Changeable sky, as well as hide and seek of the ridge line. Last Saturday had early rain, clouds off and on with sun peeking sometimes, then by 5 pm snow/sleet was trying to come, but it wasn't really cold enough yet. It may have the higher elevations looking a bit white by tomorrow. Can you see the top of the ridge above the clouds?
Photo over the railroad tracks (going e to w) circa 1915 - looks across the Valley (southwest) towards the Swannanoa Mts (old name Cane Creek Mts.) It is a view looking southwest from the Gladstone Hotel-- which was located up from the Depot where Cove Automotive is now on Dougherty St. (Same ridge I look toward out my windows)
I wonder if any of those homes remain. They would probably be on Vance St. or around that area.
An art post here...about Beatrice Wood, potter who lived and worked to age 105.
Today's quote:
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace, and a soul generated by love.
Motorists zoom under it all day on I-26 between Asheville and Hendersonville NC. But this bridge is finally getting the piece lowered into place to complete it. The span will carry the Blue Ridge Parkway eventually. Of course there are still approaches to build and all the earth moving and paving...I would say another year before cars cross it.
This is one of the favorite stretches to take along Asheville's BR Parkway...to avoid traffic, go 45 mph on a two lane road through the woods, up and down a bit, and around some curves, just like roads used to go...before interstates took most travel.
Of course you get there quicker on the interstates, but sometimes your nerves have been twanged a bit!
Lake Tomahawk drained. I had to tell some women from Asheville why it looked so dire. They should put up a sign if they're not yet working on that dam!
As another blogger reminded me (not a US citizen by the way) people have died for the right to have a free election by the people (in the USA for one.) I hope everyone votes in the primary to put strong candidates on the ballot in November. Early voting is now, and the Primary Election is on March 5.
Today's quote:
Words carry a lot of weight in this world, but it is through our actions that we bring things into being.
My vote in the primary elections only has the Democrat party (in my case) for choice of president, and various state and local offices chosen for who will go against the GOP (Republican party) coming up in Nov. elections. The Democrat party identifies a fight in our country between democracy vs. autocracy, which is also global. But it starts - its roots are here- in my backyard. It goes up the chain to the national level which impacts global - i.e. the Ukraine not receiving funds to combat Putin's autocratic invasion, due to blockage of funds from right-wing Christian Republicans in Congress "playing a deadly game" under tRump's malicious directions...the autocratic thrust of politics today.
New gadget after showing a picture I.D. (thanks to the GOP Legislature!) I brought in my Sierra Club approved list of candidates, so I knew these people would be environmentally along my own values. I hope to heck they are also the ones who can beat their GOP opponents in November.
I chose the booth that allowed me to sit down. That was nice.
It may be easy, but my hand rested against the screen and this happened. Gag.
But there are many people watching me, (is this a good thing?) and a helper appeared immediately to go back to the screen I was on before! Whew. Since I already had my phone up to see my list of choices recommended by the Sierra Club, I could just take photos without anyone knowing.
I talked with a friend who said she never votes in primaries. I tried to stress that these are the school boards who end up making decisions about schools teaching correct history or letting kids say they're gay, judges who make decisions right in our community about people's behaviors, justice toward racism, and even a governor like our current one who finally got Medicaid increases from the Feds to be approved (it took several years while all the Medicaid patients waited.) The state legislature is only one seat in each house from no longer being GOP controlled...so having the right candidates to knock the GOP out is important.
Anyway, I'll keep pushing her to vote. I know when I was her age (just retired at 62) I didn't care that much about primaries. I didn't retire that early but I did spend a few months doing almost nothing.
Today's quote:
As we cultivate our life, our beauty becomes as much about what we are creating and doing as it is about our appearance.
I called in my order, "ready in 15 min"...and I get there in 10.
It's before 6 pm!
So many little dolls to look at while I had just a one minute wait!
Home with 2 shrimp tacos (a la carte) and 2 sauces (you can guess which is hottest)...shrimps are grilled, 3 on each one. Cost $8.33 - I give them a $10 and say keep the change!
Today's quote:
Respect yourself for the partnership you share with the great Fabric of Being that supports life everywhere.
-The Great Council of the Grandmothers:
in "You are here now. You were born for these times."
I hear birds chirping, though we're back to winter temps...but at least no snow and it will stay above freezing all day!
Not my shot, and this bird obviously isn't outside my windows...but I had it in my files!
Progress on the tiny tall house on First St.
Someone else posted this beautiful tree. Now that's a great example where a tree can just grow and grow all directions...but I wonder if there isn't a space underneath where kids could hide.
I may like dragons, but I think this is a bit over the top!
So we should call upon this dragon slayer, eh?
Last week I was at a birthday party for a dear friend, who just turned 39 (er 90!). Bette is also a Mudbuddy too!
Photo by The Valley Echo
Today in Black Mountain there will be hundreds of runners that hope to run up to Mt. Mitchell, but due to snow probably at high elevations, it may just be a marathon, turning around and coming back to Black Mountain from the Blue Ridge Parkway. For me it means lots of new people in town that are in the parking places I usually would use!
I hope everyone has a happy Saturday!
Today's quote:
I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. -Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870)
Someone else's photo. Isn't it strange that a creature that's been around so long got named after someone's position in a church which has only existed 2 thousand years. No wonder these beauties look at us askance so often!
Feeling kind of out of it for writing. Plus dentist appointment early this morning. I'll let you know tomorrow how I did!
And a bit ah ha...which is definitely the source of my recurring and awful cough problems. I have a Brita Filter Pitcher. I scrubbed it out the last time I changed the filter at the beginning of the month. Hot soapy water and then bleach water.
But tonight there were 2 big fronds of mold waving at me from the bottom in the water (which I had just had my 3rd glass of for the day!) Geese. I'll try to take a photo. It is definitely trash!
Now wouldn't it have been nice if that was penicillin there!
News of family came in a phone call last night. My granddaughter's next door apartment burned yesterday, but hers wasn't damaged, except the firement clawed open her ceiling to make sure there was no fire up there. The fire-wall between the framed wood apartment held it back. But now she's looking for a place to roost temporarily. So glad nobody was hurt, and her things just have insulation and wallboard all over them.
And then...updated 7:33 am. The dentist office just called and canceled my appointment. I was half dressed. Two more weeks. But I don't feel normal now...getting up so early and nothing to do!
Today's quote:
Gratitude is the way the heart remembers––remembers kindnesses, cherished interactions with others, compassionate actions of strangers, surprise gifts, and everyday blessings.
The Imagine Peace Tower, a memorial to John Lennon, designed by Japanese-American artist and musician Yoko Ono (born Feb 18, 1933)
The memorial, installed in 2007, took 3 years to develop alongside her engineers and was her largest work of art to date.
Please tap/click on image for full view.
It is located on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay near Reykjavík, Iceland and consists of a tall tower of light projected from a white stone monument that has the words "Imagine Peace" carved into it in 24 languages - a reference to Lennon's campaign for peace, and his song "Imagine".
It consists of 15 search lights with prisms that act as mirrors, reflecting the light vertically into the sky. On a clear night, the tower appears to reach an altitude of at least 4000 meters and it is powered by eco-friendly geothermal energy. All in all, the tower uses about 75 kW of power.
From FaceBook.
I wonder if any local folks can name this Black Mountain restaurant.
Update on the volunteer position, the man who's designed their web site and had done all this blog/newsletter/mailing list work, is willing to walk me slowly through it, and just start with the blog. Whew. That sounds better. It's a Wordpress site, so I have to learn that program. He's at least got a templet already.
Today's quote:
Richard Ford, author of novels featuring the character of Frank Bascombe, says: “I like the part of being a writer in which you don’t feel the sides of anything. You don’t see the beginning, and you don’t see the end, you’re just in it.”
Appreciation to my fellow bloggers. Especially those who commented when I said I was feeling low. Next day was pretty topsy turvy...learned that the man I volunteered to help with a newsletter and blog wanted me to do the whole enchilada.
Tried to find the candidates our party had on the primary who had the same interests as yours truly. Couldn't find the paper that had posted candidates positions at the library, where early voting was taking place. But a friend on Facebook sent me her choices, so tomorrow that can happen.
I tried adding a new gmail account and google is going crazy thinking I've never used their services before! Hello, even blogger is a google product.
Went to studio and did a little fabricating of a base upon which a dragon will stand, which I'll start constructing on Thurs.
My car insurance rates have sky rocketed, so I plan on calling some other companies tomorrow (which I've put off for 2 weeks already)
I stumble around but have stayed upright so far. My hands were so dry from working in clay, I came home and lathered hand cream on them, then silly me tried to reply to comments with just 2 fingers typing. Pretty lame.
You bloggers have kept me in some kind of touch with the world beyond my four walls many times. Big thank you for sharing whatever interests you, and often teaching me a thing or three. I especially enjoy photos of places, critters, people and things I'd never see otherwise!
So today I want to acknowledge John at "By Stargoose and Hanglands," and share the musician he posted on Sunday...I went to hear many other YouTube videos by John James. And here's a fun one, not the one Mr. Stargoose gave. You'll have to check his site to hear the one he shared.
John James plays various tunes, and I think his guitar is differently tuned than the one I tried to learn on. His base string is at the top, rather than the bottom. Just my impression and I never got to being able to press the right strings to make a chord! Or are all electric guitars strung that way?
Here's another one I enjoyed. I kind of like the little introductions he makes, but I definitely like his skills.
Today's quote:
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918)
Several of my best friends are dealing with serious physical conditions. I try to be a caring friend, talking with them in various media (text, phone, email as they prefer.)
But the other evening when I was getting ready for bed, I looked in the mirror (which for some reason I avoid) and was surprised how drawn but ruddy my face looked. I hadn't been doing anything but reading and watching videos most of the day. I noticed I had some shortness of breath. Which also means coughing a lot.
It gave me pause. Without any pain, would this be my last night? I did finally go to sleep. And when dawn came, rolled over and went back to sleep.
Hey girl, you woke up!
Nope it didn't work. So I'm still kind of dragging around. It kind of hit me like a freight train this time. Or maybe my lungs really are ready to stop...but I think it's just the emotional reaction to knowing one of these nights I very well may not be waking up in the morning. That thought and feeling just depressed me no end.
Well rather than continue to whine, I'll just say the sun is shining, it will be getting warm today, and I have a commitment that I will honor, so I'm getting out there! I only write this down because I want to remember that I've been here (emotionally) today, and before...this is seasonal also. I'm not trying to get my blog buddies to send me good wishes...I think each of us has our own "cross to bear" as my mother would have said. Challenge is the term I use.
This is a journal in one sense...my sharing with you mostly the externals of my life, but sometimes my internal doings just bubble up. Thanks for reading.
PS, I didn't go to the studio yesterday afternoon, but did laundry. I felt so much better having given myself a closet full of clean clothes, and a bed with clean sheets. I can be creative again soon. For now I'm just creating my own life to be as good as I can.
Today's quote:
Breath. If a person wishes to study the self, to know the self, what is important isnot the study of the mind, of the thought, the imagination, nor ofthe body, but the study of the breath. The Breath has made themind and the body for its expression. It has made all from thevibration to the physical atom, from the finest to the grossest.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
From: The Philosophy of Breath and The Healing Papers
As I leave Montreat NC, I pass under it's stone gateway. Sorry about reflections.
Tom Sawyer's friends have put many coats of white paint on this basement wall of bricks...but you can see the iron of the bricks seeping though over time.
Yes, these walls are in the basement of the Black Mountain Center for the Arts...which was once used for the jail.
There's more to this story!
But to complete the story I started last Monday about the murals on this building, I noticed the one on the stairway today, which is described in the plaque about all the murals.
Here it is:
I hadn't seen the "Universal Citizen" mural yet...but this time I found it!
Universal Citizen
Today's quote:
Our loving intentions can easily transform the space in which we live.
However, do you think a prisoner in that jail could have had loving intentions enough to transform his space? Me neither. But we always have the ability to change our own way of reacting to reality around us.
Not sure if these are sister trees, or the small one is just a secondary trunk.
There are so many wonderful textures on trees.
Way above the creek bed, and the power lines, are houses along the top of this ridge.
While below is a short driveway and several hiking trails going in different directions in Montreat NC.
Most of the greenery in February in these woods comes from rhododendrons. But there are also some evergreen trees.
Today's quote:
“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life...”
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