Check out that bag of blueberries! Currently they are residing in our refrigerator, waiting to be added to a batch of buttermilk pancake mix on Monday evening. Every Monday night is Megan Monday at the Worthy house. I make dinner for all eight of us. So now I know how to cook for eight. When Josh and I were house sitting a few months ago and it was just the two of us, I had a bit of a rough time sizing things down. One night I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs and we ended up with 11 meatballs each. Needless to say Josh's craving for meatballs went away after eating them for a week.
Today we headed up to Black Balsam Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway for the second time this month to harvest more blueberries. The morning was overcast and perfect for picking. (Too much sun bakes you on the treeless fields.) There are still plenty of unripened berries and I'm planning on taking a third trip up there next week with my friend Vicki, who also came with us today. She's an herbalist and today she taught me to look for yarrow, a soft, feathery plant that can be macerated and used as a hemostatic agent. In fact, it was used so often in wartime in early America that it's known as yarrow achillea, named after Greek mythological figure Achilles who was always off fighting a battle. I also learned about jewelweed, a natural remedy used to treat poison ivy. It's a beautiful, delicate looking flower, bright orangish-yellow in color. I picked some out on the trail today and asked Vicki if I had found the correct plant, and as we were looking a bumble bee decided to drop in for a drink of nectar. The nectar in this flower is all the way at the base of the flower so the bee had to completely crawl inside the tight, bell-shaped petals until only its butt was sticking out. Vickie showed me that the bee cannot escape the flower without rubbing against a certain part of it, therefore taking the pollen with him and spreading the species. Incredible.
After several hours of picking (and eating) blueberries and blackberries, we stopped by Graveyard Fields to dip into the swimming hole before heading home. The sun went behind the clouds and it was like swimming in a pool of ice cubes.
Yesterday was another adventure all of its own. Joshua and I went on a double date with our friends Myles and Brittney. (Myles was one of Josh's groomsmen... he is the one who played the dulcimer, also.) We decided to go spelunking at Rumbling Bald, an area that is well-known to local rock climbers. Josh and I are familiar with the cave by now, at least to one certain point. That point would be a 15-foot climb up a vertical rock wall using a yellow rope. We've gotten to the top of it before, but couldn't figure out which way to go after that... everything seemed like a dead end. We were determined to ferret out further adventures this time though. We wouldn't give up until we knew what was past the yellow rope.
It's a hefty hike up to the cave. Uphill for about a mile, and then you have to climb some boulders to make your way half-way up the mountain before you can get to the entrance. Not real rock climbing, mind you, but definitely use all four appendages to climb in some places. The cave isn't like a cavern that you will see at Mammoth Caves or something. There aren't any guided tours or even an open-mouthed entrance. It's a fissure cave, meaning, some time long ago the mountain shook enough that large slabs of rock fell and created a cave-like space. It's a tight squeeze to get into the entrance to the cave, but once you're in, it opens up.
We made it to the yellow rope, which had been replaced by a yellow hose since the last time I climbed it. That thought alone helps me from being afraid in the caves. It's interesting to look above your head and see huge boulders trapped precariously between two slabs of rock leaning up against it on either side. Kind of like if a big clap of thunder rattled the mountain enough, something might fall on your head. But knowing that other people frequent the cave, tying up ropes and replacing them later with hoses, makes me feel better about being in there. For all we know, those people go in equipped with hard-hat helmets and real climbing gear, not our little measly four-light headlamps that cost $14.88 at Wal-Mart. But I try not to think about that while we're in there. It's scary enough as it is being in the pitch black dark. With spiders.
We made it up the yellow rope (hose). That's a feat in itself, because that is a moment to face your fears. It looks hard, even though it's not. Maybe you wouldn't be so scared if you could actually see, but you have one beam of light and you can only point it one direction at a time. Plus, the scariest thought for me is, What's over the top of that ledge? I tried to push away all memories of the previews I saw for the movie Descent, a horror flick about a group of girls that go spelunking and get eaten by a carnivorous cave creature.
We tried for the better part of an hour to find what could be the way through the cave system. Everything either seemed way too dangerous to try without some serious equipment and someone along who knew what they were doing, or led us back to where we started. Getting lost in a cave is not my way of fun. Once you take certain risks, say, hurdling over a four-foot gap only to catch a rock and climb upwards, there's no turning back. And is it just me, or does it seem a little outrageous to do something like that when you aren't sure of an exit at the other end and there's no possible way to go back the way you came if you make that leap? Thankfully my exuberant and adventurous husband decided to take us back to the entrance we came through before any of us did anything really stupid.
On our way home we stopped by the Rocky Bald River, one of my favorite spots in all of Western North Carolina. The hike had been hot and humid, and the climbing in the cave had been grueling, and we were driving by the river and Myles said, "Man, I'd really like to just jump in there right now." We happened to be driving past a shoulder that had gravel for parking so I shouted, "Stop here!" and then we all got out of the car and made a mad dash for the river.
We ended up sliding down a white water rapid with all of our clothes on and having an amazingly fun, refreshing time. Two thumbs up for spontaneity.
Splashing around in the Rocky Bald ended abruptly with a booming clap of thunder that made me grateful we weren't in the fissure cave and an accompanying bolt of lightning that was quite impressive. We drove home in a rainstorm, highlighted by a full rainbow. Fun, fun date.
Fun, fun life!
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