Places - The Other Side Of The Hill

  The post before last told the story of dissatisfaction and what I now know to be desolation with living in my hometown of Pueblo Colo. I had a sweet little house.  I loved being near my sister and mother and a couple of good friends I knew from high school.  I'd even fallen in love a bit with renewed exploring of Pueblo... but the job consistently disturbed my peace.  Let's face it... work is where we spend the majority of our time.  My beautiful sister took the news of my acceptance of a principalship in Idaho with a mixture of "I'm really sad to hear that you are leaving" and "I pretty much knew you would take the position if they offered it to you".  She was resigned to it and true to her generous and loving spirit, supported my decision.   So many things needed to fall into place quickly. Pay attention here to how doors opened and how the future became undergirded by what some would call... "happenstance".  Many have called me "lucky...

I began blogging again for three specific reasons.  1.  I needed to process some major life decisions and writing is for me... always a good way to clarify and reflect.  2.  Believing I have some talent in the art of letters... I wanted to share in a manner that hopefully is helpful on occasion at least to one other person. 3.  Having retired and done some van travel... the concept of PLACE secured itself securely in my mind and heart, and I desire to explore all aspects of that earthly idea in more detail.   Today I read an excellent devotion from one of the brothers at SSJE (Society of St. John the Evangelist) that spoke to the idea of contentment and roots.  It was a most apropos guide to the thoughts I've had as of late.   https://www.ssje.org/2019/02/17/under-the-weather-of-the-world-br-nicholas-bartoli/?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=58180342&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--nmH-72HBZYadZfcJRY9AHG8fa1U5CUte1WiG7k4dFxkrlJIzMwYqW6vaCK6R2_XyloJYvc4b0...

  I love Pueblo.  I probably always will.  It was a wonderful place to grow up.  The sounds and scents from those days before and those days now intermingle in fond memory;  The locusts humming loudly, thunderously sometimes, high in the waving elms. The happy fast language of Mexican radio announcers streaming from neighborhood houses and cars driving down the road.  Ice cream truck's tinkling jangles through the suburbs. The smell of fresh baked Wonder Bread.  The odor of slag pouring out onto fresh ground. The scent of copious rain falling on asphalt and high desert dust.  The roar of high school football fans in Dutch Clark stadium on a clear fall night.  These are the kinder bits of my home town. I have re-planted myself here in the hope that I might take some root. Alas, peace in Pueblo is elusive for me.   My little house on the South Side is a haven from work.  A few friends and my family gather there frequently. My sis...

  Most people I grew up with left Pueblo as soon as they could. As a naïve 18 year old  ... the place just didn't appear to have all that much going for it.  An industrial town that hosts the Colorado State Fair, it was birthed as a crossroad to places elsewhere. The Garden of the Gods is to the north.  The Royal Gorge is to the west.  New Mexico is to the south and the agricultural plains are to the east.  The Sangre de Cristo mountain range slopes and rises in an always stunning vista, a perfect half circle frame for the setting sun. Pikes Peak juts up about 45 miles away, one of the first and last peaks to show snow.  Pueblo itself lies in high desert.  Snowfall is rare and short lived, particularly these days.  The climate is temperate, dry, and can be very hot in the summer months. Cactus, lizards, jackrabbits and antelope abound in the dusty gully pocked land around the city. Mesas and arroyos and the Arkansas River define Pueblo's...

  I should have begun this new blog two years ago.  On the threshold of an entirely new adventure after four years of living overseas... I started and stopped writing a few times.  In between the time that I completed my Opals Blog    http://opalsfromabroad.blogspot.com/2016/05/beginning-of-end-and-all-new-things.html and this new rumination...I had taken on two positions, (still in education), moved 4 times, contracted COVID, and suddenly retired.  Now here I am again, sharing experiences and pictures and hopefully you will find some entertainment therein.  At the high point of blogging while living internationally, I had 1600+ followers.  I don't expect to gain that kind of following this time around, but I feel compelled to apply this skill in some way that requires me to be disciplined and gives me something meaningful to do. There will be some joy, some sorrow, some travel, some questions, and some answers.  I pray you will gain somethi...