I am made of Blue Ridge stuff

My only personal experience with the mountains is visiting my brother Tom who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and he is a transplant, of course. Even so, I do believe there can be an affinity so deeply rooted (in the Scottish highlands, for example), that it may be as pronounced on some level as my gait or my dialect or my blue eyes are on a physical level.[1] 

"Southern mountain dialect (as the folk speech of Appalachia is called by linguists) ... can be further particularized by saying that what is heard today is actually a sort of Scottish-flavored Elizabethan English." Source >

In other words, my kinfolk are hillbillies. I am Blue Ridge stuff.

I understand that even now, there are remote mountain communities without reliable electricity, plumbing, etc. It wasn't that long ago, even the 1940’s, when someone might ask if a house had “modern plumbing.” In fact, I just listened to a 1944 episode of Suspense in which that very question was asked.

c0

[1]
I don’t know to what level science supports this; I also realize that the romantic appeal of a thing can be a powerful motivator and a biological explanation is unnecessary; but I also realize that there are observable habits people have because they are descended from people that also had those habits (religious, linguistic, culinary, etc), and it’s very possible that those combine and are passed on generation to generation in subtle ways.

For example, I love sharp, pungent cheeses and meats, the sharper and more pungent the better. I have no doubt this was given to me by a line of folks that came from Scotland, England and Wales who also liked these things (most of the Cairns heritage is from that part of the world, though there was a healthy contribution from Germany).

Of course, you don't need to resort to DNA to explain someone's affection for pungent cheese (or the stirring effect of a misty mountain range, for that matter).

But it's not unlikely that a host of small stimuli - that in themselves are meaningless - together over time sensitizes a person to one thing or another.

But born or made, it's all the same in the moment.

Have you ever walked into a place you've never been and felt, "I'm home" ? If it's a light, transient feeling, we call it déjà vu, but if it's so profound it's spooky, we might turn to reincarnation or parallel universes or other fantastical explanations.

I had that experience very recently. I may relate it later. (Or you can ask me about it, but it will take a few minutes.) It was characterized by utter peace and comfort in the company of strangers, a sort of people and place I'd never been exposed to before.

And then it was gone, but ringing like a bell.

And echoes still.

c0

Started: 2012-01-30