My time here on the river is coming to a close. There are a number of factors involved but the biggest is familial obligation on both parties. I’ll be spending a larger amount of time out at the farm and with winter coming, there’s just too much to worry about with the river house. If there was a frozen pipe like last year and I wasn’t there for several days, the results could be disastrous. The possibility remains to return next year, but I have come to learn not to count on too much too far ahead. I will certainly miss this view and the ready access to the river.
I’ll miss the sound of the riverboats and the trains. I’ll miss the peepers in the spring and the katydids in the fall. I will miss the change of light with every moment in the day. The way it plays on the water. The days the river is as still and flat as glass. The days deep in January when the river freezes and you can hear the barges breaking through like a perpetual ice maker in a fridge. The lap of the waves after the pleasure craft have roared by. The occasional sternwheeler going up or down river. The smell of raw green vegetation when the farmer harvests corn or plows the soybeans under to enrich the soil for next season. Yes, I’ll miss my time here. And I am so grateful to my friends to have had this opportunity.
This weekend is the Sternwheel Festival. Coffee with the Divas. Church on Sunday then a quick trip to visit my family over on the east side of WV. Back a couple days later then hauling the camper up to Columbus to get some warranty work done. Next weekend will find me at the Country Living Fair in Columbus, OH. If you are there, stop and see me with the Sisters on the Fly and that fabulous Girl Camper podcaster and GoRVing blogger, Janine Pettit! Back on Saturday, serve at church Sunday, then I’m co-leading a group discussion on The Prayer of Jabez at New Wineskins (pub church) Sunday night. Then it’s back to the farm and settle in to write, write, write. Oh, and paint the roof, fix a leaky spot, wrangle fleas, trim weeds, spray for poison ivy, paint the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom… A farmer/writer/blogger/speaker/wanderer’s work is never done!
❤️
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV