Skip to main content

Apocalypse Now

Sitting on my deck yesterday morning, I was enjoying my first cup of coffee and listening to the plethora of birds. One of the things I like best about being nearly surrounded by wilderness - is the early morning bird calls, songs and sounds. It's peaceful and musical.

So, there I am sitting, enjoying, soaking it all in when suddenly and seemingly without warning, I hear the grating sound of chainsaws quickly followed by the nerve-shattering sound of wood chippers. My peace was no more and the only image that came to mind was of Robert Duvall's character in "Apocalypse Now" when he steps out of his tent, taking a big breath and declaring "There's nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning" as helicopters zoom and hover in the background midst smoke and fire. While it wasn't napalm, it felt as destructive!

They're starting construction on a house in the lot next door. The lot that has stood empty for these 11 years that we have lived here. It feels invasive and sad because we have been fortunate to have been surrounded on two sides by wilderness. ~Sigh~ As my friend Kris would say, "first world problems"!

The shock will wear off and I will succumb to the new reality and welcome a new neighbor to the 'hood. But for this moment, I just want to yell - "Do you have to start with all that noise so frickin' early???"


Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

When a small town is huge

  In the movie "it's a Wonderful Life", the protagonist George Bailey has longed nearly his whole life to 'shake off the dust of this crummy little town off my feet," to see the world. But Bedford Falls, that crummy little town, felt differently about George. And with the help of a quirky guardian angel, George eventually sees that his life and his town were pretty wonderful. Good lord, but I love that movie and it's characters and it's moral and that small town. I watch it every year at least twice and still cry every time. And I wonder too about the man that pushes the devious Mr. Potter's wheelchair and stands by his side- you know the man, he looks a little like Lurch from "The Addams Family". I wonder, what was he thinking as he listened and watched his boss ruin the lives of everyone he could. What kind of an Non-disclosure agreement did he sign, to keep him silent as he stood by and watched Potter pocket the money Uncle Billy was depo...

Parenting

I just read a post on Facebook regarding the dearth of parenting. The poster was describing a scene where two young girls were pelting rocks at some ducks in our little town and how he observed no parents around telling these girls that it was wrong to torture little innocent animals. Within hours, there were 15 responses - all alluding to a lack of parenting that is evident nearly everywhere today. Stick with me here - because that conversation reminded me of one I'd had recently that might not seem related to parenting at all. It was with my oldest son about his concern about the selfishness of our culture - most recently evident in the Wall Street meltdown. He believes that we are too focused on "Me" and not enough on "We" and if we had a little more focus on the total and just not our part, we would be in a much better place. Still there? Okay, here's the cement that will hold this together - those girls pelting little ducks with rocks weren't likely...

When you encounter a totally different reality

John and I arrived early for an appointment (for those of you that know my husband, you know that this is not infrequent! The story of arriving three hours early for a flight to Phoenix from Midway still gets repeated and laughed about when the 'kids' get together). We found a seat and the waiting room began to fill. We had chosen seats away from the TV where NBC's Today Show was playing, so we couldn't see what was on the screen. Another couple sat before the TV and provided commentary and as the time progressed provided a glimpse into a total different 'reality'. "Oh I can't even stand to look at him. He's so evil" "What is wrong with his hair?" "This administration will do down in history as the worst ever." "The federal government is taking over the states. There's going to be a civil war, just you wait." "They just let all those illegal aliens in and then they're going to give them weapons to take...