all hallows eve

it is the last day of october...all hallows eve.   it is chilly as i sit on my deck soaking up the last warming rays of autumn.  already this week we’ve had a warning of snow.  a degree or so colder would have left my world covered in white softness.  instead we got bone chilling rain.  today though it is bright.  the mountains pop with vivid yellows oranges and reds.  the air teases a hint of someones wood burning stove and of fallen leaves.  

a little black feral kitten tugs at my feet for attention.  an occasional nip on my toes reminds me that he is wild.  a neighbor gave him a name and put a collar on him to make him less so.  and though he is sweet the scratch on my toe reminds me that he is still a product of raw nature.  i am enjoying his company as i sit here and write.  it amuses me how cats vie for attentions when the focus is not on them.  in fact i came outside because my own was rubbing her chin on keyboard and swatting at my fingers.      

i live in a small town on the fringes of appalachia.  it was once the virginia frontier.  a few blocks from here is an earthen berm that is all that remains of a fort.  it was built to protect the boundaries of this country in its fledgling years from the french and the indians.  the fort was burned in an attack, its settlers and slaves killed or kidnapped.  because of it’s strategic importance it was rebuilt.  george washington then a british colonial officer inspected the fort in 1756.  he came here to settle a dispute when soldiers stopped work and demanded more pay for rebuilding it.  

it is wild and beautiful country. i never imagined just how so.  in many ways it is quite etherial.  a slice of americana plucked from time.  the road out front is designated a historical area.  the old town itself was founded more then a hundred years ago.  on one side of the road there are the buildings of what used to be the bank, a mercantile, a dress shop and a church.  on other stands a long building that was the furniture and casket store and next to it leans a decaying red building...it’s use no one can recall. 

at this very moment as though scripted for my use a long wagon pulled by draft horses in full regalia passes by.  it is loaded with hay bails and children dressed as witches goblins superheroes.  i can see their jittery excitement and hear laughter.  their chorus is accompanied by the jingling of the driving harness’s buckles and chains and the clop clop clop rhythm of hooves.  i am left in wonder...

i shake my head at the contrast as i remember living in larger more modern suburban parts in the deep south.  i enjoyed the children of my neighborhood coming around dressed up on halloween.  what i hated though were the dozens of vans full of  kids from poorer areas being ferried in.  it was ridiculous.  i was always on the fence between opening arms to the poor and the feeling of being taken advantage of because of some entitlement.  funny i have never once felt that here.  trust me there are poor here.  but people just seem to watch out for one another.   

not to long ago i was at the local gas station filling up.  an elderly gentleman had finished at the pump next to me but instead of driving off came over and started to chat.  yes i was supposed to be somewhere but i stayed after i’d finished pumping gas and chatted anyway.  he was retired from his career and was now a school bus driver.  there wasn’t anything particularly spectacular or important about the conversation.  it was just an old neighbor chatting with a new one.  i felt pretty good when i drove off.  i’d met JR.  just an plain country gentleman.  

i live in the oldtown church.  it is my home.  as i sit here the afternoon sunlight hits my windows and diffuses against the diamond cut leaded panes of opaque glass.  it fills this space with a soft glow.  it has gotten too cold to sit outside and so i left the wild kitten to curl up in my place.  now at my table i sip hot tea to warm myself.  and i think about how very different thing were for me just over a year ago.  i haven’t any doubts that this is where i was supposed to and needed to be.  i just never expected the richness i have come to find in this tiny out of the way speck of the world.