Alaska According to Marie
Friday, September 28, 2007
Rocky River
Matthew went on a deep sea fishing expedition and was disappointed with how forced and commercial it was. The next day we went out to Rocky River and he took a few poles to get back or at least get closer to a more purist way of fishing. He caught a bass on that trip and we cooked it up for dinner that very night. He cleaned it and I prepared it. It was good. I like fish and fresh fish is sooo good.
This was actually my second trip to Rocky River, the first time we just walked back up the river exploring. I sat down on a rock in the river and after a while noticed some tiny tiny red bugs crawling on my pants and once I saw them, I saw them everywhere! Matthew said that they were "chiggers" and that they bite. So I spent a good 10 minutes scraping them off my pants. Besides the chiggers, I did see a heron. I saw it a couple times as it was taking off from its perch in a tree and flying away from us. Just before it takes off it would holler like a banshee.
I'm going to a pumpkin festival this weekend. I'm excited about it. There will be a tractor pull, hit and miss engines, pumpkin slingshots, homemade icecream, hayrides and more. Sounds like fun to me.
I hope you all have a great weekend! This is a picture of me at Rocky River and one of the chiggers. ha.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Exploring
Yesterday afternoon, Matthew picked me up to take me to a dam on the Deep River. The river is very low due to the drought. We were able to walk all around and in the river discovering and enjoying the new strange creatures and plants (strange for me). It was a lot of fun, and the weather was beautiful! [that first picture is of a crawfish - I spotted it, Matthew caught it]
This picture, we are standing on top of the dam. He said in normal conditions, the water is flowing over the top of it about 1/2 a foot deep. The water is down so low that there was no water flowing over it and we were able to stand on top the dam.Now it's Monday again and I'm back to work. The weather has been so pleasant that I set up my computer outside and made myself a little office area out here. I found this table and chairs in the back yard and hosed and swept them off to use. Ya, I'm already used to this.
This is my little car that Matthew got for me to use while I'm here. If you look closely, you can see my work area just beyond the car.
Matthew's dad is leading a small group bible study that I am going to. We are going through 2 Corinthians and last week we had a long and engaging discussion about goodness/God and evil/Satan. It was really interesting for me to listen to this group, most of whom have grown up here in the Bible Belt. I find myself in a position to declare and defend my belief, more than I thought I would being that this is the Bible Belt and I assumed that the general credo would be more traditional and conservative. It's been so good and exciting for me. I really feel alive during discussions like that. I'm looking forward to the group tonight. The difference when Christianity is the term used to describe a personal relationship rather than the term being used to describe a religion is so different that they really should be different words.
Thank you all my loving family for your support, phone calls and for praying for me and for Matthew. I love you so much.
Another picture of the front of my apartment and the street I'm living on.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
New Places, New Faces
Here I am in sunny Sanford, NC. It's been a very busy couple of weeks since I arrived. I moved into a little basement apartment not far from historic downtown Sanford and plan on strolling through this afternoon after church. It's a beautiful area. The trees are just starting to turn color. Everything is really dry due to the drought NC has been suffering from. Matthew runs a landscaping business and so he deals with the affects on a daily basis. The creeks have been dry, but it's been interesting to see what the bottom of rivers look like.
I've seen some lizards and a couple monster "garden spiders". I've been able to eat some wild scuppernong grapes... mmm (tastes like communion juice). I went to the pottery capital of NC last weekend for my birthday. Matthew treated me to a beautiful road trip and going shopping for pottery was entirely his idea!
I've been logging onto the wireless connection and working from Matthew's house. I hadn't found a vehicle to use and was reliant on him for rides to/from my apartment, Walmart, the grocery store and pretty much everywhere but Friday Matthew surprised me with a little sporty Mazda with a sunroof. Yes, he's been taking good care of me. And now I have a little more flexibility with roadtrip options. (I'll keep you posted Anita.)
Above is a picture of the front of my little apartment. I've spent the last couple of weeks making it feel comfortable and homey. It feels good now. Come visit!
I do miss home and the family. I was just talking this morning about how I miss seeing the mountains over the trees. The dry weather has kept the humidity down and this morning it was cool. It kinda felt like Alaska weather in the mornings of late May or early June.
I'll try get a picture of the garden spider, my car and some of Sanford for the next entry.
