Amelia to Belle, 10 March 2007... Anyway, while I feel quite sturdy on the outside, I'm feeling a little fragile on the inside. There's so much ice everywhere here. I take great care not to fall. Don't want to rupture anything. (Another bad word: "rupture.")
To take my mind off worries, I'm grateful to have absorbing mental work. I've been thinking a lot about the word "husbandry" lately (a beautiful word). When Charles Lindbergh flew over England on his to Paris during his famous flight, his young mind just couldn't grasp the tiny scale of English fields and farms, the very human scale. He couldn't comprehend how a farmer could have earned a living without tractors or machinery. 100 little English farms would have fit into the Kansas wheatfield. The answer to his question, as I explore the history of the land he and Anne later came to find refuge in, is the concept of husbandry...
Belle to Amelia, 29 March 2007
P.S.4 I loved what you wrote about "husbandry" and the human scale of small farms and gardens. There's a word in Polish - gospodarstwo - that means just that. I learned it from my grandparents, who took great stock in it. That is, they took great stock in tending to the house and the garden, and keeping things modest, tidy, and in good repair. It was a way to be, a way of life. Care Taking. My grandfather swept the walk nearly every day, if not daily. The sweeping was a symbolic act. Gospodarstwo. I love it. It's very much the spirit D and I have about this house, trying to bring it back into the state of good repair and peaceful contentment.
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