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| Whatcom Falls in Bellingham |
I've been on hiatus here at The Drift Record while my husband and I sold our home (of thirty years!) in Seattle this spring and moved to Bellingham in June. "Protracted chaos" is the term I've come up with to describe the process.
But we are settling in to our new home now, to the point we're free to take walks to explore our surroundings outside the four walls of the new house. Best so far has been our trek to Whatcom Falls Park, about a mile south along a gravel path through the Alabama Hill neighborhood. The park is deep green, filled with shady, cool air. So refreshing and gorgeous. Isn't the smell of dirt and fir trees in the shade on a hot summer day just glorious?
It's terrifying, though, to see kids jumping off the cliffs into the deep water below the falls.
They throw themselves in, sometimes somersaulting towards the water, way too close to the edges of the rock cliffs - the phrase "reckless abandon" comes to mind. Take a look at these three photos - yikes!
Did I ever feel that invulnerable? I think I did, but it's hard to conjure up. My 68th birthday was last Saturday, and my body is anything but invulnerable at this point. Vulnerability, of course, is not all bad - the emotional variety being a tad more mysterious and interesting (or less intimidating?) than the physical.
For Poetry Friday, I'll share the opening of the poem "Niagara" by Carl Sandburg about a much, much, MUCH bigger waterfall. Don't you love the word "chutter"?
The tumblers of the rapids go white, go green,
go changing over the gray, the brown, the rocks.
The fight of the water, the stones,
the fight makes a foam laughter
before the last look over the long slide
down the spread of a sheen in the straight fall.
Then the growl, the chutter,
down under the boom and the muffle,
the hoo hoi deep,
the hoo hoi down,
this is Niagara.
Wishing you all a positively hoo hoi week. I'm glad to be rejoining the Poetry Friday community.
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You'll find the Poetry Friday round-up this week over at Tabatha's The Opposite of Indifference.
Sorry, still having trouble with photos and links!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the successful move! Your park walk sounds delightful and "foam laughter" is wonderful. Hoo hoi!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tabatha! Sorry I didn't come up with a mac 'n cheese poem to meet your challenge!
ReplyDeleteLove the "foam laughter."
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your "protracted chaos" is coming to and end and that you're not tempted by "reckless abandon!"
I like that "foam laughter," too, Mary Lee. I wonder if it's the laughter that makes Brenda (see her comment below) feel that the Sandburg poem is about a smaller waterfall?
DeleteThose are great words, but somehow they don't elicit the magnificence of Niagara for me. It feels more like a smaller waterfall. I might have to try to write one about Niagara myself, not that it would be as clever, but it would be my own. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to describe laughter as an element of something as huge and powerful as Niagara Falls, isn't it? I guess Sandburg's "boom" is closer to the sound we would expect. It's a longer poem, though, so maybe the cumulative effect is different...?
DeleteI do love chutter! I like imagining that sound. And you watching the leapers... it makes me catch my breath just hearing about it. congratulations on your new home -- that's a big move after so long in one place. May it bring you everything you desire! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks, Irene!
DeleteCongratulations on your new home--yes, it's great to be able to walk where you can smell the earth and trees (but I would have trouble watching those kids cliff jump, too.) Thanks for sharing the Sandberg poem--great sounds!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Buffy! I'm still trying to figure out the glitch with placing photos on the blog posts - when I figure that out, I'll show everyone what the jumpers look like - yikes! Scary.
DeleteI sometimes shudder to think of the crazy things I did when I was young, like jumping off of things and swinging from other things, confident in the knowledge that I was utterly invincible!
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Jane - I got plenty of bumps and scrapes, lots of iodine put on bloody knees. Never anything that scared the life out of me, though - thank goodness. I never would have jumped off a cliff like that - but there were some foolish, cuckoo stunts.
DeleteHappy belated birthday, Julie, and kudos on a new adventure! We loved being in Bellingham last fall; now I'll smile even more whenever I encounter the name of your new hometown, knowing you're there. :0) Those falls are beautiful. Those kids are crazy.
ReplyDeleteCrazy is right! Robyn, if you're ever back in the Pacific Northwest, give me a call, let's get together.
DeleteJulie! Good to have you back! What a lovely place to have within a mile of walking...and I would never at any age have felt safe to make those leaps. I was recently at Niagara and I think Carl got it right--
ReplyDelete"before the last look over the long slide
down the spread of a sheen in the straight fall." and then so much noise!
Thanks, Heidi - I do think noise must be amazing at Niagara Falls. In my imagination it's the noise factor that overwhelms.
DeleteHappy birthday and happy new home, Julie!
ReplyDelete"the fight makes a foam laughter" is my favorite line.
Thanks, Diane. I like those pairings - last look, long slide, straight fall. The man is not afraid of adjectives!
DeleteGlad you are getting settled in your new home. The park sounds glorious! I haven't been to see Niagara yet except through pictures and now a poe. There is something about waterfalls, though.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kay. I think the walk to the falls will be a regular feature of our new life in this town.
DeleteHoo hoi, what a poem! Thanks for sharing, Julie...and good to hear your settling in finally!
ReplyDeleteYour "finally" is exactly right, Matt! Oof!
DeleteHi Julie, thanks for sharing this rapidly moving, "hoo hoo," fun poem in so many ways by Carl Sandburg, he's one of my favorites, as is Niagara. I've only been there twice but would gladly go again. Your falls would be an adventure too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting The Drift Record, Michelle!
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