Who is Cumberland Gal?
From about 2004 until 2011 I was using a social media site called Multiply.
I also had a You Tube channel for videos. I had 200 or so videos of various waterfalls and things. I was putting my blog entries on my Multiply page.
I had tried Facebook , but did not like it. I had tried My Space and wasn't crazy about that either. I heard from a friend that Multiply was going away so I began looking around to see what to do migrate my blog entries? I had tried Word Press and found it was too complicated for me. I found Blog spot and it was a good fit. I migrated my blog content. I then lost my You Tube channel. I do not recall exactly how, but if memory serves it was because of losing the password.
I had to recreate my You Tube channel which I did by finding as many of my videos and migrating them from Multiply and Myspace. I found some of them still stored on my computer. I ended up with about 120 videos or less out of the 200. I titled the newYou tube channel Channel DBZR.
I had struggled to title my blog. I did not like anything I came up with, but I finally settled on Cumberland Gal. It stuck out to me like a sore thumb. I picked it because by the time I re worked the blog entries I was spending more time on the plateau. I had also branched out from hiking primarily in Western North Carolina and the Smoky Mountains to lots of other areas. The plateau had turned out to be a better fit for the explorer in me. It was uncrowded for the most part and there were still plenty of things to discover.
What Shaped Me?
Cumberland Gal is me. It was my life and my online diary of events and doings. So who am I? I grew up loving God, family, and outdoors. I have a father who is an old mountain man and a mom who was a hunter, fisher, homemaker, teacher, seamstress, and gardener. I had grandparents who loved hiking, camping, fishing, and many outdoor related things. I had most of my great grandparents living when I was born and raised. I was a mother before the last of my great grandparents passed on. My parents instilled in me a great love of history, outdoors, the Lord, the importance of family. I hiked the woods with my grandfather and parents when I was able to walk. I grew up to be like my mom and dad.... more of a dude than a girl. I had as many or more boys as friends. I still do. I preferred it as a kid because boys focus on the activity at hand, not drama or gossip. I can go get my nails done, my pedicure, my hair done, my make up on... and be dressed up like a lady.... and go sit down and cock one leg up on the other. Unfortunately I have the bad, deeply engrained habit of sitting Figure 4. Like some cowboy in a saloon. I catch myself even doing it in church. I walk like athletic Annie. I drive like a man turning around to look over my shoulder with my arm on the back of the passenger seat. Not 'zactly the most feminine flower, eh? Daddy called me "Gravel Gertie" from the Dick Tracy cartoons sometimes thanks to my less than lady like ways. She was a convict who reformed and became a wife and mother. She was a survivor. It is hilarious that later in life my friend Hal Wilson told me I had the soul of a convict.
I grew up going to the beach at least twice a year. We'd go in the high Summer heat to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I learned to swim in Oregon Inlet within sight of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge. Anyone who knows the Outer Banks area will know that long, beautiful bridge. They will also know the perils of the inlet for ships. It is a serious navigation challenge for all boaters and ship's captains with its constantly changing myriad of sand bars and shoals and currents.
We'd go a second time each year to the beach for two weeks for Daddy to gig for flounder and for the blue fish run in early October. The Gulf Stream current came in closer to shore during that time making the water warmer in Autumn than it was in July! We'd take school work with us and stay in our camper or a cabin.
Growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and going to the beach created in me a love for the ocean as well as the mountains.
I grew up loving pirates and the stories of Edward Teach aka Blackbeard and visiting the museums and art galleries on Ocracoke. I grew up watching Rawhide, Gun Smoke, and Wagon Train and such on television. I went to the movies with my parents to see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ... a Clint Eastwood movie when I was only 2 or 3 years old at the drive in. I watched Disney movies like Pinocchio, Fantasia, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and Swiss Family Robinson. Those adventures were some of my favorites. I was a cowgirl, a pirate, a cast away, a river raft pilot in my play. To this day I love those things and have a scale model of the Queen Anne's Revenge on my mantel at home. It is Blackbeard's ship for those that are unfamiliar with the name.
The love of romantic figures, history, old folks, and outdoors of all types is what helped shape me into the person I am today.
That explains the love of history, stories, and outdoors. I grew up having to do chores though. It wasn't all rambling in the woods or swimming in the ocean.
It was gardening, tending to chickens and gathering eggs, feeding and caring for hunting dogs, helping my mom and grandparents keep house. School work and church service projects and Sunday School lessons and worship service. I was sheltered from associating with many of the so called "cool kids" at school. I was an adult before I understood why. My parents knew the families of these kids and the kids were poorly parented by swingers, drinkers, druggies, and mostly dysfunctional homes. Yes, Key parties were really a thing back in the 70s.
I was friends with kids from church, cousins, or kids from good homes where parents were very present and involved in their kids lives. My parents were PTA members, Sunday school teachers. Mom was a WHO volunteer and helped with Korean and Vietnamese children and families who needed to assimilate into American culture and the school system. She helped with reading and English instruction. She helped make sure they had all their vaccinations. She taught sewing and ceramics.
I grew up to be a nurse, a wife, a homemaker, and a mother. I gardened and canned and froze food. I sewed. I was involved in my kids lives and schooling. I taught Sunday school and mission groups. I helped with the booster club when my kid was involved in sports. I was a very involved parent who did not let my kids watch soap operas on television. I did not let my children zone out on video games or any sort of screen.
I am the last generation of Baby Boomers. I was the first generation of kids to see footage on tv practically every evening of the Vietnam War. It affected me deeply. I despise war and killing. I saw men come home from Vietnam maimed or carrying the invisible wounds of PTSD. I saw families suffer and struggle while trying to survive the war and its hold over effects.
Living next door to a mother in law in an isolated area of the foothills of the Alleghany Mountains was a mistake. She disapproved of me. She leaned hard on my husband constantly. In time it became necessary to make a choice and I made mine to move. My marriage faltered and was circling the drain in a death spiral.
At last through God's grace with lots of counseling...... Kenny and I were able to salvage our marriage and get it back on the rails. He chose me and Tennessee over Mama and the Farm in Virginia. Best move we ever made.
We moved to Walland as a family in 2001. We began the next chapter of our lives here. Hiking in the Smokies and learning to love Tennessee helped shape me further. I became the explorer, writer, photographer, I am today. My career blossomed and grew as did Kenny's. Today I'd no more move back to that isolated farm on Virginia than I would cut off my own right arm.
We finished raising our kids from ages 12 and 15 in East Tennessee. They learned to swim in rivers and lakes. They learned to jump off rocks and rope swings. They learned to love hiking. They found their mates here and began families of their own. Having grandchildren in this house helped make it a home.
Today it feels like the only place we've ever lived. It is home and we are Tennesseeans. I learned to love my life here. I grew into the Cumberland Gal image, lifestyle and learned to embrace it as part of my identity. Now I love this blog of mine and the name I chose for it a decade ago.
I relate to the Baby Boomer generation who grew up similarly to myself and Kenny. We are many. We are aging. We are influencing today's younger generations to be more and better. I embrace fully technology and all the wonderful ways it improves life. I embrace fully my faith in Jesus and my Father God and His divine Holy Spirit that gives life and peace and comfort. I embrace
the many challenges faced and overcome with His help. I hold fast to the essence of my own self. The love of outdoors, exploring, adventuring, and appreciating the beauty of the world.
I am blessed. I don't deserve it, but I am blessed.
So Who Else Is Cumberland Gal?
I hear from likeminded persons who read this blog and enjoy it. It has turned out to be more than I could ever imagine. Cumberland Gal is not just me though. It is the likeminded men and women who were raised similarly and hold the same love of outdoors and the same values as me. It is bigger than only me. It is not just a person, but a concept. Far as I'm concerned these persons are the salt of the earth.
Me taken at Alarka in the sage field at Pigpen Flats. I grew up on a sage barren.
I had a lady offer to buy my Cumberland Gal blog the other day.
Right now it is not for sale anymore than my soul is.
Above: me and Kenny at Wind Rock. We are both covered in a fine layer of dust.
Me and Kenny at Fall Branch Falls in Monroe County, TN
Me in a hollow tree at Green River Gamelands in North Carolina
Below: me and Gabe-- I'm a grandma x 3 at that point
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Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you!
Dana 🐝