Catching up

Above Black Mountain Ingles grocery (Blingles to natives) are the mountains where the Blue Ridge Parkway roams.  On Tues. 3.19.24 while we had 22 degrees at 10 am, the mountains showed  bit of snow up there.

Went back last Saturday to see how the Magnolia tree at the Veterans Cemetery was doing.

I was a bit disappointed that it still looked kind of bleak.

Instead of bright pink flowers, these are some pink and dark red and white combination. It doesn't come off that pretty even at full bloom. Or maybe it is past prime, and dark flowers are fading. I'm not going to keep it on my list of places to visit.

And here is this week's version of our very small house on First Street as of Sunday 3/17/24

A wintertime view of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Black Mountain

Rev. Michael J. Carter, of UUCSV

Jane talking to Kate as she updates the sign for next week's service at UUCSV.

Sharing with Skywatch Friday

Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos

Today's quote:

On March 22, people from all around the world will gather near rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, to sing for the healing of the waters of the Earth and the healing of our inner waters. March 22 has for many years been recognized as “World Water Day” all around the globe.

Dry Falls, Highlands, NC.

My donations to the church auction this week

 The auction on line began on last Saturday, but the extravaganza with an auctioneer, bidding in person for special items, and food goodies won't be for another week!

Nine inch plate with hand painted glaze of The Greenman. By Barbara Rogers

Cats doing Yoga series of 4 ceramic sculptures, about 4 inches for longest dimension

here's a twisted tree pose, by Barbara Rogers

Some kind of warrior pose... with tail assist

Warrior pose front view

Bridge pose, from one side

Bridge pose from the other side

Seated tree pose, front view

Seated tree pose from side view

Hand painted quart size juice pitcher (glass) with 4 cups, (Athropologie store source.)

Today's quote:

In partnership and relationship, we harness the power of union.

Beyond Land Acknowledgement: Towards Reparations and Healing

A screen shot, and unfortunately my screen is not hi def. But there's the QR code. A great conference coming Sept. 30 at the Reuters Center of UNCA, Asheville NC. All presenters are Cherokee. No registration at the door. Registration closes Sept. 25. Webinar option available! Sorry, I just realized the links don't work from a photograph. I'll try to give the actual poster as soon as possible, for my friends in the Asheville area.

And the wind blew

 For days we've endured both steady winds, and gusts that are crazy...here in Black Mountain NC. So on Wed. a tall tree fell from these winds...on the parking lot at church.

My friend who drives by it on her way home from work told me. I was sure other members of the church (Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley) knew about it, and there wasn't anything I could do.

Until Thurs. morning when I was out and about, after my lab work for my yearly physical...and after getting my coffee! I had to have the blood drawn on a fasting condition, so hadn't had my morning cuppa yet.

Picked up coffee and a scone, and drove to the church.

And there were all kinds of people with chain saws attacting that big old tree...which had very little roots. No wonder it fell.

There's the church in the background...a good thing this tree was courteous to fall in the parking lot!

There were quite a crew of our building and grounds committee out there. I just took photos and left, not being able to do anything helpful.

Neatly stacked and organized wood...some of these people knew how to sort and prepare wood for other uses.

It had been quite a tall tree. 

This was about 9:45am  Thur. May 4

This guy had the correct equipment for tree removal. We have one member of the congregation who works with trees all the time, but I couldn't see his face, so am not sure who this young man was.

I hope all the other trees that are down haven't caused much damage either. Some phones and electric lines have been cut unfortunately. We all depend upon those wires up there these days.

Today's quote:

 "I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." Jerome K. Jerome

More houses of the Spirit

 I bring you to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swanannoa Valley.  UUCSV as it is known by those who attend.

 There is now a sweet memorial garden in a quiet place under trees.

 The memorial wall has names of people I've known (all but one of them). It doesn't contain names of those who don't have friends/family to post their names.  I see that as a limitation that our diverse geography has created, families live elsewhere, so don't put a name where their loved ones had lived.

Religious Education

Our Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swanannoa Valley honored our religious education program and all the people that bring it together for our children and their families, on Sunday this week.

Two teens read the story of the Lorax to all of us (while the youngest sat around in front at their feet.

Our Director of Religious Education headed up the program (in purple here, Beata Ball) while her daughter, Dorinda, was given the ritual of passage of crossing a bridge into adulthood (while watched by her father on right.) On left is Sybil Argentur (our former Director of RE) and our minister Rev. Michael Carter, both seated.

Sybil led the bridge crossing ceremony so Beata could be a parent rather than RE Director for a moment.

Many little ones had the chance to talk about their classes this year.  It was most enjoyable...for the grownups at least.  One of them read a story about bullies and a pink shirt, and apparently that was the theme of all the children (and most parents) wearing pink shirts.  It was all about finding your own power.

I'm taking a few days off from blogging. Hope you feel better than I do, achoo!

The choir!

 The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swanannoa Valley. 500 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain, NC

 We are a small congregation, our sanctuary holds about a hundred people.

 Guest violist, Marianne Vail.

 Somos El Barco...

 Several solos were performed for the first piece...

 The African hymn, Ishay Oluah...and everyone in their African gear!

Only 2 pieces were sung by our choir this Sunday.  But they were so excellent.

Thanks to leader Annelinde Metzner, pianist, Sue Stone, and violist! Linda and Maggie were percusion for the African piece.

Yes, there also was a sermon...and all the other things our services have.  But the choir was the main act for the day!  So I acted like a concert goer and held my phone over my head a few times to capture photos for remembering and sharing!

before and after

After the summer with many rains...this is what our flower bed on the shady side now looks like. This includes many leaves courtesy of the oak trees nearby.

It's good to see how both the north facing and south facing beds have weathered the heat/rain and lack of care.  When you depend upon volunteers, it sometimes is difficult to get something like flowers cared for.  There are more important things.  And we can see the lantana is the best survivor here, as well as a few dusty millers.

These were planted back in the spring, by volunteers.

This is the before picture, having planted begonias, marigolds, wandering jew, and maybe some other shade tolerant plants.

After a lot of sweat and bending over...this was the completed work in May of this year.

But this is what the bed looked like before we even started working on it.  Then we had a lot of good work done by some volunteers.