How do ancestry and place intertwine? What combination of coincidence and fate brings us to dwell in a particular place? What is that place like? Who were those who brought us to where we are now? For some, where we are is accidental circumstance, but for others, who we are, and where we are, is no accident.
You will find here stories, field notes, observations and reflections upon the nature and the mysteries of this familiar, ancient ancestral landscape of the Connecticut River Valley.
In West Along the River 1, 2, & 3, I evoke the natural landscape, creatures and village characters of the mid Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts.
In Looking For Judah, I dig deep into the lives of the people and their journeys over the centuries that eventually brought me to this place, in the sacred landscape of this river valley. A dark family secret set me off into parallel reality. Perhaps, after all, I wasn’t who I thought I was, perhaps there was a deeper reason that explains why I find myself here. Revealed to me by an aunt with a taste for history, adventure, and whiskey, the secrets she swore me to keep drew me into questioning how and why I wound up in this place. I sought to discover why I feel integrated into this particular landscape, why I look the way I do, and why it had to be a secret.
Perhaps some of these stories will resonate with the reader, will remind the reader to open ears, eyes and mind to the marvels and mysteries of everyday surroundings, to the ancestral voices guiding us.
RiverStoriesDavidBrule 