The little engine that could

Chugga chugga...

I think I can, I think I can. I drove to my favorite seafood shop, and purchased a pound of salmon. It would become glazed with maple syrup and rum  later that night, nestled next to red potatoes and French cut green beans.

Driving was easy enough to do on Saturday before 11.

Incidentally, Roger is wanting to sell his little fish business, because he needs to have back surgery. He only works a few hours Friday and Saturday here in Black Mountain, with fresh-caught fish trucked in from the coast. Of course my salmon is actually farmed in Canada, but I figure it has had much less handling and is days fresher than that sold at the grocery down the street.

The back side of the Tailgate Market. 

Wandering around I saw lots of nice red apples, but I wanted a couple of tomatoes. Slowly I walked all the way to those booths at the back side of the market...and they still had some tomatoes!

Some fresh sunflower sprouts and little ginger roots were part of my purchase. Then slowly I walked back to the car. I was so tired by then! But I had accomplished the shopping I needed. Whew.

I had a light lunch, then napped for a while, but a huge clap of thunder hit right over my head before I actually was asleep. I'm glad I'd turned off the surge protector on the computer! Little drizzly rain for several hours. as thunder slowly moved into the distance.

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Friends are as companions

on a journey,  who ought to

aid each other

to persevere in the road

to a happier life.

     Pythagoras

Sports and grands and critters

 

As a high school junior, my youngest granddaughter was a member of the State Championship girls Lacrosse team in Columbus OH. 

She also played hockey.

She and her 2 older sisters (not in photo) also had started out with gymnastics very young. Here Kate is kneeling to left of the trophy with pink hairbow.

My son Russ is their father. Here he is in a yearbook photo from the 1980s...see the curly haired guy in front row center? Russ is behind him leaning toward him to the right.

My three Florida grands were more interested in video games than sports...and loved visiting Disney etc. theme parks. They know more about technology than I could imagine!

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week!!

And Alan Burnett our host says:

It's a team game, one where we all pull together, one where we share our favourite old photographs with fellow enthusiasts. That's Sepia Saturday - and that is also our theme for this week.  as this is Sepia Saturday, however, it is not like most other games. There are no rules. You can therefore either follow our theme image or completely ignore it. It's up to you. All we ask is that you share an old photograph on or around Saturday the 20th September 2025 and add a link to the list.

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For Saturday's Critters - sorry, I haven't been out much, nor interacted with any animals! Old internet photos here!

Maddie at Joe's Cutting Crew. (My photo!)

West Indian Manatees

Autumnal Equinox is Monday Sept. 22, 2025

Linville Falls and other things

 

For Floral Friday Fotos

Linville Falls lower falls...you can't get there from the Blue Ridge Parkway yet , and many of the trails are still damaged. Photo from Facebook.

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Way back  photos of my last visit to Linville Falls, upper falls:

October, 2020

Helen and I did selfies with the Upper Falls behind us.

October, 2020. We'd become a society of wearing masks, due to COVID. This wasn't quite as crowded as the photo makes it look. 

The upper end of the chute going to the lower falls (can't get there from here!)

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Times that challenge us physically, emotionally, and spiritually may make it almost impossible for us to feel grateful. Yet, we can decide to live gratefully, courageously open to life in all its fullness.

BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST

Some of my gratitude today

 Thankful Thursday.

Boy do I have a lot to be thankful for this  week!

Medical care! Whew, what a lot of people worked to help me get better! Impressive!

Friends and relatives...oh yes, they have kept me going (including you, dear bloggers!)

From Facebook

Fly like an Eagle, clay puzzle wall art by Barbara Rogers, (c. 2015)

Tunnel Road, Asheville NC (my photo)

View of my front porch last year. This year I've given away some of those pots, and backed out of caring for so many plants.

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It’s that knife-edge of uncertainty where we come alive to our truest power.

JOANNA MACY

Just a brief recall

 

Sept 27 is the one year anniversary  of Hurricane Helene. Here the bridge in Swannanoa is shown in an aerial view soon after the storm - the highway is US 70 and had lots of sludge left all over it from the Swannanoa River flood. In the next weeks we found the dust it created was another problem to deal with.

An earlier view of the bridge and water still standing on the highway.

There are certainly more horrible things on the news these days. I bring this back up simply because this disaster impacted myself, and my neighbors so much. 

Cold December morning showed some people still living in tents and sheds.

Free food, water and supplies (cleaning, hygiene etc) were available at different  sites eventually.

Though the damage occurred on Friday, FEMA and other helpers didn't arrive until Monday. The rescue teams were looking for survivors from many mudslides and washed out buildings.

Imagine no cell service, no electricity, no water, not even ability to drive on the nearby interstates to leave the area!

Here at Black Mountain Town Square there was a daily meeting M-F, to discuss the status of water, sewer, cell service, available food and supplies. How the Public Workks people were trying to reestablish water lines was a big topic, as everyone was using "grey water" to flush with, and picking up bottled water for drinking. 

Blue Ridge apartment  residents gathered with small charcoal grills and cooked as much meat as they could, which was thawing from lack of electric power. They didn't have any water stocked up either.

It didn't become available the first 2 days. I remember going to the police station and telling them 70 some elders were at the apartments without any water, and being told everyone was in the same boat.

 The electricity was off for 13 days at my apartment, so I went to stay with a relative when highways were again open. I was able to watch these town meetings through Facebook posts. They were led initially by a young woman from the Forest Service, and she did a great job facilitating, then the town leaders took over. Eventually Asheville also had these kinds of public service meetings on line.

For months following my return to my apartment, there were still meals, water, laundry services, and showers available. Many people had lost their homes, and FEMA was really slow to provide trailers. They said they would need to be placed above flood-prone properties, but that's where people owned their lands.

It took me until March to obtain the funds to replace my lost food from FEMA.

I'm not angry about it, just realize the slow wheels of government agencies which were stretched to the limits.

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Waiting for energy

 

Recent tornado in south-east Utah, near my son's home in Cortez CO. It was on the ground Sept 12 for quite some time, and destroyed 3 homes out in the desert. But I haven't heard anything from my son because he's on vacation elsewhere. 

That's some energy from nature.

My energy of healing is what I was going to talk about, but I've been much too much focused upon that lately, and quite honestly I'm tired of it.

So resting and healing is slow at my age. Acceptance is hard.

 

The Blue Ridge Parkway announced that it's open up to the Mt. Mitchell State Park entrance, and you have to turn around and come back the way you came.

BIG NEWS! You can once again travel the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Folk Art Center all the way to Mount Mitchell State Park!

The National Park Service has completed landslide repairs at mileposts 375 and 380, reopening the stretch between milepost 382 in Asheville and milepost 355.3 at Ridge Junction Overlook (near NC 80 and the Mount Mitchell entrance).

This reopening gives visitors access to some of the Parkway’s most beloved spots, including the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center, Craggy Pinnacle Trail, and nearby portions of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. 

Some areas remain closed for now, including the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area and sections of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from the Craggy Trail Shelter to the Snowball Mountain Trail. 

 

Huge Helene Recovery News: Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene, Mount Mitchell State Park has reopened, as has the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville (MP 382) to MP 355.2. The parkway remains closed north of the park, so you must come to Mount Mitchell State Park from the Asheville side.

Photo: NC State Parks.

Like much of western North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway sustained major damage from Tropical Storm Helene, with at least 57 landslides in North Carolina, as well as thousands of downed trees. // Photo provided by Blue Ridge Parkway
 

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A storm on the mountains, unknown photographer.

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Sharing with My Corner of the World.

Physical abilities vs thinking I can do

 Ah the drugs...

Steroids continue for a few more days, which means while I'm resting I think of all the really important things I should do. I'm terribly creative. Not quite to wash the windows...but definitely want to get rid of some of the old furniture which is past it's prime.

However, it's the old bod which limits what I can actually accomplish.

I fixed a real dinner last night (first one since coming home.) It meant washing and cutting up the potatoes and boiling them. Then frying the Gardien vegetarian chicken pieces, and adding a Mandarin sauce (thankfully from a pouch.) I then skipped making the salad or green veggies, because I'd been standing at the stove turning those darn fake chicken pieces for 10 minutes already.

There isn't a clean pot in the house (since some had already been used and not cleaned when I got sick.)

I did one sink-full of dishes before all that. Then had to sit down and watch a Miss Marple movie.

Last morning at hospital I watched this woman (I'm guessing she was female) do some dancing with mowing...perhaps she was talking on her phone, or just having fun. Of course you have to imagine it.

I'm off to fix my apple cinnamon oatmeal now, having my second cuppa coffee completed. Then I can take my meds. And solve all the world problems. NOT. I avoid reading about them, because I know my brain will lap them up like a hungry dog and decide just how everyone should change. 

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Hope is not a wish but an intention.

STEVEN CHARLESTON