Lunch on high

 Up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, that is...

While waiting to go to the dining room at the Pisgah Inn, we strolled on the viewing area where many rockers invite people to enjoy the view. There weren't that many people, but we never sat in rockers. We had a reservation and had noted (can't have anything but a request) that we'd like to be by the windows.

This is the very small Lodge with rooms for overnight visits. 

So we climbed the stairs up to the dining room a few minutes before our reservation came...and had time to browse a bit in the gift shop.

And we got a wonderful table looking out at the bluish tinted mountains in the distance.

Helen and I had worn our masks the whole way driving there, and didn't take them off until we started eating.  Unfortunately though the distance toward one direction to the next table was almost 5 feet, the one behind us was only 3 feet and apparently had a reservation for 3, with one person just a couple of feet from us. So we moved to the far side of our nice big round table, which provided enough room that we weren't breathing on anyone, nor were they. This was the first time I'd eaten in a restaurant "inside" as a COVID avoiding person, and I sure wanted my distance. So did Helen.

We enjoyed our salads, and our desert of French Silk Pie, and forgot to take photos of them. I fell off my diet with the pie, but avoided the dairy of a scoop of ice cream with it. That didn't used to get included. But Helen had hers.

The Pisgah Inn is located above 5000 feet, (as shown above in a photo from their site on line) and the mountain can be seen from many places in Asheville. There are also hiking trails, and a campground, which we weren't interested in.

TODAY'S QUOTE:

If we live in the moment, we are not in time. 

If you think, "I'm a retired person. I've retired from my role,"

 you are looking back at your life. It's retrospective; it's life in the rear-view mirror.

 If you're young, you might be thinking, "I have my whole life ahead of me. 

This is what I'll do later." That kind of thinking is called time-binding.

 It causes us to focus on the past or the future 

and to worry about what comes next.

Getting caught up in memories of the past or worrying about the future

 is a form of self-imposed suffering. Either retirement or youth 

can be seen as moving on, time for something different, something new.

 Aging is not a culmination. Youth isn't preparation for later.

 This isn't the end of the line or the beginning.

Now isn't a time to look back or plan ahead. 

It's time to just be present. The present is timeless. 

Being in the moment, just being here with what is,

 is ageless and eternal​.​ 

 Ram Dass