Leaf Buds by the Etowah

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     "I'm nibbling a turkey sandwich and watching leaf buds sprout along the Etowah River.  The water's up a bit from the storm yesterday.  Sounds are energetic and aroused.  A cold brisk wind flaps my note pages and whips the potato chip bag away and out of reach.  I chase it, capture it and rescue any spillage from the dry leaves. Living off the land.  Wasting nary flake. They're fine.
     "This is my annual verbatim trip to the Etowah headwaters - the second weekend each April.  Turn north on Siloam Church Road.  Catch a ridge shot if the early light allows.  Stop by the little seep to see if nodding trilliums are ready to flaunt. (Not this year.)  Enter the national forest and pay respects at Rufus Despain's grave.  He was a World War I vet; there's a small flag propped against the headstone fading away.  Photograph birdfoot violets around the site that grow between patches of fluffy moss.  Then park here by the River to walk the banks and edges itchy to see what's bloomin'.  Always, I sit for awhile.
     "Another year has passed, with another chance to experience the sights and sensations of a familiar morning.  With dramatic gesture I pinch myself to make sure this is no dream, uneasy that the finite number of verbatim trips has just decreased by one.  The leaf buds along the Etowah, unfurling ever so slightly, wink at my disquiet.  I nod with appreciation and take a slow, deeply refreshing Spring breath."

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© d080413-029  Etowah River
© d080413-018  Trailing Arbutus
© d080413-027  Fiddle Heads
© d080413-006  Siloam Church Road

Lumpkin County, Georgia
Sunday 13 April 2008

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Comments

[harold]

Finite numbered trips
Decreased by one; it's a bitch.
But nicely said, Doc.

haiku slim

[James]

Wonderful flowers & Buds at the river end. Seems you enjoyed your trip a lot.. Would be really a wonderful moment with those flowers.