reading is an art form

i guess you could say that i have been immersing myself in early american history and poetry. i wanted to get a feel for what it must have been like at the dawn of our culture here in this beautiful part of the world. i finished 'the complete poems of walt whitman' and am working on 'walden' by henry david thoreau right now. i had no idea one could write so many words about a pond ;)

i also updated my library card and took out a few books on the iroquois league and their history here in new york state. it all ties together you see- iroquois and whitman are native new yorkers and thoreau is from new england :) thoreau and whitman are pretty much contemporaries and i intend to start reading wordsworth when i put thoreau down. i think i am going to have to get some emerson as he was thoreau's compatriot.

there is something about the smell and feel of an old book- and the library has plenty. i have a feeling that the iroquois don't get checked out as often as oh, i can't even think of any modern pop authors- you fill in the blank. i have books in my hand from the beginning of the 20th century. 1904 and 1905- the 1920's and 1940's. it's a beautiful experience and one that has to be experienced to understand. ironically, words can't express...

i am a native new yorker and i have lived within 50 miles of my birthplace my whole life- and i have never really felt a part of it. it's strange to have a feeling of not really belonging anywhere while not belonging anywhere else. some folks have a tribal sense of belonging- almost like superfans at a football game- but i don't. my fanciful imaginination conjures up the thought that perhaps it's the seneca in me :) not really nomadic but ready to move when needed. perhaps my new found love of gardening can be traced back to their tilling of corn, beans and squash hundreds of years before i was even a twinkle in their eye.

my father's family is seneca and i find it interesting that for the most part, he has spent his entire life within 100 miles of his birthplace. for years he has split his time between new york and florida but the extended family is near the epicenter of the seneca nation- canandaigua, ny. much dilution has occurred in my 'bloodline' and i doubt i would be considered seneca today- especially since it is my father and not my mother who is seneca. he actually looks seneca- dark hair even now in his 70's and eyes and complexion. i got the german genes- fair skin and hair and hazel eyes. my sister got lucky though- she inherited dad's side looks.

i know how thoreau felt about walden- and whitman about manhattan and long island- because i feel the same way about my neck of the woods. there is simply no place on the planet as beautiful as upstate new york. unless you travel to new england :) or wyoming :) or oregon.......