Neighbors

 

OK the universe just posted this by mistake, but perhaps it's good to see since we've got quite a lot of the opposite kind of weather these days!

My shaky hands/fingers will sometimes do whatever I have little control over.

I walked (last week) to the top of the hill in the apartment complex in North Carolina. Just to breathe deeply the cool air...though later in the day it was muggy as can be, triggering lots of coughing fits. But for a while I could just get out of breath and stop for a bit to catch my breath. At the top of the parking lot, where I stopped, I found a neighbor having breakfast.

After my first photo on phone, I kept walking and taking more, hoping to get a closer image with my 5X magnification limit.

He actually continued nibbling in between these shots, perhaps 10 seconds apart.

Sharing with Saturday's Critters.

Some other views of my neighbors...

And my back was aching as I walked back down the hill.

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And as I move away from the familiar to be closer to at least one family member, I was happy to help out my next door neighbor this week. She lives here to be close to her daughter who just had a second baby. My neighbor doesn't drive much, but keeps her van running. She needed a ride to pick it up. I needed ice cream. So the cost for her was to stop at the "Blue Cone" for ice cream on the way to her car place where it had been worked on. Mmm, that soft serve locally owned little store makes just the right coolness for a hot day!

Yes, neighbors are important, as are family, and especially our chosen family, our friends! At least for me that's what I've learned in this lifetime.

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There is nothing more difficult yet more gratifying in our society than living with sincere, active, constructive hope for the human spirit.

MARIA POPOVA

Old places and some recognition

 

The Black Mountain library, 2026

Entrance to library 2023. the plantings have been cleared by the Beautification Committee and so no more Harry Lauder Walking Sticks or bulbs which pop up early each year. Now we have staid evergreens.

Black Mtn Depot 1910. Photograph by Herbert W. Pelton

Undated postcard but still from yesteryear!

A train at Black Mountain depot, undated.

Black Mountain College Studies Building at Black Mountain College has been named one of just 10 historic places in the United States as part of the World Monuments Fund’s Irreplaceable America list.

A historic building gained "World Monuments" status. It was part of the Black Mountain College.  

Sharing with Sepia Saturday

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Yesterday I decided to plan to get everything packed quickly and then have a last vacation here.  Why didn’t I think of that before? Lots of reasons, mainly health!

So I struggle along. Work a while. Rest a long while. Feel overwhelmed a lot!

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Talked on phone with my son who reassured me that the wildfires north of his town  are not of any concern, and the one in Mesa Verde National park was contained and put out. That was a relief. I remind myself that he had been a wildland firefighter for the National Forest Service for several years, and for AmeriCorps before that.

And the biggest personal relief, which I really didn't expect, was my son telling me to stop thinking I'm going to be a burden to them. I keep doing that, I guess. It does seem to be in my DNA. So I'm going to be a gift to them. I will arrive with a big bow on top of my head. Mom the gift.

Thankful Thursday again!

 

If I don't comment for a while, I'm pushing things into boxes. Taking boxes to thrift stores or the garbage! Or piling up the ones to keep and take to Colorado in a bit more than a week. My brain is fried.

Sharing with Thankful Thursday!

And near where my son lives in Cortez CO...

Lightning sparked the Long Canyon fire in Mesa Verde National Park on Monday, shutting down some of the park's popular attractions, the National Park Service said.

The Ferris Fire has moved south from Delores County into Montezuma County as of July 8 - the county where my son's home is.

“Be a nuisance where it counts. Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action. Be depressed, discouraged, and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption and bad politics—but never give up.”

~ Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Did you know that?

 

The historic Clearwater sloop was not allowed to participate in the ships parade in NY harbor on July 4, 2026. It took part in the bicentennial sail parade in 1976!  The banners on its sail say "Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, and Climate Solutions."

 

"In 1966, folk singer Pete Seeger and a group of activists decided to “build a boat to save the river,” envisioning that a sloop would bring people to the shoreline and inspire a movement to protect the Hudson River. Three years later, Clearwater set sail with a mission to save the Hudson through education, advocacy, and sailing. Today, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater remains resolute in this mission, and to date, more than half a million people have had the life-changing experience of sailing aboard the Clearwater. Learn more: https://www.clearwater.org/ "

Clearwater sailing in the 1976 Bicentennial. Credit: Nick DeWolf

The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater posted this:

"We’ve been moved by the outpouring of support, solidarity, and messages we’ve received over the past several days from across the Hudson Valley and beyond.

After being invited to participate by event organizers of Sail4th 250, Clearwater sailed in the July 3rd Class B Parade, and commenced sailing in the July 4 Parade of Sail. About an hour after the parade began, Clearwater was directed by the U.S. Coast Guard to leave the parade route. When asked why, they cited the presence of banners reading "Save the Clean Water Act" and "Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions.” Neither the participation agreement nor the Captain's Handbook prohibited these banners, and we were never given the option to remove them and continue participating.

To learn more about what happened and how the day unfolded aboard the sloop, read our open letter from Executive Director David Toman and Captain Rory Kane.

Read the letter: https://www.clearwater.org/.../sail4th-250-parade-of.../

For more than 55 years, Clearwater has sailed the Hudson River carrying people, music, and a message of clean water, environmental stewardship, and hope. That work continues every time we set sail. Thank you for being part of this community and for standing with us."

Over 400 members of the Patriot Front neo-Nazi group march through Washington D.C. on the 4th of July. They're from Texas.

A bit of North Carolina lore and there's Black Mountain!

Helen, Linda and Judy take part in a conversation at Ole's Guacamole for lunch on Tuesday. Of course I'd only known Teresa and Helen would be there! Nice surprise to see others too, as a kind of going-away gathering.

Teresa and myself!

My lunch, chicken with spinach and mushrooms in a creamy sauce with rice...Pechugua Fundida

Teresa's salad, Rosita. I got a couple of the shrimp. That's what friends do!