Snow, Tennessee Accent, the Great Stone Door, and More

We had snow last week!

Can you find the focused part?

Some of the animals I live with. Miley is the Maltipoo and the cat is just "kitty". She is WILD, but strangely affectionate and people-loving at the same time.

The beautiful red barn across the street from my house.

On my way to school before I turn off to the left, I can see mountains in the distance. Makes me want to just keep on straight...

"Miss Solaayer! Miss Solaayer!" the little third and fourth grade girls run up to me.

"Hi, honey." I reply to the one who is plastered to my side, "How are you?"

"I was so rude not to come and give you a hug earlier!" she states, shaking her head emphatically.

The other girls hug me, shyly, then they flit off to their desks. 

 I love the energy these little ones bring into the classroom. They are so genuine about their excitement. They haven't learned how to hide their true feelings, and they are so pure and loyal in their love for their teachers.

And now, for those of you who are not familiar with Tennesseeans or the Appalachian accent, I give you a short tutorial.

Tennessee Accent:

All long vowels are broken up into two syllables and then colorfully blended back together. 

If you try to pronounce the words as I've written in the Tennessee Accent, you'll be saying them too slowly. Take the sections of the word and slur them all together quickly. 

Vowels:

A is eh-ee

E is e(yuh)

I is ah 

O is o-woo

U - ye-oo

Y - wa

Exampls of Words:

Think - thee-yink

Book - boo-ook

Called - cawled 

Get - git

Fire - fa-yer

Yes - yis or yee-ess

I - ah
You - ye or yeoo
They - thaae

That - they-at 

Own - oh-oon

Clear - clee-yer

Name - nahyim

World - woo-elrd 

Place - pla yce

Compare - com-pay-yer

Jerusalem - Jeruzalem

No - naaa-oh-oo

Ok - oh kai yeh

Say - sa yay 

 Virginia -  vuh gin ya 

McMinnville - mac mee-yin vul 

Mountain - mayowntins 

College - collige 

Spencer - spaynser 

While - whal 

Day - dahyay

Free - furee

Help - hep 

Landlord - layand lohoord 

Room - ruh-oom

Man - may-an 

More - mo-oor

Now - nayow 

And - ehyand
Mash (which means to push a button) - mayash or marsh
Can't - cain't
Can - kin

And so on.
I would totally make a video to demonstrate this accent for you, but I think I need some more practice.

Joyce, the lady I'm staying with, has a really heavy accent. She grew up here in McMinnville, one of 15 kids, and raised her own four daughters here. All four still live around here, and have their own kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. Joyce tells me stories of how they used to live, and I'm charmed by the simplicity of how life used to be. Last week she told me of how she used to clog dance. The next day, we were watching TV and the Smithville Jamboree came on with a clogging competition. Here's a video of an old man clogging!

(I'm sorry, it may not work)

All of a sudden, as we're watching, Joyce looks over at me with a cute smile, "You wanna try?"
I just looked at her with wide eyes, and she giggles, "Come on, girl, get up and dance with me!"
"I don't know what I'm doing!" I protest.
She just holds out her hands, "That's alright! Just try it."
So I got up and clog danced with her. It must have been a funny sight, an 84 year old and a 23 year old dancing, but fortunately no one else was there to watch.
I'm starting to lose some of my accursed self-consciousness! It's such a relief to not constantly worry about being watched or wondering what people will think of me.

Anyway, so this woman, Joyce, is a lot of fun! She gets after me for washing all my laundry together, which is an economic habit I picked up from canvassing programs, and won't let me talk on the phone while I'm cooking, but I think it is all hilarious. She calls me her "little girl" when she introduces me to her friends, and when she can't remember my name (which is most of the time).
Yesterday, after church, she called her daughter Roxanne over and we drove out to the mountains. I didn't realize it, but we live only a little ways away from the Great Stone Door, which is a State Natural Area I've been to climb in when I was younger.

Driving up the switchbacks, we found a little bit of ice left over from last week.

The state-shaped sign

Signs like this make the road ahead more exciting

 

 

 

The road ahead is full of anticipation

The best part of the trip is when you come around the corner to see an overlook up ahead

Coming up to a really good view

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is! I can't wait to see to what it looks like in the spring

Roxanne looks over the valley

The earth and sky meet in a puddle

Down in the valley/ valley so low/ hang your head over/ hear the wind blow/ Here the wind blow, love/ hear the wind blow/ Hang your head over/ hear the wind blow.

I'm on the edge of at least a 100 ft cliff. The wind coming up from the valley is almost strong enough to blow me over, and the people behind me are yelling at me to be careful.   

The ancient, twisted guard of the Great Stone Door

Stepping past the tree, you can look through the open door. It is many stone steps down to the bottom.

Here's looking back up the Door from the bottom

Obviously, I'm going there. That is like a sign saying for most people, "This way to chocolate!"

This is looking up at the side of the Stone Door. The climbing access is off to the right of the shot.

Here's one route, I think. It's a long way up!

And I took videos of my exploring around the climbing sites. I hope Google+ will eventually accept them.

Climbing back up the Door with Roxanne, we stopped to take a rest.

She is explaining how to make a spider out of a Sycamore seed ball

Those are some steep stairs! And some bright shoes.

A layered rock with curly trees. (sounds like food, doesn't it?)

Holding On with Patient Earnestness

Views like this make me want to sprout wings and fly

That's a look back at one of the cliffs we were just on

Upon getting back, we took a picture together. Roxanne is beside me, and her mother Joyce is beside her.

And then they took off running around the parking lot! I guess two miles of hiking wasn't enough exercise for them.

Before going back down the mountain, they took me to an old house that used to belong to a friend of theirs. I thought it was absolutely enchanting. It was abandoned and decaying, but a peaceful presence surrounded the house. The woman who owned the place used to go out to the cliffs every morning for devotions. One day, she fell asleep and rolled off the cliff. She told Joyce later that an angel caught her and put her back on the top of the cliff.

This is the view behind the house

Can you imagine having this as your backyard?

What a dreamy house. I loved the color of it.

Nature takes over when humans are gone

One last look at the valley before heading down

From below, the glow slowly fades off the mountains

So that was yesterday. I was thinking that Tennessee was going to be much less interesting than Utah (where I was originally going for practicum), and that may be so, but I've been pleasantly surprised! I'm staying with one of the most adventurous people I've ever met, and we are getting along splendidly.

Today, we went on another two-mile walk around the neighborhood, and she took me down to the river that flows by her house, across the street. As we were walking past a neighborhood park, a couple of kids drove by on a four-wheeler. Joyce said, "I think I would like to have a four-wheeler."
I smiled, "Really?" (Trying to imagine her driving one)
"Yea..." she grinned, "If I was younger, since I used to like motorcycles so much, I would get me a motorcycle!"
"Would you get a Harley?" I laughed.
"Yep! I sure would!" she nodded, "I would wear the leather. It was always a dream of mine, when my husband retired, for us to travel around on a motorcycle."

She never ceases to surprise me. She was married when she was seventeen, had four kids by the time she was younger than I am, and her husband died twelve years ago. Her daughter was married when she was fourteen, and had her first child when she was fifteen.
This is actually typical of girls who live in this part of the US. In Kentucky, a 23 year old girl would be considered kind of an oddity, having never married or had a boyfriend. But it's better to be an old maid than unhappy or abused like so many of them are.

There was an incredibly blue sky today

Down by the riverside/I lay my burdens down and I'm travelin light/My spirit's lifted high/I've found my freedom now and I'm travelin light  (Sara Groves)

"You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away." Job 11:16

Another place I want to come back to

Joyce leads the way, exploring old paths. She seems to know exactly where I want to go.

Roots on the riverbank

These trees are good for carving on, as you can see.

Tracks through the brush 

This is right across the road from my house! I never knew until today.

The bank is pretty high

A 100+ year old log cabin across the street

Joyce takes me down the narrow trail to the river

There's the river again

Downstream

And we'll see where Joyce takes me next!