Cold walking at the community gardens

 Glory Hallelujah! The sun came out...though it remained under freezing temperatures most of the day!

But when it did get above 35, out I went all bundled in my below-freezing wear. There are leggings under regular outer wear pants. A hat of course, and leather gloves, and the big puffy coat which has quite a story. I bought it a huge thrift shop as I passed the Florida border near Jacksonville. I figured someone had moved to FL and figured never to need it again. I knew someday I'd be where it snows again (and not Texas!) So I've had it about 20 years now...the last 14 in western North Carolina. 

Pardon the Covid hair mess...Most of the time I'm in a hat when I'm outside. And since I wear gloves, I don't mind the sleeves being kind of big.

But I did wake up yesterday (Sat. the 20th of Feb.) to sunshine. Sunday was also sunny, though it took several hours for the clouds to go away.

Here are pics from Sat.

First, I walked by the various composting bins...

This is the side where people add kitchen scraps and lawn clippings, but only to those bins that say "add here." The "do not add" bins are apparently fermenting quite nicely already.

One of the tiny libraries is located here, and I need to return a book I picked up from this one.

I'll post a few more views tomorrow!

Today's quote (which should have some additional technologies from more recent years)

Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures -- in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (29 Jun 1900-1944)

South fork

 

Nice clear cold mountain water, flowing in the Swannanoa River (south fork) which meets the north fork about another mile downstream...I think. It's a pretty small river, but the whole valley is named after it, and it probably meandered in different ways in the past.

As I've mentioned before, it flows into the French Broad River in Asheville NC, then through the Appalachian mountains to Hot Springs, then over into Tennessee where it meets the Holston and they form the Tennessee River at Knoxville...thus to the Mississipppi.  

I live about 10 miles west of the Eastern Continental Divide at Old Fort Gap just past Ridgecrest. 

Today's quote:

Midwiv

es of the Soul

Do not lose your light.

Even when things feel uncertain

and the dawn forgets to come

do not lose your fire

hold close your inner sun.

Do not lose your fire,

and do not lose your light

for it's in the inner tending

the eternal soul burns bright.

Do not lose your light. (Nor hand

its sacred tending,

to the changing figures

of the night.)

Do not lose your light.

And, as things grow darker

(or longer, or the days colder)

know it's in the sharing

that more brilliant lamps,

ignite.

Do not lose your light.

For e'en in great storm or drought

or darkness,

the lamp of soul is bright.

Hold close to your light.

For no outer force can steal it,

the light of soul, it always embers

through the Darkest of all Nights.

Do not lose the light.

(You cannot lose the Light.)

~ Rachel Alana, Midwives of the Soul.

How to get the humidity up

 

Just with my body moisture, I usually have a bit of condensation in the bathroom window. But last night I had had a faucet dripping all night, because the pipes were in danger of freezing.

And thus there was a burst of humidity from that steady dripping.

I wondered if it will dry up during the day. Yes, it was mostly gone by noon with the sun shining into the other room's windows. This one faces north, and between the blinds and the little curtain of two layers, I am able to keep most of the coldness from streaming into the bathroom. In mountain areas, the north wind just pushes against everything, even when you can't tell it's there. But possibly this has contributed to the plants blooming away in the window in the bedroom. I'm just a little hot house on one side, here!

Today's quote:

Observe your own body. It breathes. 

You breathe when you are asleep, when you are no longer conscious of your own ideas of self-identity.
Who, then, is breathing? 

The collection of information that you mistakenly think is you is not the protagonist in this drama called the breath. In fact, you are not breathing; breath is naturally happening to you. 

You can purposely end your own life, but you cannot purposely keep your own life going. The expression, 'my life' is actually an oxymoron, a result of ignorance and mistaken assumption. 

You don't possess life; life expresses itself through you. 
Your body is a flower that life let bloom, a phenomenon created by life.

—Ilchi Lee

And the youngest orchid gives out first

 This is the one I bought this winter.

I moved it from my bedroom (which gets more sun actually) because the blooms were drying up and falling off, and then I noticed the dead blooms were kind of moldy looking. Oops, I thought, I've overwatered it. A problem of course because I would give it a drink with the others, now twice weekly...and it is supposed to have water only once a week. Anyway, the very last bud opened, as all the rest dropped off.

I must tell my friends about yesterday's adventure...I locked my keys in my car. I stopped at a nearby restaurant which had been recommended several times by a friend who happens to live up the street from it. So I ordered a taco, then the woman offered me their phone to use...and fortunately I had my wallet with me, so I called the insurance company using my card in my wallet, to get road side assistance which I pay for in my insurance policy. This was at 2:00 pm. They said they'd be there around 2:45, soonest. Oh my, I thought. I ate my delicious taco, prepared just the way I asked, then walked up the hill to my friend's house. We usually text, but my phone was also locked in the car. I didn't know if she'd be home...but she was. So I was able to sit with her for a while, then was back at the restaurant by 2:40, and they closed at 3. I sat outside on a picnic bench until 3:25, when the guy finally arrived. He drove slowly, he walked slowly, and he talked slowly. He said they don't usually take an order without a call-back number. I said my phone had also been locked in my car, so I couldn't give him one. He went to work, slowly, and in about 5 minutes had undone the lock. This is the advantage of 2004 Toyotas...it's a manual lock, not one of the new kind. I don't know how people get into those cars...so maybe I'd better steer away from getting one. 

Today's quote:

The Dalai Lama says:

“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” 

Thai Basil of Black Mountain

 I love Thai food, and this restaurant is very nice to make fresh dishes. So I tried stopping by to purchase a take out meal of some of their fare on Feb. 16 for lunch (which would of course provide left overs for a couple of other meals.)

I liked these pretty paper lanterns.

And I enjoyed sitting in the tiny waiting area with a Goddess and a peacock, and a couple of plants. Unfortunately there was also a rest room behind a partial wall, and the odor (coming through my mask) was that of the usual deodorizer in rest rooms. It did encourage me that I don't have the COVID-19 virus because I sure did have a good sense of smell even through my mask.

I was surprised to have someone call my name...and from our 6 foot distance we kind of caught up, while we both waited for our lunches to be ready. Sarah Vekasi had just been doing some vehicle exchanges with a friend, and she also had been the one who sold me my present car. Other than that, she used to live on the street where I lived, and she is a potter, who also used to work in the same community studio with me. She's now living in Maine, and said she'd be returning back there again in a week. She's presently teaching her home-schooled nephew. I'm glad she's my friend on Facebook and keeps her postings up to date there.

Today's quote:

The stars are like letters which inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky.

Everything in the world is full of signs. 

All events are coordinated.

All things depend on each other; as has been said:

Everything breathes together.

—Plotinus
ca CE 204/5–270

Breakfast sausage - plant based.

I'm not that crazy about meat, of any animal. To eat, I mean.

But when there's a good looking plant-based sausage in the freezer section at Hopey's Grocery, I'll try it.

My vegan friend asked what brand it was...she chooses her plant based meats from one brand.

I hadn't seen the instructions to thaw in refrigerator before cooking. So I microwave thawed one link, then cooked it the requisite 12 minutes. It browned very nicely.

 It was mildly spicy, but not beyond my tolerance. This is my created plate, with Michele' and Jeff's mug of coffee.

I never identified any cheese that's in it...and though I saw little bits that looked like corn, they weren't such when I ate them...all disolved easily in my mouth.

The next time I fixed one of these links, by then it had defrosted in the refrigerator before cooking. And surprisingly it was spicier. Maybe just that link, or maybe the method of cooking with that one change. And drinking a sip of coffee made it even more spicy...so I soon learned to take a bite of toast (with nutritional yeast) after sausage, before coffee.

Incidentally, I bought another package of it when I saw there were 4 left in the freezer at Hopey's. They often will run out of things because they get lots of things just in one batch.

Today's quote:

We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong. 

-Karl Popper, philosopher and professor (28 Jul 1902-1994)

Some ongoing blooms to lift my spirits

 

I've cut back some of the dead blooms, aka dead-heading. But it takes care to locate the right stems with the scissors!

Today's quote:

The bud

stands for all things,

even for those things that don’t flower,

for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;   

though sometimes it is necessary

to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on its brow

of the flower

and retell it in words and in touch

it is lovely

until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;  

~ Galway Kinnell 

Grey days

 

Feb. 7, 2021

Feb. 13, 2021 - the lavender plant (center) doesn't look like it's still alive...but I keep watering it and hoping it will come back. In a month or so I'll give up probably.

I was trying to capture the clouds in the middle distance before the Swannanoa Mountain chain...

It kind of says what the day was going to be like all day, with times when the clouds came right down to our rooftops. But there is now a hint of green-yellow on the ground, if you look closely!

 

Trying a new phone's camera to get a pano from the bedroom. No - our balconies aren't quite that close together!

Blog reading, and commenting, then creating more blogs and hoping folks comment on them. What a life!

I water my plants on the windowsills and the dining table. I actually cut away a few of the dead violets the other day...and will remember to share some pictures soon.

After getting my eyes checked, I tried walking with my friend on one partly sunny day, not very cold. But apparently just having dilated eyes made me feel pretty washed out, even though I had my big sunglasses on...so I turned around about 1/4 of the way along the path. The good news was that I am now taking blood pressure medication which apparently helps with the pressure in my eyes, so I'm being taken off the list of pre-glaucoma. Good to know I won't need to come in to get my pressure checked every 6 months. I am getting new lenses for the same frames...so hope to be able to see a wee bit better soon.

With this getup I look like I could rob a bank!

Today's quote:

I wanted to live my life so that people would know unmistakably that I am alive, so that when I finally die people will know the difference for sure between my living and my death. -June Jordan, writer, teacher, and activist (9 Jul 1936-2002) 

The Goose Dog

 His name is Cato (I think) or maybe Curtiss, or Calvin...something that starts with a "C".

The town of Black Mountain hired him to chase the geese and ducks away...to keep the grass clean of their droppings. And perhaps to keep them from being fed by children and parents who don't pay any attention to the signs saying "Don't feed the water fowl, they will get sick."

Anyway, my friend and I met to walk at the lake the other morning. And I said, "Look, a dog is chasing the geese off the island, and is even swimming after them in the water." She agreed, and then we saw the dog climb out of the lake and walk along with a woman, not on a leash.

We eventually walked over that far, and I took Cato's photo, and we learned about his job of chasing the ducks and geese. Originally I had felt bad about the geese and ducks being chased. Then we felt bad that the dog had been in pretty cold water. But he has a setter's tail, so is probably is used to swimming anywhere he wants.

Sorry I didn't get a shot of him looking at me, he's got one blue and one yellow eye....both of which were watching those geese and ducks out in the water.

It has been raining and cold the rest of the week, so this is all I can share today.

Today's quote:

“If I wait until I become perfect before I love myself, I will waste my whole life. I am already perfect right here and right now. I am perfect exactly as I am.” -Louise L. Hay

When one phone dies...

After many frustrating phone call attempts, I spoke with the customer service rep at the Computer repair outfit which had worked on my iPhone before (maybe in August)...and only replaced the battery at that time. This time I asked about dealing with sound problems...that sometimes I couldn't even hear that I'd placed a call...and when I called the same person again, that time they couldn't hear me speaking. The repair place wanted the phone for over 24 hours, or there would be a charge to rush it. Anyway, the price of diagnosis and probably needing something done about the sound was quite a bit higher than I wanted. 

I'd just received my stimulus check. Since all my needs were already taken care of, it was to be part of "savings in case of emergency."

That plan rapidly changed when I decided it was time to purchase a new phone, and the only one available would eat up my recent funds "ICOE" (in case of emergency.)

So I went ahead with the purchase, and when I went home that night I thought about how I'd refused the expense of a warrantee, and one at an even higher price to cover loss or theft. I said to myself, "Myself, you've invested a lot into that very portable little gadget. Of course without having it, should it become lost or stollen, how would you even contact the people with the warrantee?" And then I remembered the internet...

But Myself decided that I needed to have that coverage.

So the next morning I drove through rain to the store at 9 am, which wouldn't open till 11 am. I then drove back to Swannanoa, where I got gas and talked with my friend over Dunkin Donuts coffee and I admit my breakfast was a heart shaped Boston Creme Donut. After that, I grocery shopped, then took groceries home, then finally drove via the newly discovered short-cut to the store by 11:15. I'd found a way to drive to the mall that had a minimum of stop lights and turns that would turn back upon themselves. If you've ever left I-240 to go to Tunnel Rd. to the Asheville Mall, you know whereof I speak!

I asked to purchase the warrantee, and the same clerk helped me do so. I showed him how I had put the screen protector on it at home, according to the instructions, but there was apparently one end different than the other, and it wasn't placed correctly...which hadn't been mentioned in the directions given. The sales clerk said it meant the screen protector now was over the camera pointing toward me, and the space that had been designed for that was now where every function with my fingers would bump into it. He said it wouldn't hurt the camera, but it would bother me...but he didn't offer to fix it. 

So now I work on my new phone, and learn all the stuff it can do. I haven't yet posted any new photos from the new phone. I'll let you know when I can do so!

Fun! But actually I hate trying to coordinate everything. I just want to take photos, then post them on my blogs. And occasionally talk to my sons and grands...and friends.

I'm very grateful that I got that stimulus check. If I had been dealing with loss of a job, home, food etc from the impact of COVID I would really have used it otherwise. As it was, now I can hear whoever I call, and they can hear me.

The last useful thing my old phone case did was hold my vaccine sticker. Just another week till I can get the second shot!

Today's quote:

We are like the spider. We weave our life and then move along in it. We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream. This is true for the entire universe.

―The Upanishads

Walking on Walker Rd.

As I started up the hill from our driveway into the apartment complex, I saw a sunlit post which I'd never noticed before. However it's not exactly new. And what the heck kind of barrier did it connect to? Closing off the driveway to the apartments? 

It's in a very strange place, in the middle of a bunch of overgrown vines and grasses.

I love seeing all the bamboo mixed in with the pines in the small amount of forest.

Looking to the tops, some greenery continues in the bamboo as well as the pines...a surprise after many nights of frost.

At someone's mailbox is a tiny turquoise plastic chair. Perhaps for visitors to find them easily?

The destination of my walk, the dead end with 4 driveways - I can only see the two closest houses. I walk around the circle and turn back down the hill. Having accomplished this big hill is one way I know I'm doing good things for my heart by walking like this.

Today's quote:

"Putting something called Nature on a pedestal and admiring it from afar does for the environment what patriarchy does for the figure of Woman. It is a paradoxical act of sadistic admiration."

Timothy Morton