Phantom Silence

I never really gave spiders much thught. Well, actually, I was bit by one when I was ten or so..my whole face swelled up and I had to see the Doctor and take medicine for days. My friends and broters and sisters were amazed every morning that I was still alive. I went to sleep at night thinking it would be my last sleep and tried to stay awake (I thought you could only die if you were sleeping.)

It isn't that there are more spiders here, I think, it is that I have the time to notice them, although the are everywhere. Their webs thread through trees like hammocks. When caught in the sunlight, they are silver and gossamer...they make mosaic etchings...they cover pathways and bicycle seats. In the darkness they shimmer under moonlight and make dark, ghostly paths more hushed.

I guess what I am saying is that it is good to sit on a porch swing at the end of day and to just think about spiders.

A Stirring Breeze

Treehouses.

It is not a subject most folks think about. It seems other things get in the way..such as what to make for dinner, or the price of gas, or the Presidential election, or choosing a fingernail polish. Maybe the subject of treehouses just doesn't show up in adult conversation. I mean, when is the last time anyone asked you, so..been in any great tree houses lately? But here, where I am living for the summer, it is quite normal. Actually the following statements are pretty matter of fact...should we have lunch in the kitchen or in the treehouse?...if you need me, I'll be in the treehouse..I'll be ready to go as soon as I dry my hair up in the treehouse...now where did I leave my book, oh, up in the treehouse.

Now this isn't just any treehouse. I once lived in a small room over a garage that wasnt much bigger. This treehouse has skylights and porches with swings and shelves and windows and little picket fences around the porches. It nestles in a large live oak tree with a limb that grows right through a small part of the floorboard of one of the porches. It is cool and shady in the day and the night brings on the magical world of darkness with stars and fireflies right at your fingertips. It is a place to read and swing...a place to think...a place to hide..and a place to share thoughts and stories with someone you love.