Orientation
Bullocks Cove, from the causeway, December 2006Is it that growing up on a peninsula gives you a permanent orientation which others lack, or is it the End of Nature, ala Bill McKibben? When I assign boys tasks in our daily job period, and one's is to "vacuum south side and bring in newspaper," he always asks "Where's the 'south side'?" And I react snappishly, where is the sun in the afternoon? which way is warm?, and they just gape. I think, they should know which way is south. But of course they don't, and shouldn't because they are adolescents roused too early from their sleep. It's a wonder that they can comply as well as they do. In the ideal world, they would sleep till they woke AND they would always know which way was north, south, east, west because they would have the time and leisure to observe the natural world which still envelops and hosts our artificial one.
1 comment:
Beautiful photo!
Wonderful post.
I LOVE that you have them vacuum the south side!
It's so true.
For years, and sometimes even still, I have to sing the refrain of a Little Shop of Horrors song to remember where the sun sets every day. ("The sun sets in the West," is how it goes.)It's strange not to have any sense for such a primal orientation. Our yurt is helping! Our hillside in VT is gorgeously sunny, facing southeast. We are protected by the hill and the trees behind us to the cold and windy north. (And unfortunately we can't see the sun set in the west, for the hills and trees!)
But which way is warm? You should feel and see the yurt in the afternoon sun.
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