Fall Apples

When the energy is high, the mind feels overwhelmed with stimuli. Images appear significant, probably way beyond what they mean. Details heard sound profound. And there are dozens of options for how to use the time and not enough time to do them all.

Yesterday, after purchasing my balsamic vinegar from Trader Joe's, I crossed the street to T. J. Maxx. I wanted to get some ramekins to measure and mold rice on my platter. I want to lose the weight I've recently gained and also work on improving the quality of my daily living. There on a stainless steel shelf were many-colored bottles and containers of balsamic vinegar, and other goodies my mind lately has been wanting to use in the kitchen again. Specialty cookies from Italy, France and even Greece, wonderful vinegars, flavored or aged. There were sachets of herbs and tins of teas. I dreamt of the lands I have visited and want to visit them again. These products from across the Atlantic seem richer than anything I could find at Marsh or even Trader Joe's.

At lunch today, watching Travelscope on public television, I was struck once again by what global village means nowadays. Joseph Rosendo, the host, took viewers to the Christmastime markets of Northern Germany. I had not wanted to visit Northern Europe before. I loved the summer scenes of Southern Europe along the Mediterranean - olive trees, sun-kissed tomatoes, orange and lemon trees, cypresses and eucalyptus trees, ceramic planters full of impatiens, begonia and geraniums, outdoor markets, outdoor cafés, village churches in the shade of giant plane trees, etc.

What 20th century prophets forecast is now our reality. Through travel, not to mention numerous television shows and DVDs we can now visit the remotest corners of the planet and see how people there live and enjoy their lives, master catastrophes and celebrate survival.

Back in Indiana, this is autumn as I have not enjoyed in many years. When my friends, John and Dottie, were still alive, we drove all over the state drinking in the images of autumn but in the last ten years my world has gotten smaller than the Po Valley of Don Camillo. Watching Rosendo's program this afternoon I thought I might put up a Christmas tree this year. I had already told my friends I was going to fix Thanksgiving dinner this year, something I had not done for two decades!

My readings on time, what it is and how we subjectively and objectively experience it, shows the triumph of the concept of linearity. One event leads to another and neither will nor circumstance will move the hands of the clock back so we can live this minute again, that day again, that lifetime again. But within the compass of our short lives we can see cycles, the ebb and flow of perhaps a handful of elements that dominate our lives. Sometimes we forget a few but they come back again and they seem more precious then. 

We grow our appreciation of the small and large details of life with time.