Published: June 09, 2010
Words: 57,435 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9780977939541

Description

Fred First, at 54, found home. But why here, he wondered? He left the path of his profession for a year, and lived intentionally immersed in the quiet days and details of his remote Blue Ridge Valley in Virginia. His naturalist training, photographic eye and insatiable curiosity bring 100 short vignettes of celebration and hope. You'll feel you have met a new neighbor you've known all your life.

Tags

virginia, essays, nature writing, rural values, aging well, light hearted lifestyle, sense of place

Available ebook reading formats

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Reviews

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Review by: Alda Draper on Dec. 22, 2011 :
"Slow Road Home" is a delightful book written so that the reader feels or experiences the moment. I haven't enjoyed reading a book since Erma Bombeck died, but "Slow Road Home" makes me feel as if the author is my friend and has been in my home. Fred First makes me want to read again.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Gary Boyd on Oct. 24, 2011 : (no rating)
When I bought this book in paperback I wrote the following review...

Today for lunch I joined a friend I've never met. We walked along a creek with no name under hemlocks in a valley I've never seen. We passed a barn I've only envisioned in painted light upon my screen. The sun I couldn't see glistened on grasses in the field to dry the dew I did not feel. I wasn't there, and yet I was, visiting with Fred on Goose Creek in the mountains of Floyd County.

I'll go there again tomorrow for lunch as I revisit a "Slow Road Home". Won't you come along? We'll visit Ann's Falls, we'll sit a spell under the white pines, we'll wave at the neighbors from the front porch. We'll while away the time as we discuss the important issues of the day, the bumblebees at play, and the hawks upon the wing. We can discuss anything at all as we visit there on the creek with no name along that "Slow Road Home".

A visit to Fred thru a "Slow Road Home" always slows the day, sets the pace to another time, and takes you to another place. The place you've longed for since childhood, a place that brings back the memories of grandparents and more. A time when the constant companion was a single word...Why? Walk a while and listen to another's whys, you may discover the child you left a long time ago, far, far away.
Where else can you feel free to laze in a summer rain, loll in an open field at night to watch the fireflies rise and stars fall, or chase spiders as they glide by? There is a maple on the cover that shelters a house that seems to have been there forever. The house is nestled up to the ridge like you shelter in the covers of a bed. How do I know this? I have seen this house thru the eyes of someone who loves it, and the tree, and the ridge and all it encompasses. You can see it too. Come walk the pages of Fred First's "Slow Road Home"...You never know, we may meet along the road.

Since that day I have visited with Fred on Goose Creek. We've walked along that creek with no name. We even sat on the the front porch and spoke of many things. So I was happy to add Slow Rode Home to my Kindle Library... I even spent time today revisiting with Fred in his Blue Ridge Mountain hollar while I waited for my wife to finish a Dr. visit.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

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