FEEL SUMMER SLIPPING AWAY.....

Don't you just love it when a call wakes you up in the morning and a cheery voice says, "Good Morning"?   I am tempted sometimes to say......"prove it".....but that isn't the way to win friends and influence people I guess.The feel of Fall is closing in and soon the hills will start turning bright colors. I love nature .  Once when I took a photography class we were to critique a picture in the exhibit in the library on campus and write a paper. The one that spoke to me was the one of this huge stone standing next to a huge tree with the beautiful roots flexing like muscles over the ground.

As I looked at this photo I felt I was looking at  two old friends and I listened to the whispers of the wind as they compared notes on the weather patterns of their long lives and each bragged of their ancestry.  Who had contributed the most to mankind and civilization?

Since time began men have used these two entities to survive and build their live with.  Caves in rocks safe from weather and wild animals, stone utensils and weapons are still in existence to testify of the early beginnings. Homes, monuments, burial sights, churches, castles with great wall to protect them were shaped from stones of many kinds and forms. Many, many of these are still around to testify of their ever lasting endurance. As I travel around the world I look and wonder at the great accomplishments with the use of stone in people's lives.  The Sphinx of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, The Forum and aqueducts of Rome, huge walled castles, elaborate churches and the complete city of Pompeii which was buried but still survived to tell us of it's culture in stone.  In Mexico and South America the huge temple ruins with their cobblestone court yards and In our own country the homes of the ancient Indians of old. What is the mystery and strengths of stone?  At birth wee are assigned a birthstone for our month.  At death they place a stone marker on our grave with our name and years of life. Stone has much to brag about.

The tree in turn whispers of it's contributions.  It can be used for fires to warm us, and cook our food.  The many forms of wood give us homes to protect us from the sun and rain.  Before metal it was popular in being formed into vehicles of transportation like wagons and boats. It's pulp can be made into paper to preserve art and historical records of us, much easier to use than the rock, which also claims this use.  Some family members of this great tree produce fruit, used by humans and animals for food.  Under the big tree we can find shade from the sun and protection from the rain without having to cut it into wood.  In the jungle, families of this tree give interesting new medical help. Yes, this tree has many interesting stories to tell.  I guess when I look at these giant friends I see more than just a rock and a tree.  I feel their power and influence in my life. 

"TO ONE......SUN, WIND AND WATER A MUST.....TO THE OTHER .....SUN , WIND AND WATER IT CAN'T TRUST......BOTTOM LINE.....POEMS ARE MADE BY FOOLS LIKE ME.....BUT....ONLY GOD CAN MAKE A TREE.....OR A ROCK"