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By Peter Kidd, January 2011

I am in the Texas Panhandle, outside Amarillo, having arrived four days ago after a 15-day road trip. From NH to Myrtle Beach for a three-day stay over looking over the ocean from my motel room, spending time in the hot tub, and even taking a tour of the Lazy River. Next stop Hobe Sound, FL visiting with my sister. When I left NH it was 42, everywhere I stopped it was 42. My last night in Florida was 28 degrees. I visited an old poet buddy in Port St Lucie, a 40-year friend. Then I headed west along the Gulf to Texas, probably 2600 miles, with my lady partner.

The entire trip I looked at landscapes and plants, transitions in climate zones. What did well where and why. Out west, it is wind erosion that carves the land, with mesas standing their grounds. We have a huge piece of tumble weed in the driveway, and we want to make some outdoor X-mas tree contraption, with. God I love ending sentences with prepositions. Language is funny like that, without a poet to refreshen it, make words up, keep malleable, it would turn to dead matter, a universal cliché. If only humankind knew the value of the poet he, too, would be paid.

Okay, I am getting to the end of this lifelong passion, designing, making gardens, studying plants and rocks, learning nature's laws, if only to learn to cheat a bit. If I have my way the upcoming season may be my last. If for not any other reason, we should all push for an excellent upcoming New Year. I'd like to go out with a bang, and in flight. I just want to write. My kids are grown up and educated, my chores have been done as a parent. I have touched many in this industry on many different levels. I am sick of money. Fact is it ebbs and flows. I worked hard and it was there when I needed it, raising a family. I may come back in spring and fall and do some design, but I no longer want to run a business. It has been a great run.

One of the most obvious truths I have learned from plants is the more one knows, the more infinite the knowledge becomes. I find that refreshing and hopeful. Unlike many I am a big believer in the younger generations, not just my kids' generation and my grandkids' generation, but the half generations, as well. Aside from the entitlement issues, they bring knowledge and aptitude to the table. I am certain change will begin to accelerate, as the political will of people see the necessity to care for the planet and its resources. Even the East India Trading Company knows we need a planet to have a store. I no longer use the terms "Global Warming" or "Climate Change" as they have become political footballs, hence clichés. No, I am back to discussing pollution and dealing with it. Look at the Merrimack River, when I was a kid, and all the towns and cities dumped their sewage into it and the mills and tanneries dumped their waste into it, to swim in it, as we did, we shared the water with condoms and toilet paper. Now, once polluting stopped, in 20 years it has become potable, swimmable, fishable, good clean water where Atlantic Salmon run.

Nature can usually cure itself, if man stops trashing it. My generation posed many great questions and issues, but sadly stopped solving them as we raised kids and became interested in making a living and even accumulating. Most of those questions have been answered, and the technology is in place. All that is lacking is the political will to bring some of these solutions into play, like renewable energy. Dean Kamen has a small machine that would purify water for a village of 5000 people, and yet we send jets of plastic bottles of water. As a dramatist, I love irony, as a person I often abhor it. I feel confident of the near future. It is my contention, in spite of humanity's ability to self destruct, it lacks the ability to wipe out biota. I have taken to calling myself "Biotaman" lately. I am falling in love with germs and building my immunity system. I am sure it is the sterile folks who will be apprehended by the Gigantic Staff Infection in the air. Have also found, having a foot in each world, time spent out of the body can be good for the soul and productive for an artist.

I no longer read more than one newspaper a month. Pretty much skip the "news" (world gossip) on tv. I read detective books and watch Law and Order. Without the bi-polaric banter of canned politics, things are becoming quite lovely. You should have seen the sunset I saw tonight in the wide open sky. My spirit is intact, and my soul as rebellious as ever. It is a good life and I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and the best New Year ever.