Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Saturday, May 12, 2012

SOLACES


Saturday morning.  Still in bed, trying to wake up.  I can see it's cloudy outside, probably rain headed our way.  Like my friend Vicki Lane,  I feel burned out from talking about politics, mostly the passage of Amendment One,  and want to think about the good things that have happened recently.

One of those has to be the Wildflower Pilgrimage over in the Great Smoky Mountains Park back in April.

 Everywhere the sound of rushing water!  What better  background music to  Star of Bethlehem,  a not so common wildflower in this portion of the mountains.   Along the the Little River trail, an old logging road, we found several patches.



The word that pink Lady Slippers lay ahead on the Porter's Creek trail had everyone excited.  Cameras clicking,  pilgrims gathering around the altar of Lady Slipper.  After they left I walked back and had my own few moments of adoration.



There was rain, plenty of it, along the Lynn Camp trail.  Maybe that's why the fairies like it so much, lifting their wands out of the leafmold, creating their own faeryland.   Large gardens of Fairy Wand lay under the trees along the way.


A good place to be when you've grown tired of the mess that humans make of this planet.   Out with the wildflowers and whitewater,  the music of woodlands, the Blue Ridge where I am glad to live, I forget  the angry  debates about God and God's commands.  Here I find  Creation itself,  quietly unfolding, as it has since the beginning of what we call Time.

4 comments:

Glenda Beall said...

A very nice way to clear the mind of the political messiness and appreciate what we have all around us. Lovely photos.

Anora McGaha said...

What a wonderful idea - a wildflower pilgrimage.
Even in the Piedmont I am surprised how many wildflowers survive development. Delighting. Thank you for sharing pictures and that it is hard on our spirits when our political process leads to unjust outcomes. Solace in nature.

Chuck Wuest said...

Loafing in our mountain community’s grocery, hardware, and bait store, I watched through the screen door as a fancy car with four people stopped out front by the gas pumps. Two women wearing big floppy hats filled the back seat. The driver, dressed in pale green tourist shorts, a gaudy red-splashed shirt, and blue somethings on his feet, hefted his overweight self through the door and asked our shopkeeper, Jean Travis, “Where’s all the wildflowers we heard about on TV?”

She replied, “Why, they’re everywhere. The best place to see ‘em is to walk along the edge of some woods beside a pasture an’…”

“Naw, some we can see from the car.”

The` Htut Win said...

nice and wonderful ideas thanks for sharing that kind of awesome things .!