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

We have been home (from the Jersey Shore) less than 24 hours and what I most appreciate is the quiet here.  All I hear here is the ?crickets or is it the ?cicadas.  And the occasional “whoosh” of a car passing nearby.

The bed and breakfast we stayed at for three nights was on a busy road.  It was very difficult to make a left hand turn.  It was only a block away from the ocean.  New Jersey just had too many people.

For some reason I become very unsettled in crowded areas.  It is not my fault.  I just do.  I will appreciate my house better.  It is not on a main fare.  I watch the birds come to and fro my feeders all day.  Especially the hummingbirds who never fail to delight me.

There is a reason mental hospitals always were situated in the country.  They used to be called rest homes.  Many years ago the array of medications to treat mental illness did not exist.

People who had nervous breakdowns were sent to hospitals in the countryside to recuperate and recover.  There is nothing like the calm found in nature to do so.

I will appreciate my home better.  It is just a relief to be here.  My trip to the Jersey shore reminded me how fortunate I am to be on the edge of country.

Tags: Atlantic ocean, bed and breakfast, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, calm found in nature, cicadas, country, crickets, crowds, edge of country, home, hummingbirds, Jersey Shore, medications, mental hospitals, mental illness, nature, nervous breakdown, New Jersey, quiet, recuperate, rest homes
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The beach In Bay Head, NJ was much nicer than I thought it would be.  It stretched for miles and there were not many people on it.  I had this idea there would be some kind of barrier at the border of each town on the beach but that was not the case.

We even saw dolphins in the ocean.  I was thrilled.  They were huge and I never expected to see them.  They “made” this trip really memorable.  I have not thought about my dogs who I boarded until now and now I miss them.  Absence makes the heart fonder.

The Atlantic Ocean is really far from us so I will appreciate it now.  The Inn we are staying at is really nice although the beds were really hard.  I am off to the Ocean again.

Tags: Atlantic ocean, Bay Head, beach, dogs, dolphins, Inn, New Jersey, pets, vacation
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Nothing is permanent.  Mates and relatives die.  Friends move away or drift away from you.  Or even die.  The complexion of neighborhoods may change.  Some people move away, others move in.  Nothing is forever.

I remember once visiting my old neighborhood, where I grew up in and realized the community had changed drastically.

There was nothing no more to keep me there. My parents and friends had moved away.  I could not go back to my old haunts.  They were not there any longer.

I had to start all over somewhere else.  And I did in Morristown.  For fifteen years I lived there.  Then my life took me somewhere else.  Pennsylvania.

Of course, at some point you realize you have so much time and have to decide where you are going to spend the remainder of your life.

There is something to be said for roots.  When you spend a lifetime in one area and invested time and energy in reaching out to others, you have roots and who else will want to help you but these very people you have spent a lifetime with.

Moving far away from your roots, the friends you cultivated for years and close relatives may leave you stranded.  There may come a time you need their help.  You will not be young forever.

Of course, there is an assumption you care about your roots and friends.  There is so many times you can move and develop roots in another area.  That usually take years.  Sometimes a lifetime.  All that needs to be considered in a major move.

Tags: friends, New Jersey, not young forever, nothing is forever, nothing is permanent, parents, Pennsylvania, people die, people move away, reaching out to others, relatives, your roots
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It is no accident that all of us (my two sisters and I) garden.  It all started in my mother’s garden.  It was such a small garden but what an “oasis”.  She had all kinds of beautiful flowers.  I never forgot those deep red roses she had.

That does not even include our fig tree (I mourn its death), the biggest blackberries I have ever seen and the white grape vine she could not kill and finally gave up.

Even after decades I can almost visualize that garden.  Everything started there.  That does not even include the vegetables she raised.  Years later I became a produce clerk.

My appreciation of beauty started in that garden.  She introduced me to God there.  This is such a short essay.  I can not even begin to state the impact of her garden had on on my life even long after she moved from there (I must say reluctantly).

She has been dead seven years and it has been decades since I left that garden but its impact can still be felt today.

I still love looking at flowers and this year I planted eight tomato plants in pots.  I used to think that New Jersey had the best tomatoes in the whole world.  (Yes, I forgot to mention we also had tomatoes in that garden.)

There is so much I have to thank Mom for the garden she tended so carefully and lovingly.  This is such an incomplete list but I have to start somewhere.  Thank you Mom, for introducing me to flowers (and figs and so many other things).  Thank you, Mom, and may you rest in peace.

Tags: beauty, blackberries, fig tree, flowers, garden, gardener, gardening, God, Mom, mother, my mother's garden, New Jersey, oasis, produce clerk, red roses, rest in peace, thank Mom, thank-you, tomatoes, vegetables, white grape vine
Posted in beauty, death, flowers, God, knowledge&learning, life, love, nature, relationships, seasons, time, wisdom | 2 Comments »