Spiritual Journey Thursday: November Post

Jone Rush MacCulloch is hosting our gathering this month and provided this prompt: "You may have heard the word “Samhain” in connection with Halloween. It’s Irish Gaelic for November and “summer’s end” in Scottish Gaelic. Since November 1 is All Saints’ Day, our November SJT is about remembering those who have left us." Stop by Jone's blog to read reflections on this topic from our community.   I adore this focus on remembering those who have left us. I often save poems on this topic. I'll share a few and return tomorrow for Poetry Friday to share one more.   The first one that popped into my head is in Janet S. Wong's anthology, Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams.  I delight in waking up and remembering the visit of a loved one in my dreams. Janet has the right idea... "pull and gulp it down,/swallow hard,/ and those sweet memories/will stick/like cotton candy."   "Haunted Houses" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow speaks of the ways the dead inhabit our world. Haunted Houses Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 –1882   All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses. Through the open doors The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, With feet that make no sound upon the floors. We meet them at the door-way, on the stair, Along the passages they come and go, Impalpable impressions on the air, A sense of something moving to and fro. There are more guests at table than the hosts Invited; the illuminated hall Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, As silent as the pictures on the wall. The stranger at my fireside cannot see The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear; He but perceives what is; while unto me All that has been is visible and clear. We have no title-deeds to house or lands; Owners and occupants of earlier dates From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, And hold in mortmain still their old estates. The spirit-world around this world of sense Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense A vital breath of more ethereal air. Our little lives are kept in equipoise By opposite attractions and desires; The struggle of the instinct that enjoys, And the more noble instinct that aspires. These perturbations, this perpetual jar Of earthly wants and aspirations high, Come from the influence of an unseen star An undiscovered planet in our sky. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light, Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd Into the realm of mystery and night,— So from the world of spirits there descends A bridge of light, connecting it with this, O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends, Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss. (This poem is in the public domain.)   Check out this podcast episode by Crista Cowan that I listened to recently (just 22 minutes).  A Person Dies Twice: How Family Stories Keep Us Alive I am an avid ambassador for family stories. I love collecting stories and photos of my ancestors. I encourage others to record their stories by participating monthly in a memoir writing group. We respond to a monthly prompt and share our stories.    In closing, I'll share this new-to-me Wendell Berry poem "The Loved Ones" I discovered on Instagram following his death.            The Loved Ones    The loved ones we call the dead depart from us and for a while are absent. And then as if called back by our love, they come near us again. They enter our dreams. We feel they have been near us when we have not thought of them. They are simply here, simply waiting while we are distracted among our obligations. At last  it comes to us: They live now in the permanent world. We are the absent ones.                   - Wendell Berry

Slice of Life: Book Club Field Trip!

My local church book club read Christy by Catherine Marshall recently. It was a reread for me, something I read 50+ years ago. Early in the month, our fearless leader sent this message to our book chat:

"I started Christy last night and then went down a rabbit hole of learning about the actual Cutter Gap (historic location of the setting for the novel). I kind of want to go see it. Anybody up for a road trip? I bet it's really pretty in October."

And so we planned a fall getaway for the last week in October. We arrived in Del Rio, the location of our VRBO, around five in the afternoon. Hillary and Ronda took off in search of the Appalachian Trail.  I wandered outside to snap some pics and to add more steps to my daily total. Trees were beginning to turn fall colors!

We had dinner, played games, and headed out midmorning to scout out Chapel Hollow, Tennessee. Our Google maps did not work on the backcountry roads, but aided by conversations with the locals, we managed to find the Ebeneezer Baptist Church and then followed the signs to the mission property. 

As we wandered the back roads, we recalled Christy's arrival. No one was there to meet her in Del Rio because she got off the train one stop too early. She spent the night at a boarding house which is still standing and now a private residence. The Runnion store (where she met the mailman the next morning) is beside the house, but currently vacant. Christy and the postman began their seven mile walk to Ebenezer Mission on foot since a recent snowstorm made travel by horseback impossible. 

I'm including a few snapshots from our field trip. We were concerned about the last leg of the journey, a narrow, one-lane, dirt road that might require a four wheel drive! Our intrepid leader piled all of us into one van (no four wheel drive) and off we went. At one point we abandoned the van and decided to walk the rest of the way. And then we met barking dogs! Back into the van we scurried. We were sad that the signage was in such a poor state, but enjoyed standing near each place and imagining it as it might have been when Catherine arrived in late December, 1909.

The best find of the trip was a six page handout about the area, available at our last stop. It included three pages of photos of original settlers, a short history of the mission and a list of characters and locations in the novel with their historical equivalents. This handout included great directions to the mission site which would have super helpful to have at the beginning. However, half the fun for us was in the search! 

We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner in Asheville. One group headed home, while the rest of us made a quick stop at a used bookstore in Asheville (perfect dessert for a book club trip).   

 Hillary and Ronda locate the Appalachian Trail! 

 

We played lively games of Five Crowns 

and Cover Your Assets.

 

 

Rachel and Hillary

Monday morning hikers on the Appalachian Trail

 

 

Ready for adventure!

Hillary (our long-armed gal), Lori, Ramona, 

Ronda, Rachel, and Leslie

 

The Ebenezer Baptist Church was moved next to the Mt. Zion Cemetery in 1940 and reconstructed from the original church-schoolhouse where Christy (Lenora Whitaker Wood) lived and taught school from 1910 until March 1912 

when the Woods left due to Lenora's health.

 

 

One-lane, narrow, dirt road leading to the mission property   

 

 

Site of the Mission House with foundation 

still standing 

 

 

Mission House Site

Mission Work established by 

Katherine Plantz 1899

House constructed 1901

Opal Myers residence 1935-?

Burned 1962 

  

 

Following its 1967 release,  

Christy spent thirty-nine weeks 

on the New York Times bestseller list 

and rose to the number one position.

 

I own  a hardcover copy (minus the dust jacket) gifted to me 

by daughter and son-in-law for my 60th birthday 

when I discovered our library did not have a copy. 

 

  

C

 

Christy book covers through the years 

Which version did you read?