There is a tiny little nail...

.…in our kitchen.  It lives near our wall phone – yes we still have a land line.  The normal job of this tiny little nail is to hold the sky chart for the current year.  It is a good little nail and does its job very well.  The chart too is a good chart giving us knowledge of the stars and planets shining above our house.  The schedule of the space station’s sightings lives elsewhere in the kitchen – under a magnet on the refrigerator.  The thing about the sky chart and the ISS sighting schedule is that you have to stay up after the sun sets to use them.  But that is another story.

Sometimes the tiny little nail holds other things.  Two years ago it held a 4 ft long map of the Appalachian Trail.  That is when Jerry hiked from GA to ME.  He was gone for about 6 ½ months so the map and I spent a lot of time looking at each other. 

More recently the tiny little nail held a map of CA with the John Muir Trail highlighted.  That happened when Jerry and three friends flew out west for some more hiking adventures.   According to Jerry it was all good.

And now the tiny little nail is holding a map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park perhaps getting ready for another future adventure.

To be continued….

13 women...

Mostly strangers, together for a week and we all survived. Actually we thrived. The journey began at noon on a hot Saturday in mid-July. We met, introduced ourselves, shared a meal and hit the road. Women in Service – that’s us. Headed for Lott’s Creek KY. Three vans with luggage, food, donations all headed south on I-75. 64 east out of Lexington, Mountain Parkway past Koomer’s Ridge Campground to the Campton exit. As we passed through Campton we stopped for a visit with Sister Amy who has served the people of the area for many, many years. She shared with us her knowledge of and love for the people. She talked of programs, progress, trials, natural disasters, and of people. People who are in need. People who come to serve. People who are like people everywhere. Sister showed us around the church and the grounds. The grounds were a little soggy but filled with people doing good things. We then headed down RT 15, past Jackson, Lost Creek, Hazard and on to Lott’s Creek. Our first sign that we were truly on the right path was the sign that read Lott’s Creek Community School 6 miles. We found the drive and took the branch to the right. We passed a cabin and at the end of drive we discovered the cinder block dormitory that was to be our home for the next 7 days. On the second floor we found the shower room (2 showers) and the bathroom (3 toilets, one without a shower curtain door that didn’t get much use). There were a number of bedrooms with 2 to 4 sets of bunk beds in each. On the ground floor there was the kitchen, dining room and small sitting area. The chairs were all cane chairs. There were rockers outside that faced across the road, pass the school and looked out on to a wonderfully green mountain side. Two of us were dealing with respiratory issues and decided to separate ourselves for the rest of the group at night for the good of all. We slept in the cabin which was the original house of the founder of the school, Alice Slone. The house was full of character and positive energy. The tasks for the week included, but not limited to, painting the inside of a four room house where 11 people presently lived, helping to mud and sand drywall in a new home being built, sanding and staining bleachers in the school gym (they recently hired a new coach which some people might appreciate-Rodrick Rhodes who played for UK and the MBA), working in organizing clothes and books for the thrift store and library. Meals and clean up were a group effort. Prayer was a part of our days. Evenings were spent watching DVDs of local interest, talking and learning. …….. It has been two weeks since I wrote the above entry. A lot has happened since then, most notably being the fact that we had to put our dog Comet to sleep. She had developed a cancerous tumor which caused a stress fracture in her hind leg. There is probably more that could be said about Lott’s Creek but at this point it will be sufficient just to let it pass in to an experience that will be reflected as part of my life’s journey.