Woods @ MindSay 
walk
Vacation was ok. Went to a resort in West Virginia, just myself and Husband. For our anniversary mostly.Anniversary number 27! We stopped at Antique malls and shops along the way. Had fun doing that. It was cooler up in the mountains of West Virginia. One night we caught the full moon and went to a pond to lay back and watch it rise and light the sky up, and see a million stars shining brightly. It was a bit chilly that night. But it was awesome.We stayed at this resort for 4 days and 3 nights free of charge if we took their little tour. It was worth it to stay free!The place was nice, but I wouldn't want to live there! With gas prices this year, we couldn't afford to do much of anything. We used 1 tank there and 1/2 tank back. At filling my van up for $85 dollars a pop, that was expensive enough! We bought some antiques, but not a lot. We both were out of work for the whole week in July, and we traveled all over western North Carolina to some Antique malls we had been wanting to go to.
This a picture of the sun setting from our room at the resort through the woods.Nice.
Here's some of the full moon pictures. My camera didn't quite capture the best of
it!
I guess you need a faster lens to capture the fullness and brightness of it.My camera made it look tiny, and it was so huge!
Here's one of the moon in the sky and its reflection on the pond surface. It's pretty cool. Looks like two moons!
The other one is a close up I tried to do.
One morning in late July we got up on a Saturday morning and spied a deer in the back yard. Not unusual as we live in woods and woods surround us, and we live near the Yadkin River.Here's a couple pictures of it:
It wasn't afraid of our dog, and the dog was just sitting and watching it!
One Sunday in early August we went to Cracker Barrel to eat after church, and this strange car was in the parking lot! It had a license tag, so it was driven there! Check it out:
Pretty Cool hUH? People were in the parking lot and taking pictures of it left and right! So low to the ground! Low Rider!
Below here is a picture I took today, August 27th, on Lasater Rd, in Clemmons NC at the water wheel. The wheel wasn't turning because of the huge volume of water, it was awesome! The lake was overflowing the dam and the little bridge I was standing on was shaking as the water roared under it! I took a video too. Hope to get it posted soon! We about drowned today! Some areas got 12 plus inches of rain. We have about 7" in our rain gauge! Areas are under flood warnings and watches. We had tornadoes in the area also. My radio at work kept going off with the warnings and such this morning. It was raining very hard.
It's taking forever for the video to upload. I will post it tomorrow! For now I need to sign off! Will catch up some more tomorrow!
In the dark spring skies
reflections of the branches
dance over me in a prickly hug
my hair entangled
the woods catching me
as I walk
green buds giggling at me
the crunch of my boots on old grass
giving way to the moist ones coming
going away the brittle brown
yet still they reach
this is how it was at home today
I am the priestess of this place
reaching for signs of summer
but still too dank and cold
memories of ice heavy on the brow
the white was here not long ago
evidence is in the creek bed
a steady stream of blackened water
gurgling with frogs and toads
squirrels dart along side me
and I wonder where the deer are
somewhere my people are playing the drum
somewhere there is a fire burning
somewhere my lover is leaping
and I am not forgotten
the first flower I saw:
brilliant purple iris
a golden and white star
inside
peeking at me
stung my eyes
not yet adjusted to light
I'm not really alone, and yet I am the lone witch in these woods
I am the woman you'd see haunting the cemetery
but this place is alive and growing
the only stones here line the creek
the only ghosts the fallen trees
but even they provide life
I can spy the mice in the shelter
I am still hugging the shadows
enjoying the chill
curled up to pillow
deep in bed
sucking in the water
waiting for the sun
sleeping not dead
I share this with you tonight.
Reaching outward like a branch does.
My fingertips upward beginnings to bud.
I feel grown green inside.
Like the migraine I had yesterday
was only a sign I'm sprouting horns.
The creek's edge will soon be lined with bugs.
My arms itch after that thought.
Will you be here,
next time
to hold my hand
when I walk?
Or
will we
link arms
like sisters
do?
and skip!
No particular events, but of a sudden a warm memory. Very warm - it's summer, at camp. Sun is high, and I'm bounding through the higher grass just off the soccer field (there's a lot of camp that remains unmowed). The soft scratchiness and weight of an old flour-filled sock in my hand - we're playing Biffer. Light slashes from the plants I'm leaping through, part of my hair's worked loose from my ponytail and is clinging to the sweat on my face. The slight sunburn from tubing the day before is forgotten until I brush through the pine trees closer to the river.
Two kids see me, spaz, and take off yelling. I grin, loop the Biffer once and let it fly. Totally miss, run to pick it up, they're already at the far trees. No worries, running in the sunshine is the real point of this game, no matter what the rules say. The fine dust of the road is a comforting scritchiness in my sandals - every night, I come back to the cabin covered in dust from the ankles down. My girls are entertained by the stripes presented by my sandal straps. Big blue sky, distant conversation of the river, and the sunlight absolutely everywhere. You can't even think of winter - barely remember what "cold" is.
Everything is trees, and kids, and long grass, big blue sky, yellling voices, sunlight, running. Hear your breath as you pick up the pace, hear the crash as you leap over brush and don't quite make it. Hear and feel your footsteps pounding the packed earth as you run across the 'road'. Scent of the woods, I'm home.
I don't know what brought it up, but it crossed my mind the other day, and suddenly I was there. Feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting, sensing everything. Good place, good times. Can't wait to go back.
we live two doors down from a nature preserve. elk, deer, coyote, raccoons, birds, all sorts of small mammals,
and it is indeed a wonder that we can just walk out the door and head into the woods. It was donated to the city of portland in the 50's and "developed" in 1988 to be a primitive nature preserve. so no picnic tables or bike trails, just woods creek at the bottom which is part of the fanno creek water shed. even on th ehottest of summer days it is a good 10-15 degrees cooler in the preserve and one can find an array of native plants. Americorps interns are slowly removing the english ivy and english laurel that escaped from yards and taken root there and replacing them with vancouveriana and thimbleberries and bunchberries.
Bothmy husband and I grew up with woods at the end of the block so this is a great return to our roots.
oh and if you care, little abster pissed outside her box last night on a pink towel bunched under the box. I wonder what her explanation will be, but it got her free run of the house again. damn thatlittle adorable cat.
Okay I had a CRAZY ASS night last night! A storm rolled through first. Not a big deal. Then I was attacked by that Bull Snake! Fucker! And then about the time it is now maybe latter, I hear this massive amount of crashing and bangs outside! I live down in a hallow folks with two small wooded areas that keep my house from being known by most folks that travel the hiway. My aunt and uncle live up on the hill near the hiway.
All of a sudden, Spud the new dog who is predominatly inside goes ballistic and trying to get out my bedroom window which is two stories up and Dooley my Great Dane Puppy is out on his chain just whinning and howling! I go running out side to investigate. I know I know! The first mistake of ANY horror movie. And I HATE and do NOT watch horror movies because of the blante stupidity in them! Okay and i get all girly girl and get scared! I am still hearing this crashign and banging and it is coming from the bigger set of woods on the northeast of the house that blocks us from the hiway. I run up and get my puppy off the chain and follow him racing back into the house. All the while checking for snakes mind you!
I have one dog going ballistic aggressive trying to get towards the trees and another dog so scared he is huddled under my feet while I am in the chat room. The whole time I am thinking Big Foot is in my woods and I pist him off! Yes, I am a firm believer in Big Foot! I get the kids into the comp room with me, sniffing the whole time when I can to see if I can smell Rotten Eggs (older folks and the tribal elders say big foot stinks like rotten eggs) and smell nothing! While still in chat cause I am NOT about to let a Big Furrie chase me out of my house; I call my auntie knowing she would still be up and hoping she was even home since it is harvest time. Randy is still gone and my folks down in OK! I am all by myself here!
Thankfully she was home. She was hearing the noises also and it spooked her. I told her exactly how the dogs were acting and how bad the noises were. She radioed my uncle and cousins and told them to get here ASAP! She called back and said your uncle and cousins are coming via the work truck on the hiway and they are sending Nick, Alex, Brian, and Mike via the fourwheelers through the fields from the farm to your house. So don't shoot any lights coming out of the field! BEcause by that time I busted out the Marlin 30/30 repeatin rifle and had it loaded and my dad's 12 gage winchestor shot gun of course loaded. The noises were continuing! All of a sudden i see an occasional light bobbing out of the south window and realize that the hiredmen were blazing over (actually not that far if you go through the fields and country roads like 3-4 miles at the most) and the noises stop! Completely!
Then I hear a truck come blazing down the lane but it stops on my drive next to the woods and the fields. My auntie calls back down says Uncle told her to call county and our neighbor (one of the county deputeis that usually protals the far east side) is on his way and that she is not sticking around for nothing and is heading to her daughter's house. I was free to come along. I stayed cause everythign I needed to do this mornign was down here for the most part and she lives near the city. My Uncle leaves Nick on my front porch and Brian outside my front door and the rest of the hired men, my cousins and uncle and the county deputry go into the woods. AGain they aren't very big woods but very very dense. They find nobody or no creature but my uncle did find some very healthy walnut, oak, and cottonwoods downed. Trees that Randy trimmed and left because they were healthy. Randy had cleaned out the rotton and leaning ones this spring due to the kids being in the woods.
County deputy radioed back and the sheriff was called in because yay we just don't call the cops that often and he knows the family also. Both sheriff and deputy along with my uncle and cousins decieded that one of the hiredmen they really trusted would be using my two man tent and campign otu in my yard under my window near the front porch, closetst to the woods. Someone or somebody was out in those woods. The rest of the hiredmen and my cousins and uncle had to get back to the farm to finish up the nights harvesting. So I got Nick. The one with the hot butt I took a picture of. I went out and helped Nick set up the tent and rounded him up pillows and blankets. After everyone left, Nick came in and asked if it was okay if he invited his g/f over. I had no problem with that. Someone might as well get laid right?
Not more then maybe a half horu passes and a massive storm comes through again and Nick and his woman Shannon are knocking on the door with the blankets. I wasn't about to let them stay out in that storm so they bunked on oen of my hidabeds. Shannon headed out this moring before I was even awake and Nick was filling his thermos with coffee when I wondered downstairs. We all were still freaked out at this time. After I took the kids to school, I came back to the house and meet with county and my uncle. We walked through the woods to see if maybe some of the lil punks from tribal housing wondered up and took a handsaw to these trees (big leap here, the trees were big) or to see if maybe one of them got hit by lightening from the earlier storm and started a chain effect of dominos.
So we go in and all of us are walking the woods looking for any sign of somebody in there. Nothing. No foot prints, not even Big Foots! A lot of OLD deer tracks and a few old rabbit tracks but nothing out of the ordinary. We come upon the first of 3 trees it was like they were pushed over! Roots showing and everythign! Nothing remotely sick or wrong with the roots or the tree! A little ways away no where really near the first tree is the 2nd tree. This one looked like someone tried pushing it over but it busted at the bottom! Again a healthy tree. No scorch marks whats so ever on this tree or the last one. We get to the 3rd tree and it was the same as the first tree! They all landed on some other trees bu those trees were all saplings or young trees. We have a complete mystery here! My auntie is scared out of her mind and is again staying at my cousin's house and I have county showing up every hour or so to do a sweep of the woods for the next few nights.
The guns are staying loaded and near me at all times. The kids have been briefed that they are to stay out of my room due to that fact and thankfully my dad and mom are home. Thank GODS my kids aren't sleep walkers and already have basic gun knowledge. They slept through the entire thing minus me waking them up to move them into the computer room and then moving them back to their rooms about 2 am when I finally got so tired to lay down. I stayed up reading after I left chat!
Let me tell ya, I think I rather have whatever is going on be Big Foot! Then I can at least say the storms aggitated him and he got a bit squirly! No I can't even say that!
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