[whitecrow]

Originally Posted by conjuredUp

I live in the Husdon Valley in upstate NY. About 70 miles north of NYC. It is peak leaf season here. The mountains appear to be blanketed. It is lovely.

What a wonderful part of the country! I fondly remember a summer spent with cousins in Cold Spring in 1968. Met Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger at the Hudson Valley Folk Festival that year. Had a wonderful time, but I belong out west where the spaces are big.

Here in San Diego County, the summer doesn't want to quit. Each day he's a little weaker, but the weather continues warm and sunny. The nights are getting chilly.

It's still fire season, but this year the fires have not created widespread damage. Last year at this time, we lived under a cloud of smoke, and we went out to our cars every day and wiped off the ashes so we could see to drive. Sometimes the light was dim and orange all day. I knew people who lost their homes. This year we've been blessedly free from the destructive fires of recent years.

I often sit on my patio at night at watch for the Feyn...the elementals. I have the feeling something's up with them - lots of buzzing back and forth, as if they too have work to accomplish during this time.

The group I meet with has been productive. We are in the midst of starting a small company to market some of our sustainable ideas. The income is to be shared communally between those who make the project work. We have established a base camp in Arizona, and one in our own area. It's great to know people who enjoy the challenge of brainstorming and meeting current trends proactively. We're also developing a survival manual for those who ignored the signs and may find themselves in deep doodoo when it all hits the fan.

Also, for the first time in many years we've been invited to spend the holidays with someone...gosh, that's nice!

Here and now feels like a good place in the timeline to me. I find I'm not only contented but genuinely happy. I know I don't have the whole picture but the part I do have is real. What I've learned in this life is working, not just for me but for others too. It's so great to know you all. It's great to see that ole stove fired up, friends and neighbors gathered round, and to drop my old bones into old wicker, kick off my boots, prop my feet on an old dog, light up a pipe and a smile. I'm lovin' the thread. Rhythm, I'm lovin' your story of the old man.