Poetry Wednesday 107

“Saint John the Baptist Day”

Saint John the Baptist

Prophet of the coming Christ

Preparing the way

©️ Ryan Stroud 2020

Gotta Get Out of This Place

As the news seemingly doesn’t change from Covid-19 or Racial tension, I’ll admit I’m looking to get away to anywhere away from it all. Looking through Facebook/iCloud moments from last month reminded me of a trip to Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach in Florida a couple of years ago.

When I was presented with the option of traveling to Amelia Island by my parents and friends of the family, I will admit I didn’t know anything about the location. I’ve heard of most of the popular Florida locations and have visited them with the exception of the Panhandle locations. I wasn’t even sure where Amelia Island was when it was suggested. If you’ve never been there, it’s located at the northernmost portion of Florida’s Atlantic coastline just a few miles from Georgia.

Amelia Island’s less-known status is a plus for travelers who aren’t exactly jazzed about crowded beaches, downtown shoppes, and restaurants. The beaches of Amelia Island are also a finer sand than some of the other Atlantic beaches in Daytona, the Space Coast, or otherwise. Additionally, the waves are gentler than those coarse sand beaches also along the Atlantic.

Tourists also appreciate that Amelia Island retains more of Old Florida and Southern Charm. While most Florida beach towns are populated by quick-casual restaurants and $7 tee-shirt factory stores, Amelia Island includes barely any of these offerings.

If you want the now typical Florida attractions, Amelia Island is less than an hour from Jacksonville and its beaches, so you can also visit there easily. We took one day to travel away from Amelia Island and drove through Jacksonville to St. Augustine which is about 90 minutes away.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

St. Augustine is of course the oldest European settlement in the United States. We took advantage of exploring the fort established in the city—Castillo de San Marcos. The fort was erected by the Spanish when they established the colony of Florida and was eventually used by Americans during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and both World Wars. St. Augustine also includes a lighthouse just outside of downtown that is well-known in the area.

Amelia Island itself is ringed by US-1/A1A and has a vintage downtown bordering along the Amelia River on the west end of the island and a long stretch of beach and resorts along the east side of the island which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The Amelia River on is spanned by a causeway bridge that joins the island to the mainland of Florida.

Fernandina Beach

Firepit out by the pool of our motel

We lucked out that our motel was two blocks from a beach access point, so we could easily walk to the beach most days. Rather than exploring the sights like we would usually do on vacation on Florida, we spent more time just enjoying time at the beach while shutting down the noise and distraction of life. That meant more intentionality for my dad and me who function better with noise and distraction.

Myself and High School friend before departing on the CraigCat tour

A CraigCat boat

Other than visiting St. Augustine for a quick tour, we did enjoy one sightseeing opportunity with a CraigCat boat excursion. These boats are two-seater catamaran with a 30HP motor. These boats are steered more by drifting the boat with the throttle rather than a steering wheel. We were able to take the boats out to an island just over the Georgia border where wild horses often roam.

We also enjoyed much of Amelia Island’s seafood during our travels. The island includes a few beach bars along with fine dining options. Most of these locations provide a waterfront view.

As we traveled to Amelia Island, we also took time to spend part of the trip for overnight stops in Asheville, NC. If we had more time for our travel, we likely would have included the Biltmore and the attractions in Asheville as well.

Have you visited Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach or any of the surrounding towns?

Poetry Wednesday 106

“A Sunday Drive”

I’m kind of homesick for country never seen before in these eyes

Best to travel from home on an unclouded day when no storm clouds rise

Got my shades on, the top down and the music turned up to level ten

My hat keeps my head on straight, a breeze blows in and your hair’s blowing in the wind

 

Riding along in my car with no particular place to go

All the best of the countryside in nature is this afternoon’s show

Sunday drives are meant for taking your own sweet time

Over the valleys and the peaks we’ll climb

 

Keeping it on the road with one hand on the wheel, the other holding you, honey

We’ll cruise out to the drive-in ice cream shop for a quick bite

Strawberries on my banana split remind me of the sunset warning of the looming night

Still can’t compare to your eyes looking back at the man you’ve made of me

Got no perfect reason to wander, got no reason to roam.

Light shines as darkness is creeping in, but soon we’ll be safely home

 

© Ryan Stroud 2020

Poetry Wednesday 105

“Tennessee”

I was born across the river where the Hoosier hills meet bluegrass country

How I wish we were both settled down in the same place in Tennessee

So easy for us to be lonely and seems like we’re farther and farther

Why couldn’t we be together, why does it seem like each day gets harder

 

I’ll go on loving you, I’d move anywhere to be with you voluntarily

Kinfolk are worried, wish I’d make decisions more warily

Tennessee summer calls me and you as we’re burning up the night until the next morn

Waking up as you brush my arm stickin’ out of my shirt with the sleeves all torn

 

My state of looking for something new leads me away, and in you I’ve found a gem

With you by my side we can start our family here, but we’ll notify our next of kin

Every song I’ve sung, every stiff drink, and every mountain leads me the way of the L&N

Crockett, Jackson, and Polk got our attention, soon we’ll live here like them

My heart’s finally patched up, looking better it’s not even got a bruise

Dreaming of the day we’re sitting in a dive bar in Tullahoma listening to the blues

© Ryan Stroud 2020

Taking a Break

Thought I’d hop on here after taking yesterday off. If you follow me regularly, you’ve noticed that my #HistoryMonday & #CurrentEventFriday posts are more sporadic lately. I wanted to try and explain that phenomenon and share some reflections I’ve had lately.

No doubt, your social media feeds are filled with new information about Covid-19 and protests about race in addition to the usual distractions. My feed is no different, and as I skim through the feeds my brain is overwhelmed by opinions from all sides and I’m about to have a breakdown. What’s particularly frustrating is that I’m getting upset at posts from friends and other personalities on both sides of the political spectrum. I believe that Black lives have not always mattered and that we have work to do on race relations, but some of the ideas are ridiculous. I also believe that law enforcement is a challenging profession, but reform needs to happen to add accountability for malfeasance and/or bias with certain individuals. As far as the Coronavirus, I’m getting frustrated that the WHO, CDC, and other medical experts are seemingly taking a stab in the dark every other week on how the virus behaves—masks are necessary for healthcare workers, everybody should wear them, only symptomatic folks should wear them. Besides that, lockdowns didn’t happen soon enough, they were necessary, they were harmful, or protests might be safe as the virus is sleeping. Particularly galling is that funerals with hundreds of people for slain black folk are okay but not for your grandmother because…reasons.

While I might normally agree or ‘like’ posts from friends, family, or other posters on posts that may have political undertones, I’m trying to maintain more radio silence and avoid reacting or commenting publicly. I may add a quip on Twitter since it doesn’t affect my vocation as negatively as if I posted on Facebook. This isn’t to say that I don’t have internal comments and reactions, I just don’t share them publicly. Plus, there’s enough arguing and commenting from everybody else that my voice would get lost.

Many times, I’ll fast Facebook during Lent, and that’s healthy for the 40 days I’m off the site. I probably should fast other social media during that time too. With the hatefulness and insanity on social media, I’m about ready for 2^nd Lent so I could get off social media for a while. Even public pages for businesses and organizations have quite a few hateful and terrible comments. As I read comments on a post from NASCAR recently, the racist and mean comments about how a young boy sang the National Anthem were shocking and infuriating.  Unfortunately, since I’m not fasting social media and I see all the crap on it, my brain isn’t in the mood to process writing about history, social issues, and current events. Besides, there’s enough history (or is it histrionics?) and current events going on in your feed, that you can get your fix from others besides myself.

Luckily, my creative side is not as affected by the social media outrage and I can still do my Poetry Wednesday posts. I may also try to put together some travel guides for the next few weeks since that’s generally a positive post and if you’re like me, going on vacation sounds great right about now. Hopefully, social media and the outrage culture that’s dominating the news cycle right now will calm down or my brain gets a reset from vacation that my usual posting for Mondays and Fridays will be back soon. Stay tuned!

Is your brain struggling to function lately?

Poetry Wednesday 104

“June”

Strawberries with cream and shortcake but the days are long

Thought May and spring weather was going to last, but I was wrong

Streetlights come on even later, even after dinner

June’s warming temperature looks to be a winner

 

We sang for the rain to leave as the ground was at risk of flood

Happy for summer eves when cooling gentle rains calm the pressure of my blood

Believe I’ll get to relax and take this month as I get away somewhere this summer.

Dreary and depressed much of the winter and spring, both a bummer

 

Heading for the nearest water, cooling my toes in the creek

Lemon yellow sun beats down on the pool below

Whatever isn’t covered up will soon cause tan skin to show

Took time to go for a drive Sunday morning last week

Stole some early sunshine, getting ready for a healthy dose of it in June

Brightened by the changing weather, bright as the moon

 

© Ryan Stroud 2020