conversations by the firelight
part 6
It was the middle of September and in between the start of the two seasons of fall. The meteorological season based on annual temperature cycles started September first. The astronomical season based on the position of the earth in relation to the sun, the autumnal equinox, will occur on September 22 for you folks in 2024. As chlorophyll production slows and the green color of leaf’s fades it allows the true color of leaf’s to emerge revealing a dazzling array of orange, yellow, red, and purple pigments we refer to as fall foliage The recipe for fabulous foliage…cool nights and sunny days. The trees prepare for winter, shouldn’t you and I.
Anywho, the trees don’t care about my short dissertation, although the Aspens are quaking in thar roots. Ah, nuthin’ worse than Dad jokes than Grandad jokes and attempts at humor. I’m thinkin it’s a coping mechanism, more than just years of suspended adolescence. Retunin’ momentarily to seasons, they are caused by the earth’s tilt of 23.5 degrees, our billet suspended in space with invisible strings while travelin’ at over 67,000 mph and spinning like a top. Just to say iffin’s yer feelin’ dizzy and thinkin’ how time flies, now you know why. And if yer wonderin’ what the heck does this tiny speck I call me, myself, and I really matter in the grand scheme of things as the earth is day trippin’ through space in its pedestrian ecliptic around the sun ever year, waal let me tell ya. Somewhere between the deep sea scrolls and the fine print of a ten page legal document or the warnin’ labels on your daily dose of prescriptions which require a microscope to read, is the answer you need. When you git it figured, write a book. Sure to be a Zoo York best seller.
23 sat by the fire and just stared at me. ‘Well’ he chuckled, ‘you’re on a roll’. ‘Feelin’ maudlin’ I said. ‘It’s the seasons of our life’s and the phases and transitions on our journey. A little reflectin’ can do ya good. Helps to see how far you’ve come, and how fer you’ve yet to go. Ever time yer mind is refreshed with a beautiful truth that delivers you from some deception that you was clinging to all yer life, it opens the door to a brand new world you have yet to discover. And it’s surely humblin’ realizin’ ‘we’ve only just begun’ . Thanx Karen’.
‘Speakin’ of supplements, vitamins, and minerals, ya know the nutrients that once were readily available and naturally occurring in the food we ate and now hafta to be added in artificially under a canopy of terms; fortified, enriched, added, enhanced, supplemented, ad nauseum. Did you know they were first introduced in the 1950’s and pushed by doctors. Developed by large pharmaceutical companies, its pharma stout or pharma light, either way they win. And with the poisoning of our air, water, soil, and seed what can truly be called ‘organic’. But you best try. Buy foods with only three or four ingredients. And while Oregon and Colorado won’t permit GMO labeling, the FDA declared GMO’s safe along with fluoride, artificial sweeteners, and until recently Round-Up. One atom of plutonium, one molecule of anything. Heard of a diver who died breathing pure oxygen. At depth it can be deadly. And even though the recipe grandma used with vegetable oil made the perfect pie crust, it shaved ten years off grandpa’s life. It’s your life. Live it wisely. Make smart decisions, thoughtful and inquiring. Cause this ain’t no damn tourist stop’.
23 then spoke about dystopia unbound, the gatherin’ of rain water illegal, and the air they breathed being taxed. Called carbon credits. ‘Ain’t much produced in America anymore’ he said. ‘Some food and chickens in Arkansas’. And in the ‘Swamp’, a miasma of noxious vapors, no offence intended Okefenokee, slimy vile creatures still abound; snakes, reptiles, reptilians, rats, flotsam and jetsam. Presidents come and go, but the swamp remains. But it’s ‘chips ahoy’ with Musk and a bright new horizon for humanity, Neuralink and a new breed of humans.
We sat by the fire and sipped some Old Overholt that 23 brought, the oldest continuously operating brand of whiskey in America. Founded in Pennsylvania in 1810 by Abraham Overholt this rye whiskey is currently produced by Jim Beam in Clermont Kentucky. After all the years it’s smooth velvety taste remains unchanged. Laid out under a canopy of starry delight that night. In September you folks in 2024 will get to enjoy a super harvest moon, the second super moon of four in a row, a sky watchers delight.
I hope you live close by the Mountains so’s you can enjoy their spectacular beauty this fall. Bearded steeples will greet you as Aspen, Poplar, Tamarack, Birch, and Maple delight you. It’s my flavor-it time of the year. Vacate the city if only for a short time and the madness of keepin’ up appearances with the neighbors who are workin’ on their next bankruptcy. Always watch out for those meadow muffins. They tend to cling hard to the soles of your Hoka Speedgoats and Salomom X Ultra’s that you spent more money for than the cost of winterin’ all season for me in the mountain.
Now, much of the beauty of life is lived with simplicity, ‘the price of anything the amount of life you are willing to exchange for it’. You don’t always get what you want, but if you try, you might just find you get what you need, always what you deserve.
‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see’.
Goodbye for now my friend…….me, the moon, and the mountain