It has been 10 days since my first daffodil bloomed and already it has been joined by more than 50 others and 7 trees have leafed out, the grass turned deep green and ready for its first cut and buds are on some rose wood. It is like flipping a switch.
I realized today that a lot of my hobbies are probably nostalgic. I like plant and animal life and that could easily date to being born on a ranch. I monitor a weather station that beams info to NOAA and that can come from my Father always having a very cool set of guages including temperature and barometer.
Even a quick 30 mile ride on the “Bones” out through the countryside yesterday revealed that not only is plant life coming alive but so are smells….a dairy farm, some black top curing, spilled gasoline, the musty smells of earth and warm sun etc. are smells that have been in my memory bank for nearly 60 years.
So is my love of history. I’m just finishing Friedman’s very insightful From Lebanon to Jerusalem all of which is as relevant today or even more than when he wrote it after stints as a journalist in both places.
By the way, movies are also a love and if you haven’t already, rent The Soloist . True story and pretty true to the book by Steve Lopez. At one point, it was too real and got uncomfortable because we still haven’t cracked the issues of mental health and homelessness.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest was a pivotal movie for my generation but I don’t think we’ve been any more enlightened and in some ways far more cruel with the way we’ve handled the issue of mental health.
By the way, The Soloist is about “us” who think we’re not mentally ill. With that, the loud but soothing sounds of a Bulldog tell me its time for another motorcycle ride.
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