#AtoZChallenge - All Gallow's Eve - M

MAMMOTH CAVE

I guess I was feeling lazy yesterday, or maybe I was worried about the flooding state of emergency in our county, or both.  Anyway, I thought I would repost some pictures we took in Mammoth Cave in Western Kentucky.

Above is DD (dear daughter-sitting), DS2 and DS1.  DS2 is not really taller than DS1 (he might have been standing on a rock.  And since then he has 'grown into his height'.  He's definitely not as stocky anymore.  But in this silhouette, he does look AMAZINGLY like his paternal grandfather.

This was in the first chamber where we topped for some history information.  That was after descending some 400 stairs.  Now, since I got kicked in the knee at a job 4-5 years ago, and had an operation on that same knee. I can count the number of times on one hand that I have not gone down steps like a toddler, both feet landing on each step one foot after the other.  There was simply no time if I did not want to hold up the entire group.  I was holding onto the railings for dear life.

There were four (or maybe five) tours available from that area going to different parts of the 400 mile cave network.  We chose a medium-length tour.  The kids kind of wanted to do that one, and I did not want to be what made us choose something else.  The guides made several general warnings before we left about the degree of difficulty on the hike and anyone who thought they might have trouble could till back out.  I was *ahem* not thinking straight and said, "No problem!"  

It was that with that thought of not disappointing my children (and not wanting them to worry about me) , and with God's help I made it through without having to be carried out.  I was 'purt near' delirious by the time we got to the final chamber.  When they said, up the walkway and outside, I think I bit on my tongue to keep from crying tears of joy! *lol*  (Yeah, sure, NOW I can laugh about it!)

There was a 3-4 hour drive home, interrupted by stopping at a restaurant.  We had never been there before, but I swear that was just about the best food I have ever tasted!  (It is a regional chain, and we have visited several of their locations since then.  The food is really good, but that day ... mmm, mmm, GOOD!)

And I don't know about the kids but my husband admitted being sore the next day.  Me?  I could hardly move for the following two days.  

I wasn't born in the hills of Kentucky, but I have some of the mule-stubbornness that seems to run in my in-laws' family.  And my father's side of my ancestors came from West Virginia, next door to the east from Kentucky.  Maybe all this contributes to my love for the Appalachian region.

One word of caution - if you ever take one of the Mammoth Cave tours, make sure someone in your party has a working flashlight.  (In our case, of course, the park rangers all had flashlights.)  Because, if the lights go out while you are down there, you cannot see your hand even if it is touching your nose.

~~~oOo~~~

The sunflower graphic at the top contains a link to the participants' page at A to Z Central, where you have a choice of literally hundreds of blogs to explore!

#AtoZChallenge - All Gallow's Eve - C

CAVES, COFFEE & CUMBERLAND

Caves & Coffee

JC Hatfield is the female MC in my WIP, All Gallow's Eve.  Her BFF, Sheila Bonner, runs a coffee bar type establishment, think of a cross between a Mom & Pop Cafe and Starbucks.  (And no, I am not getting paid by Starbucks.  *LOL*  I wish!)  Gourmet coffees and pastries, etc.  Maybe you'uns (Kentucky's version of y'all) can help me with something on that count.

When I started actually writing scenes for the book, I called the coffee bar "Springs Into Action".  I have no memory of where that came from.  Then when I was making a list of daily topics for the A to Z, and wanting to incorporate more than a few setting elements relating to Kentucky, I came up with the name "Coffee Cave".  There are many, many caves in Kentucky, several quite close to our home.  Those particular caves are rather small.  There is, of course, Mammoth Cave, with approximately 400 miles worth of chambers etc. in western Kentucky.

Here's a picture of one of the chambers of the cave, with an entrance to the next room:

(picture taken by someone in our family, probably my husband)

Which name for Sheila's coffee bar do you like better..."Springs Into Action" or "Coffee Cave"?

Cumberland

I spent most of my first ten years in Cumberland, MD, so I was really rather delighted to find several 'Cumberlands' right here in Kentucky.  The two most notable locations with that name in our area are Lake Cumberland and Cumberland Falls.

Lake Cumberland is big for water sports, including fishing and boat racing.  

(By Habigrm2 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Cumberland Falls is the site of the only moonbow in the US:

(from a page about Cumberland Falls)

Mammoth Cave, Lake Cumberland and Cumberland Falls are probably all too far away from the intended setting of All Gallow's Eve in Eastern Kentucky.  But since one of the possible name for the coffee bar is "Coffee Cave", it was kind of relevant.

And after all, All Gallow's Eve will be a work of fiction, so you never know what is going to 'show up' until you read it (or someone tells you).  And I don't even know yet, so all of us will just have to wait!

Have a great weekend, all!

The Edge of Night

We live out in the country.  Some might say in the middle of nowhere.  We can hear (but not see) our neighbors' houses in the daytime.  But night is something else altogether. At night, we can just see our northern next-door neighbor's security light as a pinprick through the trees.  There's another light across the field that I would swear came from my FIL's (father-in-law's) place, but Chris says they don't have a security light.  Maybe it's aliens.  (j/k) I've sat out many a night on the porch (a carport on the side of the house, really) and looked around while the dogs are getting in some fun and exercise.  Our security light does a very good job on the near side of the house.  It covers the part of the yard that is mowed regularly. Outside of its reach, however, it is like someone dropped down a black velvet curtain around our yard.  With the exception of the aforementioned lights, unless the moon is full, the barn and field are shrouded in black.  It is like what people thought of the world before sailors of old started setting out to cross the Atlantic Ocean.  If I didn't know otherwise, I would not be able to swear that anything existed beyond where the light shines. It reminds me of our recent trip to Mammoth Cave (in western Kentucky).  At one point, they turned off the lights (with a fair warning), and you could not see your hand in front of your face.  Most of the time, when I wasn't gasping for breath from walking up and down 500+ steps, the scenery was spectacular. Here is one of my favorite photos (of the 98 shots Chris took) from the trip.  I call it "Cave Ninjas":

The light, or absence thereof, did not change what was close by, just our perception of it. Do you remember a time when your senses told you one thing, but you knew otherwise?