The Green, Green Grass of Home

    Hey, everyone. It's a rainy day, here at the green retreat. I like rainy days. They are good for web surfing, naps and sitting on the porch swing. You can read a book or play the keyboard.
     I was just at the keyboard, from which I can see through a double window. I was playing a bunch of songs and chanced on one called The Green, Green Grass of Home. It was written, long ago, by Curley Putnam and it has been performed by hundreds of entertainers. I can play it pretty well and I enjoy doing so.
     This song tells the story of a man reminiscing about the old home place; about his parents and his lover. He dreams of going home and how "the old home town looks the same, as I step down from the train. And there to meet me are my Momma and my Papa." Then he say's, "Down the road I look and there runs Mary. Hair of gold and lips like cherries. It's good to touch the green green grass of home."
     This song evokes such feeling, that I used it in a book I wrote called Climber's Reward. The hit man who stars in the book goes home to see his folks and the return causes him to think about this song and quote it. Shortly thereafter, he leaves for Japan and a new life.
     But, my purpose in using this title is as follows. As I sat and played, singing along, I thought about home and how precious it is. There is a feeling about coming home that is many things. Melancholy, joyful, peaceful. You see that spot on the wall, where one of the kids drew with a crayon. You sit on the porch and remember babies crawling around, playing. Good times and bad, funny and not-so-funny. It's a place to relax and hopefully be at peace. It's a place where you can arrange things the way you want them. Again, hopefully, it's a place where loved ones and love, abound.
    Carley and I have been renovating an older home that we lived in, years ago. As I worked the other day on the porch, I thought about one particular day. I got up late, because I had worked late. When I walked out on the porch, I saw there on the decking, a blanket. On the blanket was a dead bird. Yes, a dead bird. My thoughts were varied.
1) Is this a "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes" style message from an enemy? (The Godfather movie)
2) Is this a sign from God?
3) WTF  ??
     Well, it turned out that one of the kids had accidentally killed the bird. They laid it on the blanket until they had time to bury it, after school or whatever.
    Stuff like that is all part of the fabric called home. I've been homeless. I've had to call shacks home. I've had several nice homes. Overall, it's good to touch the green, grass of home.
    From home, this is CE Wills.