In my opinion, I live in the most beautiful place in the nation (possibly the world). This time of year, especially, all my senses are stimulated. The sight of the soft green sycamore leaves, now half way up the mountains. The faint reds of the maples. The purple redbud trees and white dogwoods lining the edge of the woods.The smell of the soil warming up. The lovely fragrance of the early blooms like autumn olive, lilac, apples,pear and locust carry on a Spring breeze. I love riding down the road with my windows down. I catch the aromas of freshly cut grass, hay or sweet grass. I breathe deeply. I relish in the sights ,sounds and smells that make me feel alive. Someone downwind grilling out. Long shadows in the late afternoon sun. Porch sitting, taking it all in.
Why are so many people missing out on this? Cars fly past my house going way too fast to get to enjoy what I see, hear,smell. Where are they hurrying to?
When they pass by your place what do they miss there?

Walking randomly in the garden, seeing, hearing, smelling and feeling without analysing, what wonderful ways to slow down time (and your heartrate).

Why are so many people missing out on this?

Maybe it has something to do with being "screened out", most of the time people are inside boxes behind glass screens (houses and cars), or in front of tinier boxes with glass screens (computers and phones).

And that's enough virtual for me today, let's go outside

I think most people don't realize they are missing the beauty of this world. They have submitted to the corporate idea of rush, rush, rush.
Now that there is technology around they want to always be on the phone or play games on their phone or send texts to friends, people they know, complete strangers.
These people think that just because we can stay connected to the tech world, that we should stay connected 24/7/365.

What folly, how sad, that people today do not know of a time when cell phones and computers didn't exist either at all or were not portable.

Albert Einstein expressed his greatest fear about technology becoming so common place that people forget that they live in a tactile world, meant to be smelt, touched and observed with our eyes. Sorry Albert, it has come true.

Every day I see people talking on their cell phone while driving, distracted to the point of not being able to safely steer.
I have seen people looking at their phone while walking in the city, so distracted that they don't know they just walked into traffic, some are self correcting errors (they get hit by a car, drive into a tree or end up in a ditch).

Unfortunately for these folks, if they can't see it on their phone, they aren't interested in what exist around them. Perhaps there will be a solar flare large enough to knock out all the microwave technology for a while.
Should this happen, there will be lots of people in a panic because their phone doesn't work. Between my wife and I, there is one cell phone, usually it is in her purse and it almost never rings.
The times it gets used a lot are all when we are on a trip and are using the map app to locate our route to where we are headed.

I still have my old Nokia which is about 10 years or more old....after declining in value due to its obsolescence, I think it's now regaining value as a collector's item..

@Bryant R: "I think most people don't realize they are missing the beauty of this world. They have submitted to the corporate idea of rush, rush, rush."

I would argue that it's more than just an idea. It becomes what you value. A quick visit to the lakes country of northern Minnesota is a reminder that most people are not there to commune with nature. It's just there as a backdrop.....a prop.....for their jetski fantasy, replete with wired-in iPod music soundtrack. No jetski, no cell-phone, no wheels,.......now it's just scary wilderness, "red in tooth and claw". Not to say it's irreversible, but not so easily changed either.

"These people think that just because we can stay connected to the tech world, that we should stay connected 24/7/365."

Your use of ".....to the tech world..." is the important qualifier here. I've talked to many a parent who laud this technology form keeping them "more connected" to their children than they were before this technology appeared. Just MHO, but this is not "connection". Yet the technology is one more ratchet notch towards humans as space-pod fodder: If the human-human and human-earth ties can slowly be disconnected over the next many generations, then concepts such as 'nurture' and 'rooted' will become irrelevant. It's easy to forget that humans, like any other organism, are still evolving. We've proven remarkably adaptable to different environs......why not space-stations? Not my idea of "living" and glad I will be long since gone when those days arrive (though living on in some local elm or box elder), but then neither is sitting in front of a monitor nearly 16 hrs a day fed with ear-buds and digital video. It must have already occurred to some sci-fi writer that we soon will lose long-distance sight and will not have wind-shields on cars, just monitors above the steering wheel and controls to adjust the front-mounted cameras for focal depth. Then again with auto-piloting cars, who needs to see anything at all?.....

Thank you John. Sadly I have to admit that I am a Writer of high fiction stories, please don't hold it against me.

I totally agree with you on the disconnection most have succumbed to over the last 20 years.

The tech world is just that, a separated world. I find it almost like the 1960's hippie movement motto "Turn on, tune in, drop out" the difference is, today you don't need pot to do it, your cell phone is the new drug of choice.

Don't try to call me on the phone,
it's sitting on the table in the hall,

Don't try to find me in any house,
I'm likely sitting in the dirt,
way out back with the hogs.

When you want to find me,
open your eyes,
look towards all the greenery,
under some tree is where I'll be.

When you do find me,
come, sit down for a while,
take in all the wonders that you've missed.

I'm not very tech savvy. The only reason I got my cell phone was to carry out on the boat for emergencies. (I'm starting to become addicted to this website though.)

As I read your posts, I'm sitting on the porch in my rocking chair, my dog is in the one next to me. The air smells like blackberry blooms and honeysuckle. A pair of geese just flew overhead honking and I hear a woodpecker "laughing". Perfect, beautiful, peaceful.

And just as soon as I typed that, the school bus (my nemesis) flew by. Our road is gravel and when the bus hits the washboards down the way it sounds like it could bounce right off the road. And with impeccable timing here comes that very recognizable big, brown truck. Both yellow and brown will cover you in dust when it's been dry.Sigh.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, peace and tranquility.

Bryant,
I just saw your last post...love it! Reminds me of what I am doing this evening, me and my honey will be sitting on the bench by the creek or on the stack of boards under the crabapple trees with a glass of champagne in hand.

Karen Layne wrote:Bryant,
I just saw your last post...love it! Reminds me of what I am doing this evening, me and my honey will be sitting on the bench by the creek or on the stack of boards under the crabapple trees with a glass of champagne in hand.

Now that is Living!!

Last year my sister in law visited. We took her on a canoe ride across the lake. We were paddling and looking at the eagles. She was sitting in the middle of the canoe posting photos of our canoeing to facebook.

I wonder if something as neat as Woodstock happened today, would the kids even go? I was born after Woodstock but just saw some photos of happy hippies just laying around, reading books (what?), enjoying music, being around people and getting rained on. I wonder what it would've been like with smart phones...

I'm a recovering rusher. I used to drive fast and try to shave minutes off a long trip. But now I have an ultragauge on my truck so I'm able to adjust my driving for better mileage. It's amazing what a difference a millimeter of gas pedal position does for fuel efficiency. I can drive the same wiggly road to town and get anywhere from 25 to 35 mpg and barely get there any later by just taking it easy. I'm trying to get better at watching the surroundings. This year I know what juneberries look like as they bloom so I'll hopefully be able to forage them this fall. In the past I'd be focused on speed and time and not even see them.

A Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, "What is it?"
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

Robert Frost

We've found the best way to meet with neighbors is to walk our dog on the road. We reduce the speed of traffic by standing in the road until the approaching vehicle slows down, then we step aside. A game of chicken with speeding pickup trucks....

Mike,
Whenever someone asks how old I am, I tell them that I was born on "The Day the Music Died" in the year after the "Summer of Love" and the year before Woodstock. Make them think. I wish I'd been a 20 y.o. in the middle of the crowd at Woodstock. I don't know if anyone would have enjoyed it more.
Whatever an ultraguage is...they should be stock on all vehicles. I love when someone flies past me on the road, only to have me wave at them in their rearview mirror at the stoplight. You won.

Eric,
I love Frost. He always makes me exhale deeply and I feel much lighter.

Tyler,
I do the same. It is a dangerous game though, don't make me worry about you. Be careful.

If I had a time machine, I'd visit Woodstock too just to experience it. But that could probably be a whole other discussion topic on its own....

Thanks for bumping me into more UltraGauge info. I just did a write-up on my experiences with mine here: UltraGauge post

When I was a kid, I walked to school at 7 am so I could see the flowers that were blooming and smell the roses. I love waterfalls and beaches though they are only in my memories. I love looking at mountains off in the distance. When I sit out on the porch I might see a turkey or hear a deer while watching hummingbirds and butterflies enjoying my flowers.

Beats anything you could find on TV , doesn't it Anne? It's the simple things that make life so enjoyable.