Turn Back, O Man

When I attended a prep school during my junior and senior years of high school, the headmaster's favorite hymn was by Clifford Bax: Turn Back Oh Man.
Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways.
old now is earth, and none may count her days.
yet thou, her child, whose head is crowned with flame,
still wilt not hear thine inner God proclaim,
"Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways."

Earth might be fair and all men glad and wise.
age after age their tragic empires rise,
built while they dream, and in that dreaming weep:
would man but wake from out his haunted sleep,
earth might be fair and all men glad and wise.

Earth shall be fair, and all her people one:
nor till that hour shall God's whole will be done.
Now, even now, once more from earth to sky,
peals forth in joy man's old undaunted cry:
"Earth shall be fair and all her folk be one!"

I really liked that hymn. I was reminded of it today when I was looking in the library for works dealing with sacred rivers. I found a book called "Earth Might be Fair." It's rather heavy reading about religion and environmental issues edited by Ian G. Barbour - published in 1972!

Here's another; this one from William Wordsworth:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

An eagle and an osprey

Yesterday evening I was preparing for a kayak tour and an eagle flew by my pontoon boat over the river, down pretty low so that I knew it was an eagle. I've heard other people speak of seeing eagles around here, but despite all the time I've spent out on the river, until yesterday I'd never seen one.

And there's an osprey at the Morgantown Lock. It hangs out on the 3rd light pole on the outside wall. Every time I see this bird, that's where it is.

After my tour, the sun had set and I stood on the forward deck relaxing after the paddle, watching the colors in the sky, the reflections in the river, losing my mind in its ancient movement toward the sea; wanting to drown in timelessness and sunset and the movement of liquid and eternal waters.

It occurred to me that this might have been my last tour this year. Perhaps my last forever. I don't know about next year. On Sunday night's tour, one gentleman was celebrating his 60th birthday, and we sang Happy Birthday to him just down from where the water flows through the dam. I recalled that the first tour I did, late April and earlier than I'm accustomed to, was occasion for a ceremony too. I had a group of Naval Reserve men and women, and one of them was sworn to re-enlistment right there, just below the dam, in a sunset ceremony.

I should go out on the river again. There's something magical there. It's a good place for ceremonies. That's what the eagle and osprey tell me....

Good cleanup Sunday

The Farley Family, Chris Wilson and his young companions went out with me Sunday and we collected 5 bags of litter, two tires and one blue barrel. Most of this was from above the Morgantown Dam. Above, Rick Farley loads onboard one of the infamous blue barrels that float on the river. Below is the scene as we entered the lock to go above the dam for our litter collection. I believe we counted 14 bass boats headed home for the day. The wake was like being in a bad chop on the ocean when they took off downriver, of course full throttle....

Saw an osprey too! He was at the Morgantown Lock up on a light pole.

Say, take a look at this link. We aren't the only people dealing with litter and trash in the water. Photo from Jakarta.


The photo below is of Chris Wilson, who is the carpenter who will build a kiosk similar to the one behind him down by the river. Thanks to a donation from GenPower - the Longview Power Plant - we will be installing three of these with litter barrels. One will be near Deckers Creek, one at the Walnut Street stream access next to Ruby McQuain Park, and another yet to be located.

Living on the Mon

My friend Mike Breiding recently gave me a book about a man who paddled down the Mississippi. All the way from Itasca to the Gulf. That would be great. But do you know how many people have done that? A bunch. I found a lot of books published about their trips. So, for me, that's out. I want to do something unique.

I have it! How about I live on my pontoon boat, the Monongahela Monitor, from April to November. I want to do something I can write a book about. So, I live on my boat and take notes of every town I visit and everyone I meet and every experience I have. I take great photos. And the book is Six Months on the Mon: One Man's Experience.

What do you think? In five and one-half days I paddled down the Mon back in 2005. It was entirely too fast a trip, so I didn't get much local color. But you can see what I'm getting at here . The photo above is from that trip, somewhere down in Pennsylvania.

I'll do litter cleanups the whole time. That way I might get sponsors. I'm thinking 2012.

Trash Rash: A Poem from Charleston, WV « Pick Up America

Trash Rash: A Poem from Charleston, WV « Pick Up America

I met the folks from Pick Up America down near Thurmond, WV, when I was attending the Clifftop Festival in early August. This poem by a person they met in Charleston was recently posted on their blog. The group has been in our state for some time, picking up our litter. What great kids! So click on the link above. Also, I noticed at their blog, they plan a pro-bottle bill demonstration in Charleston : "Pick Up America's Recycle Mountain!! " Monday, September 13 from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm.

River buffs museum in Monongahela, Pa.

I was going through some old photos and came across this. These are two of the officials with the Monongahela River Buffs Museum in Monongahela, Pa. They have some very nice artifacts there.

Larry Durdines, OBL mate and a good man

Last month I received word that Larry Durdines died at the age of 58. I worked with Larry on the riverboats run by Ohio Barge Line, and I'm sorry to hear he died so early.

He had two blogs. http://tenmilecreekcountry.blogspot.com/ about his home town. Also http://larrythekidman.blogspot.com/ a site with some of his humor.

Larry was a good man. He was a pain in the butt mate, though. Of course, as I recall, they all were. Larry was always a little excited. He was excited to be alive, even if it meant going out on the tow to wire up 15 coal barges for the trip from Clairton, Pa., down to Kenova, Ky., which was dirty work often done in the rain, heat or cold. But he was always ready for it and ready to give you a smile. I guess he was just more into deck work than I ever was. He told me, later, that it was "man's work."

I'm sorry he's gone. We always talked about getting together and drinking some and talking about the old river days. We got laid off back in 1984-85, I believe it was, and I never went back on the towboats. I lost track of Larry, then one day at a festival in Greensboro, Pa., here he walked up, in a tie-died t-shirt. Smiling.