Rusty steel magnolia

The Blue Ridge Parkway, Watauga County, North Carolina
Catherine Rodgers Giussani@ Copyright 2013

Magnolia
Catherine Rodgers @ Copyright 2013

     Today is the first day of summer.  Just like in One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez the rain was turning the usual sense of time upside down and making everyone forgetful. Two weeks were already enough to cause significant memory loss in my already jet-lagged, middle-aged, absent-minded professor brain, inner-city "call a taxi" spoiled brain.  "Noah! Help! The animals are running wild!"
     The sultry, serene, summer solitude turned into "when will it stop!" paranoia causing us drive aimlessly into the Appalachians in search of Granfather Mountain.  We found it only to be closed out due the Highland Games. Yes, it is true nothing, especially rain, stops the Scottish.  Lessons learned: get up earlier,  don't let the rain stop you, join in the games, write things down.
     Today my mind has finally opened.  Like the magnolia outside my window my senses can finally take in the fragrant bloom of the day ahead.   I've opened up all the windows to listen, to breathe the fresh air and identify the sounds of nature with less concern for rusting memory.