so I got away,
if only for the day,
headed up stream
away from the decay

we call the river Mianus
after a 17th century Paugussett Chief
or was he Siwanoy ???
his tory is a lil blury

my mom remembers stories of the river valley before the damn.
me dad lives close to dumpling pond.
where a colonial woman dumped her dumplings.
rather than allow british soldiers to enjoy them.

I learned to ice-skate with leather straped training skates.
memories dabble in a Norman Rockwell scene.
ice fishers in the backround, bonfires and booze.
our faithfull lab tugging me along on a flexible flyer.

fished for flounder below the damn in the salt water
sometimes snapper or strippers
fished for trout above the damn
caught mostly sunny's and threw em' back

headed further upstream for quality trout fishin'
up to a spot called merry-brook
but it was the same mianus river
just a bit more wild.

further down stream, and into the harbor
were the public docks and our lil put put boat.
ohh the freedom of a teen
navigating Long Island Sound.

the headwaters ???
a series of ponds at about 600 ft.
then through the pristine protected gorge
and into a resevoir 'bout 40 miles from Manhatten.

ahh the gorge is gorgeous
had a nice hike around talkin' to the inhabitants there
old man river seemed to know my name
and I'm not too surprised :)

so I walked down to the river to skim the water with my hand
for it looked just so inviting and the path was laid out before me
and as I reached out for the water, a big ol' snapping turtle swam off.
I was delighted and relieved that that prehistoric critter didn't swim off with my finger :)

a curious owl stopped me as I trodded along
he hoot hooted out
I giggled and said 'beg your pardon'
an he hooted again and again till I finally spotted im right in my line of sight

such an amazing solstice day
I felt so very connected to all that was around me
and well, it was kinda scary.....
to feel such a sense of belonging, in an area I'm itchin' to escape from.