Back to the gardens

I love the ginger lily flower's scent. It's funny, lots of lilies are very objectionable to me these days. Not this one.

Just look at the size of that plant.

A very interesting pod...don't know the name of this one!

There were an abundance of zinnias in the John Wilson community gardens when I walked around a couple of weeks ago.

And marigolds...and some very tiny unhappy looking tomatoes.

Unfortunately we're due to have almost constant rain on this Sat. Wonder how they'll tag butterflies.

I used to think I was allergic to goldenrod...but I've been told the culprit is ragweed for allergies.

 So I haven't had any increase of symptoms walking wherever goldenrod is blooming. Yay.

Today's quote:

Visiting a sacred site can be a useful tool to open something within you that has remained inaccessible.

Madisyn Taylor, Daily Om

Another greenway trail

 Black Mountain NC is blessed to have lots of places to walk, and most are pet friendly as well as able to be walked by those who look for easy level trails.

A brief preview of where the trail runs.

The greenway has been named in honor of Emily (not the one I knew)

Like most original mountain roads, and thus many of today's highway routes, this walk goes along Flat Creek.

It's at its tamist along here...no white cascades as can be found further up in Montreat.

But don't be fooled by this flat pretty easy going stretch, as this is the area which floods most easily when we get several inches of rain in a short period of time.

I went as far as the bridge, then turned around to go meet a friend for outdoor lunch.

I liked the design of the bridge.

Today's quote:

There are no guarantees. From the viewpoint of fear, none are strong enough. From the viewpoint of love, none are necessary.

EMMANUEL TENEY

Gardens by the river produce lots of produce

There's lots of land which isn't planted in gardens...

I love how the mountains capture clouds, or make them in the valleys.

This field is where the Frisbee golf course goes along.

Some gardeners are putting in winter crops.

A Swannanoa River view from my greenway walk.

Today's quote:

Go to where the silence is and say something. 

-Amy Goodman, investigative journalist, columnist and author (b. 13 Apr 1957) 
 

Victory Gardens

Since I was born at the beginning of WW II, my parents were among those many people who tried to have a "Victory Garden" in their yard. While my mother didn't contribute to starting the garden, due to her pregnancy with me, my visiting grandparents, Gummy and Poppy, did a bit of hoeing and turning of the horrible soil in our yard in Dallas. 

I never heard that we ate anything that was grown there. My grandparents lived in San Antonio at the time, but they may have driven their Studebaker up to Dallas when I was born in August.

Vintage Photos: World War II ‘Victory Gardens’

Urban farming was way more than a fad in the 1940s.

By 

Ilana Strauss

Updated August 25, 2020

A post from a newsletter, "Tree Hugger"...with Library of Congress photos.

 "Around 20 million families planted victory gardens; they grew 40 percent of the country's vegetables by 1944.

"New York, New York. Victory gardening on the Charles Schwab estate."

"America's youngsters will take a hand in feeding the family this year. A worthwhile project for every member of the family. Victory Gardens, whether planted in the smallest backyard plot or in large acreages, will go a long way toward augmenting supplies of fruits and vegetables severely reduced by war demands."

"Arlington, Virginia. FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp project for Negroes. Project occupant tending his victory garden."

Washington, D.C. Vice President Henry A. Wallace in his victory garden."

"New York, New York. Children's school victory gardens on First Avenue between Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Streets."

SOURCE: Tree Hugger daily newsletter

Sepia Saturday will have other old photos and news from yesteryear by other bloggers HERE.

Today's Quote:

Some of our deepest wounds,
Are judgments, self-inflicted,
Endless paper cuts upon our spirit,
Made by an inherently imperfect 'self',
Despising its imperfection.

When in fact, the green-stemmed fruit,
The infant petals in a sheltering bud,
Are as they should be, in their time,
On schedule to arrive, in their time,
In this Dream of passing seasons.

For here, in The Garden of Time,
What is not yet, becomes what is,
And what is, becomes what was,
And our manifest Being, ever ripening,
Is not yet, now, as it will be, then.

On this Path of Love and Surrender,
Tend gently the seedling of the Heart,
Doing the needful, as you are able,
But then Surrender, giving yourself over,
Sweet unripened...

To The Beloved Gardner.

Chuck Surface
In The Garden of The Beloved Facebook

A wee bit of color

 

This sunny jeep actually has plates from Florida. For autumn, many people will come to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the leaves turning colors.

Well, there was the good old goldenrod. And a few trees starting to show some brownish reds, or greenish yellows. This is looking west from an overlook on our way home (going down the mountain and northeast toward Asheville NC)

Another view looking northwest, towards Waynesville NC.

We turned as we were leaving to capture the buildings and the nice roll of the grass which suddenly goes very far down just the left of these buildings. The Pisgah Inn has some simple double-bed rooms, in the building to the far left, and also in the one which is center left. Housekeeping had a couple of the doors to rooms open as we walked by. Further up the hill (either by steps or ramp) is the building with the restaurant.

This shot shows the most color on the trees, as we sat in rockers and enjoyed the view after lunch.

My selfie includes my friend Teresa, and a bit of the observation deck outside the restaurant.

Once again, Blogger posted my photos in reverse order. We left and saw that jeep at the overlook where we stopped on the way home.

I went back on my diet again the next day! One needs to have a holiday, even from a diet which is good for you, and then be ready to make more delicious things to eat at home.

TODAY"S QUOTE:

The universe is no narrow thing and the order within it is not constrained by any latitude in its conception to repeat what exists in one part in any other part. Even in this world more things exist without our knowledge than with it and the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way. For existence has its own order and that no man’s mind can compass, that mind itself being but a fact among others.


—Cormac McCarthy

Pretty day and a scurry to lunch

Looking Glass Falls...next to the highway leading from Brevard to the Blue Ridge Parkway...sorry I don't remember the number.

At 11:30 am, the falls are in the shade, and all the foreground foliage is in the sun.  And we didn't have time to go down the steps to see a closer view.

As it was, Teresa and I arrived late for our reservation at the Pisgah Inn restaurant. We did call and say we'd be a few more minutes before we arrived, and I scooted along the BR Parkway as fast as all those curves would allow. 

They held our table, and you can see the tables are separated quite a bit more than they had been last year. The restaurant closes the end of Oct. usually.

After our delicious lunches, we visited the gift shop.

There was a plexiglass screen at the check out counter, but I liked the bear with the shiny trees on it  hanging on the wall.

Several years ago the viewing platform outside the restaurant and shop was completely changed, with a nice ramp for handicapped access.

There were just a few trees with beginning blush of yellow and reds visible below.

We sat in the sun a while, then drove back to Black Mountain along the parkway. I doubt that I'll go back here to see the fall leaves, but I do have a visit scheduled to go leaf peeping further north on the parkway with another friend....soon!