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| A crane hunts fish. Photo by me, April 2025. |
I have not been writing much on my website this year, but that does not mean I have not been thinking about it. I think about it a couple of times a week, but I have been making notes, researching (often in the field) for my next novel and writing the first draft. Writing a book takes precedence over writing on a blog.
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| A warm Georgia Easter Sunday in the 80s. Photo by me, April 2025. |
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| The dark spots in the water below are turtles. I spotted at least thirty of them, but there were probably more. Photo by me, April 2025. |
I have been taking my long walks in nature too, getting in the miles and enjoying the scenery. This past Sunday I saw a few deer and lots of turtles. I consider myself fortunate to be able to get out near home and enjoy the woods and not have to drive so far as when I lived in the city. The older I get, the more I cherish time away from people and the noise of society. The hubbub, the nightlife and parties stopped ten years ago in my early forties as I aged out of the scene. A person has to know when to get out and I am thankful for being out of it and being no worse for the wear. I have reverted back to how I lived as a child and that was even more rural than where I now live. My long term introverted desire is returning to the countryside where I see and hear no neighbors.
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There are too many people crowded together into cities and suburbs in this country and you realize that if you ever do cross country travel by car through the wide empty spaces. When I was born in 1973 the U.S. population was 211 million people and now it is 341 million. The population of Georgia was 4.9 million and in 2024 it was 11.1 million which is more than double in fifty odd years. Georgia is the eighth most populous state and it feels like it with the traffic, the sprawl and everything in and around Atlanta being overcrowded.
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| The continual plowing under of Georgia for more sprawl. The conversion of GA Highway 316 between I-85 and Athens from an at grade road to a controlled access highway such as GA 400. Photo by me, April 2025. |
Most every place I knew as a younger person has become unrecognizable
and that is difficult to think of as progress or being okay. I would be
pleased if people would find some other state to pave over and sit in
traffic as Georgia could use a break. The growth is unlikely to stop, but it is nice to think it could. Not only are we losing the natural landscape and the wildlife, but we are losing the quiet too.
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