The Good Old Days

I often consider myself 46 going on 86.  I just like the 'good old days'.  Now I know full well that lots of people who lived in the 'good old days' think they weren't so good and enjoy the conveniences and luxuries of modern society.  I kind of like central air conditioning in the middle of hot, humid south Louisiana summer too.  But I like the simplicity, the slower pace, the sense of community, the values and antique virtues that were prevalent during earlier times in our country's history.  Things were far from perfect, though, I'm aware.

I guess looking back nostalgically, you glaze over some of the failings and problems of the good old days, but I still look back a lot.  We try to get out and enjoy the nice Spring weather we're having and I was in the back yard the other day and heard a sputtering noise.  I looked toward the road across the front yard and low and behold, I was immediately transported back 100 years.

There is a neighbor down the road that has an old Model T (I think that is it, but I could be wrong) that still runs.  He'll often take it out for a drive on a Sunday afternoon and if you squint your eyes just right and ignore the cell phone ringing, you are back in simpler times.  Funny how it is with all the "time-saving devices" we have now, we still run around like chickens with our heads cut off, busy, rushing, stressing.  Where is the bank of all this time we're "saving," I'd like to know?  Okay, I'm sounding like an old curmudgeon now. 


The Model T

I do like reading about old times, though.  It seems that people were larger than life back then.  Right now, people look at actors in Hollywood or singers as heroes.  Back then, people seemed to live more daring, courageous lives.  Take for example Nathan Bedford Forrest, a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army.  I read that in the battle of Fallen Timbers, he drove through the Union line without noticing that the rest of the men he was leading into battle stopped charging when they reached the full Union brigade.  Lt. General Forrest charged the brigade single-handedly and was soon surrounded by Union soldiers. He shot his Colt Army revolvers until they were out of bullets into the mob of Union soldiers clamoring for him.  Then he pulled out his saber and began swinging it wildly at his attackers.  A Union soldier, at point blank range, shot a musket ball into Forrest's backbone with such force that it almost knocked him off the horse.  Forrest then grabbed an unsuspecting Union soldier, pulled him up and onto his horse to be used as a human shield.  Once he broke clear, he dropped the man's bullet-riddled body and galloped back to his men who stood with jaws agape.  A week later, a surgeon removed the musket ball without anesthesia.

Wow!  What a story!  I told Benjamin about that as he's my Civil War historian and he began to act out Nathan Bedford Forrest's courageous fighting:


Lt. Gen Forrest swinging his long saber at Union troopers

Someone, Napoleon I think, said, "An army marches on its stomach."  That means that in order for an army to perform, they must have good and plentiful food.  I've seen movies, like Gone with the Wind, where armies move through an area and strip everything bare as they need food, water, and supplies to keep fighting.  If they'd pass through Jennings right now, from our garden, they would get some beets, Swiss Chard, kale, mustard and green onions (not to mention the cows & chickens!)  But they would be a couple months too early to get the Spring Crop.  Here's a little of what's growing out there now:



Organic Pickling Cucumbers

 

Japanese Long Green Cucumbers

 Six rows of red potatoes and a row of white potatoes just busting through the soil:

And numerous types of beans in various stages of growth...


Sprouting

First true leaves above the cotyledon about to open

That had to be a hard thing to watch as an army marched through your land and ate, burned and destroyed everything you worked so hard for.  I guess that's why we should do what we can to avoid war and strive to be peacemakers if at all possible.  So on the subject of peace, as me, the cows and the chickens watch the Model T motor back down the road, we're thankful that we're able to live in modern times for some of the conveniences and ease that civilization brings us, but we're also somewhat nostalgic for simpler times.


Rosie watches as the Model T cruises back home

Let me see if I can get a good wireless connection so that I can post today's blog entry...