Impression: Central Pennsylvania Summer

So will I build my altar in the fields, And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be, And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields Shall be the incense I will yield to thee. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I am a fine one for taking the long way around when I could have taken the shorter way instead. Why do I choose the long way? Because there is so much to see, and I want to fit every adventure, every bit of beauty that I can into the time that my light shines on this earth.

I have not spoken of it here, for it is sad news, but the Baileyville white oak sustained an injury recently. One of its huge arms has fallen, perhaps from too many years of holding up the sky; or more likely, from the latest windstorm.

I wanted to document the tree's damage on this morning, and I did - taking a longer back way to work - but I don't think I'm sharing any of those photos here. It was just too sad. I hope the person who owns the farm field the tree stands in is a good steward of trees. I pray it is not a life-threatening injury that the tree has sustained.

And while I was standing by the road - and I will urge caution to ANYone who stands along route 45 during peak morning or afternoon commute time, as there are many big trucks and they travel FAST - I suddenly looked down at the grasses at my feet and all around me and noticed how lovely they were. The orange day lilies are blooming everywhere now; you can stop along the roads and pick armfuls of them.

And so it was that I stopped and smelled the flowers. And I thought about all of the time that I waste, running around, taking pictures, looking at things. And I marvel to myself about how it may seem like wasted time, but it is so important to me: these tiny little adventures I have, that remind me of why I love where I live and why I do what I do.

My heart has only one wish, and that is a wish for more time to waste along the way. And I'm working on that. Soon I'll tell you more, but not yet, no not yet . . . I will share more when it is time.

The soundtrack is the wonderful Crosby, Stills, and Nash tune, Wasted on the Way. I urge you to listen to it if you care for this song at all; the harmonies are just wonderful.

I am older now
I have more than what I wanted
But I wish that I had started long before I did . . .
And there's so much time to make up everywhere you turn
Time we have wasted on the way
So much water moving underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away