There is No Peace…or Heavy Machinery Never Moves Forward

Warning - major "rich person problem" moaning below.   

NOISE.   Wow. If you have been reading my blog, you may recall that earlier I was driven out of the house and partially out of my mind by construction noise.    I can tell you right now that I'm pretty tough, and should I ever be jailed and tortured, I'd be able to hold out for a long time with food deprivation, physical pain etc.  However, one full day of unrelenting noise and light and I'd sell my only child for relief (fortunately, I don't have one).   And, remember my self-congratualtory decision way back in early April to move my writing desk to our tiny condo/rental unit (my previous home) so I could write, and think, in peace. Well, we have since moved the desk, and 15 or 20 loads of other survival gear (furniture, dishes, cleaning stuff, clothes, etc etc ad nauseum).  This migration has been taking place for the last couple weeks and we've been sleeping and cooking at the condo,  as the dust and chaos at "home" has really become too much (also we have no kitchen, or roof)…

There used to be a ceiling here...

Ani protesting!

Well, the funny thing is...after letting the entire community go to pot during the last 12 years of my experience with Cimino Compund, where we are currently ensconced, the residents have finally ponied up for some much needed and VERY NOISY improvements.   Like -- trimming the trees on all 13 acres, RE-PAVING the parking lots on same -- giant trucks, asphalt smelters (or whatever you call those stinky things)  concrete grinders, bobcats, really it's like Armageddon 2  here ...and it's supposed to go on through July )-:   And then there's the little matter of the repairs on our unit -- right now there is a plumber on the roof cutting into it with some sort of mega-saw  to fix leaking pipes up there -- soon he'll be down to jackhammer the stucco to get at more leaking pipes, while the background music is all that I described in re-paving  -- with the wonderful percussive beat of BEEP BEEP BEEP of the heavy equipment backing up -- REALLY - don't they  HAVE a  forward gear?????  Yes, and special thanks to our dog, Ani, who feels compelled to help out by barking REAL LOUD AND MEAN at everyone who goes by our gate (which is LOTS of people).

So, aside from personal catharsis, why am I writing about this?   Well, in my efforts to put all things in some perspective, it's got me thinking about how lucky I am, and most of us are, to live in relative peace and quiet most of the time.   So -- all this chaos is temporary, some of it is necessary, it will (hopefully) result in something beautiful in the end.   After  all, I, and many of my friends, live in the North Valley -- what could be sweeter and more peaceful than walking along the flowing ascecias in summer, with wildflowers and butterflies and birds of all kinds -- friendly walkers or the occasional horse and rider.   All right here in the heart of our city.  We are blessed indeed.   We could be in oh, say, Syria, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or about a hundred other places where the noise is not only jarring and constant, it could wreck your home, school, market....or kill you.    So, I remind myself, and offer to you, if you are enjoying some peace and quiet right now -- pause and savor it, be grateful, and if you have got some noisy chaos going on, you might remind yourself, as I am, how very much worse it could be.   

A few shots of peace in New Mexico follow: