The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
— W. B. Yeats (1919)

Technically, this is in Maryland.

But it is labelled the Paw Paw tunnel, and Paw Paw is in WV.

I can’t believe we’d never been there before.

When building the C&O canal, they were in a race against the completion of rail lines, so they decided the it would be easier to build a tunnel than to follow the river (understandable really, because the river is really twisty and the riverbanks weren’t necessarily good for canal building).

It’s pretty impressive.

We totally counted all markers and found the four markers for shafts.

Oops.

After a long search, we found that there was a break in the rain on Saturday in the Berkeley Springs area. So that’s where we headed.

This is a beautiful, and we spent some time wandering around the town. I wouldn’t want to live on the main street, but it is a lovely little town.

The pools fed by the springs were quite high–higher than I ever remember seeing them.

They were also as pretty as they always are.

For something different, instead of going to Cacapon, went up to what used to be called Panorama Peak. Still not much color, but beautiful never-the-less.

Our friends ended up with two extra tickets for the Potomac Eagle in Saturday, and asked if we’d be able to go with them. A train ride AND time with two lovely small people (and their parents)? Of course!

Three of them rode in the gondola through the trough. Michael and I and one of the small people declined. I was more interested in the scenery than the eagles, and the small person thought the gondola would be too loud, since it was behind the engine.

It was a beautiful day, and there were actually eagles, but I enjoyed the view (even if there was almost no fall color).

Look an old house!

Look! A couple of walls that used to be a house!

Interesting rocks!

The river!

Fields and mountains!

An excellent day!

There was also a dearth of color at Canaan Valley (and Blackwater Falls).

Still pretty though.

Since the weather was forecast to be nice, and Michael had the day off, Saturday we decided to head down to Seneca Rocks, in hopes of catch some fall color.

The weather was lovely, but there was a distinct lack of fall color.

Location: Seneca Rocks
Trail: Seneca Rocks Trail
Distance: 3.7 miles
Elevation: 1573-2520 feet (1003 ft rise)

Hike Up
1.2 miles
1611-2446 feet
33 minutes

It doesn’t look like there’s that much water going over the bridge!

Guess who had wet feet for this hike?

One of the reasons I wanted to make this hike on a Friday and not Saturday is that it tends to be really busy on Saturdays, and I selfishly prefer solitude when at the top of the rocks.

For years I have been holding my nose and voting for Joe Manchin.

Never again will I vote for him, because with the chips were down, he lacked the testicular fortitude to do what needed to be done for the country, instead focusing what would get him re-elected.

And now we have a person who completely lacks judicial temperament given a life-time position on the Supreme Court.

Aside from the allegations of sexual assault. Aside from the untruths in his stories. He threw a temper tantrum and whined about a liberal conspiracy attempting to keep him off the court. He behaved as if that seat was his by right. He utterly exposed his partisanship and made it quite clear he is a conservative activist judge.

A judge with whom we will have to live for decades.

The only reason I voted for Manchin–the ONLY reason–was to keep conservative activist judges off the supreme court. To keep them from sending the country back to the dark ages.

His claim he is working for the betterment of West Virginians is complete and utter bullshit. He is instead working to return us to the days of out-of-state ownership of everything of value here. Of being dependent upon our employers for utterly everything.

Anyone remember company scrip? You could only buy things from the company store? You think that isn’t happen to our health care? Remember mine disasters where hundreds of men died? You think that can’t happen anymore? Remember when black lung killed men on a regular basis? You know that’s happening again, right?

This is a Supreme Court that voted that corporations are people. People who place the good of a corporation of the good of citizens don’t give a shit about what happens to us.

And that’s what Manchin has given us.

So the argument that we’re screwed if a Republican gets that seat holds no water anymore. A Democrat HAD that seat, and he failed to stand up for us, instead looking out for his political future.

To hell with that.

I don’t know who is the 3rd party candidate for the Senate, but I will write in “None of the Above” before vote again for Manchin.

Here we are! The books of September!

Most of the best books I read this month were LGBT historical Romances (with boinking), so take that into consideration.
Non-boinking-wise, I’m still re-reading the Brother Cadfael series, which I truly love and highly recommend, and I finally finished listening to the Raven Boys series, which I also love and highly recommend.

Audio Books

Agents Of Light And Darkness, Audio Edition (2003/2008) Simon R. Green narrated by Marc Vietor  : 8/10 (Nightside)
The Raven King, Audio Edition (2016) Maggie Stiefvater narrated by Will Thomas  : 10/10 (Raven Boys)

Romance, Historical

Cotillion (1953) Georgette Heyer  : 8.5/10
Venetia (1958) Georgette Heyer   : 8/10
The Reluctant Widow (1946) Georgette Heyer  : 8/10
A Week to Be Wicked (2012) Tessa Dare  : 7.5/10
Wicked Intentions (2010) Elizabeth Hoyt  : 7/10
The Richmond Thief (2017) Lisa Boero   : 6/10

Romance, LGBT

Spectred Isle (2017) K. J. Charles  : 8/10 (Green Men)
Unfit to Print (2018) K. J. Charles  : 8/10
Society of Gentleman
The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh (2015) K. J. Charles
A Fashionable Indulgence (2016) K. J. Charles  : 8/10
A Seditious Affair (2016) K. J. Charles  : 8.5/10
A Gentleman’s Position (2016) K. J. Charles  : 7/10

Mystery, Historical

A Treacherous Curse (2018) Deanna Raybourn   : 7.5/10 (Veronica Speedwell)
Brother Cadfael
Dead Man’s Ransom (1984) Ellis Peters  : 8/10
The Pilgrim of Hate (1984) Ellis Peters  : 8.5/10

No paper this month, and fewer audio books, as I spent far less time in the kitchen.

eBook: 15
Audio: 2
Multiple Formats: 5
Re-read: 6

Genere-wise, not much fantasy this month, and heavy on the romance, mostly because I can’t stomach anything depressing or too dark right now. With romance, at least I know I’ll get a HEA.

Fantasy: 3
Mystery: 5
Romance: 12
YA: 1

Simon R. Green was the only male author I read this month, but I read as many books where the author was hiding behind a male pseudonym or initials as I did by authors with straight-up female names. Take that as you will.

Male: 1
Female: 8
Initials: 6
Male Pseudonym: 2

And that’s the month of September in books!

After a week of rain, Saturday was clear, so we headed to the Cranberry Wilderness, which has become one of my favorite places, since it is far less visited that most other spots in WV.

We hiked two shorter trails, wanting the views as much as the hiking.

Location: Cranberry Wilderness
Trail: Red Spruce Trail
Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation: 4386-4722 feet (420 ft gain)

Is that… a bear track? (Click through to Flickr for a comparison picture.)

The trail at the top of the mountain was unbelievably gorgeous. Look at that! So beautiful!

Because Red Spruce Knob is the highest peak in the area, there was a fire tower here at one point. That tower is long gone, and most of the overlook is overgrown.

Still worth the hike.

Trail: High Rocks Trail
Distance: 3.2 miles
Elevation: 4312-4507 feet (471 ft gain)

The trail to High Rocks was possibly one of the easiest we’ve ever hiked in the Mon Nat’l Forest. We kept waiting for it to get super muddy or terribly rocky or ridiculously steep; Nope. It was a very easy hike.

It was a ridiculously easy hike, for the view at the end.