Savoring time together!

I returned yesterday from my THIRD trek to the Mountain House in a month. It was a different configuration of loved ones with me each time, and this final summer visit was a precious two days there with Tala!

On either end of our trip was food harvesting and processing because, after all, it's July! The day before we left, we processed sweet corn. YUM! What a fun and sticky job. With many hands and good help, we were done by early afternoon. There are 38 bags with 5 generous cups of corn in each tucked away in the freezer to date. We kept a bunch out for fresh eating, which we are still working our way through. We'll see if the season affords us another corn freezing day or if this will be it for the year. At this point I imagine we'll need the remaining freezer space for other things!

While our trip to WV was intended to be a chore-free farm break for us to just focus on spending time together, we still managed to do a bit of harvesting! Along the road after the second mountain, Tala spotted a whole bunch of wineberries on the bank. We passed a lot before we finally could not resist and pulled over to check it out more closely. There were SO MANY gorgeous ripe berries. We weren't prepared with containers and I was wearing flip flops, but we managed to fill the one container we had and a coffee travel mug in just a few minutes. And we made a plan to be prepared on our return trip to pick more!

We crossed another mountain where we made a second stop at Seneca Rocks. I wanted to introduce Tala to our favorite swimming hole there at the base of the mountain. We took a quick dip (Tala's first swim in 3 years) and then made our way over the forth and final mountain. 

After cooling off in the chilly river water and working up an appetite, we were ready to make our little outdoor fire. That meant going into Mom and Dad's shed where we knew multiple snakes lived. We safely acquired enough wood for the evening with only a few jitters and got the fire rolling. While Jason and the girls made s'mores and roasted corn over the fire at Tangly Woods, we did the same at the Mountain House! Unlike if I was at home, I then was able to linger at the fire as long as desired rather than needing to attend to bedtime routines for kiddos! We sat outside for hours until a sound akin to someone screaming came out of the woods. It was followed closely by an owl-like sound, but not before our adrenaline was pumping! It was soon thereafter that we decided to call it a night!

Probably the most notable things from our time there was that I did not get out of bed the next morning until after 9 a.m.! It has been years and years since that has happened. We enjoyed a slow morning with coffee and conversation and then watched Ms. Saigon together before taking off for an explore around the area. Some fresh air and a reminder of all the beauty in the natural world around us was welcome after the intensity of the musical. Watching it had me thinking so much about the impossible decisions so many humans are faced with every day. 

For the next few hours we explored Blackwater Falls State Park, Davis and Canaan Valley. We mostly retraced my family's steps from the week before - hiking out to Lindy Point, going to see the falls, eating delicious ice cream in Davis, driving through Canaan (with lots of deer spotting along the way) and hiking part of the Blackwater River Trail. We were nourished by rhododendron, ferns, trees, colors and textures in abundance, laughter, water, rocks, hugs, and each other. At one point I mentioned wishing that, like in food preservation, it was possible to "can a moment." I guess tucking away memories in our "memory banks" is the closest thing we can do.

Back home, we watched Yellow Rose (another emotional, beautiful, heart wrenching story of trauma and resilience, brokenness and beauty, impossible decisions and making music) and then talked (and cried) late into the night. We feel August coming and the pain of goodbyes often seems to match the depth of love shared - this parting it going to hurt deeply! 

We savored a final morning together, with coffee on the porch in the cool mountain air. 

And then, as planned, we got off in time to stop at "wineberry paradise" on our way home. My parents, headed in the opposite direction as us, stopped to pick a few too (but I was not eager for them to climb too high - we didn't need another ankle break and I knew the wineberries were going to be oh so tantalizing for my mother!).

It felt good to be safely home and to see Jason and the girls again. On a spin around the gardens that evening, I tasted the first tomato of the season and noticed so much growth just in the 48 hours we were gone! Harvest days are expanding and today's included blackberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, trombone squash, and a bunch of parsley and basil for several batches of pesto. There are peppers ripening and the plants look happy, which is very exciting!

Feeling grateful today for fruit and friendship, fresh veggies and nourishing connections, mountain air and valley breezes, children hula hooping and conversations around the dinner table, and hugs when my heart is hurting.