As I exit the front door I can see the three little Fly Catcher chicks sitting in their nest under the eaves, looking expectant and intelligent. Last week one fell out and was eaten by Big Cat. Every year the Fly Catcher builds it's nest here, alternating the side of the door.
My clematis' are blooming (these are the flowers, my grandfather, Gapper, liked to tape measure every morning). The yellow iris' I dug up out of the woods are in full bloom in front of my house in the sun. There was a house on this spot many years ago, so many that its gardens are now out in the woods, shaded by trees. Surely it is a miracle that after 60 or 70 years, the dormant iris' are blooming and propagating again.
Boofa and I meet a mucular white bull dog named "Handsome" at the dog park.
On the trail there is the vista of a new painting on the back wall of a warehouse. It is fantastic. There is the large face of an Irish Wolfhound or is it Chewbaca, or Big Foot with a benevolent smile and pink lips. The face is also a high abutment of land overlooking the sea. In the sea there is the Loch Ness Monster or another sea serpent and a gigantic fish. From the top of the Wolfhound's head there are waterfalls. One falls into the mouth of the big fish and the other drops down beside a mermaid.
A five mile walk and then home again where I see that the little chicks have found their wings and flown away.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
April 28, 2012 New Things on the Rail Trail
Now there is a dog park on the rail trail. There is also a big red and white port-a-potty for walkers and runners. There were people from a church performing acts of kindness, giving out free bottles of water.
I took Boofa into the dog park where there were two beautiful, gentle adopted Grey Hounds with their owners. Boofa ran and growled and chased them (the dogs). So we left. We'll try again tomorrow. Boofa needs socialization badly.
I took Boofa into the dog park where there were two beautiful, gentle adopted Grey Hounds with their owners. Boofa ran and growled and chased them (the dogs). So we left. We'll try again tomorrow. Boofa needs socialization badly.
April 26, 2012 Nuked. Walking the treadmill.
"Does your dog know how to call 911?" the doctor asked. I found myself full of radioactive isotopes, feeling claustrophobic as the imaging machine moved back and forth, singing "Old MacDonald had a Farm", going through the domestic animals, the jungle animals of South America and Africa and the creatures of the sea (sharks and whales) as well as the animals of the frozen continents, finally ending with "And on his farm he had a walrus" when the machine stopped.
The nurse practicioner said I did well on the treamill part. I drove away with relief, listening to
Rasberry Beret and heading for a cup of hot tea (which cures about anything).
The nurse practicioner said I did well on the treamill part. I drove away with relief, listening to
Rasberry Beret and heading for a cup of hot tea (which cures about anything).
April 25, 2021 The Columbia Canal
Today we walked to the end of the trail at the Columbia Dam The Dam was built in 1891 and is still in use today. There were three great blue herons standing on the rocks in the mist from the spilling water. Along the green canal, hundreds of turtles. Now the trees are leafed out and it is more difficult to see the Congaree flowing along beside us.
Friday, April 20, 2012
April 18, 2012 The Three Rivers Greenway
From Downtown Columbia, take Gervais over the bridge and turn left immediately at the end of the bridge, then take an immediate left into the park. On the right the New Orleans Riverfront Restaurant is for sale. By the river workmen are constructing a stage in the amphitheater for a band to play on the weekend. Down in the wide wide Congaree, out in the middle of the river, two men are standing knee deep, fishing.
Riverside markers tell the history of the rivers: From the mountains, the Pacolet, the Enoree and the Tyger flow into the Broad. The Saluda flows into Lake Greenwood and then Lake Murray. The Waccamaw flows into the Saluda. The Saluda and the Broad come together into the Congaree. We are on the banks of the Congaree.
Today there are many dogs walking their people: golden retrievers, yellow labs, a brown labradoodle, miscellaneous brown-yellow dogs with black muzzles. Boofa drinks at the Gamecock Dogs Only water bowls.
A young woman runs by, slim, lythe, quick and sleek as a deer. She resembles those Somalian runners who consistently win marathons. Her white T-shirt says "USC Track and Field".
Two men tell me to walk on the left side as there is a snake on the right. I did not see it.
Dark clouds are threatening rain. The sweet heavy scent of honeysuckle floats in the air.
There is also the more cloying strong sent of the Spiraea Latifolia. This scent is like the
scent of some lillies. There is one lovely sweet everlasting bush.
A sign tells of the steam boat called The City of Columbia which hauled lumber and other supplies from Columbia to Georgetown between the years of 1905 to 1916.
We walk the full three mile length and back. Just as we get in the car, the rain falls. There is a man with a long pony tail wearing a black brimmed hat, a gordon plaid long coat, white stockings and black shoes walking briskly toward the State House.
Riverside markers tell the history of the rivers: From the mountains, the Pacolet, the Enoree and the Tyger flow into the Broad. The Saluda flows into Lake Greenwood and then Lake Murray. The Waccamaw flows into the Saluda. The Saluda and the Broad come together into the Congaree. We are on the banks of the Congaree.
Today there are many dogs walking their people: golden retrievers, yellow labs, a brown labradoodle, miscellaneous brown-yellow dogs with black muzzles. Boofa drinks at the Gamecock Dogs Only water bowls.
A young woman runs by, slim, lythe, quick and sleek as a deer. She resembles those Somalian runners who consistently win marathons. Her white T-shirt says "USC Track and Field".
Two men tell me to walk on the left side as there is a snake on the right. I did not see it.
Dark clouds are threatening rain. The sweet heavy scent of honeysuckle floats in the air.
There is also the more cloying strong sent of the Spiraea Latifolia. This scent is like the
scent of some lillies. There is one lovely sweet everlasting bush.
A sign tells of the steam boat called The City of Columbia which hauled lumber and other supplies from Columbia to Georgetown between the years of 1905 to 1916.
We walk the full three mile length and back. Just as we get in the car, the rain falls. There is a man with a long pony tail wearing a black brimmed hat, a gordon plaid long coat, white stockings and black shoes walking briskly toward the State House.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
April 14, 2012 Blue Flag in the Red Wetlands Ponds
Cottonwood Trail again. I took a tennis ball for Boof to play with. He catches it and runs in big circles but won't bring it back until he gets tired of it. We meet Lil'bit and her owner, an athletic couple walking, but who turn back to back and skip together to pass us, another runnning couple (the young man says as they pass "Have you been to Rome?", "Yes" she says, "Can you dance?" he says- I do not hear her answer).
I am shocked by the water in the wetlands. It is a deep, deep red color, studded with the blossoms of wild white rose and blackberry. There are huge clumps of Blue Flag Iris ( Iris Versicolor) growing in the water. (these are usually found farther north on the east coast from Virginia upwards to Canada in marshes and swamps). The color of the water may be due to iron leaching from the soil, but I grew up near the Catawba River where the banks and water ran orange from the iron. This was the soil that the Catawba used to craft their unique pottery which comes out black and white after it is fired.
This day was the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It was launched on April 10. So was I. That was my birthday and now I am 69 years old (I can't believe it). I am not sinking yet. My mother was actually born on April 10 in 1912 on the very day of the launching of the Titanic. If she were still alive, she would have been 100 years old, but she died two years ago at the age of 98.
I am still thinking of how to honor her. I find myself telling her in my mind about the yellow irises blooming in my yard, the gigantic Knockout Rose bushes laden with hundreds of blooms.
In the grocery store parking lot, I spy a license plate on a SUV that says "IWALK18". Do they walk 18 miles?
Then I see a very fat woman dressed in a strapless white dress with big colorful flowers. She is laughing loudly. I love her on this loud, beautiful laughing day.
I am shocked by the water in the wetlands. It is a deep, deep red color, studded with the blossoms of wild white rose and blackberry. There are huge clumps of Blue Flag Iris ( Iris Versicolor) growing in the water. (these are usually found farther north on the east coast from Virginia upwards to Canada in marshes and swamps). The color of the water may be due to iron leaching from the soil, but I grew up near the Catawba River where the banks and water ran orange from the iron. This was the soil that the Catawba used to craft their unique pottery which comes out black and white after it is fired.
This day was the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It was launched on April 10. So was I. That was my birthday and now I am 69 years old (I can't believe it). I am not sinking yet. My mother was actually born on April 10 in 1912 on the very day of the launching of the Titanic. If she were still alive, she would have been 100 years old, but she died two years ago at the age of 98.
I am still thinking of how to honor her. I find myself telling her in my mind about the yellow irises blooming in my yard, the gigantic Knockout Rose bushes laden with hundreds of blooms.
In the grocery store parking lot, I spy a license plate on a SUV that says "IWALK18". Do they walk 18 miles?
Then I see a very fat woman dressed in a strapless white dress with big colorful flowers. She is laughing loudly. I love her on this loud, beautiful laughing day.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
April 7, 2012 Croft State Park, SC
Camp Croft was an Army Training Facility until 1950 when it was sold in parcels to the state or to businesses. It is a beautiful wooded area with two lakes and the possibility of "unexploded and dangerous bombs, shells, rockets, mines and charges above or below ground" so that you are advised to stay on the trails. Since 1950, no one has been blown apart there that I have heard of. I took Boofa on the trail that goes off to the right from the boat ramps at Lake Craig. Croft is visited by fishermen, campers and especially horse back riders. There are mostly john boats on the lake quietly drifting while people fish. Some trails are for horses and after rain become mud holes by the trampling of horses' hooves. The picnic shelters have electric outlets where you can plug in your deep fryer to cook up your fish.
Leaving the park we met two men in straw hats riding expertly on beautiful horses and speaking Spanish, they waived and turned their eager mounts in circles as we passed.
This part of the park is reached from highway 56 which stretches from Spartanburg to Clinton.
The park is perhaps 5 miles outside of town after the SC School for the Deaf and Blind.
Leaving the park we met two men in straw hats riding expertly on beautiful horses and speaking Spanish, they waived and turned their eager mounts in circles as we passed.
This part of the park is reached from highway 56 which stretches from Spartanburg to Clinton.
The park is perhaps 5 miles outside of town after the SC School for the Deaf and Blind.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
April 4, 2012 Crowder's Mountain State Park, NC
It is an astonishingly beautiful spring day. Iris and azaleas are blooming in my yard. Take I-85 to Gastonia, NC. Exit on 74 going toward downtown from the South, you will see the sign for Crowder's Mountain on your right. The highest point on the mountain is King's Pinnacle which marked the boundary between the Cherokee and Catawba Nations. It is over 1,300 ft. From the Visitor's Center I took the Crowder's Mtn. Trail which is called "moderate" and is 2.7 miles one way.
The Pinnacle Trail is called "strenuous" and is 1.7 miles one way on a gravel road from a Linwood designation starting point.
Boofa and I traveled along and met three young men who were running up the mountain. They stopped to pet Boofa and said they were on a track and field team and were also training to do the Appalachian Trail in the summer.
We traveled on to where the trail meets the Pinnacle Trail. Memories flooded me of years ago when Jill's husband, Earl, son, Patrick, daughter, Natasha would invite us to go up the mountain with them. I remember Michael and Patrick sitting on the outlook rock on the Pinnacle where you could see all of the surrounding countryside. John and Hannah told me that they had rapelled down that rock face one summer when they went to Camp Cherokee at Kings Mtn. I decided to climb to the top. It is a very steep climb. Near the summit, you have the choice of climbing rocks or a flight of over a hundred wooden stairs, seemingly almost perpendicular. I made it up nearly to the top but could absolutely go no further at about the 80th step.
I lay down on the rocks and watched the buzzards circling above me, probably wondering if I was going to be their next meal.
After a while Boofa and I walked the three miles back to the car, drank water and ate dates. And then drove home.
The Pinnacle Trail is called "strenuous" and is 1.7 miles one way on a gravel road from a Linwood designation starting point.
Boofa and I traveled along and met three young men who were running up the mountain. They stopped to pet Boofa and said they were on a track and field team and were also training to do the Appalachian Trail in the summer.
We traveled on to where the trail meets the Pinnacle Trail. Memories flooded me of years ago when Jill's husband, Earl, son, Patrick, daughter, Natasha would invite us to go up the mountain with them. I remember Michael and Patrick sitting on the outlook rock on the Pinnacle where you could see all of the surrounding countryside. John and Hannah told me that they had rapelled down that rock face one summer when they went to Camp Cherokee at Kings Mtn. I decided to climb to the top. It is a very steep climb. Near the summit, you have the choice of climbing rocks or a flight of over a hundred wooden stairs, seemingly almost perpendicular. I made it up nearly to the top but could absolutely go no further at about the 80th step.
I lay down on the rocks and watched the buzzards circling above me, probably wondering if I was going to be their next meal.
After a while Boofa and I walked the three miles back to the car, drank water and ate dates. And then drove home.
Friday, April 6, 2012
April 2, 2012 Stonewall Jackson at Legoland
My daughters, their children and I drove to Buckhead and Phipps Mall to Legoland. Martin was doing parkour through the parking lot. On the perimeter near the entrance to Belk, he cartwheeled to the top of the four foot cement wall, looked down and saw a four story drop. Fortunately, he was able to drop back into the parking lot and we proceded into the mall.
The Legoland Discovery is new. It is Spring Break, the week before Easter and it is thronged with kids and parents and grandparents. The first room you enter is the lego facsimile of the major buildings and sites of Atlanta including the Martin Luther King house and church and the exit through Stone Mountain. Sometimes the lights dim and fireworks appear on the walls in the skies. We stand in lines to see the lego film in four-D which includes real snow and rain falling on the audience. The kids ride through the air in flying cars and we all ride in cars with guns to shoot skeletons to protect the lego princess.
While the kids are making lego race cars, I notice a strange man who is unlike the crowd of people wearing Nikes, shorts, T-shirts with words and logos, ball caps, talking on cell phones in several languages. He is tall, large boned and gaunt, wearing a long sleeved black shirt, russet brown pants with worn dusty pollen coated polished boots under his cuffs. His face is long and his hair is a dark auburn sprinkled with gray, cut just below his ears. He is holding a small boy by the hand. The child wears gold rimmed eye glasses. He is looking with wonder and astonishment at all around him. I wonder what he is thinking.
The Legoland Discovery is new. It is Spring Break, the week before Easter and it is thronged with kids and parents and grandparents. The first room you enter is the lego facsimile of the major buildings and sites of Atlanta including the Martin Luther King house and church and the exit through Stone Mountain. Sometimes the lights dim and fireworks appear on the walls in the skies. We stand in lines to see the lego film in four-D which includes real snow and rain falling on the audience. The kids ride through the air in flying cars and we all ride in cars with guns to shoot skeletons to protect the lego princess.
While the kids are making lego race cars, I notice a strange man who is unlike the crowd of people wearing Nikes, shorts, T-shirts with words and logos, ball caps, talking on cell phones in several languages. He is tall, large boned and gaunt, wearing a long sleeved black shirt, russet brown pants with worn dusty pollen coated polished boots under his cuffs. His face is long and his hair is a dark auburn sprinkled with gray, cut just below his ears. He is holding a small boy by the hand. The child wears gold rimmed eye glasses. He is looking with wonder and astonishment at all around him. I wonder what he is thinking.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
April 1, 2012 Stone Mountain, Georgia
Approaching Atlanta from I-85 North, you will see, if the weather permits, the largest unforrested granite mountain in the world. It is no wonder that it was a place for Native American meetings and ceremonies. It is a breath taking sight. Hannah, Sergay, Liza and I have driven down to visit Eleanor, her husband, Ryan and Martin and Mathew. All of us go to Community BBQ on Clairemont for lunch: pork and chicken, potato salad, cole slaw, sweet potatos and greasy
delicious french fries. We leave Decatur on Scott St, then 78 and shortly arrive at Stone Mountain.
Into the face of the mountain is carved a bas-relief sculpture of three icons of the Civil War:
Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis riding their horses. They hold their hats in their right hands and cover their hearts.
The mountain has been a place for visitors since the 1850's. Now there are numberous buildings with museums, auditorium, gift shop as well as many shops and entertainments at the base. We walked around the park (now owned by the State of Georgia) while Martin leaped and propelled himself over rocks and fences. He calls this activity, Parkour. We wanted to ride the bus which turns into a boat called the Duck, but we were too late in the day.
We did not walk to the top of the mountain today but Eleanor's family walked it last year. You begin at point 3 on the map to the right and follow a yellow line for a mile to the top. On the left side there is a kind of a ski lift car hauling up and down.
You can walk on a path for 5 miles around the mountain on beautiful wooded trails. There is also Stone Mountain Lake with picnicers and boaters and fishermen.
There is an incompleted trail from Stone Mountain all the way into Piedmont Park in Atlanta
delicious french fries. We leave Decatur on Scott St, then 78 and shortly arrive at Stone Mountain.
Into the face of the mountain is carved a bas-relief sculpture of three icons of the Civil War:
Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis riding their horses. They hold their hats in their right hands and cover their hearts.
The mountain has been a place for visitors since the 1850's. Now there are numberous buildings with museums, auditorium, gift shop as well as many shops and entertainments at the base. We walked around the park (now owned by the State of Georgia) while Martin leaped and propelled himself over rocks and fences. He calls this activity, Parkour. We wanted to ride the bus which turns into a boat called the Duck, but we were too late in the day.
We did not walk to the top of the mountain today but Eleanor's family walked it last year. You begin at point 3 on the map to the right and follow a yellow line for a mile to the top. On the left side there is a kind of a ski lift car hauling up and down.
You can walk on a path for 5 miles around the mountain on beautiful wooded trails. There is also Stone Mountain Lake with picnicers and boaters and fishermen.
There is an incompleted trail from Stone Mountain all the way into Piedmont Park in Atlanta
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