For breathing

 

Thankful Thursday. Last week I woke and didn't take the time to open windows for the usual couple of hours before the heat of the day directed me to close them. My kitchen windowsill's fairy and violets had to stay inside as I drove to Asheville for an early pulmonologist visit.

Not many people there that early, and I went right in to meet a nurse practitioner who's on my doctor's team. I liked Amanda Pattanayak a lot, very personable and knowledgeable. I gave yet another sample of mucous to test whether we've finally cleared out the bacteria that were bothering my lungs. Will have to wait to hear results from lab, which will be shared by email.

The old building has a pretty planted area out front. Did I mention that at least 10 miles of my drive on I-40 were through a lifting fog? Fortunately it was not on the roads, but just about 20 feet above our heads. It looked pretty eerie as a cloud all along the valleys.

A beautiful hydrangea bush outside the office.

Today's quote:

An old photo or 2:

My oldest son, Marty when visiting his maternal grandparents in St. Louis, as we moved from Texas to Connecticut.

And three plus years later, my mother holds Russ in our house in Connecticut. By then my parents had moved to Massachusetts. Marty, now wearing a red shirt and showing off his baby blue eyes, looks skeptical. And my husband, Doug shows an ear and his prowess with another camera which I captured with mine.

The cooling off places

 

Sliding rock is very popular near Brevard and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

And many people go to a beach for some summertime leisure.

Dry Falls, North Carolina. Going to the mountains in summertime has always been a nice change of pace for city-folks. This was probably taken before the railing was built (see below).

Walking behind the falls is slippery still, and there's now a rail fence to hopefully keep people safe.

Looking Glass Falls in summertime brings lots of tourists to play in the water around the rocks.

Flash flood at Looking Glass Falls. This photo is from last Mon. July 21 afternoon, when a young wader was stranded on the other side of the torrent and had to be rescued from the rapidly rising water. Rain upstream makes flash floods possible everywhere in the hilly places on this earth. 

Today's quote:

Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being.

BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST

Today's old photo:

In the Smoky Mountains National Park, young people climb on treacherous rocks above the Little River. My son is sitting in the middle of the photo with his friend Anna about to try to go lower, where I think her brother Tony is already at waterside. The current is swift, and they never went swimming there (that I remember.) I was obviously on the other side of the river with camera. No idea who the adult at the top might be. Tai was probably about 12, in 1991 or 2.

Sharing with My Corner of the World

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Addendums from yesterday:

Joanna Macy being remembered by Emergence Magazine

Edward Hopper's birth anniversary

Considering Mary Magdalen

Something about bigotry

 

I never found it entertaining to watch Archie Bunker on the TV series, All in the Family. I found his antics disgusting and full of ignorance.

Later I watched some on re-runs. I liked the women who dealt with misogyny the best way they could. It reminded me of how my mother taught me as a young teen to pretend different things, to manipulate men/boys and other women even, to get what I wanted. Seriously, female manipulating of all kinds of situations...which might have come down from southern women. But it also came through generations of blacks figuring out how to survive with half truths in the south as well.

So truth telling and trust of others, no matter their differences, have been very important in my life.

Noon-time picking up my lunch the other day, I stopped to click a few of the flowers. They are a bit washed out.

There were several vans from various camps who brought lots of young people to enjoy the pool at least.

Now, however, as I type this, the thunderstorm of the afternoon approaches, so I'm saying goodbye for now. Must honor the gods and goddesses of thunder and lightening vs. my poor electrical connections.

Today's quote:

Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is frame-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power, but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call, preferring instead to change the subject and straw man. 

-Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer and journalist (b. 30 Sep 1975)

Another quote:

A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel laureate (18 Jul 1918-2013)

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Today's old photo:

My son, Tai stayed with this family in Jamaica as part of his Peace Corps dedication to helping others.

The Absurdity of Binary

By Cathy Holt from Columbia, South America

"Binary" is used in several ways in our culture these days...let's consider this:

On my newsletter "Gifted ND" for neuro-divergent, Lilian wrote this week about "The Absurdity of Binary."

We live in a society obsessed with measuring value by output. With this in mind what then is the ultimate output?

It’s not products, inventions, or even AI.

It’s HUMANS...

She then goes down the rabbit hole that proves the most valued humans are obviously females. But then she finally gets to the point about Binary.

Flipping Dysfunction into Function

Binary thinking is mathematically dysfunctional because it artificially limits infinite possibilities to exactly two options.

In any complex situation, there are countless potential approaches, solutions, and outcomes. But binary systems force everything into either/or categories: win or lose, right or wrong, superior or inferior, employed or homeless.

This creates artificial scarcity where abundance naturally exists.

The Math of 2D vs Reality

Reality = Multi-dimensional = Infinite possibilities

Binary thinking = 2 Finite Choices, pre-selected by others

Reality (Infinity) - Binary = Loss of 2 (crappy) options with everything else still allowed.

Multidimensional intelligence uses more perspectives which generates more novel solutions, more combinations of different approaches, and more entirely new directions to explore options. Simply because they have greater access to the full spectrum of possibilities.

When someone is trapped in binary thinking approaches and approach the same problem, they can only choose between the two predetermined options they’ve been given. They cannot see/perceive/comprehend that other possibilities even exist.

Binary systems start and become increasingly more controlling because they don’t present the two best options. They limit it down to the two options that serve the system while “pretending” it is a choice. Most eventually end with monopoly or no choice at all.

There are more details. But I like the idea of 3D vs 2D. I'm going to stop here for now.

An old photo to share

Here I am, 3-1/2 years old, and there's this squirming wiggly little baby that my parents are always holding. But this day they say, lets let her hold her and take her photo! Mary Beth and I weren't at all sure about things, but we did our best. In  Dallas Texas, 1946.

Is this real life in 2025?

 

From Phoenix AZ

What do you feel about all this? It makes me sad.

Great respect for a spiritual leader who believes and practices peace.

A picnic table waaay up there flung by flood waters of the Haw River in North Carolina (near Durham). Posted to Facebook on July 16, so it occurred the week before, when several days of flash floods happened (about the same time as New Jersey, New York City, Texas 2nd or 3rd version).

I won't say anything about the flooding in western North Carolina last fall.

I'm watching daily the fires in Colorado and Arizona and Utah and New Mexico on an app called "Watch Duty." My son in southwestern CO is dealing with lots of smoke where he lives...but fortunately no fires.

And the good news for today?

Meet 5 month old Cal and his mom, Alice. They were staff at the chiropractor's office this week. Did I mention how much better my neck is feeling? Now I do have to treat it by lying on a rolled up hand towel daily. There's nothing harder for me to do than lie still doing nothing. So I checked out an audio book!

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And a note: and don't miss the update at the end!!

Posted information from the Writer's Almanac - usually something I would believe to be factual. However July 16 is the birth anniversary of 2 people that are listed.

First is the woman whose religion I was raised in, so I do know her publications.

Birth anniversary of:

"religious leader and writer Mary Baker Eddy, born in Bow, New Hampshire (1821). As a child, she suffered from a spinal ailment and spent much of her life preoccupied by issues of health.

...She turned to the New Testament and was suddenly healed, which led her to discover what she later called Christian Science, or the "superiority of spiritual over physical power."

In 1875, she set down her principles in a voluminous work called "Science and Health, WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES", and in 1876 founded the Christian Science Association."

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Then the Writer's Almanac posted:

"It's the birthday of playwright Tony Kushner, born in New York City (1956). He's best known for his two-part play Angels in America (1991). He has written many plays since then, including ... 'The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES' (2009)."

WHAT?

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I don't know Kushner's plays, but Mary Baker Eddy's book was "SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES." (See photo below)

Boy oh boy, did they mangle that one! (but keep reading to the comment update!)

Later that day my son, Marty, commented to my Facebook post with this photo.

Wikipedia says this:

The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is a 2009 play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The title was inspired by George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Plot: 

The play looks at the life of a 20th-century thinker, retired longshoreman Gus Marcantonio, who is feeling confused and defeated by the 21st century. In summer 2007, his sister, who has been staying with him for a year, invites Gus's three children (who in turn bring along spouses, ex-spouses, lovers and more) to a most unusual family reunion in their Brooklyn brownstone

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So actually anybody could write a key to the scriptures.

It reminds me of how sitting on our community porch I'll usually be surrounded by talk of how the current climate crisis events of floods, fires etc. were all forecast in the Bible, and where and how. I usually just get up and leave. I've studied the Bible, with and without Mrs. Eddy's "Key to the Scriptures," and I'll prefer to not discuss it with my neighbors. Somehow science is still very important to me.

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Medical issues float around this body. It just changes focus like the days with storms, or dry hot, or hot  humid. I'm so glad I can see specialists as well as have a general practitioner to hopefully orchestrate all the others.

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Don't miss today's reminisce about the first man to step on the surface of the moon, July 20, 1969. Yesterday's Pages.

From different parts of the world

  

My son traveled to Denmark to find this little friend.

Clay figures in a museum - Denmark

Another son took a trip to the Caribbean and saw this critter.

Dr. Jane Goodall, who I just learned, has prosopagnosia, which makes it difficult to recognize familiar faces.

In January 2025, Dr. Goodall was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. You can imagine which President awarded it to her.

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Today's quote:

Everything turns in circles and spirals with the cosmic heart until infinity. Everything has a vibration that spirals inward or outward — and everything turns together in the same direction at the same time. This vibration keeps going: it becomes born and expands or closes and destructs — only to repeat the cycle again in opposite current. 

Like a lotus, it opens or closes, dies and is born again. Such is also the story of the sun and moon, of me and you. Nothing truly dies. All energy simply transforms.
—Suzy Kassem  --

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An old photo:

Ceramic sculptures by Susan Wilkerson in Black Mountain at Red House Gallery

Sharing with Saturday's Critters!

And today is the 71st anniversary of Tolkien's publication of the Fellowship of the Ring, in the Lord of the Ring series. See this post to commemorate it.

Water can be in a good place

 

And old stone wall looks over Lake Tomahawk with some flowers.

North Carolina skies at the apartment complex.

Yesterday when I opened the windows at 6:30 am to the cooler air (70 degrees) I heard and saw two Canada geese flying from east to west. Probably just going out for breakfast, as Lake Tomahawk is east of me, where most of the geese congregate daily.

Another summer view of Lake Tomahawk.

Sharing with Skywatch Friday and Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday shows an Alaskan fisherman, in some kind of Alaska Task Force Master File of the National Parks

Today's quote:

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle. -Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

An old photo:

The city of Asheville receives its water from Burnett Reservoir, the formation of which inundated the original location of this little church. 

Burnett Reservoir, near Asheville NC.

An old photo of Black Mountain:

On Cherry Street, Black Mountain, no date. I'm guessing it's looking down hill since the top end of the street would have had the buildings on State St. Thus the railroad tracks are at the far end where trees and bushes are on the other side.

Another old photo:

Myself and my husband, Doug on the USS Constitution in the 60s.