June 17th, 2012

Our trip to Niagara was great! It lasted from the 14th to the 17th, and we got to see all sorts of things. The 14th was all driving; we left later in the day, and spent the night in Indiana. On the 15th, we drove the rest of the way, and got to our hotel in Cheektowaga, NY, just in time for supper. After we ate, we made it down to the falls to see one Nik Wellenda! It was completely by coincidence that our trip matched his crossing of the falls on tightrope, and honestly, I was glad we hadn't come all the way out just to see that. We didn't really have the greatest view, as there were so many people. Nevertheless, I could see the tightrope, shimmering through the mist. And once it started, I could just make out Wellenda working his way across.

The next day was more exciting, though. We took the Maid of the Mist out under the Horseshoe Falls. The mist was so thick, you couldn't even see the waterfall. You looked up from the tossing lake, thick with foam, to see a blanket of white filling the sky. We wore ponchos on the boat, so I got less wet than I'd anticipated, but Niagara was perfectly happy to change that later in the day. After we docked, we walked over to Goat Island to get a better view of Bridal Veil Falls. It was nice to look down them, but it was the Cave of the Winds tour that was truly magickal. It was a hike right in front of the Bridal Veil Falls, that takes you to where Hinum's cave once existed, before years of erosion washed it out.

The tour lets you view the vast population of gulls (including the last fluffy babies), as well as get a close-up of the water. A close-up as in water pouring down the inside of your poncho, making them completely irrelevant. One could literally stand mere feet in front of the falls. In spite of being surrounded by people, you can't hear anything except the roar of the water in your ears. We drove the 12 hours back home on the 17th, taking a detour through Pennsylvania to see some of the Allegheny Forest.

June 12th, 2012

Strange things happen sometimes, and I for one do not believe in coincidence. Yesterday, after typing up the information about this Celtic Tree Month, Oak, my mom, Nick, and I went on a half-hour hike at a local forest preserve. It was almost time to turn around and head back, when we came upon a place where the trees hung over the path and formed a tunnel. Nick declared that it was a "portal to another world", and said that we must go through it. We did so, and nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen. However, turning back, I looked up and realized that the trees creating the tunnel were varieties of Oak. I was instantly reminded that the Fey protect Oaks, and wondered for a moment if Nick's claim that the tunnel was a portal was as far-fetched as it seemed. Then later, my dad said, totally out of the blue, that if something were to happen to one of the trees out front, he would replace it with an Oak tree. I feel as though I am being told something here....

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In other news, mom and dad decided to take a vacation this summer - we're going to Niagara Falls! We will go hiking, and also take the Maid of the Mist boat out to see the falls up close. Naturally, the Native American tribes who once lived in the area had legends about the falls, and indeed, the name "Maid of the Mist" comes from that folktale. 

The Ongiara people had lived peacefully along the falls for many years, when suddenly, many villagers began to sicken and die. The people thought that they had angered the thunder god Hinum, so they began to send canoes of food over the falls in offering to him. When that failed to stop the sickness, the chief's daughter, Lelawala, was to be sent over instead. As she fell over the edge of the waterfall, however, the sons of Hinum caught her, and wished to marry her. Lelawala agreed, on the condition that she be allowed to tell her people how to save themselves from the sickness. The youngest son told her that it was not Hinum's anger killing her people, but rather, a great water snake that was poisoning the water, and then eating those who had died. Lelawala was then allowed to appear to her people as a spirit, and tell them of the terrible snake. The villagers hunted it down and killed it before it could do the people any more harm. The river swept away the body, and Hinum turned the snake's remains into the Horseshoe Falls segment of Niagara. Henceforth, Lelawala has reigned in the cave behind the falls as the Maid of the Mist.

I am not yet sure, but I think that we are to hike to the cave behind the falls, and if so, I should like to pay homage to Lelawala, who, after her marriage to the youngest of Hinum's sons, became a goddess of the Ongiara tribe. She is said to wear a white doeskin robe, with a wreath of flowers in her hair.