Springs Foundation

From our RV spot here at Sparrowhawk, we are a couple hundred feet from the Illinois River, with the trail going down to a rock shelf just above the water line. There are some fish that can be seen when the water is clear. Some are ordinary, like carp and sunfish, but the odd looking ones are gar. They are slim, with about 1/3 of their body length comprised of head, including a long, thin snout. Needle nose gar. For the past week there have been as many as 26 visiable sitting on the bottom at the up river end of the flat rock. But what’s strange is that they are facing 3/4 downstream, fanned out and all facing the rock face! The impression is that they are lined up side by side watching a film being projected on the rock. Just like a drive in movie! I’ve pointed them out to a number of locals and no one ever noticed or can explain their odd behavior.

What we like about Sparrow Hawk are the people and sense of community. There are just over 50 households, community buildings, church and seminary. And the Wellness Center has rooms set up with massage tables and a seminar room that can be rented, so we can bring folks in for intensives, weekend workshops, and longer retreats. Many residents have extra rooms for daily rent, but hotels are available in town, 10 miles away. The Ozark mountains are so heavily wooded its difficult to walk through them, and wildlife include deer, turkey, coyote, and heron. Helena says it’s just like where she grew up in Virginia. But very different than the plains of Colorado! Humidity, chiggers, and morning fog down here by the river.

We’re probably going to stay through November, then go to the beach for a couple months because Helena says she NEEDS some ocean time. Then come back for Spring. We’re looking at a cluster house to buy that has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. That’s so much room compared to our fifth wheel trailer we won’t know what to do with more than 2 rooms. When Max wants to run his laps he can actually get some miles in! We’re learning how to speak Oklahoma, but most of the residents here are not Okies either, so it may not be necessary, except when we go into town.

Leaves are getting serious about turning and Fall has arrived, but mostly the weather has been cool at night and pleasantly warm in daytime. Prediction is for much cooler air to arrive on Weds. and we’ll have to be moved out of the RV park by the 31st when they turn off the water.

We’re still doing our work by phone and editing our books. Mine is almost finished, so look for the ebook version before Christmas.

Namaste’, Gary

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 10:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.