Water! Water! What sustains life!

 As we (here in Black Mountain NC) have had more than 2 weeks without rain, and there are wildfires burning in several areas of western North Carolina, we are hoping for rain to fall soon. Lots would be ok, but even a minimal amount might help. I'm thinking of doing a rain dance soon! The weather people forecast it starting this morning, a 50% likelihood. That's not good enough for me to bet on. I do hope it happens, but that likelihood has passed us by before.

I was gratified to read in the "Mountain Xpress" yesterday that funding is helping our waterways in the area.

Water money: The Pigeon River Fund of The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina awarded 10 grants totaling $285,190 to environmental groups working to improve surface water quality, enhance fish and wildlife habitats, expand public use and access to waterways, and increase water quality awareness in Buncombe, Haywood and Madison counties. Read more here.

I did read more. Some of these grants will benefit our local waterways. Just last week I saw where the Swannanoa River has a "snorkel site" as part of the Blue Ridge Snorkel Program, which received some of the money mentioned above. Here's my photo of it from my other blog (Living in Black Mountain.)

I really like the photos of the various critters that are alive in the waters of the river right there. It's not too likely that anyone will be floating or swimming in the Swannanoa till next summer, so I hope the sign remains intact till then. (I'm a pessimistic optimist).

And I just purchased a couple of environmental books at the Pack Library's used book store (in Asheville).* So water is on my mind. 

About a week ago, friend Katharine Winship, who I met at the Swannanoa Watershed Action Network (SWAN) shared a substack publication "The Dignity of Headwaters." 

I loved how she put this quote at the beginning of her article:

Water flows over these hands. May I use them skillfully to preserve the health of our earth. Wendy Johnson, Gardening At the Dragon's Gate: Working in the Wild and Cultivated World.

And another contribution to my thoughts tonight is a movie I watched yesterday: "Green Fingers" with Helen Murrin and Clive Owen. English prison inmates are taught skills in an experimental open prison, where some of them become gardeners, and this leads to interactions with a well-known society gardener and eventually a competition with the best gardeners of the land.  I especially liked how class interaction was treated...in the clash between the prisoners and the aristocracy, between the prisoners and each other, and then between the wardens and the prisoners. Is it realistic? I kind of doubt it. But the characters were somehow believable.

My thoughts on growing things is similar to the feelings I have about water. I must depend on others to provide my nutrition and my hydration. I would sure be an unhappy individual if they weren't healthily available. As we used to say "up a creek without a paddle." And as I think about it, you can certainly float down the creek without a paddle anyway. What a strange saying!

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* Here are the two books I bought: "The Big Thirst, The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water," by Charles Fishman.  and "The Future, Six Drivers of Global Change" by Al Gore

Today's quote:

I like talking about things that are taboo because it makes them not taboo anymore. -Sarah Silverman, comedian (b. 1970)