Sunday, July 15, 2007

where I find myself

There's a white sign with a red border on the side of the road. If you turn off from the east you have to cross double yellow lines, and pray for the patience of the car behind you to wait as you make your turn.

The edge of the road is lined with blackberry brambles, and from time to time you'll see a deer or a wild turkey making their way through the brush. About a hundred feet in you'll see a stack of mail boxes, the only clue that some 30 people live on this property.

Turn right and you'll pass the lumber yard office, boxed in by American trucks and hauling equipment. Up the drive you'll find the house where your sister was married, where hundreds of eggs are hidden each Spring, where you used to find garden snakes in the little metal sprinkler well on the side of the big lawn.

Up the hill is a small ring of apartments and an old oak that succumbed yesterday to the honeybees who made its' inside their home. The honeybees will be saved as their numbers are dwindling and they play a critical role in the life of the fields and orchards that sustain our valleys. This little apartment community gathered yesterday to mourn the loss of this tree, and my six year old cousin burst into tears today as he saw it laying on its' side and he reminisced about all the times he explored its branches and swung beneath its leaves.

To the left of the apartments is a horse corral and beyond its fences the field my grandfather could have bought some fifty years ago, but simply never got around to. It houses the oaks that I treasure, whose branches my generation conquered and made our own.

Make a loop around the old tree and head back to the highway and take the only right offered to you. At the top of an oak-lined driveway is the business grandpa built. The labors of a Polish immigrant whose parents encouraged him to leave his language behind and embrace his new country when he was just a boy. The business his sons still run, and which four of his grandchildren now earn their living from.

Pull into the old carport. Hear the sound your shoes make as you cross the cement and step up to the walkway between the old house and the apartment that's housed friends and family throughout the years. Catch the faint smell of Grandma's roses as they mix with the oaks on the breeze, and pass under the grape vines you took so much pleasure in when you were a child.

Open the door that has no lock, hear the latch click behind you - the same sound it has made your whole life. Step into the house and you're home.

10 Comments:

Blogger Airam said...

Wow ... what a great visual you painted.

I felt as if I were there with you walking along.

7/15/2007 7:53 AM  
Blogger restless_river said...

Lovely telling of the sights and sounds and feelings of home. Awesome.

7/15/2007 8:31 AM  
Blogger With Love, Fat Girl said...

What a gorgeous scene, and so well painted. Home is always the most special place of all.

7/15/2007 3:24 PM  
Blogger Peter said...

Love this. LOVE.

I'm with airam. I totally felt as if I was there with you.

7/15/2007 4:09 PM  
Blogger Mood Indigo said...

Thanks guys. Well, if any of y'all ever visit Monterey, you now know where to find me :)

7/16/2007 10:18 PM  
Blogger Foofa said...

I don't know if i have ever been anywhere like that. It sounds wonderful.

7/17/2007 2:28 PM  
Blogger Sarah said...

funny enough I blog-stalk you too. Like your stuff. also love sara b. :)

7/17/2007 3:06 PM  
Blogger Mood Indigo said...

Natalie - it is a really special place for us.

Sarahleigh - so I got you to delurk! I wish I'd known you were reading when I was in the OC (I just moved from there in June) - it would have been great to know another OC blogger! Either way - glad you're here :)

7/17/2007 7:59 PM  
Blogger Lemon Gloria said...

What a lovely, rich picture you painted! I want to be there, smelling your grandmother's roses and strolling past the oaks!

7/18/2007 11:59 AM  
Blogger Indiana James said...

I'm trying not to make my comment cheeze ball worthy ;) That was great and went very fittingly with the lazy sunny day I just sat through today with not a care in the world.

7/22/2007 5:06 PM  

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