... Family Circle

>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 8:01 PM
>> Subject: weird question
>>
>>
>> This is going to sound terribly odd, but has Nathan
done
>>something at the farm to the porch within the last month,
like
>>rip it all off? S.
>

Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 8:28 PM
>> Subject: Re: weird question
>>
>>
>> I have no idea. However, I will be sure to send Richard up to the
farm
>>to find out. Why do you ask? Love, Carol
>>
>>Now this is really going to make you think I am nuts, but
Gail's daughter who always adored Grampa just had a very
realistic dream about him. He was the age he was when she
last saw him. In the dream she was sleeping and he was tugging
her foot trying to wake her to warn me to "lock it up; lock
it up." When asked why he didn't tell me himself he said I
>>wouldn't listen to him. This was before our camp was broken
>>into. Then there was a bit where he was going on and on
about the porch, which peaked my curiousity of change at the
farm.He loved the porch at camp and lately every time I am out
>>there I am thinking very strongly of him, maybe he was
trying to tell Alison he was with me then. Another part was he
was babbling on about blue rings. Gail told Alison I own no
blue rings, but Gail was wrong. My best ring is blue topaz
with 4 diamonds around it. When I went to look for it I can't
find it, but that is typical of me and jewelry. I wear all my
>>jewelry all the time and am very careless with it. I have
no reason to think it is stolen. The last part was she asked
him how he liked it there and he said it was great and that the
hunting was great. Alison did not know he hunted so that
made no sense to her. How crazy is all that?

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 22:06:09 -0400
>
>Hi-De-Ho! Auntie!
>
> Sorry to be so long in answering...(but I've been pretty distracted
>lately with the training for the State Hospital job and all). The
whole subject of "dreams"...either in the waking or sleeping state, is
always an intriguing topic,...especially in the dusky, wind tossed, leaf
stripping,evenings leading up to the approach of All-Hallows-Eve. It would
certainly be nice to think that Gramp is having a wonderful time for himself in
the limbo-esque after life hinted at by that girl's dream. If there is a
season in which Gramp would be most active....most likely to make his
presence felt...it would certainly be this time of the year, when every good
ole Yankee is reveling in the joys of the harvest season...putting the
fields to bed, barreling the cider, cutting and packing away the winter's
wood...and most importantly...getting it all done in time to gear up
for fall hunting...first: pheasant and ducks...then geese...then
deer...and "maybe" if the signs are right and the opportunity arises...the chance
to bring down a bear...or even a moose. The rabbit, squirrels, and coy
dogs will always be worth taking too...if only for the sport of plucking
them off while they run for their lives through the under brush. Gramp enjoyed...loved... so many activities in-and aspects of- his long
earth bound life...that I'm not surprised to hear he might be having trouble
letting go of all those things he cared about while he was with us.
I'm sure that if he still has one ethereal foot planted ever so lightly on
this plane of existence, he is still intensely concerned with the well
being...of you, your family, the farm...and any number of other people
and situations that existed during his life time...and which still reverberate
for him in our reality. It may all be just a half formed, "what-if",
wondering day dream...by a young girl who misses an old man who "was" a part of
her life...and is no more...but I'd prefer to think that her fractured
premonitions are a window (however opaque) that still connects us to
the old guy.
If he's taken up a contented residence in that "happy hunting
>ground" described by Gail's daughter...then we can all take comfort in
his good fortune...it is a relief that he is doing well...and a hopeful
sign that...perhaps...we all have a chance at something to look forward to
in the afterlife. In the end...perhaps it "is" true...that we are nothing
more than the essence and stuff of our own dreams. If true...it makes the
old saying..."Be careful what you wish for, because you just may get
it"...one of the more profound revelations of the human experience.
> It's probably just the on set of this dark, cool, long shadowed
season, though...that even inspires us to wonder about...or
notice...those silent inner scratchings...and nape of the neck- hair raising
inklings...that pester at the fringes of our senses....when the night
winds are scudding silver cloud ships past a barely crescent moon...and the
dark winds flow across the tall, tan field grass...off the lake...over the
hill tops...and into the black vault of the surrounding forest. If you walk
the fields of the farm during those times, it's easy to conjure up a
feeling that one is in the company of some watchful, unseen presence. It might
be just Gramp, walking his rows, or scouting for rocks to be removed next
spring...or maybe it's some long dead indian, gliding along some invisible
wilderness path that hasn't existed since before the French and Indian
>ars...long before the land was cleared and "tamed".
Just because you asked...The porch up on the hill is in better
shape structurally and esthically,than it ever was in Gramp's time. Nate has
replaced all of the formerly rotting and worn-out porch timber's over the
past few years. Terri "did" spruce up the south side of the front porch by
planting a mass of morning glory flowers, which grew all the way up to
the eves of the porch and created an intimate and shady little grotto
there. The leaves were full and thick and the blossoms were quite
profuse...each one was white...circled with a "blue ring". I can imagine gramp being
disgusted by that hanging shroud of flowers..."going to cause mold and
rot on the porch Nate!"..."and it wastes all that valuable storage space
too!...best get rid of'em". How do you like that theory? By the
way...have
you found your ring yet?
I've gone on too long...so I'll end here. Sorry to be so
wordy...but
"Heck!!"...at least I haven't afflicted you with any political
chatter.
Have a nice night Auntie...bye.
>