Oh Appalachia

Oh, Appalachia!
How I love thee.

How my heart sings
Sweet, slow harmonies

In time to the rhythm
Sounding deep within your hills.











copyright 2012  Stephen Hollen   www.stephenhollen.com

Early Morning Back Roads

An early morning drive
Over back roads
Down country paths 
So long ago taken.

Breakin' Beans

Worn hands reach mechanically
Into a beat up tin pan
Grabbing a handful of green beans
Taking one after another
Between skilled fingers
To string, break, drop
Into a waiting pan.
String, break, drop
String, break, drop
As the old woman sits
Quietly working as she swings
In her porch swing,
Listening to the National Barn Dance
On her big ol' Philco radio.

To the Hills we go!

I am leaving today for a short trip to our little place in Tennessee.  Just 4 days in the mountains before I change jobs, but I will savor every minute like an old dog chewin' slowly on a ham-bone.  By now the trees are fully green and I'll be able to see a few dogwood blooming on the hillsides.  I reckon it will be so thick with new growth that the deer I see in winter and early spring with whisper by the cabin without my notice.

I am going alone.  I love to be there alone.  I'll work on the inside while I am there and try to get the strips of wood that will make up the ceiling nailed in.  I'll put up one ceiling fan for sure and maybe move some electric outlets.

A bath house is next - maybe this year.  It will have the well pump, hot water heater, sink, toilet and shower.  A line over to the cabin will give water for the small kitchen.  Next year I begin the swinging bridge that will lead to the tree-house/guest cabin about 20 feet in the air and 50 feet into the woods.  Nothing grand.  Just about 10x12 attached to the trees and access via the rope bridge.  I'll probably have electric to it just by a temporary cord whenever anyone uses it.  That will supply lights and a small propane wall heater will heat it.

Sorry for the ramble.  I am pretty well excited about going down.  I'm sure I'll have much to say when I get back.  Probably some old ragged verse to throw on here.

Stephen

Panther

Panther cried in the night
Screamed and squalled like
An old woman
Killed in her sleep.
Woke me hard and fast,
Tore me from dreams


Took me back to a cabin
In the Appalachian hills
Deep in a holler back home
To a night not so unlike
This fractured night.
A child woke from sleep
Heard a woman screamin'
Death and ruin.

Then was told
"Hush now, go back to bed.
Just an ol' mountain "pant'er"
Callin' in the night
Searchin' for a mate
Lookin' for home.

So, I lay in bed,
Say, "hush now, back to bed.
But my heart pulls me up.
Light in hand I open the door
Shine a beam on the hillside
'Cross the road and up
Till I see red dots glowin'
Eyes caught up in the light.

Pant'er sittin' on the hill
Callin' in the night
Searchin' for a mate
Lookin' for home.

And I am glad
To have seen it.
Glad it called to me
Told me
"Welcome home"

Tennessee Last Week

Cousins,

A personal journal entry here...

Last week was one that will remain with me for some time.  I was able for the first time to stay in our little cabin in Tennessee for a whole week.  I had quite a few chores and tasks to do on the place, so I kept busy.  Being in the woods on our 27 acres was quiet...real quiet.

I had some insulating to finish, no big chore.  I started putting up strips of wood on the ceiling - like furring strips sort of, placed close together to make a rustic look.  I think they will be whitewashed when the ceiling is done.  The one end wall will probably be covered with cut stone from Crossville.  The corner where the woodstove will go for sure and if it looks good the whole end.  I bought mattress and box springs in Oneida, TN and they delivered it for free!  I had to meet the truck and let them follow me to the cabin.

I raked around the cabin, put down granules that get rid of ticks, fleas and chiggers and planted grass seed all around the cabin.  Hopefully I will have a bit of grass by summer.  I also planted clover in the ravine where the electric company right of way is to attract deer.  They travel through there a lot.  I saw over 50 last week.

I also saw two bobcats, one coyote, lots of squirrel, six turkeys, bunch of redtail hawks.  Late one night I heard a mountain "painter" - panther.  I didn't see it, but went to the door, shined my big light across the road and up the hillside to catch bright eyes on the hillside.  That might have been the panther.  If you have ever heard one you will remember.  It sounds like an old woman screaming... over and over.  The hair on my neck raised more than once when I first woke and laid there for a moment listening.

At night the stars were so very bright.  We forget how bright they are in the navy blue midnight .  I just stood and looked night after night.  the closest neighbor is half a mile away.  Few folks live on the road where our cabin is.  It is still a private road and dead ends, so there is very little traffic at all.

I enjoyed the escape from "real life".  It was only lonely in the evening when darkness crept in.  I don't have electric yet - (by summer's end) and the small lights in the cabin forced me to bed early.  Of course, I woke at daylight when the birds started singing and the sunlight lit up the cabin.  Maybe that is what we miss in "civilization"?

I didn't write much, just thought a lot.  I have a lot of pictures and will try to post them here for you to see, dear cousins.  My mind was made full and I'll start writing about the week soon.

Stephen