The sun was
out today and it was above 32. Nice day
for a ride in the country. But wait, we’d
already had been to the gym and the book sale at the library. I have cooking and baking that needs to be
done. But….the weather report says inches
of snow by morning and more temps around 0.
The ride in the country was sounding better and better.
Lately Jerry
and I have been hearing more and more about Wendell Berry, his writing, his
poetry, his ideas about sustainability. We
actually heard him read some of his poetry last year in Louisville when he was
on stage with Barbara Kingsolver. Along
with Berry I’ve also been intrigued by the life of Harlan Hubbard. An artist, writer, wonderer who just happened
to be born in Bellevue KY (that gives us something in common). I’ve read a lot of what the Kenton County
Library has to offer about Harlan including one by Wendell Berry.
We had a
general idea of just where Berry lives, outside of Port Royal on the KY
River. A quick phone call confirmed our
belief and offered us some specifics.
So we began
our treasure hunt. What we found was –
-a little
town off of I-71 that we’ve often saw the sign for but never ventures through –
English, KY, which has a rather large cemetery for such a small town
-buffalo
grazing on a ridge top
-beautiful
and wide open bottom land
-a few
clouds dancing with the sun
-a house
with many solar panels, a dead give-a-way, had to be Wendell Berry’s place
-a ‘writer’s
shack’ built up on columns in order to rise above any flood waters that may
outgrow their banks with an outhouse that was not build up on columns but seemed
to be out of the flood plain
-wood
stacked neatly near the front door
-a General
Store that sold ear tags for cattle and just about anything else you’d need
including a place to sit and order
breakfast or lunch
-a huge red
tail hawk swooping down to bid good-bye to us as we headed back towards I-71
