Glare in the Square!

Yesterday, I took Sammy out for our regular walk but that walk ended up being far from "regular" as those things go for me -and for him!

We headed down the road towards Peale and right after crossing the little bridge that goes over the Moravian Run -always/often referred to by locals here as "The Sulfur Creek" -I did something I've never done before on any of our walk-abouts.

We left the roadway!

We went off to the left of the road, crossed over a rocky drainage ditch put in last year with the big mine reclamation project that extends from Cooper Two across the mountain to where it ends, just about at the beginning edge of Peale. And, we followed a little road, of sorts, that probably came about for the company that did the reclamation to build and use to get their workers back up on that end of the mountain and to get their heavy equipment maybe moved up there via that route as well.

What's so unusual about this part of our journey is that I have only ever gone off the beaten track in my walks on two other occasions -both times, my grandson, Alex, was with me too. One time was when we went exploring what once was the park that existed for many years in Peale and the second time, was a walk Alex, the dog and I took out along Cooper Two Road.

I don't like doing that -leaving the road -because I am actually terrified that if I wandered around the woods like that, I am increasing my chances of encountering something I truly would loathe, abhor and hate to see in my walks -a big old snake of the rattler or copperhead type, ya know! They'd probably hear me screaming for miles around if that kind of encounter have happened to me!

But anyway, yesterday was my day for feeling quite adventurous -apparently. And an adventure it was too, trust me! A long one - a very long, hard pull walking up that road, up that hill to see what I could see.

But, once I got to almost the top and to the beginning of that edge of the reclamation project, the view there was awesome, truly awesome and beautiful! So it was well worth the aches and pains then -and later -in my legs and back and the huffing and puffing to arrive at that point too!

Although I did take some pictures along our walk at the top of the hillside there, only a couple of them are really decent enough to post.

The reason -or what I place the blame on anyway -that several of my shots are buggered up is the darned glare on the little square -that screen on my camera!

I was thinking that with the sunshine yesterday, not only would some nike sunglasses be a good investment for me but if some kind of "sunglasses" as it were could be fitted on my camera some how so that I could see what I am trying to focus on with the camera and not be blinded by that glare so much so that I have no clue if what I'm trying to photograph is even within my view-finder at all, that would be really awesome. Well in my book anyway and yes, we all do know by now how convoluted "my book" is though, don't we?


I did manage to get two pictures though of an area in the reclamation land that I think might possibly be the tippy-top of what used to be the old bony pile out by Cooper Two.

See that kind of greyish-black mound sort of in the center of this shot? That's what looks to me like it could be the top of what used to be the old bony pile. And if it is indeed that, then finding what could be left now of that old bony pile made this little walking jaunt all the more worth while for me!

It used to be one of the most hated sights around our lovely little village -at least by my Grandmother's standards of nice or not so nice things to see. She absolutely hated that thing -found it to be ugly, gross and flat out disgusting! And I suppose depending on how one would have viewed it, day in and day out, from our kitchen window, as she could plainly see it from there while doing dishes or trying to prepare meals for the family, maybe it was what she saw in it there.

For a long while, I too sort of shared her view, her opinion too, of that thing.

But guess what?

Now that it is pretty much dead and buried by the ground being moved around and over top of it, I find I kind of miss not seeing it there!

Ugly as it may have been, it was also a major part of the town's history and that's the part I miss today!