"Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here there by Thy great help I've comeAnd I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home."
Stone of Remembrance.
My Grandson and I found it up on the side of the mountain when we were gathering smaller stones together for my latest rock garden. I've been trying to convince someone in the family quarantine circle to help me go get it. I had rolled it over by myself, but I knew I wouldn't get it into the car alone. Oh, on the day of discovery we were too dog-tired after a hike to lift it in.
My wife did not want to go fearing that I would drop it on her foot. She finally coordinated my eldest, her son, and our A-5 (fifth child) to go up there after the Juneteenth March in Centerville for racial equality and justice. (Probably deserves another blog post.) They seemed okay and the four of us lifted in in and out of the Rav-4 without any feet being smashed.
If only I had taken a photo of it in its natural habitat!
Already prepared my remembrances to lie underneath the stone.
The mask is an absolute reminder of our Covid-19 experiences to date. Let's hope we stay healthy and if it comes within six feet, that we survive. Also included are yew needles from the ancient one at ancestral Cusop across the sea, a small piece of coal from under the earth of South Wales, and the final piece, a notice for a Juneteenth Celebration yesterday on Midsummer's Eve.
It was when I told my wife that it was Midsummer's Eve and the perfect day to raise the stone that she had some of our children help me.
Help is always available and like most prideful people, I hate to ask for it. I did wait until the evening light to finish the hole and place the stone on my own.
Help is always available and like most prideful people, I hate to ask for it. I did wait until the evening light to finish the hole and place the stone on my own.
It all went well and looks great! As it is the perfect dimensions about a meter high and a half meter thick, that sinks a bit as it goes in deep enough to hold it in place. You don't want some kid to knock it over on his little brother. It caught a bit of the late sun in the West as I was getting the marigolds in (to guide the ancestors.)
While sunk a bit, it is still larger than Ebenezer I that we raised ten years ago after our first trip to Wales where we touched the ancient stones.
This morning was the solstice. I waited for the sunlight to fall from the trees to the stone.
There it is.
"Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love."
Do you remember a "castle" in your garage? I remember it being huge. It was probably no where near as big as it is in my head! I loved coming to you house with my mom.
ReplyDeleteYes, we did! I think my brother still has it at his place.
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