Sunday, March 1, 2015

Peace and love on a dreary day

It's another rainy day--one among many this month.  The ground and fields are so saturated that large chasms have been cut on the dirt lane from sheet flow of water that gushes over the cross drains and ditches.

All of the pastures have standing water.  It's colic season for horses because the temperatures are fluctuating between the low 40's to nearly 70 F tomorrow.  My horse's hoof abscess is long healed, and he is healthy and apparently happy. Sadly, his stablemate had to be put down due to severe cellulitis.  The loss of this beautiful animal has had all of us out of sorts, sad and concerned.  His owner has taken this very hard.  I doubt if she will get over this any time soon, if ever.  I am reminded that these large animals who have such power are really such fragile creatures.

When I ventured out in the yard this morning, I saw a few signs of Spring.  Some brave daffodils are blooming, as are the forsythia and camellias.


But most of the beautifully landscaped yard is brown and the plants look forlorn. I know that soon enough budding and regrowth will occur.  But today I am staying close to the fire and warmth of the house.  I had wanted to get to the garden to put in some more seeds.  With the rain pouring down, it seems unlikely that will happen today.

Tomorrow C. and I are going to a concert.  This is the first one in a long time.  I am sure that there will be a lot of middle aged folks like us there.  The band is Pink Floyd Experience.  We both wish that we had seen the original Floyd back in the day but since that didn't happen, we are going to see this tribute band that is supposed to be quite good.

I have some particularly interesting memories of rock concerts.  Some were fairly tame while others such as a particularly raucous one at American University in DC, were drug and drunk fests.  I was too young for Woodstock but this had to be a microcosm of what happened there.  Aside from smoking some weed on occasion, I wasn't into drugs or alcohol.  A young woman standing next to me, freaked out on acid, had to be carried out.

I wonder what happened to all those hippies.  Are they still going to rock concerts? Are they old addicts/alcoholics or working on Wall Street?  Do they still care about peace and love? A lot of idealism was part of our culture then.  I prefer that to the blatant hatred that seems to be the overriding sentiment among so many today.

Anyway,  time for me to get back to reading and maybe taking a nap.  I think watching the fire is going to be a good way to spend this dreary afternoon.




9 comments:

  1. Well, this old hippie stays home and remembers the wild times with a smile on her lips.
    Spring WILL be here. The sun WILL come out. You will ride your magnificent horse again.

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  2. Oh I am envious of your rain Syd.....we are dried up like an old prune out here in Ca. Little one who turned 14 yesterday and her best friend have asked me to take them to a concert in San Francisco in June. As a little baby I used to carry little one in a sling and cover her ears with my hands, and take my girl to concerts. Here I am all of these years later, still doing this stuff....no baby tied to my front this time though. Thank God. lol

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  3. Glimpses of spring flowering and a warn place by the fire!

    Syd I was too young for the youth movements of the 1960s but I do think there was hopefulness and a trust in human nature we don't find around much now. It was a more naive time -- with wonderful music -- but the cynicism and hatred you mention gets me down too.

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  4. It is good to see your posts. They are always meaningful.

    Like me, I guess you no longer feel the need for posting as often. I can only draw the conclusion that a more settled peace has found you.

    Hope you are enjoying your retirement. I see myself in your shoes in a couple years.

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  5. nice...wish i had seen floyd as well...so i hope you have a great time at the concert...so hard when you lose animals that you have made such a connection with as well...so i feel for her....we may actually get a week in school this week...ha...our next snow is not due til the weekend....

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  6. I truly enjoy Pink Floyd ...
    http://youtu.be/NavVfpp-1L4
    Feel that working my program helps shift everything around me in a small way-- hope it reaches out into the world and brings some peace and love I feel at times...

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  7. Good Lord Syd i would have guessed you had a few years on me but I suppose not. Pink Floyd was like The Moody Blues, if you caught them on a good day when things were tight it was a great show but if not it was terrible. Definitely they could at the time do much more of 'their sound" better in the studio.

    My first concert was cat Stevens in '71 and my last was Santana opening for the Stones on Jagger s birthday in Oakland Ca '79. Saw most everyone from Dylan and Harrison to Yes and journey in between.

    Where did all the old hippies go--why to boardrooms everyone, or elected offices--who the hell do you think found out that greed was not bad and ruined the economy for almost everyone else. It weren't the Vets of the Vietnam era. They found they liked power as much as they did acid. Not that i found recreational drug use a bad thing but i didn't think of most of it as some kind of path to power and enlightenment either. Just the Belladonna (yellow) and the peyote they were a trip of a different sort.

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  8. Before we moved South we lived in NY State literally within an hour of the farmland that became famous and known as Woodstock. There are still some Hippies hanging on but basically the residents just want it forgotten.
    Hold on Syd...nothing lasts forever and Spring will be here soon.

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  9. Most of those hippies were just doing what was fashionable at the time Syd, Walking man is probably right. They didnt truly believe in love andpeace they just enjoyed being part of the crowd. But you know in every generation there are true hippies still even now, most of them are just getting on with life and tryingto bring a little peace and love to the place that they are in now.

    https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8654601476408709324#allposts/src=dashboard

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