Autumn in the North Cemetery.

Sixty miles west of Boston, Massachusetts there is the small New England town of Sturbridge. Located at the junction of I-90 (The Mass Pike), and I-84 it has become known as the "Crossroads of New England". The town was first settled over 300 years ago, and like other small New England towns it has grown just enough over the years to be in a difficult place today. How do we embrace the future without forgetting how we got to our present? How do we attract the right kind of growth, and maintain who we are? And, what about our culture out here in Central Massachusetts?



These pages will cause one to think about how to protect what we have, our future direction, and how to move on in the very best way.


Those thoughts, and other ramblings, will hopefully inspire more thought, conversation, action, and occasionally a smile...

...seems to be working so far

Friday, August 13, 2010

Some Thoughts Over Coffee

For the past two weeks I've felt it at times, and around the second of August I saw it in a few trees along the turnpike in Weston.  I look for the signs every year, and this year is no different.  I feel the temperature falling at night, the humidity lifting for more than just a day, and I saw a vertical line of reddened leaves in some maples in Weston on the the westbound side of the turnpike one morning last week.

I'm not worried, though.  I'm not saddened, either.  I am glad I am still around to see, and feel the changes.  To be aware enough to pick up on the slightest flicker of color change, to feel the air become lighter, dryer.  Some days I can plow through the hours like everyone else, and get caught up in scheme of the day, the plan of the week.  I try not to overlook the changes about me, and I will eventually recognize them sometime during the day.  It is a game in a way.  It is an adventure moving through one period of my year, and into the next.  In my mind, I see a circle.  Some envision a long line with a beginning, and quite naturally, an end.

I avoid the "end" part with a circle.  I may not be able to  avoid the "end" part forever, but as long as I keep going in circles I'll feel as though I can.

It all depends on where your head is at each day that determines what you'll see, feel, hear, and experience that day.  Those inputs will determine how you react, perform and treat others that day as well.  It all starts with just being aware, and acknowledging what is around you.

It's getting late,  I've got some catching up to do.

2 comments:

  1. The Road Sometimes TakenFriday, August 13, 2010

    Ah, yes, the circle of life. If only the circles didn't spin a little faster each year, we'd have it made. Why do the trees' rings get larger each time around as our own circles seem to shorten and pass quickly by? Oh wait! I just remembered that my waistline has expanded, something like a tree trunk does with age. Please, Lord, let us be the first New England redwoods, perhaps big around and not very tall, but able to keep on our circular trails. And one more thing, when we have to step off and onto a straight stretch for a bit, please make our intersections safe.
    Seriously though, Wally, thanks for another inspiring article. Keep up the good work.

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  2. :-) Thank you, The Road Sometimes Taken.

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