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Bex Hall > adventures

adventures

September gives us a full Harvest Moon

September 25, 2021

We walked at Our Lady of Fatima shrine this month

Ellie under the Harvest Moon

My granddaughter, Ellie, came to visit for our walk when the moon is full adventure this past weekend. 

We picked poke berries and mashed them to make paint with a mortar and pestle. We cut open milkweed pods and discovered silky seeds. We picked Jewelweed pods and popped them open. We found a box turtle and counted scute rings to speculate its age.

Making poke berry paint
Counting scutes on a box turtle
What’s inside a milkweed pod?

We searched for Jiminy Cricket in the garage and experienced the wonders of surround sound and marveled about how one tiny insect could be so loud by just rubbing its forewings together. We chased grasshoppers even as she kept up her “I’m so scared of bugs” narrative.

Ah, grasshopper

As night fell, we drove to a nearby outdoor shrine to walk under the full moon. She brought her American Girl doll and we carried flashlights. We spoke about how waaay back when, before electricity, farmers finished gathering their crops after dark by the light of the harvest moon.

September Harvest Moon 2021

As we walked around the reflecting pool, we witnessed several large frogs jump in and we watched the koi swim in the murky depths. When she asked about the statues, I told her the story about Our Lady who appeared in white, as bright as the sun, in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, to three young children with a message of hope.

About that time, my husband shined his flashlight down from above her head, she looked up, and I took a photo that captured a marvelous expression with the statue and full moon in the background.

Ellie under the Harvest Moon

Later, she pointed out the clouds on the moon looked like rippled sand she’s seen on the beach. I know sand ripples are called saltation, but what’s the physical process called for rippled clouds, I wondered.

September full moon over the Ohio River

We wrapped up our moon time with a bedtime story or three, only this time around, she read them to me. 

Favorite book by Marianne Richmond

“Be brave to explore in the daring unknown. Be brave to return to the cozy of home. Be brave to BE YOU on your journey begun. Let your heart lead the way…be brave little one!”

See you in October for the Hunter’s Full Moon! xox

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: adventures, full moon walk, moon cycles

An urban full moon walk

August 22, 2021

Sunset in Ironton, Ohio August 2021

As we drive to Ironton, Ohio for our full moon walk on the levee, it is her, instead of me, who is the first to say, “Would you look at that beautiful sunset?” I put my phone away and look.

We park and stroll on the paved walkway, our companions the river and flood wall. One mimics the moody sky, the other is painted with murals of sunshine, flowers, and a quote by Audrey Hepburn, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

Flood wall mural, Ironton, OH

A little further up and we can see over the flood wall. There are more murals painted on the overpass piers by the train tracks with messages of hope, love, and healing. 

Catch the full moon!

We reach the top of the levee and see the moon. It’s been watching our backs this whole time. It hangs in the sky beside the courthouse dome. We take the posed photos and talk about why it’s called the Sturgeon moon. We speak of Jupiter and Saturn and planets vs. stars and in the talk of a vast universe, under the glow of street lamps, her small voice croaks, “I miss my daddy.”

He’s been out of town this week, so we FaceTime on the ride home.

Ellie on the levee, Ironton, OH

This month’s walk when the moon is full is flavored with change. This is her first week of 2nd grade and she is bolder. Instead of asking to go slow in the gator, she yells, “Go faster!” 

She no longer wants to order a kid’s meal but assures me, “If you get one Mimi, I’ll take the toy so you don’t have to keep it.”

And at bedtime I am no longer needed to lie down beside her while she goes to sleep. She points out the full moon peering through the window, her nightlight. Her safety. But after a while, she asks me to come hold her hand.

So I return to her room and do just that.

Full Sturgeon Moon, August 2021

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: adventures, full moon walk, moon cycles

Message in a bottle found after 26 years

July 11, 2021

Two-liter travels 115 river miles

Message in a bottle

On June 25, 1987, two young friends wrote a letter each and placed them in a two liter bottle. They tossed it into a swollen Blackberry Creek near their homes, with the hope to hear from whomever found their messages.

They had no idea it would take 26 years before their wishes were fulfilled.

In 2013, my neighbor and his grandson found the bottle during a trash cleanup on the bank of the Ohio River and were surprised to find the letters still legible.

They posted photos on Facebook and it wasn’t long before the internet worked its magic and a connection was made between sender and finder. 

It’s been speculated the bottle traveled from their stream in McCarr, KY into the Tug River, to the confluence with the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River at Louisa, KY where the Big Sandy delivered it into the Ohio River where it was found on the bank in Franklin Furnace, OH for a total of about 115 river miles. 

This is a quick sketch of the photo my neighbor shared.  41/61

Filed Under: Art Projects Tagged With: adventures, ICAD

I drove a 310 but it wasn’t to Yuma

July 10, 2021

It was actually 10:30 a.m. in N. Judson, Indiana

Guest Engineer on the 310

At the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, I fulfilled a lifelong wish to drive a train in their Guest Engineer program.

My absolute favorite part of the experience was pulling the cord to make the whistle blow. 😊

39/61 Micron pen sketch and Koi watercolors.

Guest Engineer on the 310
N. Judson, Indiana
Railroad lantern
Hoosier Valley RR Museum
Tourism poster Starke County, Indiana
Look up.
Vintage sign at the HVRM.
Hobo Sign
The 310 coming down the track.

For train enthusiasts: The No. 310 was built in 1947 and is powered by a McIntosh & Seymour 539 series engine rated at 660 horsepower. It was built for the Erie and became Erie Lackawanna No. 310 in 1960. The engine was donated by Silcott Railway and arrived at the museum in 1997. It underwent an extensive overhaul and is currently operational.

The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum is dedicated to preserving the railroad history of North Judson and seeks to keep the town’s railroad heritage alive via display and operation of vintage railroad equipment atop the history rails that bend their way around the museum. You can visit The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum for details.

Filed Under: Art Projects, Miscellany Tagged With: adventures, ICAD

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About Bex

 

Bex Hall

Her writing has appeared in various online and print publications, most recently in Kerning, a literary magazine, and in the Stories of Hope Collection in Transplant Living. Her artwork has appeared and sold through the Grayson Gallery. She blogs here about creative life and creates in Studio BE overlooking the Ohio River. Her work in progress is a memoir about the secret life of objects.

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