Oh What a Beautiful Morning

About a month ago I took a well deserved vacation. The only destination was a visit to my son in NY and the only time line was to be back by the next Sunday.
The last day was probably the most memorable for me. Roomate B and I checked into a motel on a hill right beside the interstate. Clean and neat as a pin, it was like walking back in time to the 1950's. The furniture, the real key for the door, the signs, everything was very period.

There was a restaurant at the bottom of the hill and a gas staion but other than that we seemed to be in the middle of no where. We sat on the porch and watched deer grazing on the hillsides across the interstate. Deep in the woods was a house going up for auction the next week. Oh, to win the lottery!
B was still asleep the next morning when I decided to go for breakfast. The morning was cool and foggy as I walked to the bottom of the hill. A split rail fence bordered the drive way, the kind with two rails slid into knotches on the posts. Swaying in the gentle breeze and glistening with moisture, were spider webs attached in almost every corner where the posts met the rails. I likened it to a proud mother hanging art work on the refrigerator. This spider mother sure had a lot of children.

The restaurant had not opened so I continued my walk, deciding to see what was over the hill behind the motel. I came to a dirt road with a sign that read "Road ends in .95 miles." Seemed like the perfect distance.

Through the fog I could see a house and a barn with a dog barking in the distance. I came to another house where a peach fell right at my feet from a tree at the edge of the yard. I picked up the gift and continued down the road. There was no sound except water dripping from the leaves. The trees were huge, the canopy so dense there was no undergrowth. At the end of the road was a huge old farmhouse and barn with tractors and equipment scattered about, fields of corn, flowers everywhere. I took in all the beauty of the farm and the forest, the silence, the smells of nature and reluctantly started back.

And by the way, the peach was the best I've ever tasted.

For my Son

Thirty-four things you may or may not know but you're fixing to:
1) Cody now has a little girl named Lyndsey
2) Jamie has another little girl named Anna Grace
3) Cindy moved into her own apartment in Ohio but has now gone back to Cecil
4) Cody has learned that keeping his distance from his paternal family is best.
5) Cody would like to get in touch with his mother.
6) Andy's in-laws lost their house to a fire. They are rebuilding and should be moved in shortly after the 4th.
7) Jeff is living in Florida now and is expecting a little girl.
8) I just received my 5 year pin for volunteering with Red Cross.
9) I've been in my job for 23 years on the 29th of April.
10) Hurricane season starts June 1st and there is talk of a major storm hitting the New England coast, maybe even NY. Wouldn't that be ironic after all your years in
Savannah
11) The local radio station is for sale now that the founders have died. I foresee the eminent demise of Swap and Shop.
12) The "big mill" is now rubble including the big smoke stack.
13) The four-lane between here and my home town is making huge progress but now that J&C are moving, the four-lane seems a moot point.
14) I'm getting re-certified as a First Responder.
15) The auditorium in the "old school" has a new, level floor, still has a stage, has a landing just inside the doors and is geared toward parties or receptions. I think it's the perfect place for a dinner theatre.
16) We have a Chinese restaurant now.
17) This is harder than I thought.
18) Cody is the manager of a Denny's.
19) Aunt Lynn just had a complete hysterectomy because of a cancer scare but the doctor is confident everthing is OK and does not forsee any chemo or radiation.
20) Jeff's children are Matthew and Michael and one on the way.
21) Joey has one more year of school and I really hope he makes it.
22) Cindy came down this weekend and wants to move back into her house with Cecil and his daughter. She is so crazy.
23) Your uncle got the job with mlb.com and will be back in NY if not already. He may come here on his way back.
24) J&C found an apartment for $450 in a remodeled house, second floor, near campus.
25) Rumor has it, we are getting a Family Dollar and an Advance Auto to go along with our Dollar General and Food Lion.
26) Did I tell you I joined the fire department?
27) They're supposed to finish the nuke plant now after all these years.
28) Blackberries are almost ripe.
29) Trudy snores.
30) We've grown to 2 elementary schools now and still crowded. I think they are K-3 and 4-6.
31) We want to come see you. It will be sometime after shut down if we can make it.
32) I bought a canoe.
33) Laura and Lisa are geocaching.
34) I love you

Slamming Doors

Since 9/11, my company, like so many others, has stepped up security precautions. To enter or exit the plant, employees have to use their ID badge to go through a revolving door. As I watch people doing this, it becomes very clear that most did not grow up in an age of wooden screen doors. The phrase, "If I hear that screen door slam one more time, I'm going to wear you out with a hickory" means nothing to them. They push through these doors with enough force to break them on a regular basis since they are designed to stop in a certain position, unlike most revolving doors that free-spin. There's no such thing as catching the door before it "slams."