Some fun Sepia sharing

 

Oct 16, 1916 Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, located in Brooklyn, NY. The clinic was soon raided and Sanger arrested for selling birth control. She was the force which eventually resulted in Planned Parenthood clinics all over the US.

When I saw these women leaning sideways on each other, I immediately thought how their mothers had worn corsets which kept them upright whether they wanted to or not!

July 1939. Tobacco sharecropper's house. Whitfield family. Near Gordonton, North Carolina. by Dorothea Lang.

In the last 30-40 years, ever since the tobacco warnings led to laws where people could no longer smoke where they worked, nor inside most buildings...the tobacco farming industry of North Carolina collapsed. When I moved to NC in 2007 there were still small farms growing tobacco, mainly for the cigar industry which seemed slower to decline (I think.) Now, in 2021, there are almost none.

It's a different view from a doctor's warning to actually addressing a person's addiction to smoking. I can sure understand why some folks are still smoking or chewing tobacco...and feel bad about it, but wouldn't tell them to quit. I managed to finally quit smoking about a year before having my last baby, and I had my first 2 before I'd even begun the habit. I would like to lose weight, which certainly contributes to my own medical conditions, but none of my friends tell me to not eat a piece of pie when it's available and home made!

And recently was the anniversary of the graduation of these three women from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. 

1929 photo of my Great Aunt Margaret Miller. She taught High School Math all her life, but enjoyed going gambling at times in Cuba, back before the Communist regime.

Sharing these photos with Sepia Saturday this week!

Quote for today:

​I​​ believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. -James Madison, fourth US president (16 Mar 1751-1836)

Autumn on the Blue Ridge Parkway

 

Most of my photos have been cropped since I took them through the windows of our car, and it's almost impossible to avoid all the reflections. Helen is a good driver, and stayed back aways from the car in front of us. Most of the way up, we didn't see many cars going our direction. But eventually we caught up with crowds!

Entrance to Craggy Gardens picnic area goes to the left here. We stayed straight, er, curves.

And were rewarded around the next bend with some beautiful colors!

The foliage on south facing slopes seems to be turning colors first!

The next post we'll arrive at the Craggy Gardens Ranger Station.

 Today's Quote:

​Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement. -William Morris, designer, poet, and novelist (24 Mar 1834-1896)

Beginning the Parkway trip

 

We knew there would be nothing to eat available on the Blue Ridge Parkway...it's a national park after all.

So our first stop was Filo Bakery. It was too early for sandwiches, so I got an almond croissant and Helen got a gluten free muffin that has chocolate chips. I forgot the major flavor of the muffin but it was kind of orange/yellow.

We stopped to use the facilities at the Folk Art Center, and to pick up a road map. Turns out we drove 80 miles to Grandfather Mountain...though we just turned around and came home a bit quicker way.

I didn't say we drove without stopping!! We made our decisions as we felt like it.

Slowly we'd come around a bend (there are lots of them) and see some color!

Today's quote:

​We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. -Wernher von Braun, rocket scientist (23 Mar 1912-1977)

Miniature donkeys

 I loved the friendly donkeys...who let me pet them out on the patio at the Bush Farmhouse Restaurant.

Taking a picture of a big old pig wasn't very easy.

I didn't see the animals again in my area of the restaurant while waiting for my friends, or during our meal.

I did have a rather pricey but delicious beet and cheese and arugula salad. I'd never heard of the cheese, and probably it's not on my diet, but a soft round which was really good. I love beets in salads. It was called Beet Burrata, and didn't have berries which are on the menu, but the sage anchovy dressing was most agreeable.

The hamburgers which my friends ordered cooked "rare" were well done, because (the chef said) there is pork sausage in with the beef, and it needs to be cooked to that temperature.

Today's quote:

​Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Lunch with(out) the animals

 Actually most of them were out in the garden, and only one donkey came into my dining area, and was easily steered out to the garden by one of the staff, and that was before we ate.

I got there early, at The Bush Farmhouse, which has gone through several changes over the years When I moved here in 2007, it was a little farmers market which was owned by folks who soon became friends of mine. It was a bit pricy but local produce was available all year round.

Later owners put a lot of effort into raising various veggies right on the property...and those beds are still active.

Well, the chickens thought this dirt had just the right bugs or worms for them to scratch up.

There's patio seating where the little donkeys were walking, before any customers came in. They are miniature donkeys.

This was our table, where lone little me sat for a half hour waiting for my friends. In the meantime about 6 other tables were set up, most on the patio. This area is kind of halfway inside and halfway outside.

It's also where the bar is situated.

I really enjoyed reading the menu, then asking for definitions of some of the words...this is South African cuisine.

OK, I've already shown you a lot, so let's do other photos tomorrow!

Today's quote:

​The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas-covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal, is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)

Last of Asheville Kenilworth Studio Tour

 

I missed a step in one of the houses...it was higher than normal, and I landed on my bad knee...so I was a bit wiped out by that, though they took very good care of me, and I was able to walk to my car unassisted. 

My friend had to purchase one of the cups about the Flying Weiner Circus (they are actually Dachshunds doing tricks depicted on her works.)

I was so impressed by the beautiful and varied homes in this very hilly neighborhood! I'm glad we decided to drive around, rather than walk!

Today's Quote:

​At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted. -Eric Idle, comedian, actor, and author (b. 29 Mar 1943)

Studio tour

 

Two ceramics artists displayed their work in this studio. We were also thrilled with this view from one of the open windows!

This ceramic artist did some folded pieces, which were large and well made. She also did a lot of tiles.

The Indigenous honors

 

This is how I imagined my ancestors when I was a kid from Texas, growing up in St. Louise, Missouri. I listened to radios and then watched on early TV's the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, and Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Indigenous was not a name in my vocabulary, though Cowboy and Indian was.

Hunkpapa Lakota chief Sitting Bull and family, 1882.

The teepees in various movies were similar, but I didn't see the starving Native Americans, nor their children torn from families and sent to boarding schools. I only saw the hero cowboys and their lives. 

So this last Monday was Indigenous People's Day in many communities around the USA. The Italian descendants all celebrated the old Columbus Day still. I noticed lots of FaceBook posts about Native Americans, and wonder if that's just because of my own interest. My Italian friends may have missed seeing all those posts!

Balanced Rock in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, 1928.

As a tourist in 2005, I visited this park, and many of the features are still the same. They probably were the same before any western Europeans appeared on the scene, i.e. Spanish and then English explorers. I wonder how the Indigenous peoples thought about these incredible formations.

I camped in Bryce Canyon in the 1970s with my 2 older sons...a beautiful experience of nature!

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week, where we post some old photos and stories of our own interests!

Photo Paiute Tribal Member Jeremy, Credit Arch Deac Design LLP, shared on FB

Charlie Bulletts,  Kaibab Band of Paiutes at Bryce Canyon.

"I'd like visitors that come to Bryce Canyon to know that Southern Paiutes are still here.

"We're not 'these people,' 'these people once lived here,' 'these people once thrived,' 'these people survived in a harsh environment.' Those types of statements, to me, are not true because it's who I am, and I am still here, we are still here."

-Charley Bulletts

"Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, as well as a commitment to their inherent tribal sovereignty. It is also a day for the celebration of native culture and cultural understanding through cross-cultural teachings.

"We invite you to learn more about Bryce Canyon's indigenous peoples, their stories, and tribal elder perspectives at: https://www.nps.gov/.../history.../americanindianhistory.htm"

From Bryce Canyon National Park

And another article shared on FB...

Columbus Statue to be removed...(from Mexico City)

 "Now, reports Johnny Diaz for the New York Times, a sculpture of an Indigenous woman is set to replace the controversial explorer’s likeness."

"A pedestal in the center of Mexico City that once hosted a statue of Christopher Columbus has stood empty since last October."

A 1909 photograph of the Christopher Columbus statue

"Columbus’ gesture refers to an outdated history that casts the explorer as the “discoverer” of the Americas. In truth, Columbus ventured to the Caribbean in 1492 and met the Taíno people—one of many civilizations that had been living across North America for tens of thousands of years. The explorer enslaved and killed thousands of Indigenous people; his actions paved the way for European colonization of the Americas and the transatlantic slave trade.

"For now, reports the Times, the Columbus statue will be relocated to Parque América, in Mexico City’s wealthy Polanco neighborhood."

From: Smithsonian Magazine

Kenilworth Art Stroll

Last Sat. in Asheville!

Our first stop had 3 artists...we liked having different things to see at one stop.

I loved seeing the homes and wonderfully landscaped lots...yards...gardens!

Today's quote:

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. -William Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965