Just a Hill

  Sometimes when you look at things from a strange angle, they can appear a whole lot different that you ever realized.  I know we live on a hill.  The front yard slopes down to the marsh.  I especially know it when I am pushing the lawnmower around that yard but I never really looked at how steep the hill actually is!  Usually, I am standing in our yard looking over towards my brother's place.  His yard is a gradual slope.  I always assumed ours was about the same.  Not so.  Unlike his gentle sloping yard, ours is pretty steep!  Funny how I never realized just how steep until today.

  The old dog and I were out on our afternoon hike when I spied some tiny oxalis blooms amid the grass. Since these tiny blooms always bring a smile, I could not help but drop to my knees to get a close photograph. That was when I looked at the hill like I have not in a long while. I did not see just the yard. I saw the land. I saw the trees, the bushes, the grass, the leaves and, yes, my lovely, little oxalis blooms. I also saw that large climb that I take probably thirty times each day!  It is no wonder my legs are tired!

  Living on a Bayou where the property slips down right into the water, storms can be a bit treacherous.  It is then that I fully appreciate the steepness of this hill.  That incline has saved the Little Bayou House countless times against the ravages of hurricanes.  Only once in my history of living here has the water ever reached the house.  Most of the time, storm surges stay far below us.  It is amazing how something you never really notice on a daily basis is literally what protects you.  Pretty neat!