I just got back from visiting my grandparents' place in Glenville, NC. I hadn't been there in seven years, and in that time I suppose I forgot how beautiful it is... the sheer size of the land, and how completely silent it is at night. Papa and I cleared some trees and branches in the front yard to open up the view down to the lake.
Here's a closeup of the lake. You can see where the Smoky Mountains get their name.(Click on photos to view full size.)
A family of wren built a nest in the flower basket next to the front door. When I got there, the eggs hadn't hatched yet. But when I woke up on Saturday I could hear the chirping of the little babies. The rest of the time I was there, the momma and poppa wren brought back worms, crickets, and little bugs to feed their hatchlings.
Here's a scratchy photo of the baby wren right after they hatched, mouths open for food.
Whitewater rafting... something I had never done before. We started out at the top of the mountain in freezing rain. Then the rain turned into a thick fog that rested for three feet above the rapids. And at the bottom of the river it was sunny again. I'm ready for class 5 rapids now. Unfortunately, I didn't get to keep that neoprene vest.
And Danielle gained a new playtoy in her big cousin. Following me around like a puppy dog, she invented a game where she would come up and poke me with her finger at random. After several hours of being incessantly poked, I figured out that if I poked her first she wouldn't poke me back. And a new game was born.
No comments:
Post a Comment