power source

sunrise:  6:18

I am en route to my nest, empty of children, but full of a loving husband happily awaiting my return. Not a bad deal.

N and I moved all of her things into her first house last night at Middlebury. She is sharing it with two other senior girls, but it is a full sized home: basement, garage, three stories, dishwasher, back yard and all. Yet it is still “student housing,” so they have a built in cleaning service and regular dorm supplies. That’s what you get when you are lucky enough to pick #1 in the rooming lottery.











This morning was one of my favorite kinds of sunrise walks. I didn’t know where to go or what I would find, so it was a little journey of discovery. From my mother-in-law’s condominium in New Hampshire, where I spent last night, there is a grassy trail that leads out to Route 10.
 

There are a lot of hills around, and very tall trees, so a view of the sun was a challenge. I did finally begin to see the sky’s illuminated display of morning cloud, but I was frustrated by power lines. Damn these annoying power lines, thought I.

There I was with my camera and phone, all charged up with electricity, about to return to a home lit by electric lights to work on my electronic computer. We are thoroughly bound to our power sources, so when I first looked with disdain upon this sub-station, sending out dozens of fat cables to utility poles, I had to stop and rethink my stance. We all choose to tap into our sources of generated power; they are the founders of the life we lead.

On the other hand, look at this little green brier.

A seed found its way into some small supply of soil or nutrient on the top of this wooden pylon at the roadside. Although it may be just a few yards from the massive configuration of electric power generation, its power source is far more subtle. Sun, soil, air, and it tenaciously claims life.

A trail wound uninvitingly around the base of the sub-station, and I decided to follow it. There I entered a forest sanctuary along mink brook that has the same beauty as the Adirondack region I just came from, or so many natural places all over the northeast. Misty waterway, ducks, scolding red squirrels tossing pine cones at me (or at least it seemed that way), and the rising sun, the power source for everything my eyes could see in this place, gradually stretching its rays down into the small ravine where I walked.

Today my first view of the sun itself was its reflection off the misty waters of mink brook.

Now there is the ultimate power source. More dominant than any electronic generator station, more powerful than any feeble human attempt at imitation. And certainly, we are far more dependent upon that power source than any other. In fact, humans have been known to survive without any other, for long periods of time.

And it is quite superior in aesthetic presentation.

Where do we look for our source of power? Just something to think about.