There and back again, again.

I went here, to the place where I grew up, for a week. It was not the trip I had planned, but they rarely are.
Here are some portraits.

Trap Pond State Park

 Free bike rentals.    Free! How awesome is that?

I slammed on the brakes dozens of times, because there was so much to stop and look at. Like this:

 Indian Pipes. My favorite fungi.

 

Red Ploypore

Don't know what these are, but we called them sunbursts.

 My 2nd favorite fungus, turkey tail.

I forgot how much I missed sandy soil, pine and cypress forests, and this scenery.

Visited my dad's memorial Red Bud tree at the Labrynth, created by a dear family friend.

Sis and I got weepy when we saw his plaque. It was my first time.

I got less weepy and felt a lot more lucky wandering around the church yard.

This poor child, orphaned and adopted died between 5-6 years of age.

Or this one, gone at 15.

There were sad monuments like this scattered all over the cemetery.
I suddenly felt very lucky to be alive in my 50's, and not so sad to have lost my Dad in his 70's.


Old Christ Church, built in 1772, with services every Sunday and a new clam shell walkway.
Just down the road from Mom's house.

Trussum's Pond

Bald Cypress. My favorite tree.

Played with and petted my sister's rescues, tiny horses. Ash and Trigger.

Made best friends with this big former stray dog, Smokey.

Played with Callie.

Was honored to pet shy Spooky,  who showed up one Halloween.

Leaves at my sister's house - Sassafras, my 2nd favorite tree.

Past and future White Oak.

These from my Mom's house - Beauty Berry.

 Pyracantha

 Eastern Wahoo or burning bush

And more mushrooms. 

On my road trip back to the airport, a sobering reminder to drive safely spoke my name.

  I crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge,

4.3 miles long, almost 200 feet above the water.

It was easier for me to drive it at night when I arrived, because I couldn't see down. 

I got a little acrophobic driving across on this nice sunny day. But I lived to tell the tale.

Amie, by Pure Prairie League came on the radio, so I cranked it up and sang real loud.

As I was coming down off the west end of the bridge, Neil Young started singing Old Man, 

just as a white gull flew past my windshield. It made me cry, it was so beautiful.

The cousin I came home to see had taken a spontaneous trip to Florida and decided to stay a while.

She was able to forget for the first time in a year that she has Alzheimer's, so I wasn't so sad that I missed her. I guess I learned not to make plans with the memory impaired, and to make the best of things. Except for the part where I got into a political fight with my brother, the birther Republican Obama hater, and totally lost my shit and screamed at him because his insistence on falsehoods made me crazy. I tried and mostly succeeded not to lose my shit with my mom,  in declining health and unable to competently manage her affairs while bitterly clinging to her independence, sadly living in the past and frustratingly resenting any attempts to help.  My sister lost her shit with me because I am completely unable to stop talking about these things, especially Mom, when she needs desperately not to talk or think about them, and I'm a Mom magnet when I visit, which is the last thing my sister who lives there needs, more Mom time. Things are pretty strained between them anyway, so I think we need to start meeting in the middle or settle for skype visits or self medicate or drink less or something different. There's nothing not stressful about an aging parent and the shifting sands in the parent child relationship, and I only see tiny glimpses.

I drank too much, ate too much, spent a lot of time soaking up the scenery and taking pictures, and vacillated between happy, frustrated, sad and numb. A typical visit to see family I guess.

It's good to be home in the middle. I missed my little family and my dog. And they missed me.

Fall colors popped while I was away, so you know what that means:

Leaf portraits. Oh yes, my camera and I have been very busy with seasonal photo ocd.

Fodder for future posts.

It's nice to be back blogging and reading and commenting. I missed it here.