Drove to a town 20 miles away Friday afternoon, and the temperature gauge at the bank read 110 degrees at 3:30pm. The green leaves of cotton plants in a field were open; supplicants soaking up the heat. A white hot sun smeared the sky into pale blue; the kudzu was growing so fast you could practically hear the leaves rustling. The pine trees stood like hazy sentinels, unmoving.

The country road to this little town is so pretty, but every year as the population grows people are slowing moving farther and farther out along the highway. In town, the new Dollar General store was bustling with business (there are Dollar General stores in every town now.) People are eager for stores and commerce and I know it's coming. But:

But: I hate to see the country, the fields, the stands of pine give way to growth of human population. A little country town might be a rarity one day. It's coming. Things are changing. That's the way it is. Progress people call it, but is it?

susil