tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post536314199762065679..comments2024-03-28T16:31:23.093-07:00Comments on Books in Northport: Just Out the Door and Down the RoadP. J. Grathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-82386751607689017922020-01-23T06:55:28.640-08:002020-01-23T06:55:28.640-08:00Here's kind of a scary thing going on in the U...Here's kind of a scary thing going on in the U.S.: https://www.darrinqualman.com/house-size/. In our lifetime, the average house size has doubled! And that's at the same time that the typical American family has shrunk in size, with fewer children and older generations (grandparents) no longer living in the home. More people, more -- and much bigger -- buildings everywhere, BB. But those of us who still need outdoor space can still find it, and we can thank our national and park services for a lot of that.<br /><br />It's easier to find a sense of wilderness in smaller territory in the northern woods because one's line of sight is so much more restricted. And I'm sure you recall, as do I, the feeling of being lost in the wilderness in your own childhood backyard: a matter of where we focus our attention.<br /><br />And the open, majestic spaces put our petty, time-limited troubles in perspective, too. As one Western writer put it:<br /><br />“‘The day our bones are dust and the odor of us is gone, the world will not have changed at all. The rocks will be the same, the sky the same. How many summers will pass before we are forgotten? Not even one.’” - J.P.S. Brown, NATIVE BORN<br /><br />Good to hear from you, BB!<br />P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-82576858286781968032020-01-23T06:35:21.034-08:002020-01-23T06:35:21.034-08:00It must be in our genes to like the open spaces. E...It must be in our genes to like the open spaces. Even when we lived in the N Minneapolis suburbs, there was a creek and a few square miles of rolling pine down the street to go XC-skiing in. With each<br />generation, the spaces shrink. Our new Idaho home sits on the edge of town. When we moved in, there was an acre truck garden to our west, two horse pastures to our north and a field of Herefords to our<br />east. Now some 40+ years later, new homes have moved in. A local<br />curiosity is that many people like to build large "shops": two story<br />affairs. Where the gardens and animals used to be, we are now surrounded by several of these large outbuildings. I suspect the<br />progress of urban growth affects most others as well. We recall the restless Daniel Boone, whose quest for open space led him from Virginia, to Kentucky and finally to the edge of expanding civilization, where the Lewis & Clark met the aging Boone on his<br />farm up the Missouri River at St. Charles, MO. You have probably noticed that the forests of the upper Midwest offer the feeling of<br />open space -almost wilderness, compared to the wide open areas of the west. We liked to park the car and hike and noticed the open<br />west phenomenon: "Hey we can STILL see the car". I agree that whatever terrain, and wherever we are, there is much to savor in terms of local history, geography, seasons and even the people and<br />their cultural differences. Tis hard to get bored, whatever the space.BB-Idahohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388509941702241290noreply@blogger.com