Last night was filled with tales, with good food, with hot tea and a nip of something else. Today began with snow on the ground and more snow to come–though I didn’t know that when I woke at 6:30.
I had planned to sleep until 8 then get ready for this day that has been planned for so long. I went to check the weather and there was a little skim of snow on the walk, and a bit of snow falling still. I went back to bed and planned to sleep for another hour but the crows were speaking outside and I always like to listen to what they have to say, even if I don’t always understand it.
The room was warm and the bed soft, so I did a deep meditation and asked the land to show me what I needed to see. Sounds odd, doesn’t it? But I am a person with a strong connection to place and it has served me well over my long life. West Virginia scenes popped into my head–green mountains, water falls, fields of wildflowers, tall trees. Like a PowerPoint presentation from the chamber of commerce.
No, I gently chided, show me what I need to see. Again with the PowerPoint and so I asked a third time (since the third time is the charm isn’t it?). What do I need to see?
Now the PowerPoint was interrupted with brief sharp flashes of the road into and out of Matewan, with Oceana, with Pie, with the ripped-out hearts of the hills around the interstates, with clear-cuts, with stripmines, with blasted mountains. Mostly the beautiful, soul-stirring scenes, interspersed with this Something Else, this Other Thing.
The day began in snow and slick roads. On the way to Debbie’s bountiful breakfast, we were stopped from continuing by a sideways cruiser and a young officer telling us the road was closed for the time being because there was a tractor-and-trailer wreck and then the wrecker that came to help also wrecked. We came back to our little room and had a light and good breakfast and enjoyed the company of this dear band of West Virginians.
About noon we headed back the way we’d gone in the morning but this time it was sunny and clearing and we went over Orient Hill to get ready for our potluck event.
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