Seeing changes

 

Gladiola - from the internet

If you're tired of all my talk about our hurricane survival issues, just skip the rest of this post...

Aerial view of storm damage to bridge in Swannanoa NC, Sept 27, 2024. The tree in the middle of the photo partially hides the red cargo container, both of which slammed into the bridge over the Swannanoa River. You can see the waters have receded from  US Hwy 70, but the mud still remained when this arial shot was taken, and there were no signal lights due to no electricity. The missing roof on the nearby building at top of photo is probably from wind damage.

I drove on the one clear lane four days later to get to the I-40 interchange that went through Asheville to then-reopened I-26 in order to evacuate. You still couldn't go any of the other 3 directions on the interstates, and many other highways wouldn't be repaired for months following the floods. For instance, Hwy. 70 which goes into Asheville was still closed 2 months later. Further south, US Highway 64 going east from Hendersonville is closed going into Chimney Rock still today.

And here was the repaired/new bridge in Swannanoa March 1, 2025. The red edged roof overhang on the left belonged to a building which was halfway washed away, and has since been demolished. But many of the buildings in that strip have yet to be demolished ..completely unusable. I need to drive along US 70 to get to the nearest entry to I-40 to go to Asheville, where most of my medical care is.

I am like many other residents of Black Mountain that travel often along these same roads, and are constantly reminded of the disaster 7 months ago. Swannanoa is an unincorporated town, so relies upon the Buncombe County government for any help beyond what federal or state efforts might offer. It shows that a US highway is still dealing with the hurricane effects.

Here are some shots of the damaged buildings taken May 5, 2025, looking across the river.

And here we were crossing the new bridge, looking downstream  to see what's left of those buildings.

The bank on the right has been stabilized with huge rocks, which I imagine will also be piled on the left bank as well. 

A happy symbiotic relationship between peonies and ants.

Our first peonies opened for Mother Day last week, then we had rains for several days. They don't have strong stems, but most are still ok.

Today's quote:

By being our true, authentic selves, we can make the world a better place one day at a time.

Blue flower and bee teapot, before the handle is attached.

Now you see it.

Our two peony bushes are blooming this week!

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Yesterday around 5:30 our power went out. I was able to still read or a while, and opened the windows as well for cool winds. It was affecting several thousand people in mostly small towns in Asheville area, but not Asheville itself. I finally lit some candles to just see around things, though I had a little flashlight as well as the phone flashlight. It was mainly boring!

The power company said it would come back on by 9:30, and they would let us know the cause. They texted later that the cause was major power lines being damaged, but they didn't say by what. Some FaceBook people said it was sun spots, while I was inclined to think it had to do with high winds. 

Power came back on after I'd fallen asleep, around 10:30, and then I put on the C-Pap to help me breathe. I had horrible cough when I woke up. Probably from pollen/dust that was invisible wwhen I had opened the windows (and taken a cloth with some cleanser on it across the screens as well as the cracks in the sills where glass/screen/framing meet. I closed all the windows when I went to bed around 9:45. It stayed nice and cool all night both inside and out, and wind is still twisting the trees outside my windows as I write this.

I'm so sorry to hear of tornadoes in Missouri and Kentucky. And yet I'm grateful that I have power to heat my coffee this morning, while I know there are hundreds of families who have a damaged home now. May we remember we are all connected.

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"After the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011, when the Fukushima nuclear power plant was on the verge of collapse, a small group of people stepped forward – not soldiers, not politicians, but courageous technicians, engineers, and scientists. Many of them were already retired. They volunteered to stay where few wanted to stay: inside the danger.

"With destroyed cooling systems and radiation levels thousands of times higher than the legal limit, these men and women risked their lives to prevent the worst. They became known worldwide as the "Fukushima 50."

"Equipped with protective suits, they took on tasks no machine could do – pumping seawater into overheated reactors and working amidst the rubble. They knew what was at stake: not just their health, but the fate of an entire country.

"What they did was not heroism in the traditional sense. It was quiet courage, deep responsibility, and the will not to look away in the darkest hour. Many of them didn't want recognition—only the hope that their efforts would save lives and prevent the unimaginable.

"Their courage will never be forgotten."

Posted on Facebook page: Facts that will Blow your Mind.

Just what are they thinking?

Sorry guys, but when faced with a sinkfull like she was, no wonder she thought she needed a man. (Incidentally, spell check was positive I wanted to talk about sinful, rather than sinkfull!)

Sharing with Sepia Saturday, where everyone is strolling along together.

Wonderful (75 year old) 1960 photo by fashion photographer Ormond Gigli. The building was about to be demolished so in 24 hours he arranged all the models as well as the Rolls Royce for this photo. Owner of building agreed if his wife could also be included. These were some daring models!

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Today's quote:

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity. -Thomas Wolfe, novelist (1900-1938)

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And since I do use Wikipedia often... look what I found this week from Substack: 

Everything is philosophy

In the introduction to a post about living a more intellectually interesting life, Utsav Mamoria shares a fun fact from the results of a study on Wikipedia.

How to live an intellectually rich life

—Utsav Mamoria in Tumse Na Ho Paayega

Go to the main page of Wikipedia.

Click any link that leads to a Wikipedia entry. For that page, click the first hyperlinked word in the main text. Keep doing it—your journey will look something like this [above].

Now try this for several pages. Make them as varied as Nuclear Gandhi, Cow Tipping, and Exploding Trousers.

All of them will lead you to the Wikipedia entry on Philosophy.

In 2017, three mathematicians from the University of Vermont published a paper titled Connecting Every Bit of Knowledge: The Structure of Wikipedia’s First Link Network. They tested this hypothesis over a dataset of 4.7 million English Wikipedia articles and found that Philosophy was the page where the highest no. of articles ended.

95% of all Wikipedia articles led to philosophy.

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A teapot from my past...

As I was about to put the bamboo handle on it.