Visiting with friends

 Warning, food will be depicted!

The last time I bought one of these frozen-cook it yourself pies, we had no electricity for a week, so I had to toss the whole thing out. I was very sad doing so.

This time a snow storm was forecast in the next few days, so I bought it, brought it home, and baked it. Now I have a piece a day. It's sooo good, now that I've figured out to overcook it to make the pastry flakey, and the apples all cooked well.

There were still trucks picking up debris along Blue Ridge Rd the other day, so while waiting my turn to pass, I took a photo out the window of a former area which had mobile homes in it, now just mud flats.

One of the small ditches draining into the Swannanoa River, next to a mobile home which apparently has been restored. See the layer of mud over everything?

I don't know how this are of grass was peeled of it's mud, but imagine all your possessions also covered with this much mud. That was what happened to everyone for miles of this flood. OK enough reality, now to fun!

Another day I drove with friends to meet my 90 year old friend, Bette for lunch at Roma's in Nebo NC, where she lives. We had delightful Italian food (and I brought some left overs of my chicken parmesan home!)

My friend knows the owners and operators of Roma, and they say "Hi Momma" when she arrives. The young waitress, Blarona, was friendly and chatted with us as we were the only customers after the lunch "crowd" left. Her name is Armenian for beautiful flower. (I may have spelled it wrong, not having it written down for me.)

Then the next day I got together with 2 other friends.

You might notice I look rather shorn. I'd just had my first haircut after the disaster in Sept.

Helen jokes around when You ask her to smile!

Teresa is another year older!

And she looks much the same as she did 7 years ago.

OK, I just finished my daily apple pie. Didn't someone say an apple a day...?

I will do my cardio workout in another 15-20 min.  The snow looks like it has stopped for now, and it melted on pavements. We did have them sprinkled with salt. I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere...as more snow will probably come our way. (written at 3 pm Friday 1.10.25)

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Update in our real world... The Contrarian!

January 13, 2024 by Heather Cox Richardson

Today journalist Jennifer Rubin joined her colleagues who have abandoned the Washington Post as it swung toward Trump. She resigned from the Washington Post with the announcement that she and former White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen have started a new media outlet called The Contrarian. Joining them is a gold-star list of journalists and commentators who have stood against the rise of Trump and the MAGA Republicans, many of whom have left publications as those outlets moved rightward.

“Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission—defending, protecting and advancing democracy,” Rubin wrote in her resignation announcement. In contrast, the new publication “will be a central hub for unvarnished, unbowed, and uncompromising reported opinion and analysis that exists in opposition to the authoritarian threat.”

“The urgency of the task before us cannot be overstated,” The Contrarian’s mission statement read. “We have already entered the era of oligarchy—rule by a narrow clique of powerful men (almost exclusively men). We have little doubt that billionaires will dominate the Trump regime, shape policy, engage in massive self-dealing, and seek to quash dissent and competition in government and the private sector. As believers in free markets subject to reasonable regulation and economic opportunity for all, we recognize this is a threat not only to our democracy but to our dynamic, vibrant economy that remains the envy of the world.”

In what appears to be a rebuke to media outlets that are cozying up to Trump, The Contrarian’s credo is “Not Owned by Anybody.”

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Today's quote:

Allow yourself to be a human angel for others and also be on the receiving end when needed.

Today's art:

By Aubrey Beardsley (1872 – 1898)