Our home faces north with ample windows on the north and south sides of the home. We have a garage on the west end of the home, so there are no windows facing that direction. On the east we have windows only on the lower level, which is where my library is located. My usual place to sit and write my blog is facing east with the window before me and above my computer monitor. Since I am an early riser and I write the blog upon rising, I get to watch the sunrise during the summer. In winter I usually have the blog finished before the pre-dawn light is gracing the horizon.

We’ve lived in this house for twenty years now, and I have a strong sense of direction wherever I go in my house or yard. For a decade before that we lived in a home in Boise, Idaho with roughly the same orientation in regards to the compass.

When I was a boy scout, we were taught to look for moss and lichens growing on trees. Because the sun passes from east to west along a southern alignment in the summer here in the northern hemisphere, the north side of the tree is the shadiest side and therefore more likely to grow moss. It was an interesting bit of trivia, but I never remember having to use it to discover direction. I grew up near the mountains and we did most of our hiking and exploring either alongside the river or up in the mountains. In either location directional orientation is easy. The river always runs down hill and we knew which direction we had come from home and which direction to follow the river to get back home. In the mountains, we’d usually start our hikes in a rather steep valley and altitude was a good indicator of direction. Again, the brooks and creeks ran downhill so they could be followed to the river.

When we lived in North Dakota people would often give directions in terms of the compass: “Head east of town three miles and take the county road north for 2 miles.” In the areas where the land was flat, roads tended to be built on section lines and we learned that it was easy to find a home or a ranch by following the directions. That way of finding things was more reliable for us than the other common method in the country: “Go a mile past the old Johnson place.” When I informed the person giving directions, that I didn’t know where the old Johnson place was, they might respond. “You know, it was Olson’s before the Johnsons bought it.” That rarely helped me, either.

When I’m in a city, getting my directions is more of a challenge. We used to go into the Marshall Fields store in Chicago, a building that occupies an entire city block. When we’d come out, especially if we exited by another door than the one we used to enter, I would be all mixed up about directions, often getting things reversed. I’d be heading south believing I was going north. Susan has always been better at getting oriented within buildings and I’ve learned to trust her sense of direction when we are in cities.

Denver is pretty simple, really. The mountains are on the west of the entire city. Look for the mountains and you can tell which direction you are going. I sometimes have to think for a second, however, because I lived for ten years in Boise, where the mountains are to the north of town.

Our room here faces west and we’re up high enough to take advantage of the moonset in the morning. I’m sure there are some good sunsets from this vantage point, but we have not yet been in our room at that time of day to take a look. The headboard of the bed where we are sleeping is on the south end of the bed. At home we sleep with the headboard on the east. It is silly how such a change can leave me a bit disoriented when I wake. I have the urge to go to the window and have a good look out to figure out which way is which.

When the Interstate Highway came to my home town, there was a home that had to be moved to make way for a new bridge. The homeowner had lived in that house for years and owned land nearby, so decided to have the house moved to his nearby lot. In the process, in order to make the driveway line up with the garage, the house was turned exactly 180 degrees and moved to the opposite side of the street. My brothers used to get a big kick out of watching the homeowner in the morning as he’d pull his car out of the garage, back down the driveway to the street, turn and head the wrong direction and drive to the intersection to turn around and go the right way. I’m thinking he learned which way to go after a while.

But I understand his disorientation. I’m pretty sure it would have mixed me up as well.

I think that we are more affected by directions than we are aware. Recently I heard a study by German and Czech scientists about the behavior of dogs. It seems that when they are off leash and left to themselves, most dogs align themselves with the north-south axis of the compass before doing their business. The researchers observed thousands of dogs and found the results to be very consistent. I don’t think that they have solved why this is the case, or even whether or not it is conscious on the part of the dogs. Do they sense the magnetic field and “know” which direction is which, or is it more instinctual?

Of course it also raises the question of what induced the scientists to invest so much energy in observing dogs doing what might as well be a rather more private activity.

Perhaps all of us have, somewhere deep in our DNA, a sense of direction. I don’t think, however, that the owners of the motel would take kindly to my moving the bed to face another direction. I guess I’ll just wait until I get home to figure out which way is which.

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