Oswego

August 6, 2000

Islands of stillness

Teach me the art of creating islands of stillness, in which I can absorb the beauty of everyday things: clouds, trees..music

Marion Stroud

I was driving back from Sumter along the old State Road (aka Old Charleston Highway, U.S. 176) yesterday, past the ancient and weathered farmhouses, past corn and soybean fields, and abandoned barns I invariably look for as signs along the way. As many times as I have driven this road to avoid the interstate, there is always something fresh and renewing about the drive, for there are usually few cars and it is my chance to get out in the countryside, away from Charleston.

On the interstate I am in the fast lane, so to speak, hurled along by the traffic, driving fast enough to keep one step ahead of the trucks so that I don’t get sucked into their gravitational pull. I turn off to the country route with an immense sigh of relief. What a metaphor the interstate is for the lives we get caught up in. Get on that highway to get somewhere fast and don’t slow down. No time to see anything. Keep moving fast or your life is in peril. Don’t want to take a chance being a victim of road rage. Now there’s a sign of the times if there ever was one.

I have been traveling this highway between Sumter and Charleston, and Columbia and Charleston for more than 25 years. It really has changed very little. Hardly any, actually. No development. No discernible new business activity. Just farmland and small towns and strange sounding rivers and streams to cross such as Flea Bite Creek and Wassamassaw Swamp. One perceives life is lived out “there” on an entirely different plane.

Sometimes when I have been driving for about an hour, and I am in the very middle of the most rural of counties along this highway, I will turn off on a dirt road and stop the car next to the woods, and it is then, with the engine off and the wind just a whisper, that I am alert to every small sound and obscure and pleasing country-air smell that makes its presence known. And, it is immediate. As soon as I am outside the car and walking into the woods a short distance, I am aware of that world that exists outside my car window, that world that was formerly a rushing blur as I traveled swiftly at 60 mph, ensconced within my cocoon, relaxing and enjoying the scenery, but not really aware of what was out there.

When you do this early in the morning before the mist has burned off the fields, and the sun has heated the land, the coolness and freshness of the air is like a magical elixir. It just does something to me. Not only does it stir memories of being out in the woods hiking, but it reminds me that there are many of these “islands of stillness” waiting for us to explore and know, if we but take the time. It’s even possible that I can walk only a few feet out my door and down a nearby tree-lined street at certain times of day and have a similar experience, a little epiphany.

But if you can, try to stop the car in the middle of nowhere sometime, and just BE there.

Bramble

August 7, 2000

I like to do that too.

You are something else, my friend. Your entries are like gems, pearls set on a string. The examiner travels slowly from one to the next, savoring the texture of each. Reading this makes me feel

like I’m there, experiencing these things right alongside you; it’s as though space/time has been somehow folded, and I’m two places at once. Amazing.

that was very descriptive….reminds me of times i’ve had, just walking. seems these days, places like that are few and far between….

Great idea! I only stop if I have “to go”. HeHe! But a walk in the country is so pleasant, isn’t it? Love,

I did a lot of driving this past week, Oswego, the Gulf Coast, down 23 to Empire and Venice and the Northshore. I stopped and looked as you said and suddenly I knew there was another world. Beautiful entry. Love

I love this entry. It is an island of stillness in itself, a lunch hour respite during my freeway day at work! “Stray roads lead to heaven, you must sometimes take a chance..” I can’t remember the poem or who did it…

Beautiful, I can see it. You’re not too old Oswego. Shy, reserved and thoughtful maybe! You sound so reflective and that’s nice

I find a peacefulness here that calms me. You are magical as always with your words…

wish i could drive away from charleston!you need to visit dc & baltimore where all the wall to wall traffic & people.charleston is calming& and a beautiful old city compared to over here!

Rimbaud

When I drove the school bus, I loved watching the sun come up over the canyon at my first stop. I miss that.

Willy & Wilma

Wife’s words are dear to me:”Stop and smell the flowers”. t’s relaxng to pull off the busy highway as you do and spend time listening to the silence of the country

wanderlust (2)

August 8, 2000

Hi O, I wish for you many opportunities for simple epiphanies. I didn’t get to slow down at all when hubs & I went south in April, May & June. But I am taking 4 weeks to just ‘BE’ wherever between AK & AZ. I can’t wait.

i like stopping and just enjoying..its nice..smiles..

Beautiful! Just to “be”–that is so important. Also an interesting metaphor how the car seems to be an artificial barrier between us and Nature, and we are as much a part of it as anything.

I love this Islands of Stillness essay. I hope you don’t mind if I ride along in the back seat. Thanks for your comment on food. Stouffer’s makes fine foods that taste homemade.

Mm. you are right. Usaually we head on to reach our goal. But sometimes magic lies in between. Just home for some hours, back sunday. Take care!

Oswego, thank you so much for all your beautiful notes. It totally baffles me how someone as genuine and deeply aware as you are has never been snatched up yet. They would be a very lucky person!! Love,

For all that I write of love, it has in reality proven to be a very evasive and elusive thing for me. Yet I believe in it, none-the-less, and my words give hope to others. Thank you again for your wonderous diary. Love

I enjoyed this entry…liked the quote,too. Islands of stillness, a very meaningful image.

HarpHill (2)

August 12, 2000

It`s the principles we live by that make us content to be different, apart from the crowd. Your diary is a treasure house. Many thanks

Hamlet

August 14, 2000

The highway always makes me nervous…too many people that shouldn’t be on the road. Alas, time is such a precious resource and so limited that I am forced to use it.

Wonderful advice.

Edelweis

April 5, 2002

I am glad I came here this early morning! Yes Oswego, I know about what you talk! Isn’t that sensation great?? When sitting in the car you loose almost every real feeling with nature watching it pass as in a motion-picture. It’s the world of business, hurry and work we are in then. As soo as we stop, get out and smell the air, feel the soft wind, listen to the stillness and be close to the trees

walk on the green feeling the earth under our feet, only then we find us in a totally different world. That feels so good! And can you imagine that there must be people who are not aware of that any longer? To me it’s so wonderful, stop the car and experience this transformation. It reminds us that we have to spend time outside our cars and houses as often as possible. If not we have lived less

than half our life. Take care, and enjoy this great weekend!