Seasonal changes

 

And so it begins, in a parking lot, no less.

Today's quote:

While it is not difficult to appreciate that large, powerful fliers such as geese, swans, cranes and even ducks and shorebirds can make intercontinental flights, it is not quite so easy to comprehend that this twice-yearly routine is also followed by small birds such as sparrows and finches. As for hummingbirds — such tiny scraps of life and tied to a lifestyle that requires frequent energy-rich meals — it seems inconceivable. . .  Rufus hummingbirds nesting along the southern coast of Alaska regularly spend the winter in Mexico, some 2,000 miles away: a few stay in the very south of Texas and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The calliope hummingbird travels much the same route and, at 0.1 ounce is the smallest long-distance migrant in the bird world.
        - Robert Burton, The World of the Hummingbird

As quoted in The Heron Dance Art Journal

Looking at trees

 

This maple on the right brings a bit of shade, but the 2 dogwoods further down the sidewalk are not doing very well. My apartment is to the left, the second set of wood stairs.

At the bottom of the hill I noticed these maples are a different variety, with sharp pointed leaves. Sorry, not all that clear in this pic.

At the junction of Walker Street are a couple of evergreens, with a lot of ivy growing up their trunks. New house can be seen behind them.

The other side of the driveway has pretty dense woods. I'm so glad there's this barrier between highways and our neighborhood.

This was an early bloomer in the spring, and it looks like it's going to show fall color pretty soon also.

Same bushy form with the evergreens in the background.

I think this line of firs (or whatever evergreens they are) were planted intentionally, since they are in a line and evenly spaced.

Looking up to the clubhouse/office building. Many steep slopes have this ground cover on them.

This is the little maple forest which I look out upon from my windows in the building on the right. With the steep hill, I am on the upper floor on this side of my apartment.

And since 9/11 was this week, this is the "Survivor Tree" there. It's likely there will be one in Lahaina Hawaii also, if the early signs are correct. 

Today's quote:

“That is why the future is so endlessly fascinating. Try as we can, we’ll never outguess it.” Arthur C. Clarke  

Just remembered these

 Our two Bento Box lunches...mine with scallop teriyaki...only had cooked onions in with them. but I found brown rice available for $1 more...they do it good!  Miso soup comes with it and was just right!

My friend had shrimp tempura..and liked her white rice.

You'll have to imagine the tofu and teriyaki entre' with brown rice, because that photo disappeared. Here's the last one I had, before learning about brown rice! My friend had 3 meals out of this wonderful mountain of veggies, and a bit of tofu.

I have enjoyed Sake Sushi...and will be going back. As soon as the tooth is repaired

On a hot hot Tues I spent a couple of hours in free air-conditioning at Ingles grocery, eating one of their banana muffins, and drinking a Starbucks decaf Americano. (no dealing with ac mold on that hot day!) I asked the kids at Starbucks how old they though I might be. One safely refused. The other guessed 73. I would like that, being 81 now.  He/she asked how my joints are (all of 17 maybe as much as 20 him/herself) and bemoaned arthritis in their family. I showed everything moves just fine (without divulging the joint on one little finger which is all swollen and askew). I'm pretty grateful for my mobility!

Today's quote:

Eyes have busied themselves exclusively with seeing although they can hear better than ears whenever they join forces with what’s outside the mind’s perimeter. 

Etel Adnan,  painter, poet, and philosopher  (February 24, 1925–November 14, 2021) 

Thanks to Inge Look, Norwegian post card artist...

Lovely dinner for one

I tried sitting alone in Fresh restaurant, waiting to be given at least a drink. (never came) I received a menu, and knew what I wanted already. After 10 minutes I decided I could just as well take it as take-out.

Shrimp Scampi does pack ok, and stays hot once I'm on my way. 

I learned only two waitpersons were working Sunday noon shift. (They sure could learn to change that!)

The welcoming red door at Fresh Restaurant

As I waited another 25 minutes, most of it spent in the car reading my mail, I noticed this little white pup sitting on his owners lap while she ate. A real pup. 

Both the working servers wore their body art for all to see. The hostess even pitched in and handed out menus to the new-comers. I gladly went home and munched half of my shrimp and a third of the angel hair, and saved the side salad for dinner. Oh so good!! Left overs will be 2 more servings of angel hair. They didn't bother to sprinkle parmesan on it though, so luckily I had some in my fridge.

Today's quote:

In the garden of life, what have the weeds taught me?

“’One is the human Spirit…’ Into this depth let us silently sink our roots. There lies our only source of peace.” 

–Br. David Steindl-Rast, from his meditation at the 30th Anniversary of the United Nations in 1975

New neighbors soon

 Looking up Walker St....

There's that empty lot on a steep slope. They start by building a high basement wall...lots of concrete blocks.  July 29. I posted about this here.

Another two story home is framed out. Aug 26

 Aug 28 As I go buy on this corner when shopping, I've watched these bare bones turn into a dwelling. The construction workers find some shade near their cars, sit on the side of the road and eat their lunches.

Sept. 3 This is the corner of Walker St. and Old US 70, where I turn left to go to Black Mountain or right to Swannanoa or Asheville. Not sure why I caught that rainbow flash! It is not through a window.

I'm happy that the dentist treated my broken tooth last Friday, and reconstructed it somehow. Amazing work, and chuckles throughout. I will next get some help on the other surfaces where I've also lost enamel.

Quote for this week:

Love is so short and forgetting is so long.

 -Pablo Neruda, poet, diplomat, Nobel laureate (1904-1973)

On the streets (or the curb)

 

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week. Theme is "On the street." Yes that little guy is indeed sitting on a curb!

Children enjoying the streets of New York 1957

The opening of the Eiffle Tower during 1889 World's Fair, Paris France 

Atlanta's Five Points area in 1892.

Undated post card of Atlanta's Five Points

Hope you'll check out other's who post at Sepia Saturday! There aren't all that many of us regulars...but we'd always welcome anyone who wants to share old photos, on or off the weekly theme! (I admit to being off-topic more than I'm on, but they haven't thrown me out yet!)

And for anyone who read my blog this last week, yesterday I went to the dentist and she made me a new tooth out of what was left from the broken off part. It looks very nice, and shows how others in my face have stains...shouldn't drink coffee I guess. But in a few weeks she said I could get those teeth fixed the same way. Whoopee. At least a temporary fix. 

Today's quote:

What is called discretion in men is called cunning in animals. 

-Jean de la Fontaine, poet and fabulist (1621-1695

And then there are good things in this world!

 

These cheerful beings came up in Facebook on the day my front tooth was broken off, by eating french fries no less. But the next day I bravely went with friends for another birthday lunch, and enjoyed myself if my smiles were a bit like the lady in front...mouth closed! More pretty flowers. An appointment on Sept. 8 to see my favorite dentist. No matter what happens in my mouth, she's very upbeat and a pleasure to have her giggle while drilling if necessary.

Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos 

and Thankful Thursday

Today's quote:

The gift, and the curse, of the scientific mind is to know that every time we presume to see the whole of something, the plane of reality will tilt to reveal new mysteries  — and when reality does that tilt, we’re always “staggered with the sudden sense that we had been looking at only a fragment. The history of our species is the history of learning and forgetting and relearning this elemental truth.”  Maria Popova, author, editor of The Marginalian Newsletter

Carol Long's pottery

 Not in my neck of the woods...the gallery posting this is in FL. But I've been a fan of Carol Long forever!

Carol Long New Work "Carol Long's sculptural pottery is a fantastical flight into the artist's curiosity, love of nature, and unique approach to the illustrated vessel form. With an Art Nouveau flair, Carol makes magic, fusing form and surface, exploring nature's themes with a sometimes more stylized and sometimes more abstract focus. Her pots are whimsical, lavishly decorated, and extraordinary. This collection includes some little treasures on a precious scale as well as breathtaking showpieces for your collection. Her interpretations of koi and birds are poetic, her sheep and mushrooms charming, and her poppies and thistles are utterly captivating. There is something for every Carol Long fan in this gathering. Shop Carol Long's pottery here." Charlie Cummings Gallery | Website Today's quote: "If we [blacks] have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs." Mary McLeod Bethun

Moldy life

  

This may be sideways, but there's no good way to look at it. My living room ac wall unit gave me this gift Sunday morning. I had been running it at 70 degrees, so supposedly it would dehumidify the largest area in the apartment...so it usually cut on a couple of times during the night, and in the evening, even though it was down to the 50s at night.

How it just blossomed so much mold on Sunday when I was opening the nearby windows because it was after all 63 outside!! It must have been off for maybe 8 hours...

So I unplugged it, and I pushed myself to figure out how to spray something into the guts of the machine, as there's that grill like thing behind the louvers. (looked up mold removal techniques, various solutions (literally liquids sprayed into it)) I looked up using bleach solutions, or vinegar...but decided to start with this detergent based one first.

I sprayed Lysol kitchen cleaner in there. Let it sit about 15 minutes, then with a rag on my index finger, swabbed these surfaces with warm soapy water. The rag went into the trash, and water was changed a few times.

 I did wear an N-95 mask for the awful cleanup job above. But I really don't have enough lung power to breathe in it any more. Geese, wonder why.

Then I let it sit for a couple of hours, hoping the Lysol on the innerds would do something.

And turned it on AC and constant fan for a couple of hours. I checked to see if any more little black things showed up. As of Mon when I write this, I have conquered one mold source. Actually I also did the window sills, including the sliding window tracks, which are vinyl clad with all kinds of cracks. More rags, spray, wipe down. let dry!

Then I was sweeping the front porch and the vinyl clad screen/storm door frame had the tailtell grey specks all along it, where I enter the apartment sometimes brushing against it. After brooming it and finding little results, this time I tried vinegar straight. Again, those cracks where it's got lots of bends were full of black stuff. I tried using lots of wetness in the rag of vinegar.

How do I live here, I sometimes wonder.

And the good news...I am going to let the plants outside die back in their natural ways. I'll keep deadheading the geranium. But the basil and mint may just lose their leaves and I will water them occasionally. Time for fall.

I think the sad little never-repotted orchid may also go to the trash. I'll overwinter the lavendar, which is looking very good for its first year. Maybe next year we'll have flowers!

Swannanoa Museum and History Center in Black Mountain NC

At the  Swannanoa Valley Museum and History Center (SVM) I want to share some of the pottery that has been made here about 1300 years ago, and more recently, by Native Americans in the area.

The archaeological display speaks of firing pots by the time Woodland Indians were living in the area (640 A.D.)

These display boards are about the digs by Warren Wilson college professors and students.

"Maude Welch, a Cherokee potter, lived as a young woman in Sough Carolina in Catawba surroundings, later moving to the Qually Boundary. She died in 1953.  Her descendants still live in Cherokee."  Qualla Boundary is a Cherokee reservation, including the city of Cherokee NC.

 (See below for reading the sign about the Wedding Pot)

A stirrup jug is a style that was often used in Meso-America, so it comes from the Western North America and Central and South American indigenous peoples from before there was European contact.

Three periods explained on story boards for the exhibit.

The display about Native Americans is rather small. Here we look further back before pottery making was part of the gathering places. 

Thanks to the Swannanoa Museum, for letting me take photos of the descriptive panels and the display of Native pottery. This post is one from 2019 when I was a docent there.

Today's quote:

“Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now,” Kerouac