Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Hopefully I'm back....

Went on vacation to Gettysburg, saw a bunch of monuments.... went on a ghost tour, really enjoyed everything. Even saw some reenactors, men, women and children, I can not believe in this day and age where it is perfectly legal to run around in practically nothing when it's hotter'n hell out you've got women dressing up in corsets and men in wool uniforms.... go figure. There were even knitting reenactors, this one can be seen holding my sock... my sock on vacation sock. The sock blends in with her dress (I can't believe I didn't get her name) but you can see the sock there in her right hand, her knitting, I think it is going to be a scarf or shawl kind of thing that reenactor women wear, is in her left hand. Knitting spanning the ages giving me what I think this is the perfect vacation sock picture, after all, think of all the socks women of the civil war era knitted for the men and boys fighting in the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. I didn't mean for this blog to be a downer but being in Gettysburg is very thought provoking.... even though the battle isn't going on as your standing there the feeling I got is hard to describe... maybe I was channeling all the women waiting at home to hear word of their husbands, lovers, sons, fathers and brothers. It was very disquieting standing at the top of one of the monuments looking out over the 20,000+ acres of the bloodiest battlefield of the war, looking at my 3 boys, even as young as they are, I tried not to think about how I'd feel if they had to go to war. Writing this now makes me think of a book I've read more than once about the way a post apocalyptic maternal society deals with the issue of their sons going off to war. The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri S. Tepper is perhaps one of the saddest and yet, most hopeful books I've ever read. As I reread this blog I realize it does not reflect the fact that we really did have fun on vacation... the boys really enjoyed everything, and they definitely did not share my feelings... obviously they can't channel the knitters of days gone by... go figure .... I do think, however, they have been channeling the feet of all the recipients of all those long ago knit socks ... although, my sons are partial to multicolored socks and I don't believe socks knit in the 1800's tended to be of the multi color self stripping variety of yarns. I wonder if my sons would be as enamored of the socks I knit if they were the plain gray scratchy wool of the 1800's. Somehow, I don't think so. Perhaps, I need to think some more about this whole Gettysburg experience and on that note.... I'll say later all... CJ

1 comment:

Shirani said...

glad your back...changed my blog name..this is really me :)