I live here...in VT. The trees are on the march and, sadly, under attack. The Ash are becoming more and more blighted, adios Chestnuts and now, Butternuts. My neighbor just had to cut three down due to a blight. The Maples are heading to Canadia, maybe they'll get better health care there. Nonetheless, it's pretty humbling walking through these old, bony woods, with the quartz veins and quartzite boulders strewn about. I'm usually there looking for the remains of the Abenaki's ancestors (sigh yes, ahead of some type of development); there's plenty of it. Those gnarly projectile points made from the blue-grey, elbow shattering quartzite dating back 10,000 years. It's a good place to be. People now pay big bucks to bath in it. The Lung. Nice image.
I live in the city. Portland, OR. Here, we are smack-dab in the midst of one of the most beautiful states in the union. I feel very lucky to have such access to very unique landscapes. Unfortunately, for now, I am bound to public transit and don’t get to explore outside of the city as much as I would like. Working in healthcare is also very time consuming. Alas, I read Entering The Lung on my bus rides home, and can imagine the forest you explore. I have never been to Vermont, and I thank you for the little slice of nature every day or so. Appreciate ya, Neko!
I’m in Portland too, Amber, in Multnomah just by Gabriel Park, and you’re right — we’re as lucky as people who dream only sweet dreams to be surrounded by so much green still. So much water. It’s baby crow season, and watching the awkward shrieking children learning to fly in the woods and between the big and little houses makes me feel like I have a family still, sunset dinner bells call in the chancing kids who might still hop stranded on the gravel in a parking lot, stalked by cats and coyotes, makes me feel so helpless while I also feel so I-Thou connected to muddy feathers and crushed bright petals, gnarled mossy bits of bark and tiniest whoora!whoora!whoora! hummingbirds outside my window. So sweet to hear these green love notes from you, from Neko Case, from everyone else here who hears the whisper of spores and whiskers through currents of wind and stones.
This reminded me that in the Scottish Highlands it's very wild, and you can backpack out there and stay in these cabins, maintained for hikers, for free. We're absolutely obsessed with commodifying everything in this culture and it is truly upsetting.... I'll be seeing you in September and honestly it's the most exciting thing I have to look forward to this summer.
My childhood was filled with sights and sounds of the forests, the wind whispering to wildflowers, farms abundant, maple trees from which we could draw their amber magic....now that same land has become golf courses for the wealthy to play on, and subdivisions built on the headwaters of of a rambling river. Here I am now living in a city bursting at the seams with glass and steel reaching impossible heights.....and the money keeps rolling in.
I live near a very tiny piece of old-growth Kansas forest that was too swampy for farming. The parcel where I live was last signed over by a Delaware tribal representative whose nation had already been forcibly moved multiple times. Now the city leases the land to people and you own your house and shed and are free to plant gardens, but the land isn't yours. Having grown up in a trailer where the land was also rented, it's easier to understand that I belong to the land more than it will ever belong to me. The forest remains.
It's such a pleasure reading your words and seeing things through your mind. Learning some things along the way. Glad you chose not to live deliciously, even the pull was strong. Looking forward to seeing you in August. Keep up the great work!
We never need worry about fauna or flora sneaking up to take a stab at our backs to gain or destroy. It is quite the opposite actually, we can rely always on them for the truth to survival.
I stand on land never ceded , Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains . They fought and were mystified no doubt by the voracious need to hack hew and delve the sacred ground. Disease and alcohol and guns are a tough opponent. The woods are indeed lovely dark and deep Neko , thank you for your words and your guidance.
I live here...in VT. The trees are on the march and, sadly, under attack. The Ash are becoming more and more blighted, adios Chestnuts and now, Butternuts. My neighbor just had to cut three down due to a blight. The Maples are heading to Canadia, maybe they'll get better health care there. Nonetheless, it's pretty humbling walking through these old, bony woods, with the quartz veins and quartzite boulders strewn about. I'm usually there looking for the remains of the Abenaki's ancestors (sigh yes, ahead of some type of development); there's plenty of it. Those gnarly projectile points made from the blue-grey, elbow shattering quartzite dating back 10,000 years. It's a good place to be. People now pay big bucks to bath in it. The Lung. Nice image.
I live in the city. Portland, OR. Here, we are smack-dab in the midst of one of the most beautiful states in the union. I feel very lucky to have such access to very unique landscapes. Unfortunately, for now, I am bound to public transit and don’t get to explore outside of the city as much as I would like. Working in healthcare is also very time consuming. Alas, I read Entering The Lung on my bus rides home, and can imagine the forest you explore. I have never been to Vermont, and I thank you for the little slice of nature every day or so. Appreciate ya, Neko!
I’m in Portland too, Amber, in Multnomah just by Gabriel Park, and you’re right — we’re as lucky as people who dream only sweet dreams to be surrounded by so much green still. So much water. It’s baby crow season, and watching the awkward shrieking children learning to fly in the woods and between the big and little houses makes me feel like I have a family still, sunset dinner bells call in the chancing kids who might still hop stranded on the gravel in a parking lot, stalked by cats and coyotes, makes me feel so helpless while I also feel so I-Thou connected to muddy feathers and crushed bright petals, gnarled mossy bits of bark and tiniest whoora!whoora!whoora! hummingbirds outside my window. So sweet to hear these green love notes from you, from Neko Case, from everyone else here who hears the whisper of spores and whiskers through currents of wind and stones.
if you like novels, read the The Overstory by Richard Powers, great book with lots of trees....
The Overstory was fantastic....living in a tree for a year, how does that sound?
The Overstory devastated me for weeks after reading. It was too beautiful.
This reminded me that in the Scottish Highlands it's very wild, and you can backpack out there and stay in these cabins, maintained for hikers, for free. We're absolutely obsessed with commodifying everything in this culture and it is truly upsetting.... I'll be seeing you in September and honestly it's the most exciting thing I have to look forward to this summer.
My childhood was filled with sights and sounds of the forests, the wind whispering to wildflowers, farms abundant, maple trees from which we could draw their amber magic....now that same land has become golf courses for the wealthy to play on, and subdivisions built on the headwaters of of a rambling river. Here I am now living in a city bursting at the seams with glass and steel reaching impossible heights.....and the money keeps rolling in.
I live near a very tiny piece of old-growth Kansas forest that was too swampy for farming. The parcel where I live was last signed over by a Delaware tribal representative whose nation had already been forcibly moved multiple times. Now the city leases the land to people and you own your house and shed and are free to plant gardens, but the land isn't yours. Having grown up in a trailer where the land was also rented, it's easier to understand that I belong to the land more than it will ever belong to me. The forest remains.
It's such a pleasure reading your words and seeing things through your mind. Learning some things along the way. Glad you chose not to live deliciously, even the pull was strong. Looking forward to seeing you in August. Keep up the great work!
You're a brilliant writer and have the biggest, most open heart. Thank you for sharing The Lung with us
We never need worry about fauna or flora sneaking up to take a stab at our backs to gain or destroy. It is quite the opposite actually, we can rely always on them for the truth to survival.
I stand on land never ceded , Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains . They fought and were mystified no doubt by the voracious need to hack hew and delve the sacred ground. Disease and alcohol and guns are a tough opponent. The woods are indeed lovely dark and deep Neko , thank you for your words and your guidance.