My earliest memories are
of the soft blue mountains which encircle the hillside home of my childhood. I can still recite their names in order:
Read, Tinker, Catawba, Little Brushy, Big Brushy.
Their reassuring presence was affirmed by the Bible itself, as we children memorized Psalm 121:1—
I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills,
from whence cometh my help. |
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On the trail of our many times-great
grandparents, we made our way through Argyll to Kilmartin, a valley
inhabited by humans since Neolithic times. On the top of Dunadd, we
stood by an ancient footprint and chalice carved in stone, where the
Scots once crowned their kings.
Once, I did a batik of the Crystal valley,
and a man bought it because it reminded him of Glencoe, Scotland. Remembering
that part of my family had been forced from Scotland in the 18th century,
I vowed someday to see that place. When finally I was able to go, I found that Glencoe is indeed wild, empty,
and fiercely beautiful. It did feel like our beloved Crystal Valley.
Many of these rulers
of Dalriada are buried in the shadow of Dun I, over on the sacred Isle
of Iona, where Colum Cille founded his monastery in 563 and where the
Book of Kells was likely written. Did my ancestors include a few of
those early Scots who came from Ireland, as well perhaps as some folk
who were there to meet them? What of those others who came from Saxony—
what mountains did they leave behind?
Such introspection has revealed a strong bonding
to mountains, in a specific as well as a general sense. Now I understand
why it has always been there where I looked for inspiration, for hope,
for solace.
And why I cannot imagine living where the world is flat.
— © Dorothy Bowen
February, 2001 |
At twenty-one I left Virginia for New Mexico
and settled by the Sandias — higher, drier, and more rugged than
the Blue Ridge. Yet, from the north their silhouette is strangely like
Catawba — still, in my mind, “the perfect mountain.”
For over thirty years our hallowed mountain
retreat has been a tiny Colorado ghost town. Crystal, at 9000 feet, is
surrounded by craggy heights stretching up over 12,000 feet, the most
prominent of which is Crystal Peak. Others I know by name: Treasure, Mineral
Point, Meadow, Sheep. |