SUNDAY COMING DOWN

          Where oh where did our summer like weather disappear to?  From almost hot balmy days, after the chores, sitting in a lawn chair in my shirt sleeves sipping a cold beer to a shiver my bony white legs snowy day.  I walked up Green Mountain this morning to visit my friends George and Margaret Probst and although the skies were cloudy, a heavy greyness was hanging over the high hill and a cold wind was blowing out of the south; the snow was not yet falling.  However, not long after arriving at my friend's house, while enjoying several glasses of potent delicious home-made wine and then a short time later, eating a delicious German potatoe salad and fried salmon cakes, the first of many snowflakes began slowly drifting to the earth.  As per usual, as the sounds of Bach drifted throughout the cosy kitchen, we all engaged in some stimulating conversation, which touched on the immediate dire situation of our planet and the fragility of mankind, actually the fragility of all the creatures of the world above and below the sea.  George, having once been a school teacher and an important figure at the beginning of the Green Party's existence in Germany years ago, is also a philosopher in his own right, contains a wealth of information and knowledgeable understanding at his finger tips.  He is also a gifted cabinet maker and carver, not to mention an artist and musician - did I mention he can sing well too?   At the moment he is building a rocking chair, which will soon be going in an auction to help raise money for the preservation of the Meductekeaug River.  The Probst's and I are of like minds in regards to Sunday, not because we are religious and respect the Sabbath as the Lord's Day of rest, but we don't work on that day unless it's absolutely necessary.  Six days of work is plenty for me and even if I was getting paid extra for overtime, I'd sooner take the day off - besides, life is too short to work for bucks every day of the week.
          On the way back home, the cold wind blowing at my back, about an inch of snow covering the ground, I  couldn't help noticing the recent logging that took place on our neighbour's property.  Hundreds of cords of trees were stacked on the landing beside the road and their snow-capped stumps, like tombstones, riddled the forest floor.  Before reaching my neighbour's property as I walked down Green Mountain, I also noticed where the land had been previously logged quite some time ago; if clear-cutting is healthy without replanting the forest, why were so few trees growing, the ground covered with thick brush, even a deer or a moose would have trouble getting through?  I've been watching some videos about the Earth and how its changed over the millenniums and judging from the way we humans are treating the land, oceans and atmosphere, where before all the drastic changes that occurred naturally, mankind may well be the only species to ever obliterate the Earth.
          I know I probably sound like the Prince of Doom and just because 99% of the world's population most likely think people like me are radicals and cynics preaching negativity, still doesn't make our beliefs wrong.  I don't know about you (whoever is reading this blog) but I'm seriously scared when I think about the future and the ever increasing populace.  I feel most people view the human race's fragility through rose-coloured glasses and think for whatever reason, the scientists will come up with a remedy, the politicians will pay a lot of money for a quick-fix solution to our mounting ecological problems, or God will provide, but the massive problems confronting us are far larger and too complex for mere scientists, the politicians are too busy stuffing their pockets with money and I suspect God is none too happy about the way we have cared for his garden of Eden and all its creatures; I mean holy crap, just about every animal, if they are not already extinct, is on the endangered species list or very close to it.
          I hope no one is thinking that my friend George has put any of these thoughts, which I have just wrote about into my head, because they have been there a long time before I ever met him or his wife.  Even a blind man should be able to read the dreaded signs and feel the anger of the Earth; not that the world has never been inflicted with tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts, floods and disastrous events before.  I wish I had a real happy solution to the impending destruction that is being brought upon us by our own self indulgent ignorance, addictive consumerism, media sensationalism, adoration of fake celebrities and personal capitalistic greed to have more and more as if the world owes us for just being here, but I don't.  Because of my age, I thought I might miss the main show, the possible apocalypse but the signs of our destruction seem to be growing more rapidly, so I wouldn't be surprised if I lived long enough to see the deaths of all those and the planet I love, completely destruct before my very eyes.
          The rain is falling now, like tears from heaven they are washing the snow away.  I'm a man and I'm not supposed to cry but sometimes when I'm alone and in the forest and I look about me, to think that all that I see may soon vanish, due to people who do not respect or clasp nature to their bosoms, I sometimes weep.  I would like to end this blog with cheers, eh! but at the moment, I don't feel too cheery.