I bought a house on Mill Road in Manorville in 2000 having divorced after family life in Smithtown. Before I bought the house, I dreamed of creating a place where friends and other could visit and feel peaceful, and hospitality. I was looking for a synapse  –  the space between two nerve endings. I moved in on my 60th birthday with the help of some friends. Thus began a decade of life in the core area of the New York State Pine Barrens Preserve. As a naturalist, my acre of land turned out to be perfect. About 2/3 rds of the property is open meadow. I had a neighbor to the west, and several hundreds of acres on the east and north, the Peconic River runs east west within a 15 minute walk to the north. The LIRR tracks are just east of the house. Four times a day, the warning bell and gate lower as a train passes. Aside from this sound, motorcycles  roared by mostly on the weekends.  Mill road is 7 miles long to the east. My house was 7 miles from four settlements Riverhead to the east; Center Moriches to the South; Yaphank to the West; and Wading River to the North.

I kept a journal during the time I lived there. After 17 years, I’ve begun to read the almost day by day life I lived there. I wrote poems and essays. I had many guests. I hired Dave, a former student, to help me renovate the house. It was built in 1958.  Covered with asbestos shingles, very old insulation, roof needs replacement; a kitchen and bathroom that needed renovation; and floors, and windows and on and on.

I hiked, explored, worked as a volunteer at an organic farm the Garden of Eve in Northville. In a nutshell, I wasted very little time.

Here is an early poem:

   MY DIGS

 

I’am not a groundhog

But I’ve dig in like one

Burrowing into Manorville

On quiet Mill Road

My acre cuts into pine barren woods

An old cemetery – Robinson grave stones

I chose the smallest bedroom

To be my cell

Like monks have

I rumble in the kitchen

Root in the fridge

Rearrange the furniture

Wait for the mail and phone calls

My chores are pleasant

As I wile away

A quiet Manorville Life

I dig under the blankets

On cold winter nights

Propped up with a cup of tea

Listen to classical music

With a good book

And heavy eyelids

Drift into a peaceful sleep