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. 

Awesome August 2014 Number Six

On my days off, I like to take the opportunity to cook. This is one of Roger's favorite meals:

Take a sausage and slice it into chunks about  1.5 inches long. Place in an iron skillet over low heat and fry until the casing is crispy, turning from time to time.  Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, preheat with about 2 tablespoons oil, bacon grease, or butter added. Slice into shreds or bite size pieces a head of cabbage and add to the skillet. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, lower heat to medium low, and cover with a lid. Cook until softened and begins to caramelize slightly. 

That is it. Simple, tasty, easy. Onion can be added to the cabbage, but it is delicious either way. The cabbage releases enough water to steam without adding any, and you can cook it to your preference. I add a splash of hot sauce to mine after cooking, and it is great with cornbread. If you want to have a more Asian meal, use a touch of sesame oil, and add a splash of soy sauce rather than the salt and pepper. Eat it with some sauteed chicken, and serve over rice. 

Looking to the sky. What an awesome view. 

Summer Afternoon Sonnet

Dragons are there - pigs and unicorns too

Fairies - sprites - elves - gnomes - magic all around

See all of the animals from the zoo

Up in the sky and clouds all can be found

Look up and watch closely soon you will see 

Not vapors and gas adrift on a breeze

Gifts revealed ease your rush to constantly 

Keep ahead of the crowd and always please

Lie down in the grass or lean back and swing

Optimal viewing postures - ask a child 

An open mind is all you need to bring

Be willing to let imagery run wild

We all live lives of such pressure and stress

Cloudwatching can help untangle that mess

What do you see?

Awesome August 2014 Number Two

Roger, telling about his four years living in Zuni, Virginia.  Zuni is in Isle of Wight county, along the Blackwater River and part of The Great Dismal Swamp.  He was there for about 4 years, and during that time his bond with nature was really cemented. From what I have been told by his mother and sister, he was always a quiet, introspective person, preferring to be outdoors and while not antisocial, definitely not dependent on being around others constantly. He would "slip out the back door, quiet as a mouse when we had company, especially if it were someone he did not care for" according to his mother. 

Early one morning, about seven o'clock, I went down to the Blackwater River to fish. I used a cane pole. I had my line in the water when two otters slipped their heads up out of the water and just stayed there, looking at me. It was so quiet and still. I stayed calm, and looked back at them. They were swimming towards me because that is where the mussel bed was. They mate for life, otters do, and the male was the bigger one that stayed in front. Once we made contact they pretty much stayed there, for a long time. I took my fishing line out of the water and just sat there watching them. I really didn't go to catch fish, I just liked being on the riverbank in the swamp. You had to go early, though, because once it got into the day the deer flies would eat your ass up. 

Along the Blackwater River, Zuni, Isle of Wight County, Virginia 

It is more than forty years later now, and he sees how the time he spent in the swamp and on the river shaped him. We have a creek I named Little Beaver Creek after we saw a young beaver in the water following heavy rains the first year we lived here. He is so content on our little acre, and has spent countless hours making Little Beaver as healthy as he can.

His efforts have born fruit, because we have a thriving ecosystem now. He has removed an amazing amount of trash and debris from the creek bed. Car parts (including a fuel pump and engine push rods), batteries, a section of railroad track about three feet long, glass bottles, barbed wire, oil filters - the list goes on and on. 

Now we boast a variety of life in and along the creek - salamander, minnows, crayfish, non-venomous snakes, frogs, box turtles, snapping turtles, a blue heron visits often. There are dragonflies, moths, butterflies, fireflies, ladybugs, bats, many varieties of birds, and the occasional mole and shrew. We have seen or seen signs of raccoon, fox, skunk, coyote, squirrel, opossum, groundhog, deer, black bear and bobcat. 

And yes, I hear the call of an owl on a regular basis.

A section of Little Beaver Creek

We have a good life, which we are grateful for and celebrate this Awesome August. 

Walnut Bridge

Once a towering black walnut stood
Sentinel o'er river birch and lilac wood
Until storm and time conspired
One fated night the mighty tree expired
Leaning listing left to decay mold

Weeks and seasons and weather passed
Still precariously leaned a drunken mast
Thus explored by curious cat and snake
A shelter for bird and rabbit did make
Through blistering heat and icy cold 

April so harsh May left behind
June brought wind and storm most unkind
An epic elemental fight
In aftermath of the darkest night
Morning and new purposes unfold

A footbridge for wildlife will span
Meandering stream untamed by man
A surface smooth easily traversed
Each confident step well rehearsed
Nature is a wonder to behold


~ Ellen Apple 06-25-2014

Barn

Seen from the truck, a barn and pasture on New Garden Road

This was in October, 2012. Photography by Roger Apple, using a Kodak Z915.

Pretty scene, is it not? This is on the road that we drive if we go from Nashs Ford to Honaker. Not abandoned, part of a working farm.