Winter Update 1: Occoneechi Mountain State Natural Area, NC

While passing through central North Carolina (my home state) I wanted to stop and visit one of the newer state natural areas, one that had been designated since I lived there. Occoneechi "Mountain" on the headwaters of the Eno River, once a Saponi settlement and only 867 feet in altitude - but still the highest point along the I-85 corridor and eastward to the coast - is easy to find, tranquil, and beautiful on a cloudy winter afternoon.

Near the summit is a circle of stones, the best spot to view the northward valley when the trees are leafless. I met an interesting woman there. It was so peaceful and the almost-melted snow spotted across the whole monadnock. If you walk up the main summit trail, look to your right just before the old firetower!
Occoneechi Mountain is located just off of I-85 at the S. Churton St. exit, near Hillsborough, NC. For more information....visit http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/ocmo/main.php

Osage-Orange 3: home again

HOME AGAIN

The Osage-orange tree's fruit which I discovered at Peachtree Creek in October and seemed to symbolize Harvest 2009 was taken back to the park. Rotten contentment.
Who knew it would inspire a song?
That - and the "Apples and Fireworks" store up in thar' hills with that singin' deer bust...

MAKE A WISH


when the great seamstress falls down on her knees
and spills all the apples she picked off the trees, the fireworks she bought
that she holds in her arms like a baby ignite and make light in the night
(and the appppples are rotten but they look white)
Down from the mountain she drove past a store
selling fruits and explosives and not much more
highway 25 dressed in a coat of orange grandfather's burgundy boots carry me
softly with his memory (it's been a year already)

and midwestern trees with an orange bark grow discreetly in an Atlanta suburban park
with a creek named after a fruit whose trees in this area have all been cut down
and no longer grow...
...and the girl in the band with a banjo in hand
drives an arrow-shaped van down the mountain
blues from a bow, it lands by a deer in the snow
"this is your chance," she says, "now let's go."

make a wish, make a wish, make a wish and place your fruit in the spiral
make a wish, make a wish, make a wish and hope that you'll be back tomorrow

won't you take me to a place to a far away place with nothing to remind me and I hope no one will find me but the gods in the garden and pay for my lodging cause I need recharging and ground me out like a telephone pole coming down from a mountaintop i am psyche so i was told bored of gourds and tired of boys

sunset
fawn rising

(if you have any questions about all of this, feel free to ask away!...)

Osage-Orange 2: update

I returned to Peachtree Creek yesterday, and here is a photo of the Osage-Orange fruit with its majestic tree in the background:


The fruits:


The bark:


And here is a photo of the historic Standing Peachtree site, from Ridgewood Road:

I called the number on the Fort Peachtree website:
http://www.buckhead.net/history/fort-peachtree/index.html
but no answer.
Alas,
Arianna R.F.
10/21/09