Tag: Trout Creek

Trout Creek in August – Part 5

Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Tuesday August 19th: After light fills the Pony, I continue to doze off and on and when I get up, Clifford is out sitting in the sun, still in his pajamas. Nice comfortable start to the day. I get my spot set up, looking down toward the river

Trout Creek - 9 - 3 090and read the next lesson in Course in Miracles. I have been interested in it for years, but now that I have a book that has been lent to me, I find that I am not resonating with many of the lessons thus far. It seems more useful for me to be reminded to be grateful for all and to accept that there is good somewhere in any situation, rather than being told that it is not real. My life on this planet seems real to me and the question is how to make it meaningful and joyful. However, I am willing to pursue the Course for awhile longer.

I spend more time with the river, taking my role of TVK (Traveling View Keeper) both seriously and joyfully.

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Trout Creek - 9 - 3 108For those who missed my earlier declaration of being a View Keeper, the phrase was coined by Dewitt Jones, my most favorite photographer. I have modified my position to TVK since we will be doing a lot of traveling in the next months (years?), so the view will be changing often. However, the importance of awareness and appreciation for nature is of vital importance everywhere, all of the time, so TVK is a valid modification of the beautiful concept.

Trout Creek - 9 - 3 091I had plans to write letters and edit photos, but I started reading Sherlock Holmes, a big fat book of stories that Clifford got on the sale table at Barnes and Nobles yesterday – and that is how I spent my day, a bit of a change of pace for me.

Wednesday August 20th: Wake up to rain and distant thunder. I gather twigs and wood, and get a nice fire going in the rain.

Trout Creek - 9 - 3 104During a lull in the rain, I read the next section of the Course, and after breakfast, the rain lets up enough that I can sit by the fire to write in my journal without too many raindrop blotches on my page. Later, I pick more June berries to take back to dry,

Trout Creek - 9 - 3 132munching as I go.

Trout Creek space 9 010I take a few more photos, saying good-bye to this place for now. Hard to leave, but we must pack up and head back to our other life, a life that still needs us in our typical roles, at least for a while longer.

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Roses in Wallace

Trout Creek in August – Part 3

Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Trout Creek in August – Part 3

Friday August 15th: Dark and overcast in the morning. We make a trip to Superior to get on the internet so Clifford can continue his research. Back at camp, I pick June berries to make a topping for yogurt. Most of the berries are drying on the branches and I will pick some later to add to trail mix. Even dry they are tasty little gems.

Later in the afternoon the dark clouds finally drop their burden of moisture; I set up my table and chair under the awning to watch the rain as I continue to write in my journal.

Trout Creek space 9 043 Later I join Clifford inside and begin editing photos until the battery on the netbook runs low.

An enjoyable day here at Trout Creek until a mishap with the hammock put a damper on things. Clifford invited me to sit with him, but the ropes gave way, leaving us both with tender tailbones. I am hoping that a good night’s sleep will repair the damage. In spite of the soreness, a good dinner followed by yogurt with June berry topping is a treat at the end of the day.

Saturday August 16th: As soon as I am up, I get ready to head to Alberton to join my daughter Ang in watching the play “Briar Rose” as performed by members of this little community. We join a friend (who had done a very convincing rendition of the wicked witch in the play) for lunch before Ang and I head down to the “natural pier” as I am eager to take photos there. There is a great rock formation in the middle of the Clark Fork River that is quite scenic and deserving of the attention of a TVK (Traveling View Keeper). We walk out onto the bridge, admiring the river and the rock.

Trout Creek - 9 - 2 001 Trout Creek - 9 - 2 002Trout Creek - 9 - 2 008Trout Creek - 9 - 2 012We linger awhile, then head to her place on Ed’s Creek about 7 miles out of Alberton, as I want to give my grandson Oden a cello lesson. After the lesson, which goes very well,  Ang and I visit awhile over a cup of coffee before I head back to Trout Creek. It was a fun day, pleasantly coming to a close as I sit at my vantage point at the top of the path looking down to the creek before darkness tells me to go inside.

Trout Creek in August – Part 2

Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Trout Creek in August – Part 2

Wednesday August 13th: Our plan is to join Katie and family for an outing to a baseball game this evening. Clifford has an important call to make at a designated time, and we have errands to run, so we leave camp as soon as we can. It is a weird day where almost nothing goes as scheduled, except for Clifford’s phone call while I visit with Mom. A heavy thunderstorm changes our plans for the evening; no baseball game for us. Just as well, as I am feeling beyond exhausted as we drive back out to the campground. The thunder-storm left twigs, small branches, and old dead trees strewn about, as well as dampening everything inside the Pony around all the windows, which had been left open. It has been hot and dry since early July. How were we to know that today was the day that the pattern would change. Luckily we have dry sleeping bags in the Blazer; other than the pillows being a bit damp, we have dry sleeping accommodations.

Thursday August 14th: It is raining and pleasantly cool. After awhile the clouds part a bit, allowing sunshine to come and go throughout the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. I do a walkabout to take photos of droplets

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before I set up a chair and table where I can look down the path to the creek.

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I just sit, allowing myself to be nurtured by nature: a still pool of water,

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trees and shrubs in many shades of green with leaves, needles, and fronds only gently stirring as little breeze fairies move among them,

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the creek with its musical sounds, the sunshine coming and going,

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birds chirping. I just sit and take it in. I write in my journal and then walk down to the creek to take more photos

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Another walkabout browsing for June berries, more nurturing by nature.

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Later, lying in the hammock, the thought crosses my mind that this is the way to have my body laid to rest rather than burial or cremation. No fear or pain this way. In the quiet of the moment I think sadly of my youngest son. What really happened to him I’ll probably never know – a burden of this life.

The afternoon brings a big thunderstorm. We stand under the awning relishing the power of nature and all the goodness of the rain, gathering several quarts of water as it runs off the awning to supplement our water supply.

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So healing to be here all day.

Trout Creek in August – Part 1

Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Trout Creek in August – Part 1
We are mid-way in our triple move. Sorting, packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking, more sorting, more cleaning. It seems endless. It actually started over a year ago when we decided to move to from New Mexico to Idaho. Now the moves are local, which makes it less of a big deal in some ways, but the physical and mental overload is similar. The store, Rocky Mountain Organics, is closed and everything has been moved and the space cleaned – so we are pretty much done with that one. The Carnicom Institute has been packed up and moved across town, the old space cleaned, but the unpacking has yet to begin. Hundreds of books need to find their way to shelves again and all the lab equipment and gear needs to be set up and made functional – so we are only halfway through this one. The other move involves leaving the cute house we have lived in for almost a year and moving two doors down and to an upstairs apartment that has needed lots of love and attention for a long time. We are mostly moved out of the other house, but not entirely. Moving the rest of our stuff and getting the place ready for either renters or hopefully a buyer still has to take place. And making our new digs work for us is part of the challenge. I am exhausted by the moving, as is Clifford along with all his concerns for the institute. So – we are taking a week off to camp by a creek and allow ourselves time to rest and be nourished by nature.

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Trout Creek

Tuesday August 12th: While Clifford takes care of necessary phone calls, emails, and posts in regard to the institute, I pack for the outing and get the house (the one we are moving out of) and the apartment ready for us to be gone for a week. It is late in the afternoon by time we are ready to go. Our destination is Trout Creek Campground outside Superior. Upon arrival we are very happy to find a site with a view of the creek available.

We get the Pony set up and soon Clifford is ready to try out his new deal: a hammock.

Clifford in His New Hammock
Clifford in His New Hammock

A simple dinner, clean up, and off to bed – it is already 11:00 p.m.