Country Sounds
One of the advantages of living in the country is the large number of beautiful sounds.
Right now my favorite is the whistle of freight trains on a line used a few times a day, three miles from here as the crow flies. Maybe the signals of those trains are so evocative because it reminds me of my favorite song from childhood, "Blues in the Night." Or maybe it's because, also as a child, I lived in a rural Maryland area -- now heavily suburban - where my house was oess than two city blocks from the Pennsylvania Railroad line -- now Amtrak -- connecting D.C, with all points north,and the sound must bring back to me the endless, hopeful conjectures I had about all the interesting, distant places that lay just over the horizon and that I knew I had every chance of seeing, one day.
Until recently my favorite country sound was that of hoot owls instead, with whipporwills a close second. But those are getting rare, and all last summer I may have heard a whipporwill just once.
Other beautiful country sounds are those of all the other birds, including crows, any sounds made by my creek, any sounds made by the trees, any sounds made by any species of frogs, any made by any kind of weather, and the tweedle of insects in the fall.
The most maddening yet still bearable sounds are those of the cicadas in the summer and the locusts in their years.
The most raucous country sounds are those made by chainsaws, which I am guilty of making at times.
The ugliest and most fearful are gunshots at night.
Having lived in a big city for about as long as I have lived in the city, I can't think of any beautiful sounds that can be heard there, except for occasional birds and those of rain. Maybe in my mind they are still blotted out by the constant sirens of fire engines, ambulances, and police cars.
What a tremendous privilege it is to be able to hear things. I'm glad I can still do it.
Right now my favorite is the whistle of freight trains on a line used a few times a day, three miles from here as the crow flies. Maybe the signals of those trains are so evocative because it reminds me of my favorite song from childhood, "Blues in the Night." Or maybe it's because, also as a child, I lived in a rural Maryland area -- now heavily suburban - where my house was oess than two city blocks from the Pennsylvania Railroad line -- now Amtrak -- connecting D.C, with all points north,and the sound must bring back to me the endless, hopeful conjectures I had about all the interesting, distant places that lay just over the horizon and that I knew I had every chance of seeing, one day.
Until recently my favorite country sound was that of hoot owls instead, with whipporwills a close second. But those are getting rare, and all last summer I may have heard a whipporwill just once.
Other beautiful country sounds are those of all the other birds, including crows, any sounds made by my creek, any sounds made by the trees, any sounds made by any species of frogs, any made by any kind of weather, and the tweedle of insects in the fall.
The most maddening yet still bearable sounds are those of the cicadas in the summer and the locusts in their years.
The most raucous country sounds are those made by chainsaws, which I am guilty of making at times.
The ugliest and most fearful are gunshots at night.
Having lived in a big city for about as long as I have lived in the city, I can't think of any beautiful sounds that can be heard there, except for occasional birds and those of rain. Maybe in my mind they are still blotted out by the constant sirens of fire engines, ambulances, and police cars.
What a tremendous privilege it is to be able to hear things. I'm glad I can still do it.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 5:57 PM
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