Category: Family

Roots and Trees: A Familial Legacy in Nova Scotia

Graywood Cemetery
~ Linda Wright

My grandfather and great grandfather cleared forests to build homes and establish farms in Nova Scotia, Canada. They made their living chopping down trees for timber, rolling logs down Bear River, loading them into cargo for shipment abroad. Now those ancestors are buried in ground sheltered by trees. My family roots are entangled with trees.

I have watched as my uncle split wood and fill the cast iron stove so that my mother could make breakfast. I have seen the sap drip from a maple tree into a tin bucket and smelled the smoke mingled with the sweet scent of sap boiling until it becomes syrup. I have climbed my grandmother’s apple tree and sat perched on one of its branches. Some of my fondest memories are of trees.

On my front porch there is a pile of cord wood. When the first chill of winter comes. I will strike a wooden match on the side of the stove and hear the crackle as that match catches the tinder and kindling into flame. I will feel the chill leave the air as the heat from the stove warms the dining room.

Most of all I will be grateful for the trees that remain standing. Without them on the planet we would not have clean air to breathe and fresh water to drink.

Day 24 (of 31 days of free writing)

The Charm of Open Windows in North Florida

~ Linda Wright

It is finally cool enough outdoors in North Florida that we can open windows. The cat could not be happier. We all enjoy the sounds of birds chirping and the squirrels rustling in the dry leaves. We can hear some traffic noise and an occasional siren whizzing by on its way to an emergency. I consider it good luck that we don’t hear many other irritating sounds. I like silence.

One of our neighbors uses an old fashioned lawn mower. It requires no gasoline or electricity, just a lot of muscle from the woman who pushes it up and down her sloping yard. Another neighbor has a robot trimming his lawn. I admit when I first saw it I got the giggles. I stared at that little bot in fascination as it crisscrossed in the most illogical way, nibbling little blades of grass without making a sound. It works hard in rain or shine, day and night. I just haven’t quite figured out why it would need headlights. Our property is just a bit shy of an acre. We have so many trees that grass doesn’t thrive. What is not covered by pine needles or magnolia leaves is fern or flowers. No buzzing mower is required.

Day 23 (of 31 days of free writing)

Reflections on Time

~ Linda Wright

Time seems to move past quickly now that I have lived through so many years. When I was five, a year was a fifth of my life. Now a year is such a tiny slice of my life span it disappears before I realize where the time went. Anticipation was everything when I was younger. Winter crept into spring, then meandered into summer, and finally ambled into autumn. How I dreaded the thought of going back into a stuffy classroom. How I counted the days until the next school break. It felt like eons before my birthday. Ages passed until I was old enough to drive a car. Waiting is still hard for me but things I wish to happen occur before I’ve had much time to feel the delay of gratification or the clutch of anxiety.

Day 22 (of 31 days of free writing)

The Connection Between Food and Religion

~ Linda Wright

Sometimes food is deeply connected with religion. Like religion it can be a very sensitive topic. People get energized to proselytize and usually that leaves me feeling cornered and defensive. It all started for me when my first grade teacher told the public school class that today we should not eat meat. She said it was a holy day and if our mother served us meat we should refuse to eat it. I was horrified and said so. If my mother cooked me dinner I was raised to be appreciative. But disagreeing with the teacher turned into an inquiry about what church I went to, which led to me running home in tears because under pressure I could not remember what I had been taught to believe. Lately I’ve had several conversations with people at church about ethical eating. These discussions generally turn into lectures. Their point is that it is unethical to eat meat and dairy products because of the methane gas cattle expel. Also pork, poultry and fish as to be avoided as much as possible. I share their enthusiasm for trying to protect the planet we all inhabit. But do they really mean I am committing a sin if I have milk on my morning cereal?

Day 20 (of 31 days of free writing)

The Mystery of My Body Unraveled

~ Linda Wright

You would think that after all these years I would have a better understanding of my body. My excuse is that my body has changed a lot over time, most especially in the past two years. At times I have been enamored of my body’s ability to adapt given the demands that have been placed on it. Yet there has always been some mystery that eludes me. I have a sense that despite my search for understanding neither doctors or the books I have read have fully enlightened me. I have peered at CAT scan results and MRI images as doctors pointed and said, “See this, right here…” I nod as if I understand, when in fact it all looks like a confusing mess to me.

This week I am filling out the forms to donate my body to a medical university after I die. I have wanted to do this for a long time but it has only been in the past few years that I qualified. I wish I could be a ghost on the ceiling to look inside and see what the medical students observe. I imagine that I will be a very interesting corpse.

Day 19 (of 31 days of free writing)