Enjoying life

 

Wildflowers on the slope by the Lakeview Center where I pick up lunch most weekdays.

Last week we had delicious tuna salad, (with wheat bread, lettuce and tomato for sandwich fixin'), potato salad, beets and vanilla pudding. Did I mention the suggested donation is $1.50 by the Council on Aging? Most of us leave $2 or more each day. The program is continuing to serve just those who were coming before Hurricane Helene knocked out the dining facility at the Lakeview Center for Active Aging. We aging folks are maybe a bit less active these days. I do miss the socialization.

Two views of St. Augustine FL. I lived and worked there in the late 90s. I learned that damp winters on the ocean didn't agree with my breathing.

Another enjoyable Florida location, Ichetucknee Springs. There's a wonderful little "run" from the springs which has tubing or rafting  on the clear cold water...very shallow and under wild trees hung with Spanish Moss, and maybe a cottonmouth or two. Great summer memories here!

There's hopes that the stretch between Asheville and the Pisgah Inn will open up this month, so we can take one of our favorite drives and see some of the vistas for which the Parkway is known. We have missed this scenic area for the last 10 months. Red is of course the closed portion.

It's of course interesting to know that these maps are skewed such that north is in the top left corner, rather than directly up, as most maps show. I live in Black Mountain, near the parkway but can't drive directly to any overlooks at this time, the stretch near Asheville is just through woods.

Repairs on the Blue Ridge Parkway are steady but slow.

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Tiny little bursts of flavor, from last week's Tailgate Market

Two nights around 60 F degrees, I decided to bring this lady inside, perhaps to help her bring those bumps into blooms!

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Today's quote:

The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within.

Ruby Dee An old photo: My youngest son, Tai at 1 week old. ------------ Sharing with Tom's Tuesday Treasures

Today's quote:

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

HELEN KELLer

Some winter to consider

 From the Way-Back-Machine  - as posted in Living in Black Mountain NC - a blog that I'm no longer keeping current.

Just thought August might enjoy some thoughts of snow!

Winter sometimes provided gorgeous walks for me, 2011

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I must have a lot of influence...look at yesterday's temperatures! Not quite snow, but Aug 3 with the high of 66.

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Today's quote:

I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just as our memory does. -Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

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Indian Fry Bread On Yesterday's Pages

From 2013 and ancient history

Beginning of sharing some older posts when I am not at my desk some of the time. 

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From the Way-Back-Machine... from my blog Living in Black Mountain January 1, 2013

Clockwise from top left, View from Blue Ridge Parkway, Snow going into Montreat, Light tree Lake Tomahawk, View from BMCA Clay Studio, State Street in downtown Black Mountain (copyright Barbara Rogers)

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A really old photo:

The prints, which were discovered in the Tularosa Basin in White Sands National Park, were made 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, the researchers found.

NOTE: they are definitely not all by the same person!

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Today's quote:

The human skin is an artificial boundary: the world wanders into it, 

and the self wanders out of it, traffic is two-way and constant. 

—Bernard Wolfe 

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About 42% of Americans over 55 will eventually develop dementia.

A new study has found the strongest evidence yet that a balanced diet, consistent exercise and social activity led to significant improvement in cognitive function. 

SOURCE: PBS 

A farm right in town

 The Bush Farmhouse Restaurant, Black Mountain NC

A local restaurant (The Bush Farmhouse) has patio seating, and there are a few farm animals roaming among the tables. 

A lump of a pig.

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Today's quote:

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.

Arthur Ash An old photo: Fun at Disney World, waiting or resting. I act like I'm going to pour water on my mother, while Marty sits on the wall and does something with his foot in front of Russ' face. A carousel behind us was not one of the rides we went on. ----------- Having reached some kind of milestone with yesterday's 3000th posting, I'm backing down a bit from some of my usual blogging. Oh yes, you'll see me here still... but perhaps a bit differently. I will still check in on my friend bloggers!

Blog number 3000

 This is the 3000th, at least in this blog series, not counting my other blogs!

Someone might say I have a lot to say...

Rabbit Rabbit! Wishing good things come in this new beginning of a month!

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How about "Portraits, old and new"

Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, 1939 Photo by Ansel Adams

Frida Kahlo's painting, Diego and me. It shows exactly how much he was on her mind.

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Please forgive me for family portraits...they are what's in the files!

Cinnamon, the mother of two of my grandchildren. I still count her as a good friend, though she and my son, Marty, divorced several years ago.

More "Way Back" photos. Here we lived in Thompsonville CT, and my young sailor Marty was about 4, while little Russ was at least 13 months old, with my husband Doug, and myself getting leafy knees.

A bit later, son Marty sported a crew cut, I had some blond highlights, and Russ had most of his glorious blond curls cut off (which didn't last long!)

Fast forward to after my 1971 divorce from Doug, and here's Russ (around 5-6) in front of our mobile home. Below he's on Doug's lap as the 70s hairstyles allowed long locks for boys and men. Russ may have had a comb and brush, but a lot of good it did!

And yes, Russ is the son who grew up to have the wedding portrait leaning into a kiss and holding up his bride Michelle (used as header for the week of July 13)

Marty's second wife is Barbara, and here's their wedding picture. (used as header the week of July 20) (I don't have a photo of his wedding to Cinnamon, as it was before digital cameras!)

A young man (my youngest son Tai) that doesn't mind wearing a flower crown. They were making these. Not sure what the fair/function might have been, but flowers are always uplifting!

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Today's quote:

“Every important social movement reconfigures the world in the imagination. What was obscure comes forward, lies are revealed, memory shaken, new delineations drawn over the old maps: it is from this new way of seeing the present that hope emerges for the future...Let us begin to imagine the worlds we would like to inhabit, the long lives we will share, and the many futures in our hands.” ― Susan Griffin

Painting by Helena Nelson Reed

Happy Lammas, first harvest gives grains for bread making!

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Sharing with Sepia Saturday for tomorrow. A big thank you to Alan who puts together this meme. Stop on over to add your own old favorite photos, or just check out those who do!

Sepia Saturday says:

It is summer. We are sat on the pier. We have our overcoats on because it is Britain and it is cold. Everything is all right and everything is as it should be .... except the world seems to be tilting to the left. For those who like to look for themes for their Sepia Saturday offerings, there are themes a plenty here - from flat caps to straw baskets. For those who just like sharing old photographs why not get yourself off your seat and share your photos on or around Saturday 2nd August 2025 and add a link to the list below. 

Balcony views

 

On July 20-21 the morning sun came through the front door and hit my little moon-goddess sculpture. By the 24th it had moved on (the sunlight angle). I like that the sleeping goddess from Malta stayed in the shadows, appropriately enough.

Then one day I sat on my pocket balcony with my first cup of coffee. I was sitting in my new blue fabric sling chair. I had to throw away one of my first, since the fabric finally split along the weakest point. The new one was somewhat itchy fabric, but I think that might go away with time.

 These are the sights I see from my pocket on the second story. 

I like seeing the squirrels play sometimes, but there are many fewer than in the past. And it was good to see the lilies of the valley snugged up under that old maple tree. Drainage pipes from the roof gutters are strewn about. 

Our current landscape crew follows the corporate instructions to prune drastically and then cut little ditches next to the sidewalks, which are crazy dangerous for people on wheels who might run a bit over the edges.

My next door neighbor's balcony shows her green thumb.

You can see one of our air conditioning  units...we each have one in the living room and bedrooms. What my son brought up has made me wonder ever since. Why isn't there any drain for the air conditioning?

This is the downstairs neighbor from my view...next door balcony is her entryway roof. She also has some great plants.

I finally hung up the little windchime, but seldom hear it because most of the time the windows are closed to the heat.

The first of my second batch of blooms on this orchid. Another plant has also sent up a stem with buds. The heat is good for something!

So glad to say goodbye to July. Well, some things have been good. But I'd like to skip it next year, ok?

Today's quote:

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON From the old  photos  album: Sons Marty and Russ preparing the wedding decorations to go on the stage in the bar where Marty and Barb were married. The bar usually had a boxing logo on the back of the stage. Marty and Barb are married on stage. The reception was in the same place, and a wonderful venue...dance floor and a wet bar for those interested (most of them) Good sound system. A bit difficult for the cake cutting however. I discovered cake pops!

An imaginary trip

Considering

          mountains...

              and valleys ...

                          and rivers!

The attraction of the Appalachian mountains...the wonderful vistas.

In Colorado and Utah, hikes are working through different formations of rocks. Here son, Tai, and wife, Kendra, pause for a dual-selfie.

Tai is standing next to a little stream under a cliff.

Me standing near the overflow falls from Lake Susan which continue the path of Flat Creek from Montreat to Black Mountain NC.

Flat Creek in Black Mountain, a few summers ago, when it was behaving itself. It goes under a highway and joins the Swannanoa River waters, which definitely ran amok in September 2024.

Flat Creek when it flowed nicely by Ole's Guacamole restaurant, before 2024 when it flooded it for the second time. Ole's is being renovated at this time, and due to reopen.

A brilliant high school buddy, Jinni Stahl, spent her later years using scooters to help her get around after MS took so much of her mobility.

My other high school friend, Rosemary Beddingfield, had breast cancer that was in remission the last 5 years of her life. She always had a positive silly attitude. Both of these friends may be gone from walking the earth in their bodies, but their spirits are still part of my life. They both had birth anniversaries last week.

Son Russ and wife, Michelle seem to have found a way to cool off, maybe in FL.

And where our American adventures all began, when Giles Fitz Rogers came to Jamestown VA in 1664. (Here are replica ships moored in Jamestown VA, much as his would have been.)

And that reminds me to check out some Ancestry "hints" to see if there's any new information that can be substantiated. My cousin who's a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution thinks we descended from Giles' son, Peter, where I think it was more likely through his son John.

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Today's quote:

Incorporating human touch into our everyday lives is vital to the healing of our emotional and physical selves

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An old photo:

Granddaughter Cayenne and her Great Uncle Norm Dewolfe in 2011. Norm is husband to my ex's sister.