Devil's Courthouse

My husband and I just returned from a fantastic trip to Asheville, NC. We spent an entire day driving the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Craggy Gardens and beyond. We came across Devil's Courthouse late in the day.

Something that always strikes me when we visit large parks is the names given to natural features.I wasn't surprised to see the name of this peak because I would bet during a storm it looks an awful lot like judgment day. In fact, being in the mountains struck a bit of healthy fear into my soul. I can imagine living up there on a fair day. But I could actually see the mountains affecting and/or causing weather. Looking out over the entire range as far as the eye can see, it seemed so desolate and lonely. Beautiful, yes. But also very haunting. Storm clouds rolled in and disappeared just as quickly. 

The Blue Ridge Parkway site offers this explanation of the name:

Devil's Courthouse may have received its name because of the sinister aspect of the rock formation, or because, as legend holds, the devil held court in the cave that lies beneath the rock. In Cherokee lore, this cave is the private dancing chamber and dwelling place of the slant-eyed giant, Judaculla.

I could indeed imagine a monster of some sort living up here. Even in the sunshine, it's not a place to mess around.

Cincy Chic

Here I am in Cincy Chic, talking about road trips, my new book and why I love Cincinnati. Enjoy!

Old Farm

It has become my family's Easter tradition to walk back to where my great-grandparents' farm used to be. It is located on East Fork State Park property in a somewhat unknown spot. We only occasionally see other people back there.

As a child, my mom would go to the farm every Sunday and she and her siblings and cousins would often spend the warm months exploring every inch of this land. There are a few traces of the old pig farm left. A few fenceposts, a manmade pond deep in the woods, and my favorite--these daffodils. It's so amazing to see that the daffodils still faithfully come up each spring.

There's a lot of beauty, but also a lot of sadness here too. You can still see remnants of a stone wall from the farm that used to be across the road and there are old driveways and more bulbs that mark where the fronts of houses used to be. Mom said there were a few holdouts when the state was buying out the land, and one farmer killed himself in his barn. Another woman's house mysteriously caught on fire. She was in the basement and didn't make it out. My great-grandfather, another holdout, awoke one morning to find that all of his pigs had been poisoned.

 I don't like to think about the loss that occurred here. I prefer to see this as something full-circle. The land was used and loved. Then it was reclaimed and overrun by the trees and kudzu. Now I visit it and respect the land as my great-grandfather always did.

We have hidden a geocache so that others may find there way here.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cec2eb96-8484-44d3-bdad-852211d8f08a

Empty Nest

My husband took this photo and I think it's an interesting symbol, especially with Mother's Day approaching. Some people would look at the empty nest and think it's sad, others would look at it and think, "how interesting!"

I am the latter type. I suppose these thoughts are stemming from a comment made recently to me on Facebook, which I ended up deleting because I didn't feel like getting nasty with someone. I was talking about the faulty statistics of that study that comes out each Mother's Day. In it, the researchers claim that a stay-at-home mom's salary comes out to six figures based on the tasks she performs. Maybe I worded the post poorly, but I was trying to comment on how you can't necessarily posit that a mom with no degree in psychology could dole out psychological help valued at $34/hour. And I made it clear that you can't say that about anyone under the same set of circumstances. A high school classmate took this as a personal attack on her lifestyle and posted something nasty about how I would never know what she went through because she was a mom and I wasn't and that maybe I should just keep my mouth shut. Whoa.

Do I agree I don't know what it's like to be a mom? Sure. Because of circumstances beyond my control, I might never be a mom. But does that mean I can never be selfless, tired, busy or an excellent multitasker? Are moms the only ones who can get credit for going to school and working at the same time because they chose to have kids before completing school (as this person did)? Does everything get elevated when you give birth?

I have to say no. I would argue that even without kids, my life is blessed, interesting and full, and yes, crazy busy. If I have an empty nest for the rest of my life, do my experiences count for less?

Apparently some think so.

Weeping Willow

IMG_2293
Originally uploaded by True North Two

Found this lovely example of classic weeping willow imagery at a small cemetery near Bethel, Ohio. The detail is just gorgeous! We found a geocache nearby and I took a few minutes to explore the cemetery. Yet another cool spot discovered by geocaching!

Years, Months, Days

One of the most common questions I get from people who

accompany me on graveyard adventures has to do with a common practice of spelling out the years, months and days of a person's life. I remember reading years ago (or did I hear it in a college history class?) that the reason for this is that in the 1800's (the period from which you commonly see these gravestones) lives were often short. We're talking lives plagued by cholera, consumption and dysentery, to name a few. When some reached old age, such as the person whose gravestone is shown in this photo, the family was damn sure to list out every single moment the person was alive. But it applies to very short lives too. Sadly, many old cemeteries are filled with the graves of children, most likely victims of the diseases of the time. Many times you will see the graves of multiple children from the same family who died in a short period of time. This stone reads "Ages 1 Yr & 6 Ms."

Geocaching

When I was in college, my parents would come and visit sometimes and we would go to nearby Shawnee State Forest. On one of these visits, they introduced my now-husband and I to geocaching. I remember at first thinking they were insane. "Let me get this straight," I said. "We are looking for boxes of junk?" Oh, how wrong I was! From the first geocache, I was hooked. For the uninitiated, geocaching is locating small containers filled with random items and a log, or sometimes just a log, with a handheld GPS. More information can be found on www.geocaching.com

There's something about the thrill of the hunt and finding something that has been hidden, found, and re-hidden for months and even years! It's so cool to look through the log and see who has been there. Sometimes, you will find that someone was just there hours or minutes before you.

Geocaching can sometimes take you to some out-of-the-way places you might not ever visit otherwise. Cemeteries are a great example--we've found many old, interesting cemeteries when looking for caches. We always stop to admire the symbols on the headstones before leaving.

This stone was found in a cemetery in Pierce Township. The dogwood flower is a symbol for Christ, resurrection and innocence. Floral motifs were very common in this cemetery, and the cache was in a cool place. If you've never tried geocaching, I encourage you to do it! I guarantee you will find something you've never seen before.

Regular posting soon!

I've been very busy with work and getting back to normal after my husband's cancer treatment ended. We just started weekend trips again, so look the blog to pick back up!

Portsmouth House

I've written about our college rental house before. Recently, our artist friend Stacia showed us her home studio and we spotted this pencil drawing that includes that house (middle). We keep a framed photo of the house as a reminder to appreciate our current home. Stacia let us take this drawing for a high-res scan and we then ordered a large print of it.

It's funny--we knew Stacia in college and I had a few classes with her, but we didn't actually become good friends until after we graduated. Now we visit them 2-3 times per month. And here she was with this pencil drawing from freshman year of the house Neil and I ended up living in. I vaguely remember the drawing studio at SSU (I took a few drawing classes but not enough to spend a lot of time there) and recall that it overlooked Third Street. I wonder how many other students drew our house?

Shepard Fairey Tags Cincy

photo
Originally uploaded by True North Two

These wheat paste and paper installations are popping up all over Cincinnati, leading up to the opening of the Fairey show at the CAC on the 20th. Will cover in-depth when I get the chance to visit more+the exhibition, but visited this one on the way back from a meeting today and thought I'd post. This is on the side of Arnold's.