"I never eat December snowflakes, I always wait until January"
-Lucy Van Pelt, Peanuts
It's cold here! Today I watched the clouds drop low and cloak my view of the Grand Mesa. One minute the looming plateau was there, it's flat top and sharp ridges holding remnants of crusty snow, like scabs on old wounds. Then as if by magic a thick veil of cloud enveloped the mass of rock obscuring its shape and dissolving it into the gloomy gray backdrop of overcast skies. An illusion performed by the Great Illusionist. Occasionally the sun puts in an appearance.
Then I hear the dripping of snow and ice from the trailer's top and the brown crusty grass
softens into small swampy patches where the snow has disappeared. But I am NOT fooled by this mirage of Spring and am glad for my knitted wool booties and the full tanks of propane. Today the few degrees of "warm" comes only in drops of small fragile flakes of precipitation descending from the sky, leaving more white stuff on the ground. Each day Dave and I tell ourselves soon, soon we will return to Oregon, but that time has not yet come. It is still snowing.
So instead with cup of tea in hand I hunker down with a long book to pass the winter with. I sit against the trailer window, an attempt to absorb warm rays of heat penetrating the glass, Sackett curled upon my lap, much like a cub curled against his mama as they hibernate through the cold together. I am reading Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and have nearly reached the end. This is a book I have often sold time and time again to high schoolers for their advanced reading classes, to women in local book groups, and to those who just want to read an American classic. I never thought to pick it up and read it myself, until I found it on a dusty shelf in a shed at an estate sale. "For $1 it would be worth it" I thought. It is absolutely fabulous! The movie was made only three years after the book was first published (1936),
big names, big sets, lots of Oscars. I'll watch it as soon as I have finished the book.Reading about the American Civil War has jump started my eagerness to learn more about this turbulent period in our history, especially once I discovered the local library had history lessons on DVD. I checked the series out and now have spent an hour or two each day, sometimes more, learning from the best instructors. It is presented in a lecture format, creating the appearance of sitting in on a college class. The gentleman lecturing is a professor of History at the University of Virginia and Civil War is his specialty. This, on top of the first edition of Harper's Illustrated History of the Civil War , that Dave picked up at a garage sale, has kept me up to my eyebrows in the 1860's. I have been absorbed to the point that this bit of history learning has lead me back into the pages of my family's past. I have two relatives who fought in the war, one was a Captain, the other a Private, both for the Confederate States of America. My educational project has brought these men to life for me. Through a letter my Uncle discovered and some of my own investigating I've been able to trace some of their journey and have a better understanding of the time they lived in. I've turned into a History Detective. I have a few pieces of information (clues), and from additional research, interviews, and puzzle solving (leads) I stitch the bits together, creating a bigger picture of my lineage.
Events of the past often effect things in the Now, and can be felt long into the future. I liken it to a spider's web, with its threads all interlaced. When one strand is plucked in the network the vibrations, or effects, can be felt throughout the entire web, creating a reaction.
More often than not it is the story of success we hear about. Remembering that this is only one side of what has happened, what of the unsuccessful? Who tells their side? Perspective thus plays an important roll in the "story", and the telling of the tale. Each of us has a different frame of reference, incorporating our feelings, prejudices, and in-sites. Possibly if enough of these points of view have been examined we may gain a greater understanding of the actual event(s). The Civil War is an example of this. This is at least something to give us pause and ponder upon.
Only a few chapter to go and I can close this book forever. However, the thoughts it has provoked for me will linger for some time. Refilling my cup of tea, I realize I may possibly have more time on my hands than is good for me.
A Happy New Year to you all.
Dave & Vanessa
