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Oak Wine



     Hey, everyone. Another day is drawing to a close. I've been working a lot today. Part of the day I was at this house we are renovating in the valley. We worked hard and I have a stiff neck. When we returned to the green retreat we ate massive quantities of food. I grilled cheeseburgers and we ate them with a bunch of stuff that was 0 calories. Let's see if I can remember it all. I thought as long as I have the grill fired up, I'll throw a few hot dogs on there. Then I decided to throw a few hot wings on which we had left over from carry-out. Carley made a salad and we even had a couple of boiled eggs. The salad was particularly good. She loaded it up with cranberries, onions, chopped boiled eggs and other things like pieces of marshmallow. There was even some lettuce and traditional salad things. We had a couple of beers with our dinner and listened to music.
    The hot shower felt good after all the dirty work. We took a nap and then got up to watch an odd movie on TV. It was an HBO Film offering with Diane Lane and James Gandolfino. The title was Cinema Verite. It's the story of a 1973 California family which agrees to allow a TV crew to film their family life for several months.
    Now, I'm a big fan of two similar movies. The Truman Show is a terrific movie which I believe crossed the line into being art because of the powerful statement it made about society, people and privacy. If you haven't seen it, you should consider doing so. The second movie is Ed TV with Matthew McConaughey. It's also very good, although not quite so serious as The Truman Show. But I'm getting off the subject.
     I wouldn't class Cinema Verite with either of these films but it was fairly interesting. I don't know whether to say that the filming of this family destroyed them or sped up a process that was well under way. The Dad was a philanderer. The Mom (played by Diane Lane ) was super Mom. They have a  really nice life style, beautiful home and all that. The odd and intriguing thing about the movie was that the ending left me wondering if this was a true-to-life family. I don't want to tell you too much, in case you choose to see it. I will say that broken home type of stories are not my cup of tea. I grew up in that mess and if you didn't have to, you should feel blessed.
    Oops! Forgot the tree. We have this big oak tree in our front yard. When you walk by it on a hot day, it smells like wine. The sap runs from it, as you can see from the picture. The sap puddles up and ants and hornets go into a frenzy, like me with the cheeseburgers today.
    The tree has a lot of holes from the attentions of woodpeckers. Believe it or not, the tree is still alive. Numerous other trees that looked healthier are dead. This old oak is one tough tree. It reminds me of people in a way. I see some old people who have been through a miserable life and they endure somehow. You chat with them or watch their life from afar and you shake your head. The puddle of sap at the foot of this tree is like the tears that folks have cried. About their kids, grand-kids, parents, friends. Sickness and loss. Failed marriages. Old age, that looking down the gun barrel of failing health, death and all the great mystery. The possibility of watching someone you've lived your whole life with, sicken and die and not being able to do a thing about it. Then you see these folks with the guts and grace to smile at the world and bravely face that bitter North wind. Then you walk past their tree and smell that oak wine. The sweet smell of a sacrifice that rises to the nostrils of God.
    May I be honest? I fear that I will fail to be staunch at the end like these I've talked about. Time will tell.
    From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
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