IF ONLY I HAD AN EXTRA HOUR

Twenty-Five Seven

Good news — another hour has just been added to every 24-hour day (don’t ask us how. We have powers). How do you use those extra sixty minutes?

Twilight over the hills, Peacham, Vermont

Sunrise over the hills, Peacham, Vermont

If there were another hour in the day, it wouldn’t be enough. If there were another 5 or 6 hours in the day, it still wouldn’t be enough. Because sooner or later, you have to stop what you are doing and rest. Take a break. Stop moving, stop talking, stop the world. It’s time to get off.

Morning again and the mist

Morning again and the mist

The last couple of days have been continuous great conversation, fabulous food. Magical panoramas of a countryside so beautiful it seems like a dream. It’s been amazing. There aren’t enough hours in the day. Not enough hours to eat, talk, tour, take pictures, process pictures, write, answer comments. Socialize. Remember. Not even close.

I find myself having to face my own limits … I cannot do a single thing more and maintain any kind of balance. Yesterday, I realized I was not going to answer all the lovely comments and I was certainly not going to get to reading — or even skimming all the blogs I normally follow. I had been saving them, hoping that “later” I would get to them, but later, we were talking, remembering, laughing. Discovering we’d read the same book, shared many interests we’d never imagined.

Morning light on trees and fields

Morning light on trees and fields

Of course we know many of the same people. We knew that. We all went to the same college and worked at the same college radio station … that’s where so much of our lives because.

Our host was one of the early arrivals along with my first husband and a few others. They were the guys who turned it into a place where magic happened, where we invented ourselves, invented many things that are now part of media history. There had to be a first time for everything, but it is weird to realize that you were there — as an observer and sometimes, as a participant — in the creation of things that are now so basic to the broadcast industry that they seem to have existed forever.

72-Peacham-Monday_022

Yet they had a beginning. WVHC at Hofstra University was an incubator, a rich supportive environment for a bunch of creative kids who had ideas. New ideas. Because it was a different time, freer, with looser structure at the school — before so many rules and limitations were put in place — we had a chance to create new ways to do stuff.

Quiet country roads

Quiet country roads

And here we are, remembering, savoring people we know, the parts we played. Recognizing that things we and our friends did — invented — have made a difference. Truly changed the world and our industry. We really did it.

And all of this in beautiful Vermont where the leaves are golden and the last corn awaits harvesting. It is magic time.



Categories: #Photography, Autumn, Friendship, Media, Nature, New England, Personal

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

27 replies

  1. It is not only okay but necessary to get real breaks to enjoy the magic of life, so do not feel bad about not replying to the comments on your posts or not finding the time to read other blogs. I am glad for you to see how much you are enjoying these special days of fall in such a gorgeous setting. The passing of time is what unites all human beings. Sometimes we have to stop counting the seconds and just live the seconds.

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  2. It sounds like it was all a magical time, a great time, especially to have participated, if not instigated the birth of new ways. I really “felt” you in this post Marilyn! 😀

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  3. BEAUTIFUL photos!!!

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  4. If it really were only an hour, I’d use it to sleep. I never quite get enough. Or I might add some more reading time.

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  5. After a certain point in life, 24 hours just are not enough. We appreciate the autumns and the springs more now, I think.

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  6. I would question when this extra hour would get added to the day. Every November, they like to add that extra hour in the middle of the night when they don’t think anyone will notice… well, anyone except for the millions of night shift workers you just sentenced to another 60 minutes of work! Add that hour in at 2 PM, and I’m all for it… more sleep for me!

    The photos in this post are gorgeous! What beautiful countryside you have up there!

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    • Vermont is still 19th century America. Intentionally rural, farm-based. No chain stores, almost no highways. Most of the roads that far north are not paved because the frost heaves destroy them almost immediately. It really is like dropping back a century. Super duper photogenic.

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  7. Oh wow, that morning light picture is just stunning. I am green with envy over here in rain-sodden Blighty 😀

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  8. I think you posted words. I was too busy looking at the photos. In several weeks I will be moving to New England (please let me not do it in snow!) and these photos you’ve been posting of your trip just make me optimistic for some reason. Maybe my brain thinks, “What could possibly go wrong in landscape that beautiful?”

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  9. What a terrific post, Mrs. A. You’ve said it all for me. Our welcome here by our old friend and his charming wife is beyond what I expected. The conversation is so relaxed and easy. The trips to yester year are poignant as we remember friends who made us laugh, people who mentored us, people who no longer are with us. And, we’re able to easily share where life has carried us right up to the present. I know I’ll carry these days in my sense memory for a long time. As for the scenery, it’s beyond amazing.

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  10. Oh. My. Word. These pictures. What an amazing journey. Thank you. So glad it is happening!

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  11. I loved that post. What great memories you have and an interesting life. The autumn colours on your photos are fantastic.

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  12. Whatever we need to do just fills up the time.
    Household chores that take me an hour on a working day take an entire morning on a holiday!
    great post …..Loved the morning light pic.

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  13. What a beautiful post. I could feel it. Love the accompanying photos-especially morning light on the tress and fields- remarkable

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