Carolina blue skies

 

Lakeview Center overlooking drained Lake Tomahawk

Lake Tomahawk from the Lakeview Center upstairs. Drained for construction on dam, which hasn't started yet.

New house has sold!

Interesting stone wall at Cheshire Village

Sharing with Skywatch Friday!

Today's quote:

“Make up a story... For our sake and yours forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don't tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief's wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear's caul.” ― Toni Morrison, The Nobel Lecture In Literature, 1993.

A nature soak

 Flat Creek - warm day with sunshine led me on a short walk.

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Wordless Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Thankful Thursday

Today's quote:

Take your good fortune and lift your life to its highest calling. Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.

OPRAH WINFREY

Happy Valentine's Day

 

Love to all. 

Love to those who think the same way I do.

Love to those who don't think the same way I do.

Love to those who are gentle and loving, who are open minded and caring, who are smiling through difficulties. 

And love (especially) to those who don't love, to those who hate, hurt, and are hurting deep in their hearts.

Love offers the possibility of forgiveness even as punishment is given based on justice.

Yes, Love To All.

Regardless.

-------------

This was written in 2018 for dealing with the craziness emanating from the tRump administration. Women were marching by the millions. And then what happened? The Supreme Court knocked down Roe v Wade...and now there's an election which could again put him in command and hand us over to Putin. The thousands of women and children dying in Gaza due to extremist military actions, terrorists supported by one group or another. The Ukraine hanging on by a thread against the might of Russia, and our extremist politicians playing games while people die, and not just in the Ukraine, but along the borders of the US.

So much need to find love in my heart, compassion for those who are evil...yes that's where I think we are now.

The elephant on the corner

 Nicely appointed restaurant. Thai Basil offers a variety on its menu, all of which are delicious!

Today's quote:

“Writing is considered a profession, and I don’t think it is a profession. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else. Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don’t think an artist can ever be happy.” Georges Simenon, who wrote over 500 novels and short stories, many of them featuring a compassionate detective named Jules Maigret, who enjoyed fine wine, his wife, and solving cases by pondering human nature, rather than using violence.

Sharing with Tuesdays Treasures

Note to commenters: last night when I logged on and read your comments, blogger wouldn't allow me to reply. If that keeps happening, I'll go through the various help systems. But I do read them all!

Monday mural

 I can't believe I have another mural to share already!

It's actually 3 floors of murals on the back side (facing south) of the Black Mountain Center for the Arts

I like the connection to the fiber and paint artists of Black Mountain College back in the 30s-40s. Both Albers and Asawa are well known when students study art history of this area. I think their art is the "Universal Citizen" which is depicted on the sign. I haven't seen it in the mural by Laura Nguyen.

Today's quote:

Edna St, Vincent Millay wrote: “My candle burns at both ends; / It will not last the night; / But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends — / It gives a lovely light!”

Sharing with Monday Murals

Mundane to pretty

 

Our little laundry room with 4 washers...it may be mundane, but it's a necessary part of life!

and 4 driers. It's a short walk from my front porch across the parking lot to this building.

Here is a view of my front porch, with the low roofed laundry room being right behind the EMS truck. We are very grateful that EMS comes quickly whenever one of us has need.

Overwintering a geranium, which was still healthy in the fall.

It sits in a nice south window and thinks its about time to start blooming again!

Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos

Today's quote: 

When we focus on bringing purpose to our speech, we bring healing and meaning to our relationships, our communities, and our world.

Meet Co-co!

 A friendly little dog is such a pleasure to meet. Co-co and her owner were happy to let me take her photo in the parking lot the other day.

You can tell she's well loved by her beautiful sweater!

And a few more little furry critters were walking at the lake.

Meet Max

 And a busy walker who didn't stop for me to take photos...

Yes, lake is drained pretty much again! But rain is forecast this weekend!

Sharing with Saturday's Critters

Today's quote:

 “A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” novelist George Augustus Moore

A bird, a sheep, and clouds

I told my grandson and his girlfriend taht on their cruise in the Caribbean I'd be a seagull watching them.  The joke was that they couldn't tell which gull was really me. He took this photo of the bird, and sent it to me. Who knows what she (the gull) saw, it wasn't me that time!

The Black Mountain Yarn Shop shows a sheep, and there's a possibility one might be confused and think it was a black sheep...

A solar heart in the sky...

The wonderful intersection of the street I was stopped on, US 70 (State St) and crossing of NC 9 (Montreat Rd) gave a view of the Town Hardware on the far corner. And a few clouds up high or in the distance at the edge of the mountains.

Sharing with Thankful Thursday!

Sharing with Skywatch Friday!

Today's quote:

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. 

-Henry Adams, historian and teacher (1838-1918)
 

At the Senior Center at Lake Tomahawk

 

Our lunches include a carton of milk.

This little message is on each one.

"About 85% of this carton is paper. Paper is renewable and we have more trees in the US now than we did 50 years ago."

Now doesn't that just make you feel...what? Confused? I was. Trees being planted since 1974 (50 years ago) may have some bearing on how many are going to paper pulp in making cartons of milk. But hey, why aren't they just using recycled paper instead of new paper to make these silly cartons?

Or is it because someone thinks it would sound unsanitary to have reused paper in the making of milk cartons? And how about recycling the cartons themselves? Is that even possible?

And on Wed. before lunch Carol takes us through sit and be fit...which ends up standing and marching! Whew!

These interesting patterns show the cover over the swimming pool, right outside the door of our "dining room" where we meet for lunches M-F. It's only open during summer months, and often has ice on top of the cover where rain accumulates.

While February offers some sunny days (like this one) there are also free books in the "Little Free Library" at Lake Tomahawk.

And right next to it is a little Free Library for Children! Food for the soul!

From snow and ice on a drained lake to...

muddy water from spring rains. Wonder when the dam construction will begin!

Today's quote:

There will always be factors and people that we cannot control; how we respond can determine the quality of our lives.

Today's quote:

Come, live in my heart and pay no rent. -Samuel Lover, songwriter, composer, novelist, and artist (1797-1868)

For the birds, and others

 

Another great gift from the recent holidays...a hummingbird feeder with pretty glass reservoir.

It will hang outside above my balcony, but I seldom can sit at an angle to watch hummers come. Perhaps I will move my chair!

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday

Today's quote:

 “Most readers think that a novel is, first of all, a story. Well, it really isn’t … A novel is an evolution of life. Its story is merely a means to an end.” educator and writer Mary Ellen Chase