Ramblings

My ramblings often send me along unhitherto beaten paths. “unhitherto”… spell check had a hissy fit with that. It can be difficult at times to wax eloquent, especially when I’m full of myself. Yes, this is yet one more shot, five, in fact, stitched vertically, from Hawksbill Mountain, though for me, this image was too good not to post. It gives evidence of the high rugged beauty that is Hawksbill, with these sheer rocks decorating themselves with Carolina rhododendron. “Rugged beauty”… there’s an absurdity for you. If my wife asked me what stood out to me most about her, rugged beauty would not be the answer. If I had, an observer over the next few seconds might respond, “He fall down… go BOOM!”, although that would prove the “rugged” part, wouldn’t it? If any of you tell Joyce, I’ll deny it. I digress, but that reminds me of the issue at hand.

 

I nearly titled this image The Jagged Edge, but that's so obvious, it borders on the redundant and consequently is not very creative. “Redundant”… I remember using that word in its greatest significance ever. I once made a card for my mom for Mother’s Day, using one of my images for the front of it. Inside, it stated “Every day should be Mother’s Day! Except for Labor Day, as that would be redundant.” She had to look up the meaning of the word. And right then and there, she found the answer to a question she never knew she had... and then she laughed. Then I laughed. That made me wonder about what I didn't know, and how many questions it would take to figure out exactly how much I didn't know.

 

Some years back, my wife and I stopped at an outlet mall and went to The Sock Store. It was full of men’s, women’s, dress, casual, athletic, and hiking socks… bunches and bunches of socks. Just as we walked in, the woman managing the place asked if we had any questions. Big mistake! I said, “Yes! Why is the sky blue? If you hire two detectives to follow each other, what would happen? What happens to people born on February 29th… do they stay one-year-old until four years have passed (this is two questions in one… bonus!)? Why are the holes in cat’s fur always in the right place for their eyes? Can I buy seeds for seedless grapes somewhere here in the mall? If I shave my golden retriever to look like a lion, will the other dogs respect him more? Where do lost socks go?” She just blinked at me. Just as I figured, it was a rhetorical question. We were in a sock store, for crying out loud! How many questions can there be about socks? “I’m buying them for my one-legged friend… do you have a pair of only left socks?” Sadly, I may never get the answers to these questions, but I do have answers that may help you. I’m not one for tattoos, as I don’t have enough surface area to express who I truly am. Having said that, if I’m ever faced with dementia, I want my feet tattooed with TGIF so I can read it. That should help sock lady with yet another sock conundrum: Toes Go In First.

 

Much of my wife’s job as a nurse case manager at Duke University Hospital revolves around questions. One of her questions is how does (the patient) best learn. There are a variety of answers to that question from which they may choose… hearing, reading, visuals, explanation, demonstration, or other. “Check all that apply.” My experience here at Hawksbill proves that one vital answer to that question is missing from her repertoire.

 

I spent a morning of photography up here with another fella not too long ago. The peak of Hawksbill is covered with these flat rocks… and at the tippy-top, they’re all inclined at various angles and, even in the best of conditions, they are treacherous to tread on. I use my tripod there as a third leg to maintain my perpendicular aspect to the landscape as I move gingerly across the rocks… think about it. Having warned my fellow photographer most enthusiastically, alas, he did not heed my counsel. Instead, he went headlong across them, only to wind up head-over-teakettle. You’d have thought he would have learned from one of the aforementioned methods above, as he fell not once, but three times… and hit hard, too. He obviously had no clue that the gravitational coefficient around mountains is chaotic, especially on huge, canted slabs of rock. He was trying to show me his prowess at moving among the rocks, looking cooler than me, but gravity beat the stuffing out of him for it. His feet actually shot out over his head every time, which gave me the wherewithal to note that his socks were quite nice. He fall down… go BOOM! I believe he might have fared better if he were hiking in his socks, as these rocks couldn't care less about your outstanding boot tread. I know some of you may ask why God would allow such a thing... I see God looking down at this and saying, "Hey, angels... come here and watch this hardhead!" Entertainment. After some discussion during his bruised hobble back to the car, I found that he was at best an agnostic... could be God was trying to get his attention. I felt sorry for him the first time launched himself, but it took all that I had to keep from howling with laughter at incidents two and three after I found out he didn’t break anything but his pride. In truth, I didn’t laugh out of respect that these rocks might come up and smack me, too, though I did have to force a grimace to stifle my grin! Try that… it’s not easy when you’re all LOL on the inside. Wise counsel seems to offend many folks nowadays… the hard stop after flailing with gravity still hurts, nevertheless.

 

I’ve reached an age where my mind says, “Go for it!” My body, however, frequently protests with “You might want to think this through.” I believe that fella’s boo-boos reminded him of that with every step on the steep hike down. I have fallen once on a slippery wet rock on a steep trail, but never here at Hawksbill… and I jumped back up and kept moving. Having had a few visits with doctors so far this year, the receptionists at check-in go through their rote litany: “Have you fallen in the last 90 days?” Yeah, I’ve reached the age where that is an issue with a lot of folks. Just to start something, I proudly state, “No, I fell 91 days ago.” That genuinely confuses the issue… ha!

 

Now that I think about it, there are at least two more answers to Joyce’s question up there… the hard way and by proxy. In situations such as I witnessed with my ‘friend’, he seemed to like the "hard way", as he neglected to adjust. I much preferred to learn by proxy in those moments. Having said that, I do have experience with the hard way, too, but never of the southern redneck assortment. Do you know the last words of a redneck? “Hey, y’all… watch this!” Having said that, I realized that I have done things throughout my life that are haunting me with aches and pains at age 64… the ravages of a misspent youth, though, except for a few things like four bouts of a broken nose, I wouldn’t change much even if I was able. Life is difficult, but working through that makes us better human beings. I’ve jumped out of perfectly good airplanes at altitude… I know now that takes a special kind of crazy, but I always had fun with it. To get this picture the way I wanted it, I’m standing on the edge of at least a 200-foot drop to show this “jagged edge” in all its glory… some things never change. Experience makes me somewhat fearless of heights, though I’m not careless about it. I’m grateful for that. Besides, it’s downright biblical: “The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills." - Habakkuk 3:19 (NKJV). Take that gravity! If you’ve gotten this far through the dialog, you might realize that my ramblings can lead to a beautiful place… and sometimes to total entanglement. Either way, it’s a lot of fun. The plan is that this late April and early May will find me back here... who wants to go?

 

You made it through my ramblings? I applaud your attention span. Treat yourself to another picture on me.

Done