Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2018 15:00:24 -0400
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: Just for Remembrance . . .
Life in Chatham County has been good to and for me since I moved here in 1972. I have seen so many changes. Especially to my land and the lands around me. And even more drastic changes are on the way. Over 600 acres within sight of my driveway. I may not live to see it, but I know the changes will alter my life, my lifestyle and my feelings for the countryside. If you guessed I might be a little ‘tearful’ at those thoughts, you are right.
When I saw certain lands I had known as “woods” for the past 40 years, being clear cut, it was hard to take. Day by day those beautiful old trees disappeared like the dew on a summer morning. Soon, a flat, scraggly, beaten and raped landscape glared at passing motorist.
Shocked and dismayed- no one could do anything about ‘our’ beautiful wooded landscape being plundered and sold. It will never be the same in my lifetime, and probably not in yours.
One day i stopped my car and got out for a closer look. I wanted to understand how that land could ever be replanted- as claimed was going to happen. I have my doubts that will ever be.
There, on the side of the hyway, tracked out by heavy equipment, was a Yarrow plant. Growing under the stress of being tossed about by heavy machinery. Just hanging on to life. I gave that plant the chance it needed. Now it grows with me and mine in a peaceful and serene setting, never to return to its natural home. Now unfurling long new green fern-like leaves and breathing new life and hopes into my (yes, I said my) world . .
Next year it will spring forth with more beauty and new promises . .
N.A. Booko