I'm back from up north and trying to re-adjust.
This is the first morning since we got back from the White Mountains (we returned home Sat. afternoon) that it feels cool enough to sit here in this room and load some photos from our trip and have a little energy to write a little blog entry. It was steamy-hot for days (a shock comng from where we had been where it had been at least 10 to 15 degrees cooler and nice and cold at night) and I haven't slept well(wide awake every morning at 5:00) and have been walking around in a bit of a fog.
Also, there was a message on our phone when we got back.
Shocking news.
A dear friend of mine lost her husband (who is younger than I am) to a heart attack during the week we were away. The graveside ceremony was just yesterday morning and it was sad, SAD....(she has two children, around Rachel's age)
Of course, we were blissfully oblivious to this while we were in New Hampshire and Maine for the week.
Our first day there, we (John, Rachel, Rachel's friend Marisa, and I) found the Emerald Pool, too! It wasn't in Pinkham Notch as I had thought, but just over the border into Maine, in Evans Notch. It was a bit of a drive out there, from where we stayed in Conway. We passed farms--fields and fields of potatoes and corn, then got on this very winding road (which is closed in the winter) until we came to a marked sign for the trail. About 3/4's of a mile in, we came to a secluded small waterfall with a small , very deep pool below. The water, when you jumped in, literally took your breath away, it was so cold!(as you can see in the slideshow, the pool really IS green, hence the name for it)
All, in all, we found three more waterfalls during the week, climbed to the top of Mt. Willard and swam in Echo Lake, two rivers (Saco and the Swift, which has these amazing lower falls with a huge pool below and rocks to slide down like otters!) and I didn't get even one mosquito bite! Although I do have a mild case of something poison ivy-like on my left wrist which I must have gotten while in the woods up there.
9 comments:
Oh I *love* the pool...it looks so amazing!!!
The great joys of living in a big country with loads of pure nature!!
Sounds like you had a marvellous trip and stay in the mountains! Must have been very relaxing!
So shocking indeed to return and find this message on your voicemail. It's so sad and heartbreaking to loose a young life!!
Take care,
X
Gosh its good to have you back GF!
I Loved looking at your photos, that certainly looks like my kinda place! It sounds like you had a lovely relaxing time :)
Such a shame you had to come back to that sad news, its always so sad when someone so young is taken :( My thoughts are with you and your friends family.
I often wonder why, when you've been hving a wonderful time, you come back to sad news, but maybe its Gods way of hlping you cope by making sure you have wonderful memories to help? Like when Ninga died, I'd just been to the Opera and I sang that to myself for days, and when dad died i went to the St Matthew passion and heard the line that went on dads headstone "Lie though softly here"
Who knows xx
Welcome back! seems like all had a wonderful time, away from everything and in the pure company of nature. Good for you!, though back to hot, sticky days of summer, huh? How much until temperatures cool a bit? I'm guessing at least a month?
Sorry about your friend's husband. It is shocking enough to learn about someones departure, even more so when it's someone around your age, and with so much ahead. My thoughts to your friend.
Sorry about your sad news. It's probably better to find out after a trip than during or before. Life is unexpected and uncertain, isn't it?
I am glad you had a wonderful time with your family. The pictures are wonderful.
Glad to have you back.
Thanks to all who had a look at the photos and the comments you took the time to leave here. What a nice welcome back!
If any of you ever come and visit me on the east coast of this country sometime, come in the summer or fall and I'll take you up to the White Mountains. :-)
Your thoughts about loss and life and being happy while others are grieving really touched a nerve with me. Thanks for that. I think it shocks us when death invades and we realise that death is so much a part of life itself and we can all relate in some way, especially if we have lost a loved one, too. It is especially hard for me with this death, since I care about this person, my friend and what she is going through now. She has stood by me when I was going through my own tough times and she is such a good person. And her husband was, too. There was no announcement about his death in the newspapers and yet you should have seen all the friends, family and people from our community who were at the cememtary yesterday. There was at least one thing that made me(and others) smile and laugh a little through our tears--it was when his friend asked everyone present to "howl like a wolf" becasue that was what Benny would have wanted.
This place looks like Paradise on Earth to me! I'm so happy to hear you had such a lovely time, so necessary to charge your batteries!
I'm so sorry for your friend's loss, one can never adjust to such tragedies...
Oh I am envious of your luck in finding that pool! It is so lovely! Looks like it was perfect to visit.
I'm sorry for your loss. Your friend and her family will be in my thoughts. How very shocking to return to that.
Glad to see you had such a wonderful time, Tina. It definitely looks like a very invigorating holiday! And what a bliss it is to swim in the mountain stream or by the waterfall surrounded by all that luxuriant vegetation. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend, though. It must have been quite a shock to you.
Such beautiful pictures... wow... what a wonderful place!!! Glad you had such a nice trip... but so sorry you came back to sad news about your friend's husband. :(
Yeah, this is life... one minute you're having fun, the next minute there's some sad news... I think this pattern has caused me to fear happiness to some extent...you know, when things seem too good, I'm afraid of something bad about to happen, deep down?! Yeah, I know that's not a healthy attitude, and I try not to let that rule my life... but deep down I just get that feeling too often.
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