Stony Knob Overlook

 

March 4, 2021

First phone call of the day reveals that I owe $30,000 taxes. Lump sum from 62 looks like a disaster just now. Put that to one side. 

Supposed that at least part of the Parkway reopened, so I drove as far south on it as I could. The barriers were up just past the Stony Knob overlook, so I parked there and took the road. It was far colder than on the flats, and very windy. Also very beautiful. Of birds I saw a flock of juncos and, high up, migrating robins. A vulture, too, but I was so high the vulture flew below me, and I could see the top of his head and back. The tunnel lay in my path, and debated whether to walk through it, but I could see the light at the end and surmised I’d never be in the total dark, so off I went. On the other side sunrise fell full on the road, glorious and, more to the point, warm. I walked from pool of light to pool of light murmuring, “I am happy.” It is still a novelty for those words to come from my lips, and it’s almost always on the side of the mountain. Returning, I tested the acoustics of the tunnel, which were uneven but sublime. I chanted Pange lingua and finished off with a solid series of OM. I hope the tunnel has a memory.

Sweetboi and Denise have settled somewhere west of here. I hear him crying high up at morning, but seldom otherwise. I though feeding them would persuade them to stay near me, but they are not so crass as that. I am probably defeated by the superabundance and availability of squirrels. It is both hyperbole and true to say that I am heartbroken. They were bracing and wild and beautiful. I suppose it’s how a parent feels when teenagers move out of the house.