Prairie

        Quarters, as in living, were very crowded during the months at sea while in the Marines. This was made tolerable when I could get "topside" and see the horizon at a distance over the ocean. Tight spaces do not make me claustrophobic. At Chu Chi, Vietnam, I was able  to wiggle thru the Viet Cong tunnels without panic. What I perceive as mild claustrophobia comes from living without a view of some distance. Both the 15th floor downtown condo and the 4th floor apartment with a view over the Mississippi in the OFH provide that. So, also, The Little House On The Prairie, looking over a pond to a grassy hill beyond.

       It was in the 1960s, living in a suburb of Minneapolis, I made a discovery about myself.  When I'd drive towards Sinai, on Minnesota Highway 19, west of Red Wood Falls I'd experience a lightness. With some reflection it dawned that that was the start of  more open prairie landscape. Was I claustrophobic in metropolitan Minneapolis? Certainly not in the panic sense, yet there was a tension.  Becketwood is a lovely OFH in south Minneapolis. Joanne expressed interest in moving there which I vetoed because it's nestled down among huge trees; no vista.

     In his book, To Find A Pasqueflower: A Story Of The Tallgrass Prairie, Greg Hoch quotes Wallace Stegner; "I may not know who I am , but I know where I am from."   Meaning the prairie. Me, too!

Takk for alt,

Al

                    A view of restored prairie.