Riding The Wave – Multiple Myeloma

Aunt June

“Only an aunt can give hugs like a mother, keep secrets like a sister and share love like a friend.”

My father’s older sister, my Aunt June. She will turn 80 this month. While I was there we “walked the property”. She wanted to show me the areas where the gas/oil folks were meandering around on the property. It has been years and years since I walked up into the woods on the old quarry/logging roads to the end of the line. There was so much to explore when we were children.

I remember when were teens we decided to make our own lean-to up in the old quarry behind Aunt June’s house and camp out. One of the farm hands lent us a hand and then we grabbed an old tarp and tossed it over top willy nilly. We burned a fire and discovered that you can’t do that on quarry stone, it explodes! Fortunately no one got hurt or lost an eye. Lessons learned.

Old Quarry

We all happily crawled into our sleep bags well past midnight. Around 3 or 4 in the morning I woke up feeling a dripping on my head. when I opened my eyes the tarp we had half hazardly thrown on lean-to was filled with water from rain and it was poised about an inch from my face. As I carefully looked around I could see about 15 of these 2-3′ pockets of water and everyone was position under them very precariously. I quietly said, “is anyone awake?” I began to get answers, we were all freezing and wet! I said, “Be careful, don’t move, look first.” As they opened their eyes fully while I shined a flashlight, there were gasps. We inched our way out very carefully and in nothing but our jammies and a flashlight we abandoned everything and made our way down the hill to my Aunt June’s. She woke up when we came in and ran a hot bath. We took turns trying to re-capture our body temperature! When we finally went back up there the next day to get our stuff, it looked like a war zone and those pockets of water had finally given way. Everything was soaked and the farm hands had a good laugh at our expense. Of course Otis mentions, “You girls didn’t build a fire on the quarry stone did you?” No Granddaddy, we didn’t. “It explodes you know.” Yes, Granddaddy, we know – NOW!

At the end of our line, the power line, looking down the valley

I was taken aback a bit walking the property with my Aunt on how the logging/quarry roads were still there, just as they were. Very clearly different from the rest of the forestation.

We enjoyed our walk and our talk about all manner of things. Leisurely noticing different things and my remembering what certain plants and trees were.

We began to look for the “Hemlock Stand”. It’s an area where nothing grows under the trees. They emit a poison from their roots which is why they are always so lovely to walk under. We found it and I was surprised at how vast it actually was. I don’t remember it.

Logging/Quarry Road

Hemlocks

White Ash Tree

As we came into the open hay field we enjoyed talking about the lonely large tree in the field, the White Ash Tree that has the most cosmically beautiful fall colored leaves that shimmer iridescent alone in the field every fall for simply forever. It looks to need some cleaning up around the trunk, but in good shape otherwise.

And them my mother’s “maple tree” which is HUGE! It sits on the line of trees along the hayfield and she always toyed with building an A Frame home up there in the corner with her maple tree. Also a stand out in the fall. I sometimes wonder how my life would have been had we moved to the farm permanently. But it never came to pass.

Chris' Maple Tree

We walked and we talked for well over an hour. I can’t believe Aunt June will be 80. My father would be 78 in the fall and that’s hard to imagine as well.

As I left the mountain and my cell phone chimed, buzzed and carried on with all sorts of missed calls, messages, texts and the like, I sighed. And while it was hard to be out of communication with the world for a few days at first, it was hard to come back to it when I finally did. Much like when I was a teenager making the adjustment from one world to the other every summer.

I can say that the benefit of it has been I am amazingly adaptable and comfortable in the most elegant of settings and the most humble of accommodations. I am always to just BE and it’s always the people for me, not their car, their house, the degrees, their money or lack of all, just being with them and who they are is what brings me the most fulfillment.

Today the farm has chickens, goats, pigs (well they are gone now to the butcher), dogs, cats, beefers. When Lynn walks they all follow her like out of a farm animal story book. The cats meandering with the chickens the goats and the dogs, all traipsing behind Lynn as she walks up the hill for some exercise. It’s quite funny really.

Babs at the back door looking for a cookie

Ozzie, a mongrel terrier

Big Blue, he manages the place

Babs with the 'kids' sunning in the driveway

A quarry road that Lynn will walk up with animals in tow

Tigger who likes to sleep in the dish drain

Bonita snooping in my purse

The Old Hay Barn @ Aunt June's built with wooden stakes

Aunt June's Pond, still great for swimming and fishing. Built up on a hill it's suitable for late night skinny dipping

While Aunt June and I were walking having come out of the woods into the hayfield, suddenly a turkey shot out of the tall grass running for the trees. We were both startled of course and then enjoying that we saw a WILD TURKEY! Shortly after, the savvy country Aunt said, “Listen, listen for peeps.” Sure enough there was a lot of frantic peeping going on and we noticed the tall grass moving and saw baby turkeys I could fit in the palm of my hand frantically trying to find their way to their mother.

What a great day.

Tags: Aunt, farm