CHILDHOOD DREAMS REVISITED--

The trail to the falls seemed shorter that day.  Of course, I am comparing that day's visit to those of childhood memories.


We parked near Oneida Lodge and eased down a grassy bank and across a boardwalk over Fleming Falls creek at Camp Mowana; a Lutheran Church camp northeast of Mansfield and the site of two, delightful, week-long camping memories from my long-ago youth.

The gushing creek swollen by Spring rains tickled our ears with the comforting sound of water in excited motion.


It was easy for me to see an image of a small boy down there under the boardwalk, avoiding the scolding of camp counselors and searching for poly wogs below the creek's rocks.  That was lots more fun than standing in the lunch line at the nearby lodge--like we always had to do.

Then, with lady friend Sue Brooks and her grand daughter Mackenna, we huffed and puffed up the "mountain", crossed the old ball field near the chapel in the woods and headed downstream for the falls.

I enjoyed watching an enthusiastic Mackenna down on her hands and knees, capturing that very special composition of a wild flower with her digital camera.  I wondered if she would understand my box Brownie and its 620, black and white roll film.

Our short hike took us past this memorial plaque (left) to the Linsenmayer family who made this camp possible in the summer of 1941--a mere 7 years before my first-ever camping experience and memories that have lasted a lifetime.

I never met these folks and regret I never had the opportunity to say "thank you!"

The falls celebrates the passing of this small creek, tributary to the Black Fork branch of the Mohican River which ultimately flows to the Ohio River and on to the Gulf of Mexico.


And, that reminded me of the very recent flooding on the Mississippi--and other global events largely involving man's inhumanity to his fellow man.

...which made me yearn for the mellow days of that youth, now long gone.