Update about blog

View out my windows in Durango CO
Showing posts with label wildfires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wildfires. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2026

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.


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and then there's this...


A ritual for dealing with the wildfires.





A pagan blessing for the day...

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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. 

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Blue Ridge memories


Rhododendrons at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway

 

Just south of Richland Balsam Overlook

Thanks to a FaceBook post from David and Julia on the site: Riding the Backroads with Bonita


Biltmore House seen from the Shut In Trail, by Mandy Gallimore



Caney Fork Overlook on May 19, 2026. Doubletop Mountain and Kuwohi in the distance. by Anthony Crowley


Caney Fork Overlook on May 19, 2026. Doubletop Mountain by Anthony Crowley


Probably Grandfather Mountain with Linville Viaduct below



Linville Viaduct by unknown photographer - it only carries vehicles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, no water like ancient viaducts!



by Barbara L Kahn Laurel Knob Overlook on the BRP. 12.1.23



by Barbara L Kahn fire is burning adjacent to U.S. 80 (Buck Creek) in McDowell County, NC. 12.1.23


Black Cove Complex 3.27.25

Dawn - Aug 28, 2024. 7.22am by Barb Rogers at  Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway 

I-40 in Old Fort in McDowell County, coming home to Black Mountain NC from the east, not my photo, but I sure do know the feeling of coming home to the mountains!


Linville Gorge

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results, bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. We understand that law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world –- although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating -– and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.
      - James Allen, As You Think




Saturday, July 18, 2026

What I'm discarding, and nature, are on my mind.

 Today the furniture goes...

While I wait for Habitat for Humanity to come truck away the dining table, a book case, two dressers and a couple of little shelves, let's consider what's happening in the rest of the world.



A woman athlete made some waves in the news while I've been watching a few World Cup games. Well, I don't watch sports news most of the time, I admit.

The Ferris Fire - this view from his ranch in Cortez, Montezuma County, CO - by Larry Don Sukla




Craggy Pinnacle Trail from David and Julia, Appalachian Mountains. Even without rain these trees just fog everything up.


Not my tent, but a reminder of all the people out enjoying wilderness this time of year.


Some of the small things going to the thrift store this week! Of course the watches don't work. And some of these pieces were my mother’s.

Speaking of watches, did you see the new fangled timepiece which uses numbers by name, arranged alphabetically?




This week a man at lunch time asked me the elevation of Durango CO (my soon to be new home) and I just answered "Mt. Mitchell." Thus my recent trip to the 6640 foot peak in North Carolina was to help me acclimate to the higher elevation where I'll soon be living.

When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

AUDRE LORDE


Sharing with Sepia Saturday!

“Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”
- Alice Walker

OK before the furniture is picked up a special coffee meeting is scheduled, to meet fellow blogger Mary Moon. Just had to add this bit of earth shattering news...hold onto your hats, big event here!

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Something to think about

 



I like to re-read this every once in a while.



Creative people need time to
just sit around and do nothing.
If you're out of ideas, wash the dishes.
Take really long walk. Stare at a
spot on the wall for as long as you can.

Austin Kleon
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Bobby Burns said it well...the best laid plans...

This is where I'm moving in a week in hopes of having drier air to breathe. Mmm, whenever the smoke clears, that is. 





This warning was published June 28. It is not likely to be better when I arrive in Durango at the end of July. (at the bottom of the map) Yes, my apartment has air conditioning. Thank heavens. 

My son's house does not. But he is able to deal with high temperatures by closing up everything during the day, and opening it up at night. He has had high winds, which fortunately don't come from the areas where fires are burning.


View of a wildland fire with smoke blowing to northeast.


Thanks MC Escher, for this lovely transition.



"The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."

 -John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1902-1968


This is the first job I had after college. A flying waitress. Other women had the time of their lives. Sometimes I did, but mainly I didn't. Not Pan Am's fault though!

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Saturday, March 29, 2025

Mish mash of critters

 Looking through my collection of critters, I will offer what's already on file. Haven't met many new ones this week


Brown bears with salmon run
  

Llama  and Inca wall

Some rabbits for vernal equinox


Mandarin Duck






Sharing  with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.



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Today's quote:

Life should not be lived through a series of mind games, but instead with truth and self-reflection.

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Today's art:

By Carol Long

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Family  album:


A birthday gathering for my ex-hubby in 2023 for his 84th, with son Marty standing behind him, then my grandsons Michael and William, with ex's cousin Margaret and her hubby behind them. 

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Smoke continues, so I wear my N-95 mask when going out. It's no fun having my windows with curtains and blinds down...but by evening, I start to cough without that precaution, just sitting near the windows. Fires continue in the mountains within a few miles, and we're sure hoping for rain soon.  Forecast for tomorrow now (originally said Monday.) I'll take it, any time possible. Poor fire fighters from all over have been working so hard.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Wildfires - environment keeps changing

Thanks to Good Morning America for featuring Asheville 6 months after Hurricane Helene, and raising $2.7 million to help - this morning.

Last night and this morning...


My environment:


Black Cove Complex fire
^ Made up of three fires totaling 6,500 acres
* Two largest fires are now 10-20% contained
* Two fires caused by downed power lines
* Third fire cause still under investigation
- Blaze has spread into Henderson County
- 250 houses evacuated
- Named highest priority fire in southern U.S. (3.26.25)

The 4556 acre Table Rock Fire lights the Carolinas Sky. Started in Pickens County, SC, the fire is now encroaching into Transylania County, NC, near Brevard 3.27.2025

Black Mountain is to the east (right) of Asheville, about 15 miles along I-40.

And Facebook just posted this (Thurs, 11:15 am)