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The Artist’s Almanac
December 2006
download and print this installment as
a PDF
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it here free)
The oaks,
their auburn tresses
fallen now to forest floor display
their graceful limbs
to winter sun.
December is a time
of rain and snow – of turning indoors to welcoming hearth. But not
this year.
After a sharp
beginning of freezing rain, this December has opened into a warm
glory of balmy sun and dry weather. Daffodils and azaleas bloom,
and today will touch 72. I turned on the car’s air conditioner to
counter its trapped solar heat. Prepared for snow and parties, we
don’t quite know what to do with ourselves. As I fight through
traffic to fill up at the nearest market I make a mental note to
take another look at global warming.
For those who long
to know the land better, this is the best of times. Today we see
ranges of distant hills through screens of bare trees, and even
the smallest creek gives back the sky. The night sparkles with
distant diamonds and we can sit out with our binoculars to search
the firmament for signs and portents.
This week we
experienced the thrill of discovering the pioneer crossing of
Drakes Creek, right where the land grants had it placed. A highway
engineer could not have designed a better ford than this one – a
shallow solid stone base from bank to bank with gentle approaches
from both sides. Here crossed settlers in the 1700s headed for
Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and, ultimately, the West Coast of a
new America.
Up from the creek we
found an old road climbing between majestic white oaks to the site
of an old stagecoach inn on a hill from where you could see clear
to Nashville.
The contrast - then
and now - was profound. This wooded hill is an island, with
subdivisions and golf courses lapping at its northern and western
shores. From the south, the hum of busy highways, railroads, and
industries. Yet here the memories of a time of cotton, horses,
slaves, and the river are still somehow palpable.
To the east lies
Pilot’s Knob. The pioneer Longhunters found it the highest hill
nigh the river with a big spring issuing from its foot. Because it
could be seen from miles away across the valley, they made their
first station camp here and used the hill as a landmark to guide
them back across the wilderness of the 1770s. Today it is a hollow
shell, its backside gone to furnish limestone for four lanes of
busy highway boring by below.
The knob is almost
gone, but not quite. On the year’s darkest day, when night falls
in afternoon, a huge Star of Bethlehem lights up at the top of the
knob, visible for miles, a beacon for weary travelers finding
their way home through a cold and dark December.
For the warmth and
light of this December, I am grateful, and while this midwinter
thaw lasts, I’ll take it for the miracle it is, and celebrate.
The Light came into
the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.
Those of you who
live in or long for Sumner County should own this just-published
art quality coffee table book. I first saw my author’s copy today
and the photography is absolutely breathtaking. The print quality
is superb and it will be an heirloom for all who love Old Sumner.
It is available now through The Booksmith Group. Click on the
order link below to review.
Sumner County: Living
Working Playing
Order Now
Art directed by legendary creative force Chuck Creasy, and
photographed by award-winning cinematographer Jim Spitler,
Sumner County: Living Working Playing documents in words and
images the rich and dynamic beauty of life in Sumner County,
Tennessee. Essayist Bill Puryear introduces the volume in the
evocative voice that fans of his weblog
www.billpuryear.com have come to know and love, while prolific
news columnist Tena Jamison Lee brings her comprehensive knowledge
of Sumner County and its residents into exquisite focus.
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