Rachael's Life and Artistic Ways: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

It was on Halloween day exactly 10 years ago when I went with my family on a visit to Cumberland Falls. Something very exciting happened to me that inspired me to write a poem about it later. Read on to see what happened.

The Rescue at Cumberland Falls

My family went down to Cumberland Falls,
As it was such a pretty day.
We hurried out there after church,
Not knowing what fate would fall our way.

We hurried out there after church.
It was as pretty as a postcard.
We watched the falls from several vantage points.
It wasn't easy to get bored.

It was at the point right next to the falls
When the excitement really began.
For I was leaning against the railing,
When my crutch fell out of my hand.

I watched it fall to the rocks below.
This accident halted the fun.
I wondered if I had to spend the rest of my life
With only one crutch on.

My daddy decided to save the day
By leaping over the railing.
But he jumped at a place where the rocks were pretty close,
So through the air he didn't go sailing.

He climbed down the rocks 'til he picked up my crutch,
And then he climbed back up again.
I'm glad my crutch didn't fall into the water,
Or Daddy might have had to take a swim.

After Daddy jumped back over the railing,
The rescue was finally done.
I could now laugh about my crutch falling over,
And get back to having more fun.

I was more careful to hold onto my crutches after that,
And never let them fall with a whack.
Or they might fall over some far higher point,
And I'll never get them back.

Daddy put music to my Cumberland Falls ballad, and he and Mommy sang it to everybody at Christmas Country Dance School that year. I was delighted as everybody laughed throughout my ballad. At the end, everybody turned to where I was sitting amongst them and gave me a standing ovation! Losing my crutch at Cumberland Falls had resulted in one of my happiest moments of my life, thanks to my ballad. I had written it because I got an English assignment that fall to write a true ballad, and that recent experience came to my mind. I had not written much poetry beforehand, but the success of that ballad has encouraged me to write more poetry and become a real poet.

Just a couple years ago on Halloween, I was washing my hair in my family's upstairs bathroom sink, when the pipes below sprouted a leak that sent water rushing out onto the bathroom floor. I immediately yelled out to Daddy, who had just come home. He had to come rushing up to try to fix that leak, which was rather out of control. Mommy reported that the water was soaking through the floor and creating a waterfall onto the piles of clean clothes in the laundry room. I don't remember exactly how the leak got resolved, but it was a crazy thing to happen right on the anniversary of me losing my crutch at Cumberland Falls. We had our own waterfall! Daddy had once again come to my rescue.

Unlike both of those Halloweens, I've been without Daddy this Halloween because he's away this weekend playing music. Nothing really dramatic has happened this time, though I've been missing him as I went out trick-or-treating with Mommy, Emma, and Emma's best friend. Having a little sister has allowed me to go trick-or-treating again, though I don't ask for candy myself. I've been enjoying wearing my Beary Potter shirt. It has a teddy bear on the front with a flower in a pot in front of him and more flowers nearby. The words "Beary Potter" are written in the same font as Harry Potter's name. I was basically being Beary Potter for Halloween. I liked seeing other children in costumes. I was able to meet up with one of my neighbors afterwards, who was having a hard time keeping a fire going at a pit in her front yard. I was spent several minutes with her by myself, and she enjoyed my company. That was a good way to conclude an evening of trick-or-treating.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Four Special Early Childhood Pictures

Hazel recently got a new scanner at her house, and these four photos are among the ones she scanned into her computer and posted on Facebook. I decided to copy them onto my blog since they are special early childhood pictures of Hazel and me. Here we are together in our front yard with our friends Georgia Rose and Susanna Park when we were little. My hair was lighter in color at this time, and this was before I had glasses. Hazel is right behind me, with Georgia Rose and Susanna on either side.

Here is a special double family portrait with me right in the middle. Hazel was acting a bit silly at the time. Fred Park and his wife Suzanne are on either side of Daddy.

The photo below shows me taking a rest after going Christmas tree hunting with Hazel watching nearby. We always went to Louis and Pauline Calico's farm outside Berea, where we had to jump across the creek, wade through tall brush, bypass an electric fence, and dodge horse poop in search for the perfect tree. At this age, I was probably being carried by Mommy. As I grew older, I got quite skilled in crossing these obstacles myself, with family members holding the lines of the electric fence so I could duck under it. I've loved leaping across the creek with my crutches. This red truck was the truck of my early childhood, before Daddy exchanged it for a green truck, and then a green Volvo, a blue Pathfinder, and now we have a blue Volvo. Our parents have secured our huge tree on top of each of our cars in turn. One of the things I remember about going tree hunting as a child is that I would rush far away whenever Daddy would start chopping down the tree, so the giant tree wouldn't fall on top of my head. The trees are high enough to be just a little short of our sixteen foot ceiling. I think I ran much further than sixteen feet.

Sadly, Louis and Pauline sold their farm several years ago, where the area is now taken over by a commercial business and suburbs of identical looking modern day houses. I still cherish the memories of the farm. We now go to another tree farm quite far away on Redlick Road. It also has a creek crossing through its property. We often walk on a narrow wooden bridge that lacks railings. One year, I had to cross it when it was completely covered in ice. That satisfied my desire to have adventure while going tree hunting. I was quite scared and certainly glad Daddy was right behind me. He was holding out his arms in case I started to slip on the ice and tumble over the side of the bridge into the freezing waters below. I got back and forth on that bridge all right that year, but I wouldn't have wanted to try it alone. Most of the times we go out there, the bridge is safer to cross. I just miss the old farm. I have grown up proud of the fact that my family would go Christmas tree hunting the old fashioned way instead of going to a commercial Christmas tree lot in the middle of a city.

Here is a winter scene back at home of Hazel and me posing with a rather short snowman that we built. The snowman was just the right height for me sitting down. I love the grin on my face. It looks like we were having fun with our new pal.

It would be nice to post more of my childhood photos if we could get them scanned into the computer. My blog is like a digital version of a scrapbook that I can share with anybody who's online. I can tell the stories of growing up too. It's a great way to share my past as well as the current times.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

A Rose of Love

While I was on Facebook this morning, I discovered a Photo Effects Generator in which I could insert a photo of mine onto an image, and here is a sweet image of Pippin and me projected onto a rose. This is a nice companion to my "Revealing Myself as a Rose" poem on the sidebar. This image and the images directly following are some of the first pictures I took of Pippin. These photos are seen in their original format much further into my blog.