The Civilized Man

Tag: writing

  • Another Year Passing, but still beautiful.

    The summer weather was more severe, but life in summer continued as so many before it. Those beleaguered heirloom tomatoes did eventually come along, in September. And they were good, but fewer in number and a few weeks later.

    But, this year, the garden delivered something new. The melon vines loved the hot weather and by early September I had collected six edible, lovely and delicious Charentais melons. This was quite a success and I may plant these again next year.

    Penne with fresh tomatoes and Basil (from the hundreds of plants!)

    Visitors

    Twenty years ago when I first moved here, I would sit outside on the those peaceful summer nights and the bats would begin to appear about 7:00pm. They would begin to fly lower as the darkness came, until those little bats would often fly right in front me, just a few feet away.

    And then a few years later they vanished and I have never seen them again.

    Yes, it has been many years, but almost every night in the summer I very briefly look for them. So, each evening begins a little sadly when I sit to finish my dinner wine. I am always a little melancholy. I never forget them and always look up into the trees in the western sky from where I once saw them approach. I am hoping that they have returned. That thought makes me unhappy because they have not.

    Something so ancient no longer appears in its natural and proper place, when and where it has existed for an incomprehensible amount of time.

    But I have other visitors who come, attracted to the hundreds of zinnias that bloom in my three flower gardens. The wondrous and nearly magical little creatures visit fairly often, and I know something is still right with the world when they visit. I always stop immediately and watch them. Sometimes I can photograph them, but it is nothing to look at the photo when compared to meeting them in person. I’ve read that the oldest fossils of these magical creatures date to 50 million years ago.

    Many things on this unfathomable ancient earth continue and my life has more meaning because I am part of it.

    Oh, sorry I disturbed you, little toad!

  • The Endless Retirement

    I like my property here, but I sometimes feel that I would like to have much more of it. Although, I couldn’t maintain much more. Maybe I would rather just live in a place where there is more forest. I’ve read about people building “tiny” houses on rural land and I like the idea very much. But the photos I’ve seen of “tiny houses” don’t look very good to me. They seem much too compact.

    In addition, I have noticed that some of the new Garden Sheds have quite nice designs.

    If I had to, I could sell my house, buy several of these and some rural land, and build Garden Shed Estates. It would need a foundation, though.

    Yet, at this time in my life, I still have no shed.

    It is June, the trees are in full bloom, and the birdies are singing!

    The gardens (plural!) have survived the cold evenings and look pretty healthy thus far. Although a few of the plant population are unhappy and not feeling well. I am hoping that the chicken manure application will make them feel better.

    Ah, there is the potato I buried several months back.

    I like my current place to live better than all my previous dwellings. It has been very comfortable and peaceful here the last 20 years. There are occasional interesting visitors but not many or very often. I’ll bet the neighbors didn’t know this individual was near the front door! And then he just seemed to vanish.

    These days my time is spent well. Sometimes I just sit and think about life and all that I have learned thus far, and what comes next. Or, I can read the great books. I have been reading and re-reading some Bertrand Russell essays. He is one of my favorite writers of the 20th century. I recently found a classic book in near mint condition, printed 1957 (2nd printing, original released in 1956). Purchased on-line from the AbeBooks website. Cheaply made re-print paperbacks are selling for the same price. What a scandal.

    Good Queen Bess approves of this mint condition treasure.

    There is guitar (for me) and music as a lifelong passion. But that is always yours, once you acquire it. It is the musical memory that evokes pleasing chords or melodies. But I don’t think that is inspiration

    I can still learn by example, but it would have to be something exceptional.

    What could that be? Who do I currently admire enough such that they also could be an inspiration?

    Well, here is the great Sir Henry of Fox Manor who demonstrates the necessary enthusiasm to pursue a meaningful life.

    The Legend, himself.

    The wise use of leisure, it must be conceded, is a product of civilization and education. A man who has worked long hours all his life will be bored if he becomes suddenly idle. But without a considerable amount of leisure a man is cut off from many of the best things. There is no longer any reason why the bulk of the population should suffer this deprivation; only a foolish asceticism, usually vicarious, makes us insist on work in excessive quantities now that the need no longer exists.

    In Praise Of Idleness, 1932 Harper’s Magazine. Bertrand Russell.


    IX. Can anything be sillier than the point of view of certain people—I mean those who boast of their foresight? They keep themselves very busily engaged in order that they may be able to live better; they spend life in making ready to live! They form their purposes with a view to the distant future; yet postponement is the greatest waste of life; it deprives them of each day as it comes, it snatches from them the present by promising something hereafter. The greatest hindrance to living is expectancy, which depends upon the morrow and wastes to-day.

    De Brevitate Vitae, Seneca. (middle first century AD)