Outside my apartment and the glass blowing place

We all have many aspects to ourselves - integrating these parts into wholeness is an important step in healing.

My kitchen window has this glorious bush of azaleas under it. Which I can't see, but my across the courtyard neighbors can! (And these photos were taken before the last rain!)

Another huge bush is under the next neighbors kitchen window down the hill.  Here are the iris too!

 

While stopped at the light on State Street last week, I saw the new addition to the site for a glass blowing studio and gallery. It may open this summer. I hope so!

A small and well contained honeysuckle bush was by the parking lot behind the Swannanoa History Museum. I remembered the joy of pulling the bottom off a bloom and sucking the honey, many times. The natural plant has become a bit of a nuisance as it vines all over the place often.

Today's quote:

You may want to press the fast-forward button through your pain, but in doing so you would miss out on important learning.

PS: All the new leaves and blossoms on trees outside my apartment window have hidden my view of I-40 already. Soon, I'll loose sight of the ridgeline on the other side of the valley for about 5-6 months.

Lake Tomahawk and approaches to it - April 2024

 Driving to the Tomahawk Senior Center, I was thrilled at the springtime beauty. Here are shots through the car window, on a day when I could stop without traffic behind me!

And construction continues, but the lake is refilled to it's normal level. The dam is still off limits, so no walking around on the 0.55 mile loop, just walk halfway then back. 

From the top of the stairs at the Lakeview Center, 4.20.24

Below the dam, 4.22.24 Photo by James Polling

And from on top of the dam at the barricade, by Bob Nagan, 4.23.24

View from by the lake 4.22.24

View from top of stairs at Lakeview Center 4.22.24

Today's quote:

Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit. 

-Edward R. Murrow, journalist (1908-1965)

Sharing with My Corner of the World

Wordless Wednesday

 

Miniature Azalea, April 1, 2024

Miniature Azalea, April 12, 2024

Monday April 8, 2024 early Peonies

Friday April 12, 2024 Peonies after 3 days rain!

A form of hydrangea Correction: Snowball Verbena! Thanks Tom!

Azalea blooming

Monday, April 8, 2024

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Friday April 12, 2024

Sharing with My Corner of the World

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday

Today's quote:

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN

From the window - you know the one I mean

 

Looking down I see two or more azaleas about to bloom

Directly below my window is a bush with beautiful azalea blooms.

The white and pink dogwoods are just beginning to pop out. 

And as blooms start outside, the orchid is finally letting go of it's own beautiful flowers...which started in January if I remember correctly. Here's the link to Jan. 26 when I posted "At her Prime."

Today's quote:

I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.

ANNE FRANK

What's with these flowers?

 

How strange on Sept. 24 to see these azaleas blooming! These are beautiful miniature bushes, which hopefully will return in the spring with flowers!

A lot of perennials seem to be blooming again.

The above red blooms are a tiny rose...though their bushes look sad. And nobody's paying much attention to the thistle (or some other very prickly thing) growing in the foreground.

Today's quote:

Heartbreak and hope are not mutually exclusive. We can be angry and sad and filled with longing for something we cannot have, and simultaneously we can be grateful for what we’ve got — aware, for reasons we’d never choose, of what really matters and what doesn’t.

LENNON FLOWERS

Blossoms around Blue Ridge Apartments

 

I liked this shot so much it's my header over on "When I was 69" blog.

These rocking chairs, and ones on the other side of the building, are frequent gathering places of residents.

There are some handicapped formatted apartments in the complex.

This lovely pink dogwood is on the other side of the office building, with a three story building behind it, more apartments with basically the same layout as mine, but on a hallway rather than directly outside through their front doors.

After the late pruning in March, some azalea bloom are still there on these bushes. Here is my kitchen window.

This flame azalea (native to the woods of North Carolina) is doing very well.

Today's quote:

There’s power in love to help and heal when nothing else can. There’s power in love to lift up and liberate when nothing else will. There’s power in love to show us the way to live.

BISHOP MICHAEL B. CURRY