Here by the wood stove, cat is asleep on her pizza box (go figure) and I'm dozing, too. We are both animals...yes animals. We homo sapiens seem to place ourselves above all others, felines know differently, but hold there peace.
Human behavior is not so different as any of our fellow creatures on planet earth. We all eat, sleep, work for daily bread, seek the company of others like ourselves...and travel. We all travel on land, sea, and air.
Early on, people migrated with food supply. Many still do today. We traveled to find mates, and in the process began societal bonds with others like ourselves. We migrate for work, we travel out of curiosity, wanting to see what's over that hill.
All my Lancaster relatives abandoned the homeplace in Floyd County Virginia for "greener" pastures. They left for education, wars, economics and to seek, or become part of a society they thought would be more beneficial to themselves, family and friends.
The Shields clan came to Pennsylvania and pretty much maintained there root in Pa and NY with the exception of my Pappy Wayne. Thank the Lord he moved South instead of staying in Meadville, Pa.
Everyone's relatives came from somewhere across the big pond, unless you are Native American...and even they migrated here. Thomas Lancaster immigrated from England in the mid 1700's to Virginia. He's my mother's 3rd great grandfather. James Shields came from Tangradee (sp.) County Armagh, Northern Ireland circa 1840 to escape the potato famine, we suspect. he's my 3rd great. James came to New York. I've included James' papers of his travels and triumphs above.
Seems we have travel in our DNA. We became bipedal which helped in our ability to use our hands for tools to enable us to put our homes on our backs.We developed a relationship with animals stronger and faster that ourselves to help cover greater distances faster. We discovered machines that allow instant gratification: sailing ships, steam locomotion, internal combustion engines, electricity, the wing, the rocket engine...we homo sapiens are in the travel business.
I lived for a time in an aboriginal town in South Australia a day's drive from the hard road about an hour west of the Ayer's Rock, or Uluru. They are/were very successful hunter gathers. As a school teacher we lived in a compound maintained by the South Australian Board of Education. We lived portable houses that could be brought in on trucks, built in a few days, and removed when no longer needed to be rebuilt where it was needed.
The natives really didn't care about where they lived; they seemed to be at home wherever night or day found them. Many lived outside in makeshift "humpies" made of found materials. Many slept outside as a family group, always off the ground in snake season.
They traveled to other villages in cars that carried up to 10 people with bedding, cooking gear, whatever they needed and might stay a couple weeks. Some of the villagers would go hunting for kangaroo and whatever else and spend days in the bush living off the land.
The village of Amata had a census of some 300. Sometimes there were only 100 or less.,Others times up to 600 would flood the village depending on the village social calendar. Football games, family reunions which lasted for days and tribal meetings that belonged to everyone, children and other pets included. You may have heard of someone going "walkabout". That's a pretty good description of how they lived for centuries before we came along. Our influence has not changed that behavior, much to the chagrin of the school, post office, store, etc. depending on employees from the village. Football game in Endulcana...Poof! The whole village gone for a week.
A simplified version of aboriginal hunter/gatherer society goes like this. The tribe was broken into clans and clans into family units. It was all about food and water availability. Each family had a territory they hunted and gathered. At certain time of year, when food and water were more plentiful ,the families gathered as a clan to celebrate, honor scared places and do "business". and and at the optimum time of plenty, the elders of the clans might gather to do there tribal business. That done, they went home to family and there journey began again.
hey were successful because the were always on the move foraging. Men hunted out ahead, women gathered as the walked there territory. If they came upon a windfall they stayed there for a while. If and when the food became scarce they kept moving. every kid born was in touch with his environment from the day his mother was physically able to carry him on walkabout in her gathering basket. Not a bad way to grow up.
Both sides of my family tree support Irish Scots and English, i.e. Anglos, Saxons Picts and Celts.My Uncle Red said of the Irish, that when they first came to this country they abhorred cities an took to the mountains and valley, heading ever West when they heard there neighbors axe. They crossed the Great Plains, the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, and didn't stop there. He predicted they would land back home, having circumvented the globe... like it or not.
Sometime in the mid 90's, my itchy feet began to slow down. No more walkabouts. Life was not about traveling anymore. Did I find what I was looking for? Did I just get tired of constant motion? Did I finally realize the old bird can't stay forever on the wing, or did good sense finally prevail?
I speculate on these points more often at the age of 78 than at 68. I sit more now, ruminating and rusticating over past travels and adventures. Chairs and beds are things I seek comfort in. Hard to find a good bed or chair. Floors, couches, and tents used to be fine. I can't drive hours at a time and haven't been on an airplane since 911. The knees, ankles, back and hips complain louder each year.
I've still have some dreams; New Zealand, Ireland again...just kidding! I guess we older people everywhere tell our stories, share our knowledge, give advice, wonder what the hell the world is coming to, and do as much of what we love to do as possible.
My Dear Sainted Mother is 101, and announced that she could not have found a better chair to sit, or sleep in. I hear you Ma!
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