Relief and working

 It's like the drain which has been stuck has finally been released.

The manager emailed that I can move in on the date we wanted to (last week of July) and she said that I can sign the lease on that day and pay the rent starting that day! So Durango it is!

Whoo hoo!

I notified all my family and friends (and now you!) that I'm moving to Durango!

I'm so relieved that they figured things out so well! (Finally!)

And now I've got a zillion boxes half full, trying to figure out how books and silverware and dishes and clothes and pottery will all go together to be stacked in a little U-Haul truck in a bit over a month.

And having a real address to forward mail and so forth, I can actually give my notice here at the present apartment...a bit more than 30 days. But I know someone will move into this place quickly. The present management also won't charge me for the remaining month on my lease, because of the demand. I waited a year to get this apartment, and just the same for the one in Durango. Having some housing for low-income seniors is a premium need everywhere.

Hey real-estate people who've been building MacMansions teetering on the highest slopes of the mountains...there are a zillion people turning 70 and 80 who need a place to live. We survived lots and saved and paid our social security, and now there's not much money left to match the life left (with or without medical needs!)

And I'm working again...moving throughout the apartment with different tasks about half completed. There's a packed tupperware tub on the bed, ready to be put on the floor in the dining area. But first I need to vacuum that carpet. I just moved the table out to the middle of the floor so I can start stacking boxes and tubs over at the wall in the dining area. And the passthrough needs to be cleared off, with all that stuff to pack, then clean the passthrough well. It's not been touched for quite a while. So it should be the first thing to do.

But I've also only packed some books that remain...there are pottery books to give to the studio where I used to work. And some for the library, and perhaps some for a "little library." So it's time to get going back to work!

So what has gone down the drain (which was plugged up?) My anxiety while waiting for this manager and all her "rules." There's about a handful of anxiety still left, since I haven't signed a lease yet...and we do have over 1700 miles to drive pulling the car behind the truck and stay overnight in motels. Tai will fly here and has a couple of friends who will help load the truck. 

Also I feel the relief across my shoulders and neck...things are going to work out. Right now the google mail app keeps telling me its "update failed." So I will copy and paste this again if need be...hope that works!

Signing off for today. Will post some words and images probably from the internet every day if I don't do my usual coffee and blog reading! Who am I kidding. Coffee and blogs get my blood going in the morning!

Sharing with Thankful Thursday

Day trip on high

 

Friend's granddaughter and a little waterfall by the Blue Ridge Parkway

Teresa captures a shot of the little waterfall

Used as my header, Tanbark Ridge Tunnel is just to the right of this cascade

Not a great selfie at all!

Looking out the window of the little store at Craggy Overlook...toward the northwest. Unfortunately the bushy foliage obscures this view from the walkway. You can sometimes see I-26 going toward Tennessee. The Craggy Gardens picnic area is still not open.

The Parkway Map with road closures still due to Hurricane Helene in Sept. 2024.

If you enlarge you might see 2 towers in the distance to the left, on Mt. Gibbes next to Mt. Mitchell, which I don't think is visible here.

Our lunch overlook, higher than  Graybeard Mountain. The Graybeard trail starts near home, in Montreat, and the mountain is easily seen from Black Mountain and Lake Tomahawk.

Next week I hope to go up to Mt. Mitchell for a picnic. Highest mountain east of the Mississippi, as I've mentioned before. It's about the same altitude as the place in Colorado I hope to move to.

A neat split rail fence with Graybeard Mountain beyond...not sure which peak however.

The yellow area to right on I-40 (east of Asheville) is Black Mountain. (I think this map calls it 73! which it never was, but was 70 before interstates!) Anyway, if you see the words National and Forest you can find Mt. Mitchell State Park halfway between them. I'm enlarging this from a topo map that was for sale at the information store at Craggy Gardens.

This gives a better idea of where the Parkway has overlooks. Many times I'll just go to Tanbark Ridge Overlook. That's I-40 going left to right along the bottom of this view.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

JIMI HENDRIX

Lovin' my life

 I gotta admit, there are days when it feels like h-e-l-l and days when I feel so loved and embraced by the world, that I just sit here in awe. In high school we used to say "H-E double hockey sticks." We were being raised to be proper young ladies. Then the 60s and 70s happened (to me at least!)

The other day (the day after one from hell) I had friends give me a memory mug.

I don't know how many years we've been going on day trips. But probably 7-9 years. I'll ask Teresa, who's younger than me!

We drive somewhere within 50 miles and spend the day looking around at stores if it's a town, or sites and maybe waterfalls, find somewhere to either purchase lunch or bring a picnic, and take a selfie! So Teresa and Helen put this collection of selfies together for me to take with me when  I move...if I move.

Yep, the question of moving gives me high blood pressure when dealing with the iffy situations that come up. My sons are totally supportive of my desire to live where I can breathe better, hopefully a drier climate.

Yes, I cried when they gave the mug to me the other day over coffee. What sweet people I have as friends!

Sharing with Tuesday's Treasures!

I even updated my blogger portrait photo!

There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.

A.J. MUSTE

Black Boy Joy mural

 

There’s a joyful new work of art that peers over the coffee shops and galleries lining Asheville's River Arts District.

The mural, titled “Black Boy Joy,” was unveiled Friday as the latest addition to the Asheville Black Cultural Trail, a network of public markers and artwork honoring the people and places that have shaped the city’s Black history.

Tommy Lee McGee, the lead artist behind the piece, said he designed it after noticing that Black and brown joy is rarely highlighted in Asheville’s public murals.

The central figure is “a beautiful, excited, happy, joyful Black boy,” he said. “He's in the middle of his own garden that he's watering.”

McGee, who works under the name Sir Tom Foolery, collaborated with local artists Gus Cutty and Kathryn Crawford to paint and assemble the installation, which had to be “hoisted, piece by piece” 60feet high to be placed on the building’s tall brick walls.

The mural is composed of large sheets of painted plexiglass installed on the brick wall of Glen Rock Apartments, located at 372 Depot Street. Flowers, glowing orbs and a large tropical bird surround the child, while the sun forms a crown around his head.

The project is months-in-the-making, McGee told BPR, and is a response to the limited ways Black boys are often portrayed in art and popular culture.

“Black boys don’t always have to be hard and thugs and aggressive,” he said. “You can be in the midst of beauty and exhibit beauty and exhibit joy.”

The new installation is a counterpart to one installed last year called “Black Girl Magic.” The trail is funded by a $500,000 grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s Tourism Product Development Fund.

The Asheville Black Cultural and Heritage Trail launched in 2023 and includes 14 stops and 20 interpretive panels across neighborhoods in Asheville, including downtown, Southside and the river area. The trail plans to add a third and final installation on South Market Street this winter.

Source: Blue Ridge Public Radio

Sharing with Monday Murals

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All the great speakers were bad speakers at first. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yesterday was Flag Day.

Here's a pretty one. Don't miss the words in the stripes!

By Margo Ellis