Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! As I write this on Thursday evening, it's been a bit of a surreal day.  March 27 marks the 6-month anniversary of Helene slamming into this region, causing most of the storm's 248 deaths (across six states) and much of the $78 billion dollars in damages.  Maybe you saw Good Morning America broadcasting from Asheville Thursday morning. 

 

We were hit by the storm here in northern South Carolina, but our family was all okay, and our house was spared.  We lost dozens of trees, and there is a view of a little ridge where we once saw only woods.  Despite having massive mounds of tree debris removed from our long driveway, the wooded areas of our property are still full of fallen and leaning (and extremely dry) trees. It's that way everywhere in upstate South Carolina and in Western North Carolina.  It's estimated that Helene damaged 210,000 acres of forest in South Carolina, and more than 800,000 in North Carolina. 

 

Which brings us to this week, and the fires you've probably seen in the news. The ones in NC are massive (attributed to downed power lines), but they are starting to get some containment over there.  The fires near us in SC - The Table Rock Complex Fire -  are still at zero percent containment, and fire fighters and other personnel have been working valiantly in difficult conditions, doing much by hand.  Downed trees from Helene have prevented getting in big equipment on the ground.  The largest fire was started by negligence (teenagers smoking). [Friday update:  The Table Rock Complex Fire is now well over 10,000 acres taken together, the largest ever in the Upstate.  But federal resources are here now, too, so that's good. And on a personal note, the wind is not pushing it our direction today.]

 

Table Rock is a special place for my hubby and me, as he proposed up there when we were seniors at Furman!  Year before last, to mark the 40th anniversary of that occasion, we hiked it once again.  This time, we went all the way to the top!  (It's about 3 1/2 miles UP - so, 7 miles total and challenging with rock faces.  I was proud of us.) While there, we could see evidence from a large wildfire from 2016.

 

We now live about 15 miles from Table Rock as the crow flies, 20 to drive.  Turns out we're even closer to the other fire, the Persimmon Ridge Fire. It's about 7 miles away as the crow flies, and we're maybe 5 miles from the evacuated area for that one. My neighbors and I have been nervous as this week has unfolded, as winds have been fierce and humidity levels have been dangerously low.  I've been concerned that even if the big fires stay where they are, it wouldn't take a lot for any kind of fire to ignite the tinder we all have around us. 

 

Friday should bring a slight rise in humidity levels, but still Red Flag Warnings, and Sunday is supposed to bring oh-so-welcome rain. After a few days of off-and-on oppressive smoke (and even some falling ash), we are all ready for some improvement. I did photograph our whole house and contents, and we've got "go bags," and I've got the photo albums gathered, though we really should be fine this far down.

 

On Tuesday morning, I walked less than a mile from our house and snapped the top two pictures from my phone (zoomed in).  The bottom picture is at the same spot on Wednesday, at sunset, from my car.

 

I wanted to share something mountain-themed for today, and I hope you'll excuse me if I needed something light-hearted.

 

I found this little gem in the Home and School Reciter and Entertainer by The Rev. Henry Davenport Northrop (Philadelphia, National Publishing Company, 1904).

 

 

 

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL

 

 

The mountain and the squirrel

      Had a quarrel,

      And the former called the latter "little prig;"

    Bun replied: --

  "You are doubtless very big,

 

  "But all sorts of things and weather

    Must be taken in together

    To make up a year

    And a sphere;

 

   "And I think it no disgrace

     To occupy my place.

     If I am not as large as you,

     You are not so small as I.

     And not half so spry.

 

   "I'll not deny you make

         A very pretty squirrel track;

     Talents differ; all are well and wisely put.

        If I cannot carry forests on my back.

     Neither can you crack a nut."

 

 

The talented and generous Marcie Flinchum Atkins has our Roundup this week.  Thanks, Marcie!

Can you believe Poetry Month starts next week??!  I've got next Thursday's line in the Progressive Poem! 

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

In last week's post, I featured Edgar Guest's "It's September" (which had a fun addendum added later, after my mother saw the post and shared with me her own experience with that poem). I also mentioned that Jeff and I were going to celebrate our engagement on Sunday, exactly 40 years later, by revisiting the place where he proposed.  As Furman students in the South Carolina Upstate, we had hiked up Table Rock, not far from campus and not far from where we moved this year. BIG thanks to everyone who left encouraging words last week for our hike!

 

Sunday morning, we donned our boots and grabbed our new hiking poles, and off we went! We were hopeful to make it to the top, but the trail is designated as "very strenuous," and I wasn't sure that some past injuries of mine would be keen on such an adventure.  But (drumroll...) - we did it! 

 

It was a gorgeous day with a bright blue sky and heaps of wildflowers.  We got there early in the morning.  They say to allow three hours up and two down; it's a 7.2 mile round trip.  We took our time and got to the top in four hours, stayed up there an hour enjoying the views (and a bald eagle fly-by), and then took three hours to make our way down. 

 

Did I mention, "very strenuous"? No way I would have made it without the poles. At the beginning, and at a couple-few points along the way, the trail teases you with regular ground at a gentle slope.  This never lasts long.  Most of the trail is literally huge rock stair steps that have been put on the trail, or carved out of existing rock.  Or, in more than one place, little indentations carved into a rock face, barely larger than an adult-sized foot (sideways).  Then, in other spots, there are just scatterings of rocks and boulders stacked up - and the red painted trail blaze close by on a tree. 

 

There were a few folks our age and older, with most younger, and, faster.  Most.  A few young ones did struggle in spots! It wasn't as crowded as I thought it might be on the first fall weekend, especially as reviews had mentioned crowds.  Reviews I'd read on the All Trails app ranged from accurate to aspirational to very funny.  One hiker said she experienced all five stages of grief on that hike.  Another said it was just several hours on a stair-climbing machine. 

 

Anyway, we made it up and down alive and enjoyed the challenge!  Jeff said, "Maybe we should do it every year."  I'm thinking every 40 years sounds good... so, I'll write about it again when we're 100.

 

 

            Summit

 

     Me: 

     Decades of wear,

     decades of tear,

     but with more than a skip and a hop -

     we dug deep and dug in,

     put in all of our skin,

     and made it somehow to the top.

 

     Table Rock:

     You want wear and tear?

     Pull up a chair.

     (Though around me, I only saw stone.)

     The Rockies have nothing

     on what I once was.

     Her voice had a wistful tone.

     You talk about years?

     I shed waterfall tears.

     And yet, I still hold my own.

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

---------------

 

We didn't see any bears or rattlesnakes, as had been mentioned in reviews, but one hiker ahead of us had seen a Mama bear and her two cubs, and some other young hikers had seen a rattlesnake. Shortly after we arrived at the top, however, we did see a couple of bald eagles, one flying very close to the few of us gazing at it from the rock outcropping. 

 

 

summit

out of the blue

a bald eagle

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

Please visit the one-and-only, creatively adventurous Jama at her Alphabet Soup for this week's Roundup.