Monday, September 1, 2008

Happy Labor Day. Here in the United States we celebrate the men and women who work for a living by taking a day off. It's the unofficial last hurrah of summer. The lake closes until Memorial Day and if you want a weekend at the shore, this is the best time of year to do it because rates are cheaper and there are way fewer people. I keep reminding myself that there are still 3 weeks left of summer (how can that be?!) and I plan to squeeze as much outdoor time in as possible.

In that spirit, we took a picnic lunch to Batsto today. Peter Kevin and I have been going there since we were in high school. We introduced the girls to it early and it is a favorite family place. We drove past the lake (Atsion Lake) where you can see that it is crowded. They closed it at one point to wait until more lifeguards came on duty. But we weren't on our way to the lake. We were on our way to Quaker Bridge Road. We crossed Rte. 206 and drove into the woods. The first thing you see, after the Ranger station (I send the Rangers a Christmas card each year. We really appreciate them), is this church. It is so pretty and peaceful there in the woods. There the road plunges into the forest and it is quiet. Unearthly quiet. At one point, Pk and the girls all got out to take some photos of a huge area of cedar trees (the smell is fabulous) and as I shut off the car engine, the silence was deafening. Almost literally. There were no sounds, not birds or insects or traffic. I could hear a faint ringing in my ears and the quiet had weight. It was more than a little disconcerting. I realized how few times we are really surrounded by silence. At home, the appliances are humming in the background or I can hear cars on the highway which is less than a mile away. What I think of as quiet? Isn't. I was almost relieved to have them get back to the car and talk.
We drove a little ways and saw some lily pads and flowers growing in a small branch of the Mullica River. I've seen large, dinner plate sized lily pads at Longwood Gardens but these were small "wild" ones. The flowers were white with bits of yellow inside. They were a nice surprise. And look, my sock in progress with some evidence that Fall is almost upon us. (Hiss, boo! )The sock is one that I am working on as a Christmas gift so we shall say no more about it. It is a Muscari lace sock from Knitty.com and it's an easy pattern. The yarn is called Zen Peonies and is the Aug selection from artwalk sock yarn club. And Teresa found some yarn that she thinks will coordinate with my bamboo yarn and is sending it out tomorrow. Yay! I can go back to working on the Wildflowers shawl.


We looked for a "road goes ever ever on" shot as Kate and I call it and I think I found one.
It reminds me of a bit of poetry from Tolkien.
Still round the corner
there may wait
A new road or some secret gate.
And though I oft have passed them by
The day will come at last when I
Will take the hidden paths that run
West of the moon
East of the sun.
Have a good week everyone!

8 comments:

amy said...

A good week to you, too! That looks like a nice spot. Very pretty pictures--I like the lily pads. (Any frogs?)

Amy Lane said...

I love your time with your family, and I'm not even there. (That sock color? ROCKS OUT LOUD! So see--even silence isn't quiet if you use it right.)

Bezzie said...

Knock some clouds over that sun, drop the temp about 30 degrees, and you would have come pretty close to what it can be like in AK ;-)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous place and gorgeous pictures! Have a great week too!

Galad said...

Beautiful trip to the woods. Thank you for sharing and glad you had a nice day.

Rose Red said...

The silence in woods is pretty eerie isn't it - like it is holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

Lovely pics, lovely day. Hope you have a good week too.

Bells said...

oh what a beautiful day out. Thank you so much for sharing a special place with us.

I'm keen to make the muscari socks myself. They look lovely.

Dianne said...

That brought back memories! We used to go camping at Atsion and Bass River State Forest years and years ago. Lovely area.

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