Seeing The Forest For The Trees

Brilliant blue sky.  Warm sunshine (not too warm...).  The air is still.  The birds sing and chirp. The hummingbirds continue their yearly and epic battles, those petite ninja killers.

And I sit in The Oasis...pots of herbs, veggies, flowers and grasses adorn pretty much every inch of space that we don't need to walk in.

From a beautifully overgrown pot of Basil to this luscious Hibiscus - our Oasis is just brimming with greenery and color.  Since we are surrounded by wildlife that enjoys sampling anything in a traditional garden - we grow everything in pots on the deck.  Deer might be willing to come up close the house to nibble on a Tomato plant but they don't come up on the deck - ever.  And while we have had woodchucks eat away at a pot of Parsley...we have finally gotten rid of that particular pest by eliminating their hideaways and burrows.

We really are blessed beyond measure with our home. Built in 1978, we purchased it in 1989. It sits on one pristine acre of land that, at one time, had 68 trees on it.  We are below 40 trees now - took us 15 years to get to this point!  There are still a few skinny trees that could come down but that's always a rather tense discussion in the house; The Oracle would rather let it all go back to nature and while I agree with that - it's only to a point.

Anyway, I digress.  The true beauty of our home - our Oasis - isn't in just the house or the property. It's what is behind us that makes this truly an island of serenity in a world growing inward.

When we moved in back in 1989 there was a large woodland area behind the house.  A rambling stonewall went from one property to another, marking a property boundary that time has forgotten about.  Beyond that stonewall was just - woods.  We took several walks thru them in the early days of living here.  Dense forest is all it was - tall Oak trees growing side by side, the forest floor littered with leaves, decaying limbs and struggling undergrowth.

We figured at some point whoever owned those many acres of land would sell it - unable to resist the filthy lucre to be gained from selling a couple hundred acres of land to a builder.  Even in a town like ours - with one acre zoning for building houses - it would be a killing for a construction company to acquire.

Fast forward about 10 years and at a local annual fall fair, we encounter a booth with topographical maps of town.  As would anyone, we swiftly identified where we live - eager to see what lay beyond where we used to wander in the woods.

The gentleman manning the booth watched us and then approached - "Do you live there?", he asked.  "Why yes, we do.", we replied. He looked at the map, then us and his expression was one of - envy mixed with joy.

"The man who owns the land behind your house once thought to sell it to a builder", our man informed us. Even confirmed something we suspected for many years - that there is a variance road that leads deep into the woods from the road we live off of.  Then he revealed the reason for his envy and joy - "He had a change of heart and when he dies he has deeded the property to the town for open space."

Open. Space. Stipulated in the man's Will...unbreakable.

I recall we simply stood there rooted to that spot. Staring, slack-jawed, at our man.  I think one of us might have squeaked out a "Really?"...beyond that, my memory is frozen at the moment we learned that for however long we lived here - the land behind us would remain a lush, untouched forest.

No neighbors - ever.  No disruption to the serenity of our backyard - ever.

Even now, 15 years later - as I look out at that dense green space, grown thicker over the years with undergrowth and big green ferns as far as you can see - I am struck silent by the grace of our good fortune.

On the busiest day in this neighborhood - when people have guests over, music blaring - we can retreat to this glorious space and let all that hubbub just...fade away.

As I get older, I am less inclined to travel; thankfully The Oracle feels the same way.  And while we will take trips to that most excellent, magical home-of-friends in VT; and every so often head south to the pristine beaches of the west coast of Florida - we are becoming more and more apt to stay home for our times off from work.  Even in the wintertime, there is a cold, clear beauty to the forest behind us, to the silence of our Oasis.

True - there are foreign places on my Bucket List - the Highlands of Scotland, the cosmopolitan thrum of London, the vast beauty of Tuscany.  And maybe someday we'll get there.

In the meantime, I live out the majority of my Bucket List right here at home - where I have an Oasis to escape to, I have a piano indoors to soothe me and I have The Oracle by my side, with his quiet strength and gentle ways.