Monday, July 12, 2021

Listening To Rivers


Vergil has been off work for the past two days and he has kept us busy with fun adventures. On Sunday morning we drove about an hour and a half to the Tuckasegee River where he'd booked us a raft to travel down the river a few miles which involved some very small rapids. In that picture we had stopped for lunch and a swim. It was about a two hour trip and a lot of fun. Vergil steered the boat from the rear and Jessie and Mr. Moon paddled in front, following Vergil's directions as he chose the paths between rocks where we should go. There was a lot of laughing. 


I felt great trust in Vergil, knowing that he has paddled the Grand Canyon. 

This picture was also taken from our lunch spot. There was a beautiful house on the water across the river and it was nice to watch the people there swimming and playing with dogs and sunning on the rocks right off their shore. 
Idyllic.

There was a place on one of the rapids where a photographer was set up and to take pictures of all of the people kayaking or rafting over them and you can go online and order them if you want. We have not done that yet but here's the (obvious) proof of us having survived. It was pretty funny. I had to do a screen shot because that was the only way to get the image without paying for it and I understand that completely. 


When we got back to Black Mountain, Jessie and Vergil packed things up for them all to spend the night and we had a little slumber party with a movie and a supper of Lloyd vegetables and biscuits and by bedtime, the boys were wild with it all and we only made it through two books before they were tucked into their beds which were right next to our bed, one on each side. 
Pretty cozy. 

This morning there were pancakes, 



of course and we packed another picnic and packed up and headed to a pretty little creek quite near here for Mr. Moon to fish and the rest of us to cool off in the water. It was so very beautiful. 




Can you see the Ninja Boy?



Blooming rhododendrons. 

It was just incredibly peaceful and Mr. Moon fished in a little pool and the rest of us played in the water or just sat and listened to the way it sounded as it rushed over rocks and eddied through its own passages. August saved a bee that was floating on the water by lifting it up on the walking stick he had in his hand and setting it gently on a big rock where it stood stunned for a few minutes and then began to squeegee the water from her body and wings and then suddenly, when no one was looking, it flew away. 
As beautiful as it was, and as glad I as I am that we went and as grateful as I felt today to be there, parts of it were difficult for me. I've never been exactly a mountain goat and am a Florida girl for sure where our rivers have sandy bottoms, not slippery rocks with water rushing over them, and I'm not comfortable walking on the rocks but today I just felt old. Since I fell last year and broke those ribs, I've been much more cautious and whatever has been wrong with my foot makes me feel less than confident in its stabilizing abilities. Jessie kept holding out her hand to help me and it was so kind and loving but as I told her, also hard. One minute in life you are the mother, holding your hand out to your child to help them safely traverse what needs traversing and the next minute the child is holding out her hand to you, to keep you safe. 
It is the natural order of things but it's hard to accept. 

But this is the way it is and I am so thankful to have children who are willing to hold out their hands to us. And Vergil was beyond helpful today. He was there to move chairs about and fetch umbrellas when it began to rain and free hooks that Mr. Moon caught on things in the river. He is such a good man and I love seeing how calm he is with his boys, how kind and patient. 

Those boys have been a joy. We've read some books and they've watched TV and played on the rug in the basement here which is the softest rug in the entire universe, I feel quite certain. There's also been model-car building and painting. Today August found a jigsaw puzzle and Vergil set it up on the coffee table, organized by colors and subjects. 


Levon has been my little buddy today, wanting to hang out with Mer, and of course I've loved that. We all went to supper at a nearby Mexican restaurant and he and August shared my burrito, bite by bite. They had their own food but it was mine they wanted. It sounds so silly but things like that are precious. Levon's vocabulary has expanded even in the short time we've been apart. I'm not sure I've ever heard a three-year old who has so many words that he uses appropriately. And of course August is his own self, as always. They both astound me with their ability to think things through, to express how they feel, to come to logical conclusions.

I'm tired tonight even though I took a nap today. It's so quiet here in our little forest house without the boys and their parents. I'll probably go to bed early and read for awhile. No reason not to. 

We've seen so much beauty in the past few days. As we drove home from the creek today on a very windy backroad I kept thinking that it was as beautiful as anyone could possibly want. It's so green and the rhododendrons are blooming and summer is in almost full ripeness. Small creeks follow the roads and houses are up impossibly steep driveways. I think I am integrating all of these images and all of our experiences. That can be tiring even as it is exhilarating. 

So that's the report for today. 

Love...Ms. Moon

21 comments:

  1. Oh I know where you are talking about! Here in Chattanooga, too, we had clouds like smoke on the mountains today. Enjoy every minute of your trip!

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  2. That is my sort of place for a holiday, rather than the wide , bare beach that Steve spent time on yesterday. I have just said as much on his blog! Enjoy the rest of your time there.

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  3. How lovely to have wild areas so close to where you live.The boys are growing up so fast. I now find it comforting (at 71)that my children are so caring now,and that they are strong in their own right.

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  4. A wonderful account. Thank you. Such happiness.

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  5. Splendid! The rafting down the river sounds especially memorable. The screenshot picture is indeed "PROOF" that it happened. I love the poetry of your reflections upon Jessie's helping hand. Thanks for sharing it all.

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  6. The mountain holiday sounds just wonderful. It is so much fun to be with family again and to be in a different place. I know what you mean about accepting your daughters hand for assistance. It is hard but so good to know it is there.

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  7. It is so hard watching our own decline. It sounds like a wonderful day was had by all and those boys will remember their grandparents spending the day on the river with them.

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  8. And a grand account it was...reflections on beauty, time and our senescent selves.

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  9. Ah, how lovely it all is! You're making great memories for those boys and their parents, too.

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  10. Oh, I am so jealous of your days on the river. and we called it 'reading the river', seeing the channel through the obstacles and the rapids. I was pretty good at that in my day. I do miss it. the quiet beauty of the river, how peaceful it is/was. and those mountains are gorgeous. makes me wish I lived there instead of this flat flat coastal plain. what a wonderful trip you are having.

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  11. Glad you are enjoying your adventures on the river. The boys look like they are loving all of it! Lots of big smiles! Grab your daughter's hand - stay safe!

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  12. I am just smiling 😎 at how much fun and joy and thrills you are having with family!! Thanks for sharing it all with us!!

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  13. I've been offline for a few days so I'm so glad to see you got to be back with "your babies" again. Your pictures are beautiful, and I get what you mean about being (in your case) a Florida girl. I think it's obviously ingrained in us to almost prefer what we're used to. I guess that's why I hate the heat, not that we're suffering from that here right now. Rain, rain and more rain and temperatures only just hitting 60°???? Well that and most likely massive rioting in France starting tomorrow. I guess the French will have two revolutions starting on 14 July now!

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  14. Lake and river swimming is so wonderful! Such nice pictures.

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  15. Boy do I understand about feeling old. I took a fall last year too and my ribs are not letting me forget. I’ve got pretty bad osteoporosis and am really lucky I didn’t break my hip or spine, It’s made me slow down and try to be aware, just having to slow down is making me feel old! Started a yoga class hoping it will improve my balance.
    It surely is beautiful in the mountains! The boys will have such sweet memories.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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  16. Those boys are who they are because of the parents they have. Especially their vocabularies and their reasoning.
    How like North Carolina all that looks. It was my rock hound father's favorite state for gemstones, and I have spent many a day squatting in a NC creek looking for garnets. It also has beautiful moonstones, and diamonds and green stones whose name I forget, along with all the rest. I bet Virgil could tell you.

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  17. There is such aching beauty in this report, the joy and the piercing awareness of our human condition, the loving hands held out to you. The photos are wonderful, and the memories will be simpler and sweeter than the experiencing of it all, at least it often works that way for me.

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  18. what a beautiful time you are enjoying. I am so happy for you!
    Susan M

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  19. What a great outing. You should TOTALLY buy that picture!!!

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  20. I agree with Steve! Enjoy!

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  21. Is Jesse just standing awkward in that pic or is that belly hiding someone new?

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.