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

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!

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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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.

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)

Climate Change attitudes

 Yale Climate Change Conversations latest newsletter published on: 

Global Warming's Six Audiences Around The World

Our prior research has identified six distinct audiences within the public – the Alarmed, Concerned, Cautious, Disengaged, Doubtful, and Dismissive – based on their beliefs and attitudes about climate change.*

 

Key Findings:

• The Alarmed are the largest group in about three-fourths of the countries and territories surveyed.
• The United States is less Alarmed about global warming than most other top carbon-emitting countries.
• Among the top 15 emitters, the largest proportion of Alarmed are in Mexico, Brazil, and India.

* The identified attitudes are based on these definitions:

The Alarmed are convinced climate change is happening, human-caused, and an urgent threat, and strongly support climate policies.

 The Concerned think human-caused climate change is happening and is a serious threat, and support climate policies. However, they tend to believe that climate impacts are still distant in time and space, thus the issue remains a lower priority. 

The Cautious have not yet made up their minds: Is climate change happening? Is it human-caused? Is it serious? 

The Disengaged know little to nothing about climate change and rarely if ever hear about it. 

The Doubtful do not think climate change is happening or they believe it is just a natural cycle. 

And the Dismissive are convinced climate change is not happening, human-caused, or a threat, and oppose most climate policies. 

I find this is a bit more information than just speaking of Climate Change Deniers. 

When you see this photo, do you think at all about climate change? That's what I'm talking about. A brain shift, or paradigm shift, if you will. Each time we see a beautiful shot of nature, we can consider what climate change is doing, or will do, to that area. First thought for me is wildland fires, or forest fires. They are incredibly hard to fight in steep mountain terrain. What else might happen to this pristine landscape?

This is not "awful-izing" so much as bringing a different focus upon the view. Like taking a different set of binoculars which show something that isn't visible at first glance. If we think "wildfires on steep slopes," there are several avenues that veer off of that key phrase. Firfighters, number, equipment, availability. The following years with denuded slopes might also lead to mud slides and flash flooding. Are there people or wildlife affected by any of these possibilities?

Some statistics in North Carolina

 From Progress NC Facebook 11.27.23 post:

"'Droughts, floods, off-season tornados, weird cold snaps and unseasonably warm temperatures: All are hallmarks of a changing climate, not in the future, but happening now.' And we're seeing all of these things right here in North Carolina."

Among the current North Carolina wildfire numbers:

833  acres – Size of the Sauratown wildfire in Stokes County. Last week’s rain helped crews to contain the fire, now at 69%. Fire officials are investigating the cause.

434 acres – Poplar Drive fire in Edneyville, in Henderson County; it is 100% contained. A man was burning debris, which then spread. He has since been charged with a misdemeanor.

1,888 acres – Black Bear fire in Haywood County, which is 80% contained. A car crash on I-40 started the blaze. NOTE: This is the one near the tunnel on I-40 near the TN border with NC.

80 acres – Branch fire in Wilkes County, 100% contained; the cause is under investigation.

5,505 acres – Collett Ridge fire in Cherokee and Clay counties; it is 100% contained. Lightning struck dry vegetation, sparking the fire.

4,589 – Number of wildfires so far in 2023

17,682 acres – Amount of land burned in those fires

6,099 – Number of wildfires in 2022

20,126 acres – Amount of land burned

63,547 acres – Largest amount of land burned because of wildfires in the past 20 years — in 2011

7,260 – Greatest number of wildfires in the past 20 years — in 2007

96 – Number of counties in some stage of drought, ranging from ‘abnormally dry’ to ‘extreme’

13 – Number of counties classified as 'extreme’

Sources: NC Drought Management Advisory Council, NC Forest Service

About that wildfire smoke

 How much smoke from wildfires has been measured in your area of the USA?

(Sorry, Canadian friends. You may have many wildfires, but the studies only gave US stats.)

Wildfire Smoke: Nationwide Health Risk

Sad photos of Maui

 Reality hits us over our heads sometimes. COVID did that.

 Climate chaos is another.

Wildfires in Hawaii seem far away from my North Carolina life. But wait, a new acquaintence I met working for Climate Change is from Maui. 

When  I tried to post on FB some articles from BBC they didn't get posted.  I made a comment about it, and a friend said she could see them. So there was just a lag time of about 15 minutes. Strange.

So here is a NPR link for some amazing before and after photos. Satellite images before and after.

And here's the link to the relevant article from BBC, interviews with visitors from Kansas who had to spend 4 hours in the ocean, and a local resident of Lahaina. Survivors describe.

My new friend's FB post did go out, listing places where shelters are open, where gasoline is available. Even a list of names accounted for and still missing. That really brings it home to me. Real people's addresses, which have probably been destroyed. Somehow this is more touching than the war in Ukraine. At least to me.

Sorry, I'm stuck with just links, and the short clips shown on the broadcast news.

This is Climate Chaos....in my humble opinion. So sad to read about the loss and suffering. But talking about it is the way I accept the shock, and acknowledge my feelings.

Today's quote:

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

JOSEPH ADDISON

July first sighs

I go to bed at night, alone but with two cats.  I crank up the old computer in the morning (the one that works intermittently) and fix my coffee.  I check my email and my favorite blogs.  Remember I turned off TV coverage about a month ago.

Oh no, first my blog-friend Vicki has had an accident which totaled her car.  All I can do is comment along with other blogger friends our relief that she wasn't hurt too badly.

Then another blog alerts me to a wildfire which has taken the lives of 19 hotshot firefighters.  I quickly go look at news reports.  http://www.today.com/video/today/52362369#52362369
I chose to look at NBC rather than FOX, but what difference does it make in this awful story?  The facts are grim.  I post my sadness on my FaceBook page, sending condolences so their families may know peace.  There are also many people homeless as a result of this fire.  May they find comfort as well.

So this first of July is one of sighs. 

I spent last evening reading about another disaster which occured over a century ago.  My grandparents both lived through it, when about 6000 people were killed in the "Storm of 1900 in Galveston."  I re-read the book that my grandmother gave me, in which she had written, "I knew most of these people."  I scanned the photos and wanted to post them to Ancestry.com so that other relatives could see the devastation...not to gloat in "weren't the survivors lucky."  I want to share it because the event must have impacted the lives of all who lived through it.  I've met people who survived the devastation of Katrina in New Orleans, or Andrew in south Florida.   For many, there is a look in their eyes that is forever sad.

I feel very connected to those who have suffered, not because I have, but because I am touched in my heart.