THis week's goings on

 

My new orchid, which my friend has found the name for.  A Clivia. Thanks Susan!

My homemade immitation crab salad. I stopped halfway through to take a photo.

What looking out my window gives today. The maple leaves are at a small size still, so the mountain is still visible.

My friend drove up to the Spruce Pine area where we passed these mines.

Spruce Pine has a history of mining, but I think now they just mine silica for technological use.

My friend was given this wonderful steel cart for holding ware boards. It was welded steel, and several guys loaded it onto her truck. I hope Cathy finds two more strong people to unload it. 

I loved these wonderful tall pines. Not sure the movie I took will work. It's a good test.

My second cataract removal went well, not quite as much fun watching the colors while my eye was completely numb and being altered. But you only have your first eye surgergy once! I'm thinking my level of anxiety was lower, so perhaps that affected my psychedelic experience. I thought it interesting that all the young nurses would say, "Oh you're from that era." when I used the psychedelic term. They would just say, kaleidoscope colors. Yep, I'm a old hippy. Love them physhedellic colors!

Sharing with Skywatch Friday.

Today's quote:

Between the dark sky and the dark earth we hang a light in a dark tree and sing of our wonder together.

PIR ELIAS AMIDON

The view is worth it, but how long can you look at it?

Getting there is more of the fun...once you reach the summit, how long can you just look at thousands of mountains in the distance? They are fortunately labeled well now on photographic dioramas facing each direction.

 Looking down at the road we came up...

 Our 2 Barbaras selfie from the top of Mt. Mitchell.

 On Thursday there wasn't a big crowd, and each person took turns taking photos...everyone was very polite about that.

We were glad we'd brought our sandwiches, guacamole and chips, and ate in a picnic shelter. But none of the water fountains were available to fill our water jugs. (They did sell water at the concession, I wonder if that had anything to do with the fountains being turned off.)

The hardest climb

 Mitchell didn't prove it himself, but his argument with another professor as to which was the highest peak, was finally determined that this was higher than Mount Craig (nearby.)  Mt. Mitchell is 6684 feet above mean sea level.

 Dense evergreens are on the steep sides of the peak, with minimal undergrowth.  But because of pollution and disease, many deadfalls lie on the ground, making it treacherous to try to walk through the woods.

 Where a bit of water has flowed down the hill, it remained as ice in the shade.  There were also ice cycles nearby. (See former post Here)

 It was a beautiful day, and there were a lot of people (from all over the US) hiking up the wide paved path to the lookout tower.

 I had thought I might be one of the slower people climbing the top switchback slope.  But many others were also elders and as out of shape as I was.  Also the air was a bit thin for those who live in lower elevations.

 I love hearing various runners talk about various kinds of races, including some that come up here from Black Mountain, which is about 10 miles due south...and not visible due to other mountains.

The Mountain to the Sea hiking trail also passes along the slope of the mountain.

I slowly climbed to the top, stopping frequently to catch my breath, and taking smaller and smaller steps.  I basically had the hardest workout I'd had in months...but what a sense of accomplishment for this grandmother to reach the top finally!

And if my various readers would like some advice from a 76 year old woman who just got her heart rate up for the 30 minutes it took me to climb that ramp...

Please VOTE.  If there's anything you find distasteful about the current political climate, a vote to change things is the first step a citizen should take, before complaining or anything else. VOTE.