Trekking in Asheville- Part one - Grove Arcade

 A day trip with the "Three Sistahs"

There's more tomorrow!

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Today's quote:

We have met the enemy and he is us. -Walt Kelly, cartoonist (1913-1973)

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Open Yesterday's Pages takes back to when  colonists came south through the  Great Wagon Road.

Wordless Wednesday

 

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Last Tuesday with high 80s expected, and or rain showers, a crew came out to take down a bent railing by the parking lot and replace it. They put up their tent and started grinding concrete about 10  am, and were still doing things at 3:30. Good muscular construction crew,  but when I walked along the other sidewalk coming back from lunch, I was taken aback when a sledge hammer was raised behind one guys head before he struck down on the cement. It was coming directly my direction on the upswing. Until he slung it down at least. It did take my breath away. I told them it had scared me.

Wednesday with new concrete and railing.

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday and My Corner of the World

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Today's quote:

"The universe is a creative entity. We are both the result of that creative process and participants in it. When we do creative work we express, in our own unique way, our reverence for life, for the holy aspects of the creative forces out there, whatever they may be. And we often then sense that those forces approve, and provide support, provide energy, to our journey. But first effort. First dedication. Before entering sacred realms, we need to offer a sacrifice, and that sacrifice is part effort, part courage, part faith. We need to believe in our uniqueness, the value, perhaps even crucial necessity, of what we have to contribute."

Journal of Heron Dance DOT org

An old photo

It was 1979. A single mom moves in with a couple in a communal setting, studying Gurdjieff's philosophy and practices. Here Murphy and his wife Marilyn welcomed me and baby Tai to their home. I traded housekeeping work in exchange for room and board, for a few months anyway. It was my last try at living in a community. Sharing expenses made sense in lots of ways, but I personally do best living on my own.

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Enjoying life

 

Wildflowers on the slope by the Lakeview Center where I pick up lunch most weekdays.

Last week we had delicious tuna salad, (with wheat bread, lettuce and tomato for sandwich fixin'), potato salad, beets and vanilla pudding. Did I mention the suggested donation is $1.50 by the Council on Aging? Most of us leave $2 or more each day. The program is continuing to serve just those who were coming before Hurricane Helene knocked out the dining facility at the Lakeview Center for Active Aging. We aging folks are maybe a bit less active these days. I do miss the socialization.

Two views of St. Augustine FL. I lived and worked there in the late 90s. I learned that damp winters on the ocean didn't agree with my breathing.

Another enjoyable Florida location, Ichetucknee Springs. There's a wonderful little "run" from the springs which has tubing or rafting  on the clear cold water...very shallow and under wild trees hung with Spanish Moss, and maybe a cottonmouth or two. Great summer memories here!

There's hopes that the stretch between Asheville and the Pisgah Inn will open up this month, so we can take one of our favorite drives and see some of the vistas for which the Parkway is known. We have missed this scenic area for the last 10 months. Red is of course the closed portion.

It's of course interesting to know that these maps are skewed such that north is in the top left corner, rather than directly up, as most maps show. I live in Black Mountain, near the parkway but can't drive directly to any overlooks at this time, the stretch near Asheville is just through woods.

Repairs on the Blue Ridge Parkway are steady but slow.

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Tiny little bursts of flavor, from last week's Tailgate Market

Two nights around 60 F degrees, I decided to bring this lady inside, perhaps to help her bring those bumps into blooms!

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Today's quote:

The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within.

Ruby Dee An old photo: My youngest son, Tai at 1 week old. ------------ Sharing with Tom's Tuesday Treasures

Today's quote:

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

HELEN KELLer

Some winter to consider

 From the Way-Back-Machine  - as posted in Living in Black Mountain NC - a blog that I'm no longer keeping current.

Just thought August might enjoy some thoughts of snow!

Winter sometimes provided gorgeous walks for me, 2011

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I must have a lot of influence...look at yesterday's temperatures! Not quite snow, but Aug 3 with the high of 66.

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Today's quote:

I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just as our memory does. -Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

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Indian Fry Bread On Yesterday's Pages

From 2013 and ancient history

Beginning of sharing some older posts when I am not at my desk some of the time. 

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From the Way-Back-Machine... from my blog Living in Black Mountain January 1, 2013

Clockwise from top left, View from Blue Ridge Parkway, Snow going into Montreat, Light tree Lake Tomahawk, View from BMCA Clay Studio, State Street in downtown Black Mountain (copyright Barbara Rogers)

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A really old photo:

The prints, which were discovered in the Tularosa Basin in White Sands National Park, were made 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, the researchers found.

NOTE: they are definitely not all by the same person!

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Today's quote:

The human skin is an artificial boundary: the world wanders into it, 

and the self wanders out of it, traffic is two-way and constant. 

—Bernard Wolfe 

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About 42% of Americans over 55 will eventually develop dementia.

A new study has found the strongest evidence yet that a balanced diet, consistent exercise and social activity led to significant improvement in cognitive function. 

SOURCE: PBS 

A farm right in town

 The Bush Farmhouse Restaurant, Black Mountain NC

A local restaurant (The Bush Farmhouse) has patio seating, and there are a few farm animals roaming among the tables. 

A lump of a pig.

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Today's quote:

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.

Arthur Ash An old photo: Fun at Disney World, waiting or resting. I act like I'm going to pour water on my mother, while Marty sits on the wall and does something with his foot in front of Russ' face. A carousel behind us was not one of the rides we went on. ----------- Having reached some kind of milestone with yesterday's 3000th posting, I'm backing down a bit from some of my usual blogging. Oh yes, you'll see me here still... but perhaps a bit differently. I will still check in on my friend bloggers!

Blog number 3000

 This is the 3000th, at least in this blog series, not counting my other blogs!

Someone might say I have a lot to say...

Rabbit Rabbit! Wishing good things come in this new beginning of a month!

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How about "Portraits, old and new"

Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, 1939 Photo by Ansel Adams

Frida Kahlo's painting, Diego and me. It shows exactly how much he was on her mind.

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Please forgive me for family portraits...they are what's in the files!

Cinnamon, the mother of two of my grandchildren. I still count her as a good friend, though she and my son, Marty, divorced several years ago.

More "Way Back" photos. Here we lived in Thompsonville CT, and my young sailor Marty was about 4, while little Russ was at least 13 months old, with my husband Doug, and myself getting leafy knees.

A bit later, son Marty sported a crew cut, I had some blond highlights, and Russ had most of his glorious blond curls cut off (which didn't last long!)

Fast forward to after my 1971 divorce from Doug, and here's Russ (around 5-6) in front of our mobile home. Below he's on Doug's lap as the 70s hairstyles allowed long locks for boys and men. Russ may have had a comb and brush, but a lot of good it did!

And yes, Russ is the son who grew up to have the wedding portrait leaning into a kiss and holding up his bride Michelle (used as header for the week of July 13)

Marty's second wife is Barbara, and here's their wedding picture. (used as header the week of July 20) (I don't have a photo of his wedding to Cinnamon, as it was before digital cameras!)

A young man (my youngest son Tai) that doesn't mind wearing a flower crown. They were making these. Not sure what the fair/function might have been, but flowers are always uplifting!

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Today's quote:

“Every important social movement reconfigures the world in the imagination. What was obscure comes forward, lies are revealed, memory shaken, new delineations drawn over the old maps: it is from this new way of seeing the present that hope emerges for the future...Let us begin to imagine the worlds we would like to inhabit, the long lives we will share, and the many futures in our hands.” ― Susan Griffin

Painting by Helena Nelson Reed

Happy Lammas, first harvest gives grains for bread making!

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Sharing with Sepia Saturday for tomorrow. A big thank you to Alan who puts together this meme. Stop on over to add your own old favorite photos, or just check out those who do!

Sepia Saturday says:

It is summer. We are sat on the pier. We have our overcoats on because it is Britain and it is cold. Everything is all right and everything is as it should be .... except the world seems to be tilting to the left. For those who like to look for themes for their Sepia Saturday offerings, there are themes a plenty here - from flat caps to straw baskets. For those who just like sharing old photographs why not get yourself off your seat and share your photos on or around Saturday 2nd August 2025 and add a link to the list below.