomac and Shenandoah. We truly are blessed by the gods to live in such a glorious place and to have witnessed not only an old legend, but a beautiful natural phenomenon. Steve and I are often overwhelmed by the fantastic mornings here in the Ferry. Spiritually moving, is usually how I describe the emotional state I'm usually left in, after a morning of absorbing such exquisite delights. I know that sounds corny, but I'll quote Nietzsche and be free of having to describe it any better.....

Poets are shameless with their experiences: they exploit them

I always felt that a true sign of fall were the geese formations. On the farm for 19 years I witnessed many flocks of geese..... coming and going, but rarely in the pot. My father new the necessity for hunting for food, but he also understood the ignorance of relying on the hunt for survival, that's why we raised most of what we ate. Although I'm sure we ate goose from time to time I don't remember it and I'm glad. Chicken and beef and pork were always in good supply. Trapping was always a job my brother and I had. From rabbits and squirrels to muskrats and minks..... we trapped them, we skinned them.... ate the meat and sold the furs. It was part of growing up. Emphasis on growing up.... taught us responsibility. No forgetting the traps, or leaving them because we were tired or it was too cold. 5am everyday..... check the traps.... skin the catch.... stretch the furs.... dress the meat..... feed the farm animals.... go to school. So you see why I'd rather cut coupons than cut up tenderloin. There's a certain caveman mentality in us all that makes the hunt and the kill exciting. However, evolution supposedly, has gifted most of us with an ability to rise above the hunter gatherer of a time long since gone and work to provide sustenance. Now don't get me wrong... there's a certain pride in growing and harvesting your own food. From apples to orangutans, if you raise it... you should be able to eat it. I learned a lot on that farm, and I guess, I'd rather eat a carrot than think I had to always have meat on the table, which is far from how we grew up. Protein was important when we worked from sun up to WAY PAST sundown. These days it's just ignorant to think we need to eat as much meat. Most of you either sit behind a desk at work and if you don't, I still doubt you get enough exercise to warrant a hunter gatherer motto. I remember too many times sitting at the kitchen table at 11pm and midnight doing my homework for the next school day. Why so late?? Usually it was because we didn't get in from the barn until 10pm. Those days we could eat all we wanted and never gained an ounce it seemed. That's because we burned it off in 100 degree heat out in a tobacco field, or hoeing that tobacco, or stripping that tobacco, or covered in Barley dust, or working that cornfield shucking corn till our hands bled. Again.... don't get me wrong.... I did it all because it was my job.... it was my part in being a Dean, and that family of mine made it fun to do the things we did. We did what we were told to when we were told to do it, and we learned about life. We learned to respect just not the animals that fed us, but all living things. More importantly we learned..... some of us the hard way, to respect others. We learned not to judge, but to walk away. (See me Walking?) I took all of this and so much more with me when I left home. However, most of what I learned from my folks and family I'm just now realizing. I recently heard my Dads voice..... LOL.... yes, it came right out of my own mouth.......

"That Son of a Bitch is just Common"

I swear it was his voice.... it was. More and more these days his wise way of teaching reveals itself. Now of course at the time he taught it to us, it didn't at all seem wise. We just thought he was being unfair. Now I know different.... now I get to use the same tactic on my grandson... hehehe!!! Roux update!!! She weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs last week and is estimated at being 11 wks old. That would give her a birthday of July 4th, which is pretty awesome, since she is Little Miss Independence!! We figured out a possible heritage for her, but we'll never know for sure.... maybe when she gets older and bigger. Redbone Coonhound is a really good possibility, just not sure what the other three parts are... LOL!!! Well there is the whole Fat n Flour part and of course it's Gluten free flour!!! Gotta go get some work done around here, and hopefully without too many interruptions. I'm hoping you all had/have a wonderful first day of fall!!! I know I am!!!

Maggio i colori della caduta illuminano il vostro giorno!

May the colors of the fall illuminate your day!