Cultural Glimpse

Whenever I receive a journal entry from Wheeler Hill Journal, I stop and stare at the words for a moment. I remember the author, Michael Czarnecki, whom I met at Oakland Community College years ago. We had sat around a table with two other women. I listened to him tell how in 1995, he decided to quit selling wine and make a living being a poet, publisher, oral memoirist and encourager, a decision which gave him the pleasure of going on “poetic road journeys” with his son.

In his recent entry, Czarnecki talks about how his family, who lives on Wheeler Hill near his Amish neighbors, has identified 92 species of flowers on the property as of today.

“We have been doing this for a little over a decade now,” he wrote. Last year, they counted 161 flowers, which was a record. The Czarnecki family also keeps track of the birds every year. Their average yearly count has been in the seventies.

Whenever Czarnecki shares his adventures, I am in awe to this rich life that like that of multi-millionaires, seems not easily attainable, belongs to the courageous that honor their lives enough to go after their dreams and live life to the fullest.
May such people’s lives inspire all of us to listen to and honor our calling!

Many of Czarnecki’s photos are featured on this Facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202120850374166.1073741830.1575191103&type=1&l=55ed56ef1d