Granny Glamour and...

 Thanks, Asheville Art Museum

Reality.

A friend lives in Pittsboro in central NC, where the remains of tropical storm Chantel dropped 10 inches of rain in just a few hours. Flooding of course. One life lost that I've heard. 

But actually I don't hear much because the focus is on the bigger horror story from Texas' flood, where over 100 lives have been lost.

No comparison needed. Just that there are limits to how many stories appear on the news, even on FaceBook or Bluesky

I am reminded so much of the storm that changed our environment here in western NC. It was good to see on our local news Mon. night that some folks from Beloved Asheville were about to depart to help out in Texas.

And on Tuesday on Facebook I saw the same organization saying:

SWANNANOA BELOVED VILLAGE

BeLoved Asheville  · nsSpodorethl8l54ff01112mgi68li7ctchc2t8020ll7iuu406l9m3cg760  · 

When the waters rose suddenly in Chapel Hill, we moved with love and urgency.

Today, we’re delivering emergency supplies to our neighbors in Central NC after the flash flooding turned lives upside down. It wasn’t just the roads that were underwater — homes, hopes, and safety were shaken in an instant.

Rapid response has become a skill we’ve had to grow — not out of luxury, but survival. It’s about showing up now, not later. It’s about seeing the danger and saying, we will not let you face this alone.

We invite you to dream and build with us — a network of Rapid Response Mutual Aid across the country. We protect each other.

We move not just with supplies… but with solidarity.

#MutualAid #RapidResponse #ChapelHillFlood #SolidarityNotCharity #WeProtectUs #DisasterRelief #LoveInAction #CommunityCare #ClimateJustice #RiseTogether

Outside helpers may offer their knowledge and assistance, however the big thing these catastrophes bring is the coming together of neighborhoods. We are learning the hard way that small groups of like-minded (surviving) people can make a BIG difference when we're pushed into huge changes.

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Reality

I go this way to the grocery store once a week. This car appeared here last week. Directly behind it is the overpass of I-40 over Blue Ridge Rd. It's clearly been pulled from a waterway, after the September 27, 2024 flooding here.  The Swannanoa River is a block away. This building across the street from the car (below) is not being demolished because it is on land which will eventually be part of a new I-40 interchange. So we get to see it daily, and cross the one-way bridge over the stream below. That also won't be improved upon until the interchange is constructed. 

Yes indeed, climate change is real!

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Yale Program on Climate Change Communication gives this:

• Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 (69% versus 15%).

• A majority of Americans (60%) understand that global warming is mostly human-caused. By contrast, 28% think it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment.

• 65% of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming. This includes 29% who say they are “very worried.”

• 58% of Americans think extreme weather poses either a “high” (18%) or “moderate” (40%) risk to their community over the next 10 years.

• Additionally, 64% of Americans think global warming is affecting weather in the United States, including 34% who think weather is being affected “a lot.”

• 12% of Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming.

Today's quote:

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable…but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

Agatha Christie An old photo: This is me around 11-12 years old.