Countless vacant and abandoned houses are scattered over the American prairie and plains, headstones marking the passage of a rural way of life nearly gone as the face of agriculture has changed. Each house has stories to tell, imprinted in front porch wood, kitchen walls, or the stones of an empty hearth. A faded curtain moves in the breeze, and for a moment, murmuring voices are heard. In the arid southwest, homes carved into cliffside ledges mark the presence of an entire civilization. These Anasazi ruins speak of the passing of “The Ancient Ones,” a people whose origin and fate are unknown. Stories live here as well, told in voices so old they are part of the land itself. The Anasazi stone houses, empty now for about a thousand years, are likely to outlast the abandoned rural home of far newer vintage. When this prairie house is torn down or burned, what will become of its stories? Photos: Livingston County Illinois, and Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Apache County Arizona.
Time Shadows
Featured Photo: "Ancient Evening"
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Copyright ©2011-2018 by Paul James Zack and Time Shadows Blog. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Paul James Zack and Time Shadows Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Novel excerpts, poetry and short stories on this blog site are works of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, real events or locales, is entirely coincidental.- Follow Time Shadows on WordPress.com
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