Saturday Night Live

Last night, Matt and I went out with the Kiva footprint (think 'tent floor only') and laid out the papasan cushions and piled up with sleeping bags and pillows to watch the stars.  Ben came out a few minutes later with his bag and Chan was right behind him.  The four of us (Jake skipped) laid out there until the sun was starting to rise and chatted, looked at the sky, talked about the Universe, listened to the night sounds and dozed off and on through the night. 

Our various animals arranged themselves around our sleeping spot, Jessie quick to get up and check on us if we moved around.  Chandler and Ben were in the middle, Chan's legs over mine, her little rump snuggled into my stomach.  Ben and Matt were head-to-head talking about planets and stars and all sorts of aspects of the sky above, it was wonderful. 

We saw shooting stars, loads of them.  We saw airplanes and satellites, we saw bats and fireflies.  The spring peepers were calling for a short while and then the bullfrogs took over, their twangy calls sounding like huge rubber bands being plucked.  We would get the giggles and they would stop all suddenly.  And then start up again, their mood for love outweighing their need for stealth.  Crickets were calling and at one point, every coyote and hunting dog in a 5 mile radius decided to yip and howl together.  It was eerie and so loud, it was like being inside a car wreck, the shriek of metal going on and on.


It was magical, even the constant flow of traffic on the main road and the never-ending round of 'pass the bark' going on with the 30 or so dogs within the area.  I found myself wanting to tell Matt all about it, and he was there.  I think that was the best part.  I miss him so much, in the things we do day to day, he's at work or at home so he can work.  And he does not complain, he's happy we can go and do, but I want him with us, with me.  When that works out, it's all the better for it. 

Slowing Down

Lately, I have been feeling like my to-do list has a life of it's own.
I mark off one thing and add three more.
I have been feeling like I am running just to stay where I am, and I am tired of it.

The other day I read this poem:

Pursuit, by Stephen Dobyns
Each thing I do I rush through so I can do
something else. In such a way do the days pass -
a blend of stock car racing and the never
ending building of a gothic cathedral.
Through the windows of my speeding car, I see
all that I love falling away: books unread,
jokes untold, landscapes unvisited. And why?
What treasure do I expect in my future?
Rather it is the confusion of childhood
loping behind me, the chaos in the mind,
the failure chipping away at each success.
Glancing over my shoulder I see its shape
and so move forward, as someone in the woods
at night might hear the sound of approaching feet
and stop to listen, then, instead of silence
he hears some creature trying to be silent.
What else can he do but run? Rushing blindly
down the path, stumbling, struck in the face by sticks;
the other ever closer, yet not really
hurrying or out of breath, teasing its kill.

I don't so much fear what's chasing me, but that feeling of rushing around and not doing anything of importance (to me) is eating at me.  It IS important that the house is clean-I want healthy children and a dirty home is damaging in many ways.  It's important that we homeschool, that we have days with friends, that we get to appointments on time.  That our food is healthy, our bodies are moving more than sitting, that what we read and watch add something to our day, not just burn through time.

But deeper than that-what is it that I want from these years I have been given, what am I working toward and is it worth the pursuit?  I don't want to look back and see wasted time and look ahead to empty days.

Welti Falls

Spring has sprung, I don't care what the calendar says.  Plus, Suzette has spent the last 2 days yodeling it.  So it HAS to be true.

Today, I had to stay close to home until after lunch, so Suzette came up and we proceeded to wayyyy over-complicate our May camping trip by looking up about 3 hours worth of possible places to go.  From my neat and tidy 'Coleman Lake 2 hours from home' plan to 'somewhere' in 5 potential states.  Tubing, ferry boats, treehouses, moonbows,  islands, mountains, hiking, canoes, horses...I think we covered most outdoor activities that don't involve lots of equipment or stalking an animal.

It's spring!  Blooms and storm clouds.  EVERY day.

Possum Party at the Holly Pond Cafe!

We opted to go to Welti falls so the kids could get in some water.
The walk back to the falls was just as lovely as last week!

The boys were loving scrambling over the rocks.  We had to laugh at Zachary-he wanted to cross the water without getting wet.

The girls were having a blast wandering around, too!

This was about the time that Suzette started making noises.

Over at the falls, they took turns sliding off into the swimming hole.

I climbed to the top, it was a good bit higher than it seemed from below.  You can see Suzette in her red shirt in the lower corner!

The kids swimming below the falls.  It was over their heads here.

The small falls above the big drop.  The falls themselves are a spillway for Ingram Lake, much like Catoma Falls in Cullman.

We were there!  We were there!

Coleman Lake

Well, we finally got to check out Coleman Lake, over in Talladega National Forest this week. 

The campground opened March 15-the day we got there-and only 10 of the 30+ sites were actually open, the rest, including the entire A loop closest to the lake, were blocked off.  There were signs stating there temporarily was no water in the campground, but the bathhouse toilets and sinks were operational.  They each had one shower.

We drove through the B loop and looked at sites.  There were 2 bathhouses that we could see and the campsites ranged from small and close to decent sized and spread more apart.  Several backed up to the road, which I did not like.  Around the curve in the loop, the road drops down toward the lake and the campsites are stacked along the grade, giving some level of privacy with the hill being at the back of the site.  At the bottom of the hill, the lake could be spotted in the distance. 

There is a trail running all the way around the lake that goes directly behind some of the campsites, this could be great-easy access to the swim area-or annoying, as everyone camped further away than you passes your site and people walk the loop trail for exercise.  Camping rates appear to be $12 a night, I did not find any information that they had gone up this year.

There are power and water at all the sites, a dump station is located near the entrance, about 1/10 mile away.

I finally remembered that I should take pictures once we got to the lake. 

There is a bathroom there, no showers.  The 'playground' is a set with 2 swings and a large fake rock.  There is no beach, it's a grassy hillside right to the water.  The water was clear and the swim area is roped off.  There is a boat launch around the cove from the beach, only trolling motors allowed on the lake. 

The entire campground plus beach is wheelchair/stroller friendly.  There are ramps and bridges on the walkways and the bathhouses had accessible bathrooms in between the mens and womens bathrooms and the shower in the womens bathroom was huge with skid-resistant flooring and rails.  The trail around the lake probably isn't without knobby wheels, it's gravel.

Parking area at the beach.  There is a $3 a day fee for non-campers.

Swim area all roped off. 

The maples were beautiful, surrounding the lake.  I imagine it's lovely in the fall.

One of the geese

The lake was brimming with tadpoles

Chan was letting them nibble her fingers.

The boys came to join her, they decided to feed them their feet! 
I am not exaggerating when I say that all the dark in the water is tadpoles, there were zillions of them.
We had to wonder how loud the frogs get, later in the season!

It is a lovely campground, though the swim beach was voted down by some of our kid campers, so any returns will be sans the rest of the group.  I think the lake would be perfect for paddling around in our blow-up boats and the water is clean, just the beach is grassy and not sandy, therefore becoming an ick factor.  I liked the natural feel, plus-dumping sand would kill the tadders!  Not cool!

The final pluses I have to add are: location-it's way out from town and very quiet.  They have can and bottle recycle stations, which I like.  It's on the Pinhoti (pin-hoe-tee) Trail, meaning you can hike for days in 2 directions if you want, but also just a few hours to other lakes, to camp in a shelter or just to check out the trail for a while. 

It's pretty cool to know you could take off north from the lake and hike all the way to Maine.  The Pinhoti joins the Benton Mackaye (mack-eye) Trail, which joins the Appalachian Trail!  There are plans to extend south to meet up with the Florida Trail, creating a backpacking trail from the Keys in Florida to Katahdin (ka-ta-din) in Maine.  There is an east-west that meets the AT and goes to Michigan.  The possibilities abound!

Mid-week Update

We have been in town every day this week.  Dental cleaning, orthodontist, went to the library twice, got groceries, put a little more stuff in the camping pantry, ran out 3/4 tank of gas.

In the sleep area, it's steadily getting worse.  I am awake every night from 2-5, often I just don't get back to sleep.  My brain is starting to fuzz over.  Typos, forgetting things, forgetting what I was about to say, actually talking and not being able to remember a word like 'grocery store'.  My brain throws up suggestions 'flea market', 'Dollar General', 'library', 'van', 'online' all scroll through while the other part of my brain waits for the traffic to clear before finally fetching forth the word I was casting around for.  I have resorted to pronouns more than ever.  "Just put that there."  "Get the thing with the stuff."  I am...tired.  Just, tired.  My body is tired, my head is muggy, I am tired. 

In the weight area, I am at a new low, only 36 pounds to my goal, which means I am 44 pounds down.  I have been walking more to try to wear myself out and my appetite is crap, so the weight is moving slowly.  It has been stalled since November, so I am glad to see at least that is going the right way.

Tuesday went spent several hours after the dentist on the Greenway with Karen and Brad and after she left, Matt joined us and we walked 5 miles, much to the dismay of the boys!

The cherry trees are in full bloom.

And, those are the 2 pictures I have taken this week. 

Tomorrow we are having an adventure with Suzette and Friday we are going to Smith Lake to hang out with friends for the afternoon.  I am hoping for a quiet weekend home, maybe tinker with the mower and walk with the dogs down to the creek.

Saturday at Sipsey

Today we headed to Borden Creek in the Sipsey Wilderness area with the kids.  We piddled around and got going late, knowing we'd be hiking 4 miles tops.  On the way, we stopped in at Dutch Oven Bakery and promptly exploded my budget buying Amish cheese and bread and goodies.  eep.  They've upgraded the store, it's twice the size it was the last time I was in there and now they have a sandwich shop.  It's a good thing we could not keep things cold today, or we would have really affected the grocery budget.  Chandler was mesmerized by the cheesecake case.  I was making mental notes about the 20 or so soup mixes they had.  Perfect for backpacking dinners!

We got to the Trading Post at Wren and stopped again, to use the bathrooms and then drove to the trailhead at Borden Creek.  It was PACKED.  A couple pulled in just ahead of us and hopped out, walked down the hill and then came right back up and left.  Eep! 

There were Boy Scouts set up JUST below the start of the trail and they were loud and squealing and making a huge racket.  But, we kept going and sure enough-about 50 feet past the camp, it was clear sailing.  I don't know that they brought 20 cars for the one troop, but all day, we only saw the scouts, one family and a few couples and singles scattered around in the woods, most with dogs, so Zep had to yap at ALL of them.  She was so worked up that she actually yapped at Wonder and Jessie and Kuma as we came into the yard. *sigh*

But, back to the trail.  We went slowly, letting the kids run around and climb rocks and trees and go up all the side trails to little overhangs and waterfalls and play in the creek.  They have not been gung-ho to go hiking with us as much, I think because Matt and I want exercise and they want to play.  So today, we played. 
 

Zep, being physically restrained.  Yorkies are known for their bravery and she was going to defend us all from every dog in the woods that day!

The Sipsey was as beautiful as ever, wildflowers EVERYWHERE and high cliffs, the green water of the creek, the blue of the sky, the dark of the hemlock shade and the sudden bright as the trail curved around and was in the sun again-it was a wonderful day to be outside!

This is where we stopped, 1.6 miles from the trailhead.  Hardly even a decent walk, but we all agreed we wanted to hang out here for a while.  The kids ran around playing in the open, there were butterflies all over and the bluebells were starting to show.

This is the falls at the tunnel you have to scootch through on the trail.  It was MUDDY!

Lunch!

One of a zillion butterfllies in the valley

Bloodroot

Fiddlehead fern

Saxifrage

Spring beauty growing on a knot on a tree

Trillium

Not sure, but check out the puppy in the background!  so cute!