Life Giving Water

Swallow Falls, and Muddy Creek Falls in Garrett County, MD are in an old growth forest of 300-year old trees with verdant wet pathways and nature's abundant beauty everywhere. 

Is there any sound more restful than a waterfall?

Water, sweet water, on the water filled planet.

It's why I live on a rock with a water pump that brings pure, fresh, clean water out of God's good earth pure and sweet anytime I want it.

And it's all over Shallow Falls. 

What a wonder.

Here are some photos and videos of the sweet water of Muddy Creek Falls.  

The videos show a larger waterfall, Shallow Falls, and a shorter waterfall, Muddy falls that the kayaker's use.

Of Your Earthen Body

This water gains power

and flows full,

increasing in pressure

Until it runs into

The forest.................., the dam..................

...............the massive dike.

The pressure builds ------------

And this life giving

water

pushes and slams

Seeks some final release

until it can no longer

be contained

inside.

And nature demands

her satisfaction

and pulls the waves

with a full-bodied moon

That y..a..n..k..s the water

through

the vacuum.

It is here life lives

here the soul dances

here evolution rules

Until, there is no quiet.

There is no peace.

There is only the answer,

"Because there is no other!"

To my eternal question, "WHY!"

"AAAAAUUUAAAGHGHGHGHGHG!!!"

I scream in surrender

As the seed-bearing water

overflows the dam,

enters the fertile valley,

And embeds silently

In the reservoir

Of your earthen body.

Poetry Pure Poetry

At the Poetry Lab is a poetry series called Poetry, Pure Poetry.

It is a reading and video series within the Poetry Lab where Saul films poets reading their work and (with their approval) uploads their work to YouTube...in a professional way. How great is that!
I went to Poetry, Pure Poetry and read three poems (This Broken Silence, Future Dust, and Screaming Like a Banshee). 
You can find them on YouTube here.
Poetry Lab Bruce Curley live poetry reading here.

U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center

The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) in Carlisle, PA is worth a visit. 

On January 27, 2010, I finally visited it and the USAHC (260 years of American military history) in a few hours. It's impressive. The USAHC tells the story of the American soldier. It consists of:
U.S. Army Military History Institute - Archive and research center documenting the evolution and art of the American way of war.

• Army Heritage Museum Visitors and Education Center - Repository of U.S. Army military historical documentation, a visitors center (see photos), records and other Army materials.
• The Army Heritage Trail - You walk through an outdoor living history museum with full-scale reproductions like a French and Indian War Way station and blockhouse, Redoubt Number 10 from the Revolutionary War siege of Yorktown, a section of the Antietam battlefield, a Civil War winter encampment with cabins, a WWI trench system, a WWI company area, a replicated Omaha beachhead scene from D-Day, an interpretation of the Vietnam helicopter air assault at Ia-Drang with a fire Support Base, and a bomb barrier from Iraq (see photos) that now doubles as a flood control wall.

Although you can walk through these outside historical artifacts in the Army Historical Trail at any time, if you visit in the summer, there are historical interpreters who will talk to you about what it was like to live in a trench in WWI. 

It provides immersion exhibits that allow you to walk into each time period represented with living history presentations by historians serving as interpreters. GO ARMY!

One More Afgan U.S. Army War Story

One war story from my brother-in-law spent 21 years in the Army National Guard with the 19th Special Forces Group. He had 19 years and 9 months in and wanted to retire with 20...but 9/11 happened and a few weeks later he was in Afghanistan. He never talks about it except to once tell a story about what a role luck played in saving his life. His 7 Special Forces guys with 30 Pushtan assigned to each were tasked to storm an AQ stronghold.

He was wondering how that would happen given that the AQ had a fort with massive walls on the high ground and he was in the valley with "allies" he never knew if he could trust. Suddenly, out of nowhere, two F-16s started flying over the fort. He did not have an USAF forward weapons controller with him, so he had no way to contact the fighter jocks...but he started talking into his radio as if he were directing the F-16s. 

The Pushtan fighters assigned to him believed he was in contact with the pilots and they got word to the AQ in the fort (he said that always amazed him how they could communicate with each other outside the hearing or knowledge of he Americans) that the U.S. Army soldiers could direct a strike.

His gambit worked and the AQ in the compound surrendered without a fight. My brother-in-law called it luck that saved his life that day. The U.S. Army may want to study the role of luck in winning battles, but I think his quick thinking and 20 years of training and experience may have had more to do with saving his life that day.

One More WWII MIA U.S. Army War Story

My uncle, Frank Curley, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (7th Air Force, 11th Bomber Group, 26th Fighter Squadron) until his B-24 was shot down off HaHa Jima on 10 February 1945. Read my 40 year quest to know him from scant details here: MIA Frank Curley. The story of the sole survivor, Richard Chandler, can be found here.

Pat Tillman's Spirit Lives

"There are some men

who should have mountains

to bear their names in time..."

Leonard Cohen

For me, Pat Tillman, and all those who have given life and limb to fight the war on terror, are the kind of men described by Leonard Cohen in his poem, "There are Some Men."

Pat Tillman knew his life and the lives of his loved ones were threatened by jihadi's...and he took up the cause.
Here are some photos of the new Pat Tillman bridge near the Hoover Dam.

To all our enemies, foreign and domestic, I ask you to consider: American's built this and we are not done yet.
Despite what you may believe or what the others tell you, we are strong and up to the contest.
The Constitution, though under assault, still lives.

God Bless this unique experiment: America! Most of us still love this great land and we will do everything to ensure it is here for our children and grandchildren.
Don't be fooled by the malcontents and self-serving who think our best days are behind us.

Pat Tillman took up the cause.
Our fanatical enemies should know that we will always love and protect our own, as we have for centuries, because family, after all, is what it about in the end.

Pow Wow

Ever since I first saw a Pow Wow at St. Elizabeth's in Rockville, MD about 28 years ago, I've always found them of great interest. My latest was the October 10-11 - 1ST ANNUAL FREDERICK TRADITIONAL POWWOW at the Frederick Fairgrounds in Frederick, Maryland.

What always moves me is in the opening ceremonies when the MC invites all vets from WWI Afghanistan and Iraq to dance and be honored in the center dance as the audience is invited to applaud as all warriors who guarantee our freedom are honored and respected. Were that our larger society honored these men and women the same way.

(Self-interest note: Forty-five years ago, when my brother Bob asked my mother, Phyllis Mary Watson Sweeney Curley, about our ancestry, she gave the usual Irish, English, German, Pennsylvania Dutch and Scots that we all knew...but added that we had Indian blood in us. We all laughed and Bob asked her how this was possible. She responded, "Look at your nose!" and walked away. She never spoke of it again.)

My mother always told the truth and I know many Americans kept their Indian blood quiet for obvious reasons. It could be a myth, it could be true. Who knows. I do know I have always had the utmost respect for American Indians, including Evil Knievel's cousin whom I knew when I worked at the Solar Energy Research Institute in Golden, CO in 1979.)

According to Gathering of Nations, the program for this event included: "The Grand entry was at noon and featured Native American dancers from the Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Sioux, Chickahominy, Lumbee, Iroquois, Navajo, Coharie and others.Also shown were flute playing, tipi display, craft demonstrations, face painting & pony rides for children. The public will be able to purchase some of the finest Native American crafts available including turquoise jewelry, moccasins, rugs, beadwork, flutes, drums, books. 

Lots of great Native food including Buffalo stew, frybread, Buffalo burgers, Indian corn soup. MC: Keith Colston, Host Drum: The Creek Crew, Head Dancers : Ray & Brenda Silva. This powwow is sponsored by Pow Wow, a Native American owned & operated organizations, whose purpose is to educate the public about American Indians, past & present, through the arts."

Enjoy the videos as they contain snippets of that education.

Scarecrow Family Problem Solving

I was a volunteer at the 2009 Mt. Airy Fall Festival with St. Michael the Archangel Church handing out materials to make scarecrows. 

It was a blast.

Mostly, it was families who paid the $5 to get twine (for suspenders), nylons (the head), a shirt and jeans, safety pins (keeping the parts together) and instructions. It was great to watch each family attack the task differently. 

Each learned problem solving skills and how to get along.

Other things were going on as well, as you can see in the photos below.

I had my picture taken with the mayor and his wife took the picture. 

That's what's great about a small town. 

A Frank Sinatra singer was there, too (see the video, below).

I love Fall Festivals, Country Fairs, Spring Flings, whatever gets families together for fun, creativity, and the skills that create this great American civilization.

Great Frederick Fair Business

Yes...the Great Frederick Fair is also about business. Money. Trade. Exchange.

My most intriguing find was two energy products: a pressurized wood brick fuel heating blocks (Merit Builders, Inc., James. L. Badger, 9330 Appolds Road, Rocky Ridge, MD 21778, jim@meritbuilders) and a thin film solar strip for horse barns that can be used anywhere (P.H. Drayer Co Inc., Buildings Barns Fencing, Jefferson Maryland 21755, 301 473 4466

http://www.phdrayerco.com/

The John Deer Company, as represented by the Gladhill dealership, has a large presence at the Great Frederick Fair (see photos below). Check out this badboy shown below.

Great Frederick Fair Networking

State and country fairs, like the Great Frederick Fair, have a strong networking component. 

Here are some examples presented at the 2009 fair.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/

http://www.mde.state.md.us/

http://www.co.frederick.md.us/index.aspx?NID=194

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/watersheds/surf/proj/wras.html

http://www.watershed-alliance.com/

http://www.nps.gov/cato/index.htm

http://www.heartofthecivilwar.org/

http://www.cunninghamgambrill.org/

Update: My wife and I had the privilege to enjoy Toby Mac sing Christian songs at the Great Frederick Fair in 2021. 

We also took my grandson to the Great Frederick Fair in 2021. 

It was such a joy to see him laugh at the duck slide, pet horses, see cows, sit on tractors and "drive" them, enjoy lemonade and ham sandwiches, and share precious time with my wife and I at his side.

Please take your family to a county or state agricultural fair.

It is a blessing and will create memories you will treasure for your few remaining years on this earth.