Blue Ridge Parkway

Yesterday, Saturday, March 30, 2013, I drove up on the Parkway as far as it was open going north.  This is the first overlook from turning on at US 70. 

If this elevation is 2720, I figure my home is probably at around 2600 feet in Black Mountain. Purely conjecture.  I enjoy coming up on the Parkway, but don't do it as often as I really would like to.  Being open only 6 miles past the Folk Art Center, maybe not many of the tourists were really interested, so the traffic wasn't very bad yesterday.

Asheville Mall is the pale collection of buildings and parking lots, seen from (I'd guess) 5 miles away.

While I was 69, which is what this blog is all about, actually, I would come up and sit at one of the overlooks, and do whatever I felt like.

Can you guess what I did yesterday?

The cut from the mountain to form the Blue Ridge Parkway

I have a lot more photos to share later.  I did enjoy sitting in the sun and reading at one of the overlooks.  And it was interesting to see all the houses right in the woods around the Parkway without the foliage concealing them as it does most of the year.  This Parkway is right amidst neighborhoods.

Happy Easter, to those who celebrate it.  Happy Passover doesn't sound quite right, since it was more of a blessing to be passed over from the plagues in Egypt for the Jews.

So have a really good day whatever you do.  Spring is coming.

Not our year for snow

Black Mountain had 3 days of flurries off and on this week.  The first morning I bundled up and ran out with the camera.  It was gone by the time the sun crested over the trees.  It did look pretty coming down and not causing any traffic problems.  Just not really photogenic.

The accumulation at 8 am before the sun melted it.

I'll share this with Friday Fences by Jan and Jer

My parents pose

May I introduce my father, George Elmore Rogers, Jr.
I will give honor to his life in another post.

My mother, Mataley Mozelle Webb Munhall Rogers

Look for more about her life HERE.

There are more pictures of my father on that posting as well.

These are studio portraits of my parents, way before I came along.  I don't know the cause for their getting these pictures, but they did attend the same high school, Jefferson, in San Antonio, TX.

The pin in his lapel is called the Cross and the Crown, which is an emblem that Christian Scientists identify with.

"B... Studio of San Antonio, Texas," is a confusing name in  the lower right corner.  Buider? Baider? Bieder? whatever...

My mother's hairdo with a Marcel wave, has a lot of 20s influence.  She was born in 1917, so by the time she looked like this, it was definitely the mid 30s.  They were married in 1936.  I didn't see any pictures of them together before '34. 

This is a contribution to Sepia Saturday, where lots of fun and old (or maybe fun or old) photos are shared.  I can't follow the theme for this week, so am just sharing some pictures that are interesting.

Happy Birthday Mom

Born March 26, 1917, San Antonio, TX

Baby portraits, Mataley Mozelle Webb, 1917

Her Grandma Eugenia Booth Miller and Mataley and 2 playmates, San Antonio, TX 1922

 - I think it likely that this was around the same time as the following pictures however she marked her album.

Her mother, Mozelle Miller Webb and Mataley, 1924, the year Mozelle remarried Fred Munhall

Fairy princess, probably the same year as pictures above, thought it is marked 1926

1929 House on Lafayette, San Antonio (Mataley was around 12 but looks much older to me.)

Jefferson High School, San Antonio, TX 1934

Don't you love the kids peeking out the window!

Mataley with her two younger cousins Patsy Rodgers and Robert Rodgers, San Antonio, TX 1934

Bridesmaid before 1936

Wedding Announcement, 1936

Nov 21, 1936 San Antonio, Texas

That's probably the San Antonio River.

Probably a photo that she wished had been destroyed, but somehow survived through the years.

Newlyweds and Mother in Law at shared Rogers home

George and Mataley (notice his hair at this time)

A hunting we will go, trip with in-laws in Feb. 1937

My mother, Mataley, George Sr., Uncle Chauncey standing, Ada kneeling, my Dad, George Jr. sitting in front, at tent for camping trip 1937

Living on their own, on Washington Ave, Beeville Tx, sometime before 1941 (notice his hair is thinner)

Mataley in swing, (pregnant with Barbara,) while Ada and George Rogers Sr are cutting up, Dallas, TX 1942

Mataley, George holding Mary Beth, Barbara in front, 1946, Dallas, TX

Barbara, Mary Beth and Mataley, 1947 Easter Houston, TX

St. Louis, 11/23/50 first snow

Mary Beth, Mataley, Barbara at chapel of Principia College, Elsah IL, 1951 probably

My parents moved to St. Louis to enroll me and my sister in Principia, the Christian Science school.  We both attended through our 3rd years of college.

Mataley, Mary Beth and Barbara with Studebaker, Forest Park St. Louis, Mo 1952 perhaps

Mataley and her mother, Mozelle Munhall with Mary Beth in front, 1954 St. Louis, MO

Mataley, my cousin Claudette Rogers and Barbara, St. Louis, 1954

 

George Sr, Mataley in back, Barbara, George JR, Ada and James Rogers, St. Anne MO 1957?

Ada, George and Mataley, St. Anne MO, around 1957

Mary Beth, Mataley and Barbara, St. Anne MO, 19589-60 perhaps

George, Mary and Mataley in front of home they built in Clayton, MO, 1961

Family regathering at San Jacinto monument and restaurant.  Barbara on left, Mary (back) Russell Heym, Mataley with hand raised, Lisa Miller on right, Zachery Miller climbing steps, probably 1978

Home in Houston, TX

Mataley and Barb at Disney World Epcot Center 1981

I haven't copied many other pictures of my mother that were taken during my adult years, while she became a grandmother.  So there are lots of images in my mind that I don't have here to share.  I hope you enjoy this glimpse into her life, which ended in 2003.

Cat Mask

I've been taking some pictures today...of pottery for a change.
Not too successful because of camera settings (I think) see how the background grey changes color?  Driving me crazy!

Here are the two of a mask I made that's somewhat like one of my cats.

1. Cat Mask by Barbara Rogers

2. Free standing cat mask

The shy model

In the dark and breakfast idea

Saturday potpourri as I finish up breakfast over my blogs/

Thanks to English Girl Rambles HERE who let me know about Earth Hour being held across the world today, Saturday, March 23 at 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time.

More info about Earth Hour can be found at this link.

Have you ever thought of going without electricity on purpose for an hour?  It is hard to do, but I bet there are some fun things, like taking a walk, or playing with someone or maybe pets, being outside or inside, that don't require a lot of electricity.  I know candles may consume more energy (the production of them does use carbon energies) but one by a bathtub isn't as much as a TV, a computer, lights and maybe snacking on popcorn.  OK, you can have the popcorn in the tub too, if you pop it at 8:29 pm local time.  And yes, you can use that hot water heater this time...after all, it's still March!

See ya in the dark at 8:30 tonight, friends!
Oops, not if you're in the tub, of course.

PS, here's the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2UywrjnOaUE#at=14 

 ********

Chapter two, Eggs-Mac-Barbara

A test this week to see how I could use three things I dearly love for breakfast (though perhaps not on my diet anymore).  

A nice home made dropped biscuit (I hate to roll them out and clean up the mess of flour everywhere), with some scrambled egg and a slice of bacon.  There's the Eggs-Mac-Barbara.  Yum!  

Nope.  They tasted pretty bad.  How could that be?

 So I tore them apart, and could taste each separately, rather than the gummy feeling of the biscuit and the way the egg kind of disappeared and the bacon was too hard to crunch when combined. 

Now this is how I like my biscuits.  Split (when reheating them) buttered, and after they are broiled till the edges just turn brown, slap some home made jam on them.  Ah.  That's the combination that wins the day, next to my espresso of course.

 I just opened my last jar of home-made jam which I got at the TailGate market here in Black Mountain last year.  The market starts in another 6 weeks, so I think I may have to switch to store-bought at some point.  Oh my goodness.

Of course I could cut back on breads for breakfast too.  OK, let's try yogurt for a few days!


Apologies to Friday Fences, where I posted my entire blog address rather than my fences post, Fence Pieces, here. 

The fence pieces

Not being used.  The house has been vacant for a long time, and this is the garage door closest to the house.  I'm sharing these pictures on Friday Fences.  Come over to see what others have posted there!

Another piece of fence that is still standing, more or less, next to the house, with the path going toward the garage (white building in distance).

I sure wish someone would buy this property, though I think the buildings on it would all need to be demolished.  I just hope the hundred year old oaks will be preserved whenever that happens.

It would be great to have a nice new home built here, so my neighborhood would look a bit nicer.