“The best times in your life are the little moments when you feel like you’re in the right place at the right time.”
Category: connections
Life is adorable…
My granddaughter gave me a lovely gift for my recent birthday. It’s a book of inspirational messages with lovely images, and the text is in German. You see, this is the granddaughter who up until recently was teaching Kindergarten in Bucharest, and who now is teaching in Munich. She said I might pick up a little German as I go to Google Translate to read the daily message. And I might. According to the translation, this image means,
‘Life is adorable, you just have to see it through the right glasses.’
I’m sure the gist of the message is correct, and I sort of like that the phrasing is a little awkward. That adds to the charm. The world is a smaller place for this generation of young adults. How can that be anything but a good thing? I would never have had the courage to take such a chance as she did by traveling so far from home on her own. Especially at 22. I find that so much of what has changed in society to be distressing these days, but I suppose that just means that I really am an old codger. Kudos to these young people. I hope they can make this world a better place for the generations to come. Thank you, Kara.
Making assumptions…
Rocks are dependable. They are solid, strong, unbreakable. They don’t surprise you, or disappoint you, they are just there. There are lots of people who might be described by using those same words. But in the case of this particular rock, and many people, we are just looking at the surface and making assumptions about the core. Were I to drop this particular rock it would fracture into pieces, a lot like I was feeling I might do not too long ago. Careful hands have reassembled this rock, and in much the same way I am somehow feeling pieced back together after my visit home. We are both still fragile, but then aren’t we all?
Beneath the surface…
Mountains and old men…
I will admit that I had high hopes for this road trip. High enough hopes that I scared myself a little. Would it live up to my impossible expectations? And I’m happy to say that yes, yes it has. And still I wander…
When you go to the Franconia Notch area of New Hampshire and buy a ticket to visit the Flume Gorge you will see that there is a deal available and you may decide to also buy a ticket to ride the tram to the top of Cannon Mountain. What a spectacular view of the distant mountain ranges, which the guide said included NH, VT, NY and even Quebec. I can only show you photos, but can’t say which mountains you are viewing. I just know that they are beautiful. Is it any wonder that my old friend has permanently lost his heart to these mountains?
The trees on top of the mountain aren’t particularly tall, but I wouldn’t have noticed that on my own. My own personal mountain man guide says that it’s because the snow and wind breaks off the tops of the trees. And then I saw what he meant.
Canon Mountain was also the home of the Old Man of the Mountain, an image and name that I knew from childhood, but never saw in person. I snapped this photo of a poster just as we were hopping onto the tram, because seeing the rock formation that formed the ‘face’ makes you understand how it came to fall in 2003. This next from Wikipedia;
The Old Man first became famous largely because of statesman Daniel Webster, a New Hampshire native, who once wrote: “Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men.”
Reliving your childhood…
I don’t know about you, but when I had a chance to have another adventure with a childhood friend I took it. I had faith. A camping trip, a chance to go back to favorite camping spots, only I got to go along this time. I imagined a hike along a trail through the woods, a camping spot with scenic views, so I was lugging my camera bag, which I came to regret. The reality was that I had to stick to using the iPhone for photos because what we wound up doing was blazing a path through the woods because there was no trail. And we crossed the river several times, which required picking your way over and around the boulders that filled the river bed. This part of the river didn’t always exist, a flood rerouted the river, downing trees and depositing these huge rocks. And the campsite was pretty much gone. Now that I know that we survived with only minor scrapes and bruises I can say that it was fun. I could just imagine how much fun it would have been 60 years ago. We would have scrambled over those rocks as if it were nothing. I can see us now…
