The Wounds of Our Ancestors

The Wounds of Ancestors

Reflections on July 4th in 2020

When my great-grandfather came to this country as a teenager, 

an eastern European Jewish immigrant fleeing persecution and seeking opportunity in the early 1900’s,

he declared July 4th, of the year he arrived here, was his birthday. 

He loved this country, and his family has flourished here.

Every day I see the gifts in my life that have come from the hard work of my ancestors,

and the wealth of this continent.

I listened to the Declaration of Independence on the radio yesterday.

Did the slave owners, land speculators, and business tycoons that wrote it understand its absurdity? 

Do we understand it today?

What did that document sound like back then?

Today, in the light of two and half centuries of history

veiled beneath a veneer of egalitarianism and righteousness

it reeks of entitlement and projection,

hypocrisy, racism, greed,

Perhaps the trauma of the violence of colonialism

Dulled their senses and numbed their hearts 

to their own barbarism.

Just as it does to us today.

Along with their gifts, 

the wounds of our ancestors become ours.

Making Hay in the Caucasus Mountains of the Republic of Georgia

September is harvest season for folks who live in the Sveneti Region of Georgia's Caucasus Mountains. The Caucasus Mountains are a land steeped in history and located at a geographic and cultural crossroads of Asia and Europe. Traveling through the remote villages situated among the soaring ridges and peaks of the Caucasus Mountains, felt at points like a trip back in time. This feeling was perhaps most distinct in watching the process of cutting and storing hay which was in full swing during my time in the region.

Three men from the village of Iprali work in concert cutting wild hay in a high elevation meadow in the Sveneti region of the Republic of Georgia.

Careful attention to keeping you blade sharp is required for cutting hay with a scythe. Men will typically sharpen their blade after each row of hay they cut and the distinctive sound of sharpening stones against the metal blades of scythes rung out across many of the mountain valley’s we traversed during our fall travels in the region.

Often, hay is carefully collected into mounds which are left to dry before being hauled back to the village and stored for the winter.

Hay mounds dotted hillsides up and down the mountainsides across much of Sveneti during the fall. Caucasus Mountains, Republic of Georgia.

Hay mounds are eventually collected and loaded onto either trucks or wooden sleds pulled by cattle to be hauled into the village.

Hay being hauled out of the mountains to the village of Ushguli. Sveneti, Republic of Georgia.

A wooden hay sled sits in front of a modern barn built with a traditional design, while two cows rigged for hauling it rest in the shade. Hay is stored in the top while livestock are penned below during the winter. Sveneti, Republic of Georgia.

A massive and growing ravine sits on the edge of a village in Sveneti. Intensive and long term cattle and other livestock production have left many hillsides scared with with such erosion, while thistles and other weedy species that tolerate heavy grazing pressure flourish in much of the range lands in Sveneti.

Part of the welcoming committee for the village of Ushguli. On our walk into the village we were also greeted by a horse, several pigs, and a very large but quite amiable dog. Caucasus Mountains, Republic of Georgia.

The abandoned village of Ghuli sits below the imposing summit of Mount Ushba. While wolves and bears are reported to still roam these mountains, during two weeks of trekking in the region I never saw sign of even a single wild hoofed mammal or any other terrestrial wildlife larger than a fox. Millennia of pastoralism have left a heavy mark on this staggeringly beautiful landscape. Sveneti, Republic of Georgia

A Winter Day in Eastern Okanogan County

Went exploring in eastern Okanogan County a couple of days ago. A beautiful landscape and one hard to reconcile with Washington's tag line-"the Evergreen State".

Arid valley south of the town of Conconully.

Abandoned building close to the former town of Nighthawk on the Similkameen River.

Conconully Cemetery

Tattered flag flying in the Conconully Cemetery

Blue Lake, Sinlahekin Wildlife Area.

Sinlahekin Valley, Sinlahekin Wildlife Area.

Valley north of the town of Loomis, Washington.

Palmer Lake

Palmer Lake

Similkameen River and Chopaka Mountains.

Similkameen River.

Entertainment in the Similkameen River Valley.

Abandoned mine rigging and tailings pile close to the former town of Nighthawk, Washington.