Riverside

 As I look, I see the old dead fir laying over the creek.

It's cold waters flowing from the mountains above.

The ripples created from the rocks below.

The pines so tall, it blocks out the blue sky.

The berry bushes and undergrowth blanket the forest floor.

The trout, the salmon swimming the currents, finding a deep pool to relax and rest.

The edges of the creek dressed in rocks, small to boulder.

Birds flying ever so low, squirrels and other critters playing around.

The sounds of the forest creek, it's song of nature playing its tune.

I dip the water ever so cold, from the ice and snow of the mountains above.

Butterflies looking for wildflowers, stopping here and there, their pretty colors of orange and gold.

I take in the beauty of it all.

Watching the shadows of the water from the bugs swimming by.

The sun, it's peeking out as I sit under the limbs of trees, casting their shadows of coolness as I sit on a log.

The breeze is of chill with the smell of smoke from the camp fires above.

Michael VanDyke   C@ 2023

Grandma's swing..

 In church today, our Pastor was telling us a story about the old swing sets from the 1960's....

Reminded me of Grandma Clara VanDyke's swing set..

She had Dad, Willis and Henry make it for her, out of oilfield pipe!

It was heavy duty stuff and hurt if you smacked your head on it!

The boys usually did, (horsing around and all) ...

Don't know about the girls....

It was the shiniest black paint, oil base paint. I'm sure and I would bet it was from the oilfields too...LOL

Grandma thought something was up when her boys didn't fuss about making the swing set for us grandkids...

Then one day, while swinging and playing on the set, Henry came driving in with a trk and pulled over to the swing set, told all of us to get off!

He unhooked the chains from the top pipe bar, put them aside and flipped the rack into his trk..

Grandma came out of the house, yelling, asking, what was he doing??

Henry says, Mom we are pulling an engine out of a car, we need this engine hoist...

Grandma was right, they built it for pulling engines, but kept it at Grandmas for a swing set for us kids, till it was time to use it!

Grandma yells at him, as he is pulling out of the yard, "Bring it back when your done", Henry yelling and waving,Ya' Ya' Ya'.........

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