The "Y"Years ago, obviously in 2004, we visited friends in Sevierville, Tennessee. Close to Gatlinburg but away from the craziness of that tourist trap, Sevierville is surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes. Rolling hills that we Southerners love to call "mountains" are vast, lush greenery, and the veins of these emerald hills are filled with icy water from deep within. These veins open at various points creating brooks that become creeks that widen to streams that become rapids heading down at breakneck speed toward eternity.
It was there at a mountaintop rapid that we found this steam that's locally called "The Y." Our kids tubed down it, jumped into it, swam in it, but this gal found its magic was truly in the details of the ordinary.
Like the rocks. The rocks of Tennessee are round, fashioned by time, shaped by explosive, frigid waters. While the kids played I left for the side streams, looked down and took this shot. It's been one of my favorites since.
I could stare at it for hours, this photo. Clear, icy waters dappling over rounded multi-colored rocks. My two favorite natural subjects together. Water and stone, colors and magnification - clarity.
If only I could be this clear with my thoughts and dreams, expounding with friends and family, with being a person overall. I've always envied those who know with such clairity where they're from and where they're going. Like this icy steam in the Great Smoky Mountains, they follow their path.
