The world needs only a few geniuses; civilization is maintained and extended by those lesser souls who corral the men of greatness, tie them down with explanations and footnotes and annotated editions, explain what they meant when they didn't know themselves, show their true place in the awesome progression of mankind.
Iain Pears in The Dream of Scipio (pp. 24-25)

I'm not sure why this quote captures me so much. But this evening, sitting beneath the fir tree in the Sky Chair, it is this book that I've been reading.  It is an interesting book and still a mystery. There are those who demand a clear literary trajectory right in the beginning of reading. It seems that there is a need for certainty and a demand that all things make sense from the beginning. For me that does not allow us the honor of discovery, but a confirmation of our history.  Too much of civilization has been a synchronized march to self-confirmation and the molding of the landscape and others into that which we proclaim as the right type.

H

Most mornings I sit on our porch and watch the sunrise. Here you see the sun coming over the horizon and casting light on the meadow and the cabin. This is about 6:30 am. The light of day is slowly shortening and the heat of summer is rising. Today it was about 97.

We are contemplating putting a large pond in the meadow. Right now our neighbors horses have started to graze the long grasses. Soon we will be able to see the contours of the land. Part of the reason for letting the four legged lawn mowers onto the land was the increasing presence of blackberries. They don't eat the blackberry, but once they graze down the grasses, we can cut the blackberry back.

On the way home, I stopped at the Finley Wildlife Refuge and hiked on a short trail. It is only a few miles from the house and a great stretch of land to hike on. I saw a small herd of cow elk off the side of the road. But with it being so hot, there wasn't much out and about. One of the wonderful things about this country is the series of parks, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas that have been created. There has been so much habitat loss for creatures- we hope that this little speck of land at Aisling can be another haven that they can call home or, at least, check in for a little visit.