The Unanswered Call

The Unanswered Call

A ringing summons

Unheeded

Who misses more

From which side of the chasm

Is the message more

From the sender

Urgency

The recipient

Need

Abyss in the interim

~Ellen Apple 10-16-2014

Apple (Roger, the calm - the gentle - the artist ) has been feeling under the weather for a few days, and I in my own way have been very concerned. From the time we met his essence was the perfect shape to fit the void in my life, his grounded ways and creative flights of fancy were just what my own oddities needed as a counter balance. We have been pretty much inseparable for over 13 years, and have created a reality for ourselves here on the creek by the river that suits us well. When he is not feeling well, I become very concerned.

I worked last evening, and about half an hour before I was to clock out and come home, I called the house to see if there was anything he needed, some tidbit to tantalize his taste buds, a craving for food or drink that was not on hand here at the house. 

I called, the phone rang ten times and went to voicemail. I hung up, redialled, no answer again. 

When I got home, he was sound asleep, resting well, the cats spread across his body like extra furry little space heaters. The phone was in the floor, I am sure pushed there by Smokie, who has loved the act of clearing tables since she was a wee thing. The back had popped off, and the battery connection jarred loose. Dead phone. That was why he did not answer. 

He was fine, and I was relieved. This small poem was written as I contemplated missed calls.

I hope your day is well. 

Try

My first husband, 25 years my senior, would have been 81 today. We divorced in 2001 and he passed away less than 7 months after the divorce was final. He was an alcoholic, and his disease was the end of us. This poem reflects how hard it was for me to leave, how he wanted me to not go through with the divorce, and how rough that particular 18 months was. We were married for 15 years. 

All the days
All the nights
All the sounds
All the sights
All the words
All the ways

You tried to tell me
I should have listened

Try again
Try anew
Try for me
Try for you
Try for us
Try I beg you

I am listening now

~Ellen Apple 10/15/2014

Tuesday Tidbits

It is a rainy afternoon here on Little Beaver Creek - we have had much rain this month, and the creeks and river are fierce in their fullness. These pictures were taken by Apple on Monday afternoon, while I was at work. The weather yesterday was indeed glorious, beautiful skies and mild temperatures. I knew the weather forecast was for rain today and cooler tomorrow, so I am pleased he got these shots.

It is a read a book, sip a cup of hot coffee, snuggle under a blanket kind of a day.

A young girl who would have turned 11 in December lost her life in an accident on Sunday in our area. A tree, root system made unstable by the recent rains, toppled and crushed her as she was out squirrel hunting with her father. Life is a fragile thing, not promised for any length of time for anyone.  We have to live and appreciate what we have now - it may not be here tomorrow, life may be better it may be worse, it may be altered in our experiences forever with just one act. 

I wrote in a message to someone last night "Don't borrow tomorrow, it will be here soon enough".

We do that, you know, we worry today about the myriad what-if''s of tomorrow. We stress, we panic, we theorize, and our now, our today gets wasted, frittered away. I am not advocating a life of not planning ahead. Dreams are planning ahead, retirement funds are as well, along with home purchases, budgets, all manner of things. Setting goals and working towards their completion, learning new skills, expanding our experiences and communities. These are wonderful, marvelous, fulfilling endeavors. I am speaking (or writing) of being so consumed with the worry of all the negative possibilities that we see littered about in the nebulous future that we are not seeing the "now". Prepare for the worst and hope for the best? Yes. Become obsessed with the worst and getting stuck there? No. 

The time shall soon be here when the trees along the mountaintops have shed all their leaves. When the air is cold and clear, the clouds are heavy and gray, the trees in their bare beauty look like fringe on a rug rippling along the contours of the mountains. I am going to try to remember to take a picture of this gift from the season this coming winter - it is especially striking when there is snow or heavy frost scattered along the hightops. 

Monday Morning Musings

There is comfort and a wee bit of decadence to my mornings these past few days. In addition to my Kroger French Roast coffee with caramel creamer (International Delights), I have been savoring the taste and texture of Biscoff Lotus biscuits.

I enjoy these coolish mornings, and the variegated colors to the trees that surround us here in the Appalachians. 

I was reminded this morning of how wonderful the world works, in such a complicated synchronized dance of ebb and flow. There is inconsistency and permanence at every juncture, a dichotomy of light and dark, birth and death, that carries us along such a poignant and exhilarating ride that we call living. The moments seem fleeting yet inexorably long at the same time. We think we shall ever remember and then forget. 

Enjoy and savor wherever you are now, because this life you have today cannot be repeated, or kept, or altered. We get through a day, a trial, a joy, and new ones await. Lessons learned, at times. 

Laugh until you cry. Cry until you sleep. Breath deep and full, drink long from the cup of this day because once it is gone you will never have the chance again, but a new one awaits, just as full of possibilities as the ones long since passed.

Namaste.

To my daughter on the birth of her son

I carried you in my womb
Whispered secrets for only your ear
My heart became a tomb
I surrendered you never to be near
My love for you never waned
Days slowly gave way to history
With one photograph sustained
Your beauty was never a mystery
My second miracle years in the making
When I looked at you and saw a better me
My soul was suddenly no longer aching
Now you have a child of your own
Maybe you can understand 
The lengths a woman will go to
How far the heart can expand
When a new life is a part of you 

~ Ellen Apple 10-01-2014