Wednesday, March 19, 2008

my woods

I love just hanging out in my woods, watching the pups snuffle through the underbrush. There was one morning where I was listening particularly hard and wishing I could collect sounds like I collect pictures. I thought that I would concentrate on the sounds and write them all down as I moved through this day in my life. There were all the different bird calls, the dry shuffle of leaves underfoot, pugs snorts, bugs zipping through the air, woodpecker's report on dead pines. Then I headed for work and I realized that the closer I got to town the more I NEEDED to tune out, listening and focusing on sounds was giving me a headache. Diesel engines, radio commercials, air conditioners humming, horns, people chatting away on their cell phones, presses running, printers churning, the whirl of fans cooling hard drives. It made me wonder, how much are we unconsciously effected by this everyday? Would my brain be less tired if I didn't have to tune all this out, if I could hear the wind move the trees all day instead?

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