June 19, 2011
-
Going Back
My family homestead is way down south on a lazy red river in the middle of the Apalachicola national forest. It’s empty now, has been for years…everyone scattered to the four winds. But it’s still there…
I thought I’d have this forever, but so much has happened since then. With each passing year the energy of this holy place recedes further into the fog of memory. I need to reconnect. I’m thinking of taking a year off and moving back for the duration. Painting and swimming and making things grow. Taking in the tree frog chorus after summer afternoon thunderstorms. Re-infusing my soul with the song of bobwhites and owls a whippoorwills at night.
Maybe next Spring.
Comments (47)
Beautiful post, beautiful photos. Yes. You must. Go back.
That sounds like a great idea! Beautiful place you have there.
Great pictures and what you said sounds wonderful!
Love the pictures and sounds great too
These are beautiful photos — it’s amazing how the old homestead can help us reconnect with our own roots and those of nature
.
you talked likes my daily activities of holiday in Sweden
Relaxing, calm and hugging nature 
There were some nice photos in there. And hey, I think that is a splendid idea.
I detest insects and the only ones that are fuzzy cute have stingers. I have been stung by wasps and the sensation burns. I never got stung by hornet.
But, it’s true … you can never go back. However, you can reconnect and grow from there in a whole new direction. I wish I could go back, not to change anything but to, this time, pay attention and remember because the days go fast and you get to the point where you stand in dismay and ask … where did all that time go??
do it.
Wow, awesome!
@suzibikerbabe - i hear that. i’ll be going back but not returning, if that makes any sense. i don’t expect the energy will affect me the same way as it once did, but i’ve no doubt of its power; the thought of working with it from this new vantage point excites me.
take the trip! take it soon. the pictures are really pretty and it seems like a magical place to run away o. who doesnt want that every once in awhile. Nature has such healing properties and modest living is the best way to ofocus on other more important things. lol. Sounds phny, but you know its trueee!
I one day want a nice little country home to run away to *sigh*
That sounds like a lovely thing to do. I wish I could go with you.
@lilies_of_snow - you could certainly visit. it’s a very special place.
@complicatedlight - It looks like it.
I like that last picture the best.
When daidaihua is taken excessively, the large amounts of antioxidants have no harmful side effects. Other antioxidant supplements produce unwanted side effects. The major cause of the problem of fatness and over weight is the use of fatty and junk foods in our diet.
Beautiful pictures!
How awesome would it be to go back and reconnect with a place from a different vantage point in life? As children, we usually relate to a place totally different than how we do as adults. What a great idea to go back and establish a new relationship with a place so steeped in your family’s history!
I’d totally do it.
It’s a crime nobody lives there any more. Do it… get a satellite connection or something to stay in touch here, though
I like that plan. There are places I’d go back to if only they were still in within my reach. Beautiful pics.
that sounds like a swell plan
what beautiful pixs..im in a dreamland right now..so relaxing! love you sweet phil
)
I super duper love the first and second photos.
A man returns
To the place he loved as a boy
Sacred ground
Old forest embraces him
Rich earth kisses his feet
Clean breeze ruffles his hair
Beyond words
Beyond emotion
There is a stirring
Spiritual center
From the place cherished as a man
A boy returns
@insomniologist - big hearts, jen.
beautiful pictures, esp. the top one. I feel your creative soul is wanting to go back to be refreshed again : ) how is that for Cali speak?
@storyslut - hang tahoe, baby!
~sigh~ Do places like that still exist outside of Barbara Kingsolver novels?
@judyrutrider - amazing, but yes i think so. hey – you know of a few, right?
@complicatedlight - My lips are sealed.
and the photography, don’t forget the photography! you wouldn’t leave us behind
@kaiori - don’t worry. if i go i certainly won’t.
I guarantee the time would be well spent! There’s nothing like making things grow and being out in the wild world. We have a frog chorus here in suburbia since we put the ponds and swales in the yard. Every time it rains, there’s a frog orgy and the tadpoles are getting HUGE! I’ll post more pics if it stops raining long enough to get ‘em.
it’s a magical place, phil. i saw a whole bunch of it, north south and central.
why did you leave?
i think i kinda get the feeling of…
was it the density?
i loved it, all of it, but it was kind of over powering…i’m not used to seeing life so up close. …it’s a bit more wide open here in texas.
i bet minnesota is the same way.
i loved it there in jacksonvile beach the most, i’m going to move there if i can someday real soon.
now i’m getting ready to leave for N 46.04460 W 121.85889
and maybe even the california if i’m real lucky.
stay warm, sunshine boy.
stay gold.
@aaronmcnees - hey that’d be great if you move there and i do this pilgrimage – just a few hours apart by car.
Goodness, sounds beautiful. Get the heck out there!
My own personal “living situation ideal” is to get out further west, perhaps onto one of the Gulf Islands. I want to live like my parents, on a huge plot of forest in the middle of nowhere on a relatively unpopulated island. It’s got to take at least 2 ferries to get out to the island for it to be far enough. And then my husband and I — we’d get a rustic little house built, and have a garden in our own backyard to grow vegetables, and maybe even keep some chickens for eggs. I’d FINALLY be making an income through my artwork. Or maybe writing. But I’ve already got people to pay me for my writing, the next step is to get them to pay me for my PAINTING.
Mmmm… BC hippiedom. BRING ‘ER ON!
Love the pictures and that sounds like an amazing idea. You should do it.
You might want to get out of Minnesota before the government collapses.
oh my goodness, yes. paradise regained, definitely. i’ll be wowed to see the painting and growing. brilliant idea, pbear.
It’s funny to “hear” you talk about this. I remember being a kid and thinking I couldn’t get away from the old house fast enough – backwards, landlocked and countrified. Now, in the midst of a city (which is all I ever thought I wanted) I start longing for green and quiet. We are seriously considering moving back there.
Are we getting old, Phil?x.g.
@underused - yes. =
Do you want to rent it out? I’d love to stay there for a week.
That sounds like a wonderful plan. Love the pictures. Thank you for dropping by my site. Have a good one.
When I started sleeping alone, I guess at about the age of four, I used to stay up all night in fear of the bobwhites and whippoorwills. I always thought they were monsters.