More than just coping with it all

 

This is a tiny bar of soap...maybe 1-1/2 inches across!

Helen sent me some meds that she picked up for me in Black Mountain, because I'm in insurance limbo with switching to Colorado healthcare from NC. She included this tiny little soap bar...especially for us people named Rogers (no relation to Rev. Fred Rogers however.)

Incidentally it triggered my interest enough to re-watch the movie with Tom Hanks in it, about Mr. Rogers. It's not like a biography, but an interesting fictionalized account of his encounters with a troubled writer.

Most of these are vitamins, but a couple are for blood pressure and heart and breathing stuff.

My screen wallpaper from the Dripolator in Black Mountain, just gives me a hug of nostalgia to see my friends Helen and Teresa as they were placing their orders.

--------------------

and then there's this...

A ritual for dealing with the wildfires.

A pagan blessing for the day...

---------------------------------

This week's loaf of homebaked bread. I didn't have a recipe, which is good because this loaf is forgettable...supposed to be cheese loaf, but can't taste it at all. But I usually toast my bread and then put something else on top of it, so it will have that flavor even if the cheese disappeared. Since the size of the loaf is so unwieldy I usually cut it in half, then slice off each half for half slices at a time. 

Just some old photos

 Sepia Saturday

My sister and her daughter in 1974, living in a log cabin in woods near Livingston TN. No running water or electricity. The great push for Floridian hippies to go "back to the land."

By Anton Cherkio 2022

I'm sure Rev. Fred Rogers was a cousin, in spirit if not in blood.

An actual map of neuron connectivity in the brain. The sample is roughly the size of a grain of sand

Everyone is dealing with something...be kind!

1946 Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test

-------------------

Sharing with Sepia Saturday (a day late and who knows what that kid is doing sitting next to a life saving ring, anyway!) Thanks for hosting, Alan!

Perhaps a laugh

 

And changed a zillion diapers on your butt!

This didn't happen on my recent trips to Asheville through Swannanoa, but it is at the corner where everyone turns to get on I-40. Apparently the guy was at a gas pump and hit the accelerator rather than the brake pedal. No injuries reported...but you have to wonder how he got out!

Dry Falls, near Franklin NC. It's actually quite damp under the falls!

I was lucky enough to be alive when this happened, and lived within a hundred miles of it! Saw it on the news with the traffic problems.

A week ago Friday was March 13...and here's Mr Rogers (no relation) talking about King Friday the 13th.

“Laugh. We’re all going to be dead anyway some day. So while you should try your hardest to make the most of your life, when something funny happens, when you make a mistake, or even (and perhaps especially) when bad things happen, it’s easier if you can laugh about yourself and the world.”

Source: Life Is Short And So Is This Book: Brief Thoughts On Making The Most Of Your Life by Ex-Microsoft general manager and writer, Peter Atkins on how to live life.

If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.

Hildegard of Bingen Thanks to AC, must add this video! For all my fortunate Canadian friends! May you stay free of the (insert expletive here) threats from the Orange one, who we citizens of the USA deplore and wish to be rid of asap!

Two Views, Same Place

 Many of these photos are from the internet.

Catawba Falls NC (not my photo)

 Catawba Falls, NC

From Asheville, 1893 and 2026...

Biltmore Village in 1893 and today. All Souls church was being built

Different views of Looking Glass Falls NC

Looking Glass Falls 1925. Asheville Post Card Co.

 Lower left corner shows photographer, Masa, numbering 0-5456.

This could be my photo, or one like it. This site is right next to US Highway 276 near Brevard NC.

Taken by drone probably...

Lady Liberty

Yellowstone Lower Falls, WY by Rob Moody

Yellowstone Falls in winter

From London England

The Temple Bar, the last surviving ceremonial gateway to the City of London

Sharing with Sepia Saturday

------------------------

A body of clay, a mind full of play, a moment's life -- that's me. 

-Harivansh Rai Bachchan, poet (1907-2003)

----------------

Yesterday, February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled tRump's tariffs were illegal.

"BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20, 2026 ruled in a 6–3 decision that Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs were illegal because he exceeded his authority under federal law when he imposed them without clear congressional approval.

The Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the 1977 statute Trump cited to justify his tariffs, does not authorize the president to impose broad import taxes. Under the Constitution, that power is reserved to Congress.

Majority (6 Justices) Tariffs Struck Down

Chief Justice John Roberts (wrote the opinion)

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Justice Elena Kagan

Justice Neil Gorsuch

Justice Amy Coney Barrett

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

These justices agreed that IEEPA does not grant tariff authority and that imposing tariffs of this scope without clear congressional authorization violates federal law.

Dissent (3 Justices)

Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Justice Clarence Thomas

Justice Samuel Alito

The dissenters argued that the statute could be interpreted to permit these actions or that the majority misread the president’s authority under existing law.

What This Means

The tariffs Trump imposed under emergency powers, including wide-reaching duties on imports from major trading partners, are no longer lawful.

The Court did not fully spell out the refund process, but companies that paid billions in tariffs may now seek refunds.

The ruling represents a significant check on executive power in trade policy and underscores that only Congress can authorize new taxes or tariffs.

This decision is a major blow to Trump’s economic agenda and could reshape how future presidents approach trade authority and executive power.

Bridges

Current events, close to home - warning these photos are current but show damages remaining from Sept. 27, 2024's floods from Hurricane Helene.

 When driving by the Swannanoa "business district" it's still full of the remains of buildings, and huge drop-offs looking down into the waterway where parking lots were washed away after Hurricane Helene.

A remaining ruin was here one day (months after the storm), and then...

Just an empty lot!

While next door the wreck of the warehouse still stands.

But the bridge connecting Old 70 and US 70is now open, and well used again to get to the many homes up around Old 70. My friend, Judy, lives in that area, and has been driving circuitous routes to get places for 5 months!

A red trailer left by flood waters from the river, was pulled onto the bridge perhaps to use for storage while workers were repairing it. 

Below shows the bridge has been repaired and is now in operation (we went over it) March 1, 2025

 (Incidentally, the red overhand of roof on the far upper left belongs to one of the ruined buildings still hanging over the river .)

There was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the repaired bridge on Wed. Feb. 27!

Much of the debris has been hauled away...though larger objects and buildings still show the damage a flood of water did to this little town. As I was in a passenger seat driving along on last Thursday, I just clicked away at what we drove by...

A favorite vet practice now gone.

Ditches dug deeper to remove further runoff problems from any new rains!

Taken on Feb 28, 2025. The newer looking small structures might have been donated sheds, some of which were used for shelters by owners of the property during the winter months (almost over now.) FEMA provided motel rooms for many of us who were displaced by the storm, but the vouchers are due to be ended this month, though they've been extended several times already. People just didn't have any place to return to in many cases.

We live in the next town up the Swannanoa Valley, in Black Mountain...and support all the local businesses we can, and my friend's car says what we feel.

------------------

And for more upbeat sharing, 

Not my photo, but snowdrops! We didn't get that much snow (as of now anyway)

And since we just looked at a real neighborhood, here's Mr.Rogers' neighborhood - the actual sets used in the many programs my children watched!

----------------------

Today's quote:

From everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living, nothing in my eyes is better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines. Belonging to everyone and being equal to everyone, useful, always built with a sense, on the spot where most human needs are crossing, they are more durable than other buildings and they do not serve for anything secret or bad. -Ivo Andric, novelist, Nobel laureate (1892-1975)

-------------

Today's art:

Van Gogh, The Gleize Bridge over the Vigueirat Canal

--------------------------

Open Yesterday's Pages, featured yesterday Learning their ABC's thanks to Swannanoa Valley History Museum

__________________

My family album sharing:

Daughter-in-law, Michelle and middle son, Russ 2025