Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I live in paradise.  My house is on the edge of the country.  There is a farm a quarter of a mile away.  Within a mile a family has chickens, goats, and horses.  I love seeing the baby goats when they are so tiny.

The view from my large living room window is another portal into paradise.  I watch a steady stream of birds come into my view.  Birds I have never seen anywhere appear at my feeders like the magnificent red bellied woodpecker.  About once a year I see the exotic fifteen-inch red crested piliated woodpecker although it is far more likely I hear its wild cackle first.

We even had a brush or two from the local black bear who now stays away.  Our four dogs who now are enclosed by a large wooden picket fence now frighten him away.

There is so much beauty here and sometimes I do not see it.  I forget I grew up in the city–a large town.  I can see cottontails play outside from my kitchen window.  My two friends, a couple I have know for years, are going to visit us next week from NYC.  To them this is wild country. I now have to view the land from their standpoint, change my perspective.  It is too easy to become blind to your surroundings.  Somehow I need to lift the veil that has grown in front of me and again see the beauty around me.

I had fallen in love with Central Pa.  I knew things had changed when once I was coming back from NJ (where I had lived for the past two decades) and I thought, “I am coming home”.  It is paradise here and I have to remind myself of that fact.  Every time I drive up the Juanita Valley, my breath is taken away by its magnificent view of the River and its surrounding mountains.  Even closer to home, when I drive into town from the back way and peer down into the Susquehanna River Valley, I can easily imagine I am viewing the fjords of Norway.  The universe is in my own backyard.  All I have to do is open my eyes.  It’s here.  I do not have to travel to Maine, Alaska or Hawaii.  It is all here.  Paradise.

Tags: baby goats, beauty, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, black bear, chickens, cottontails, country, country-life, dogs, edge of country, farm, fjords of Norway, four dogs, goats, horses, Juniata Valley, mountain, NJ, NYC, PA, paradise, pets, piliated woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker, river, see the beauty around me, Susquehanna River, universe in my own backyard, valley, woodpecker
Posted in animals, beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, local, seasons, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I love mixing with people but I have to linger alone at times to recharge.

I love the quiet of night–the darkness that conceals me and then I withdraw. It is true I often listen to music then but that also enables me to withdraw.

There is so much I want to explore, so much I love but my solitude is essential.

When I come out of my reverie, I am ready to meet the world that is so quick to envelope me.

I love the dawn, the birds that reawaken, who greet me in song in full crescendo.

It is so easy to miss what is under your feet every day and there is so much you take for granted, so much you are unaware of.

There are so many universes you miss because your mind was elsewhere.

Solitude brings me back to the true pulse of the universe.  Then your perception of the magnificent returns even if it is only a shadow of the infinite.

It was there all along.  My universe expands and contracts.  I want to see, experience everything although that is really impossible.  My solitude always enables me to reconnect with the world surrounding me.  My time here is so short.  The world is so vast and I am only one grain of sand on the many beaches that inhabit this earth.  And the earth is only one drop of water in the cavernous oceans of the rest of the universe.  I keep trying to fathom the mystery I truly am.

Tags: alone to recharge, beauty, bird song, birds, dawn, experience, fathom the mystery, God, listen to music, one grain of sand, quiet of night, so many universes, solitude, still of the night, take for granted, the magnificent, time here is so short, world is so vast
Posted in beauty, birds, God, knowledge&learning, life, local, love, music, nature, seasons, time, wisdom, writing | No Comments »

There is no such thing as secular music.  Every piece of music reflects something.  The musicians performing the piece of music reflected in their performance exactly how they were feeling, the reverence they had towards the music (or in some cases the irreverence).  Every emotion they were experiencing would come through in any superb piece of music.  It does not take long for a listener to realize the piece was mediocre.  Then you should discard that piece and no longer listen to that piece of music.

A good piece of music has power:  it can bring you up or even down.  And the best sometimes can do both.  You must be aware of the impact of the music you listen to and play it at appropriate times.

It is true there is no such thing as secular music.  Nevertheless, the piece can edify you or subvert you and you must be aware of what you are listening to and its power.  Subliminal messages can be conveyed.  Music can drive you up or bring you down.  You must be careful.

Tags: beauty, emotions, feelings, God, good piece of music, impact of the music, knowledge, learning, music, music has power, musicians, secular music
Posted in beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, music, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I made two discoveries at the shore of the Susquehanna River.  It was a mere four blocks away and I loved wandering to its shore never knowing exactly what I would see next.  I always wondered why I hardly saw any crayfish in the river.  Then one night I walked there with my flashlight and shone its light on the water.  The crayfish were everywhere.  Then I realized crayfish must be nocturnal creatures.  That is why I did not see them too often during the day.

Another time, also from my small town, I wanted to see the stars better.  There were just too many lights in town.  I even went up to the hill by the cemetery and looked into the valley and at the sky–still the same story.  There were too many lights to see the stars clearly.

Then one night I went to the River and there they were–the stars were in full display.

So many things are in plain sight but you have to change your routine slightly, walk, maybe, to a different spot, go at a different time and discover beauty was there all along.  We are such creatures of habit and those habits sometimes imprison us and somehow you need to modify them to open up a different world that was at your feet all along.  (to be continued)

Tags: beauty, change your routine, crayfish, creatures of habit, discoveries, fish, God, knowledge, learning, nature, nocturnal creatures, right at your feet, right in front of your eyes, see the stars, Susquehanna River, time
Posted in beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, local, nature, time, wisdom | 1 Comment »

Wonder and mystery is many things.  It is being surprised by a sunset.  Your mind was somewhere else and there it was taking your breath away.  It is knowing you never could have predicted your life and how it was unraveling.  Your wife is a mystery, who you know you did not deserve.  It is so many things you do not understand but strain to.  It is knowing this world could never have been created by man:  it is far too vast and intricate.  That there must be a higher power.  That could be the only answer.  Not that all this is not a mystery.  There is so much I am awed by.  The mystery called sex.  Only God could have created that.  The wind that blows from nowhere and disappears just as quickly.

Knowing your dusk has come and you really have no idea how many dawns will still appear in your life and all you can do is treasure each moment.  Wouldn’t life be boring without mystery and wonder?  And do you have any doubt man was created just below the stature of angels?  And also the universe could not have created by chance.  All that is mystery (and wonder).  So ponder some of those things.

Tags: angels, balance, beauty, God, higher power, how many dawns, knowledge, learning, mystery, mystery called sex, nature, only God, seasons, so much I am awed by, surprised by a sunset, the universe, the wind, time, treasure each moment, vast and intricate world, wonder, world could never have been created by man, your dusk has come, your wife
Posted in balance, beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, love, marriage, nature, seasons, time, wisdom | 2 Comments »