Wednesday
Sep082010
Oh, My Meandering Mind
September 8, 2010 * * * * * Posted by: Sue 
I’m still exploring my new surroundings; finding new and interesting places to visit nearly every week.
Often I choose to do my exploring on my own which allows me to wander at a more leisurely pace with my camera. I can spend as little or as long as I wish at any given spot. That plan was especially effective during my recent visit to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.
When one is exploring alone, it is also interesting where the mind can take them. With me, during my zoo visit, my mind seemed to bounce all over the place.
As I entered the zoo, I was immediately introduced to sights, sounds, and smells that are unfamiliar to me in my daily life. My mind flashed to Eliza in Africa, thinking how we enjoy reading her adventuresome tales; tales that to most of us spark visions of excitement and intrigue, sprinkled with just a hint of danger. In the zoo I was safe, separated from the animals by glass, moats, or elaborate fencing. I wondered how brave I would be if I encountered the tiger, the elephant, or even the gibbon in the wild.
Then my mind bounced to the pioneers of our country. It’s weird I know, but I thought about the journey through the new and uncharted land. I wondered what it would have been like to travel across the mountains and prairies on horseback or maybe in a covered wagon. Or what it would have been like to forge a path through forests, over raging rivers, and up and down the steep mountains; fighting the elements, animals, and other un-savory characters.
Thinking of pioneers then caused me to ponder the life my grandparents experienced in a more primitive time in America.
My knowledge of my grandparent’s early life is sketchy. I do know that my great-grandparents traveled to America from Germany. And, I can remember visiting my grandparents’ farm during its more simple and primitive stage.
Did my grandparents have to clear the land to prepare it for farming? Did they plant the orchard that was on the farm? Who built the barn? Or the chicken coup? Or who poured the concrete tank? Did they cut trees to make the fences? I don’t know who built the small house they raised five children in.
I do remember the haunting sound of the coyotes at night while visiting my grandparents on the farm. I do remember going to the “out house.” And, I do remember the wood burning stove that grandma used to prepare delicious chicken, home-made noodles, and freshly baked pies. By the way, I also remember grandma wringing the neck of the un-lucky chicken she selected to be our dinner, the odor of the feathers after she poured boiling hot water on them to help her pluck the feathers, and watching her cut the whole chicken up to prepare it for cooking.
What would our forefathers say if they were to return to visit us today? What would they think about how spoiled and safe and “privileged” we are?
And what do the gibbons think of us? How do they feel about us sitting on a bench watching them do their acrobatics, swinging from branch to branch? Do they know they are entertaining us zoo visitors? Or do they do just what comes naturally?
Just like wandering the various paths at the zoo, my mind wandered too. Oh, my meandering mind.
Reader Comments (9)
First of all, Sue, I love that you're exploring your new surroundings. I wonder if photographers are all explorers at heart? I'd love to be there exploring with you (but would give you your own space to meander, of course). Thinking back to your grandparents and what kind of life they lived makes me jump ahead to the future of my now-10 grandson. 40-50 years from now what will HE think of how "spoiled and safe and 'privileged' we are?" I can't even fathom what kind of technology he will be living with. I'm guessing his computer will be a chip in his brain and his camera will have multiple lenses at his disposable by touch-screen. But he'll go to the zoo with HIS grandchildren and will see gibbons just like this, staring back at him in total befuddlement! HA! I love your meandering mind. :)
B&W strengthens his look, I like that a lot. You do wonder what is on his mind.
oh, I really enjoy reading about your meandering thoughts while exploring the new land! Lovely post and great shot
Always amazing where the mind leads...and how one thing follows another. A trip to a zoo..and there you are - back in your grandparents house...on their farm. T'would be interesting to see what they might think of us now - buying pre-plucked chickens that are shrink-wrapped in plastic from a supermarket!!!!
Wonderful image too!!!
How fortunate we are when we have the time to allow ourselves and/or our minds to meander. In this fast-paced world, with numerous stresses on families, there is little time for this experience. Maybe your contribution will encourage others to "take time to smell the roses." Thanks for the reminder of life's simple pleasures and the importance to our well-being.
I, too, have used the outhouse on my grandparents farm, watched my grandmother ring the neck of the chicken she fixed for dinner (that would be lunch for city folk), helped gather the eggs from the chicken coop, and fed slop to the pigs. Thanks for taking me back to my grandparents' farm with your meandering mind. That said, I'm kinda glad we live in the age of supermarket chicken and iPhones. :)
I'm sure they will think we are blessed. Right now I think my kids are privileged but when they get older and show real appreciation for what they have, I know I will feel that they are blessed. Can you tell I'm in the throes of the teen years?
I do this too, wonder what it was like ... this week with mom visiting I have wondered allowed at the changes that have happened in her lifetime. She was born in 1919 and is now sitting in my basement with me, watching HDTV, her computer humming away upstairs, her Ipod in the docking station and she is hand quilting. A perfect blend of old and new.
We always call them the good old days...things seemed simpler, slower, better? but they were also harder, life was shorter, people had less "free" time to meander...I guess it is all give and take, we lose some things, we gain others. A very thoughtful post, love your photo. The world keeps changing and we adapt, but sometimes it is nice to slow down and catch your breath...