It's a fish story

I had an algae problem.  I thought I'd beat it, and bought new fish.  They died.
So I took them back, and got replacements, and cleaned another part of their lives.  They died again.

So I put the 3 remaining Neon Tetras in a bowl, and scrubbed and bleached every little thing they would have their water touching.  The part I'd missed before was the little impaler in the pump.  Now hopefully it's clean!  Ran everything with ph neutral water for half a day...I know it's supposed to be for 24 hours, but the fish in the bowl were not at all happy!

 I think PetsMart was getting tired of me bringing back bodies of fish I'd killed.  So this time I just got more Neon Tetras.

And finally they had an Otocinclus...an algae eater!  If only they'd had any in stock the last 3 times I purchased fish...but now I've got one!

Got a haircut

Well, not everyone goes 6 months between haircuts!

But I remembered I had had fun having a braid, so this was the result of letting it grow since last January.  OK, that's more than 6 months.  And I'd run into my dear friendly cosmetologist, Joe, every other month, because I sell some of my pots in his shop.

For the first few months my hair held curl pretty well, and that looked nice.  Then there was the summer, without bangs on my face and all my hair pulled tight behind to a scrunchy which also broke the hairs.  I had straggles all the time and way too much face!

I had fun with the "after" selfie...as in the header above.

How many pot-lucks in one day?

I started off bringing a desert to a Thanksgiving meal at the Lakeview Senior Center.  They provided turkey and dressing (and gravy!)  We all brought the side dishes.  What a lovely feast!

 This is just one end of the buffet table.  Deserts are all at a different table.

Seven tables of about 8 each, there were easily 56 enjoying the meal!

Some of my friends were happy to smile for their photo.

I admit I bought the desert which I brought.
And I bought another one to take to another pot-luck dinner tonight! It's dinner and a movie at church.  I'm being well fed for sure.

Death Cafe'

Yesterday we had a community of friends gather for an event that was curious.  A Death Cafe' was something that you signed up for (though several people just dropped in and were welcomed).  There were small tables and coffee, tea, and snacks like one would nibble while sitting at a cafe'.  We were interested in the topic of Death, being something we all will experience, and seldom just talk about.

(A typical cafe' - but not where we meet!)

Well, I guess I may be different, in that I post things here about my experiences of those who die.  Some of that may also be considered the grief process.  We didn't talk about that so much.

And I currently read a blog about elder concerns, where the blogger is currently dying and sharing her experiences and thoughts, as well as a lot of others who comment there. (Time Goes By)

We had some simple questions to consider, but by no means to follow exactly.  And we were chatty people so had a lot to say.  "When was your first experience of death?"  That seemed to bring some really thoughtful responses.

And "what do you want to do before you die?"

That was a bit harder to answer.  Many (most) of us were in the elder category (over 60 probably.) So we'd lost people, and were some thinkers about our own mortality.

And it got really funny at times.

I loved the hearty laughs when we thought of our relatives and their beliefs of the after-life...and how they couldn't all have been right.  Some of them may have been very disappointed.

Of course I can't tell you what anyone said, which means we were sharing in confidentiality.  And since we already knew each other by being part of the same community, it was sharing a bit differently than if we were strangers (I think.)

I am glad I experienced the Death Cafe' and thank those who organized it.  I don't imagine I'll be going to another one, but perhaps in a few years I might.  Who knows.

Dreaming away

Rolling out of bed this morning...took my time and did some yoga-like stretches, making those old muscles know I still love 'em and want them to keep on moving the old body around another day.  I'm always grateful (these days, I wonder when this started happening) to wake up to another day.  I think I started feeling this way when I was still employed, working with seniors.  That was for the last few years of my career.

Oh, then there's the dream review that happens first thing.  One day last week it was of having 11 kittens to feed and love on.  

Today it was of visiting my middle son,  Russ, who took me for a ride with one of my other son's sons in a mythical van which I used to own back in the 70s.  Anyway, it was different this time...but as we drove through a neighborhood in a subdivision, Russ (the driver) hopped out of the van as it was slowly going.  I was sitting in the back back of the van, and wanted to jump over the seats and reach forward to the steering wheel...but realized the shape I was in precluded it.  No panic, as the van seemed to slowly go around a corner without any troubles.  I am sure I asked my grandson to do something (in a panicky voice.)  

Well, that was a dream I was glad to wake from.  I remember the van was going slower (thank heavens) and had gone several blocks, when Russ jumped back in, having done something like delivering a coke (it's a dream, what do you expect?) as if a paper boy delivery.  I'm pretty sure I said something like, "what if a child had run out into the street."

So maybe it's a forecast of driverless cars.  And it's definitely a connection to my visit that I'm planning to see Russ and his family for the holidays.  I was glad to have a presence of my grandson, though it was just incidental to the action.

Incidentally, I'm still waking up at the same time, though the clocks have now been set back an hour  by a complete week.  It's going to sleep in the evening that is strange for me.

Statues of heroes

So you lost the war.
Can you put a statue up to remember all the soldiers that died for your cause?

Not in the south of the US any more.  North Carolina has been pulling down the confederate statues.  It's considered somehow as if they are keeping the things the south fought for alive, like slavery.  A very small amount of the energy was directed for that cause...though it was of course the main reason according to the Yankees who won that conflict.  So the statues keep being pulled down.

Of course there's also the point that many southerners of today think the War of Northern Aggression (aka the Civil War) is still being fought...unfortunately.

So when Sepia Saturday prompted about statues, I had a few ready.

I was visiting Shelby, NC last week, Cleveland County courthouse has been turned into a shrine for Earl Scruggs...who was born here.  But that's not his statue out front! (Earl Scruggs is a well known country singer.)

It's a generic soldier in honor of the Confederate Heroes of Cleveland County. "Lest we forget."

 Chatham County NC has another old courthouse, which is restored and has a museum, in Pittsboro, NC.

And there's their Confederate soldier statue out front of the old courthouse.

I happened to visit this court house the day after another nearby confederate soldier statue was toppled in nearby Chapel Hill, NC

A news story said:

CBSN - Last Updated Aug 20, 2018 11:13 PM EDT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The controversial "Silent Sam" statue at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has been toppled by protesters Monday night. CBS affiliate WNCN-TV writes that it was knocked down at 9:20 p.m. Protesters wanted the statue's immediate removal, even prompting one student to wear a noose around his neck until it was taken down.

Fall semester classes begin Tuesday, the station adds.

There were some tense moments between police and protesters. One person was arrested and charged with concealing one's face during a public rally and resisting arrest.

Students, faculty and alumni have called the statue a racist image and asked officials to remove it, though some argued it was a tribute to fallen ancestors.

(fake blood thrown on the pedestal)

The university confirmed Monday's protest in a tweet saying, "Tonight's actions were dangerous, and we are very fortunate that no one was injured."

Gov. Roy Cooper had called for removing "Silent Sam" and other rebel symbols on public land.

Still the Democratic governor issued a statement on Twitter Monday night arguing the protesters took the wrong approach to removing the statue. 

"The Governor understands that many people are frustrated by the pace of change and he shares their frustration, but violent destruction of public property has no place in our communities," said the tweet from his official account.

Word that the statue had fallen drew curious students out. 

"I heard the statue had come down, so I had to see it myself," said freshman Manuel Ricardo, who arrived after the statue was on the ground. 

The site of the empty pedestal "is pretty breathtaking," said Ricardo, who's African American. "I think most people here are happy. I'm ecstatic." 

Shortly after 10 p.m., a dozen officers were surrounding the fallen statue, which was eventually covered with a tarp next to its empty pedestal. 

Junior Ian Goodson said he came out after he heard the statue fell because he wanted to see history. 

"It's a significant event for UNC," he said. 

He said that while he doesn't agree with what the Confederacy stood for, he understands that some saw the statue as an important memorial. 

Asked whether he's glad the statue came down, he said: "I was always kind of torn." 

North Carolina, which ranks among the handful of Southern states with the most Confederate monuments, has been a focal point in the national debate over them following a deadly white nationalist protest a year ago in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Protests over the UNC statue erected in 1913 have flared in the past year, and another Confederate monument in nearby Durham was torn down shortly after the Virginia protest.

I happen to prefer this statue, which stands for what I believe the United States of America was formed for...

Working and playing

A giraffe you say? Well why not? Here is my dining table with all the pots waiting to get packed, and one little guy waiting for stain.  Should I put some spots on him too? (I did, and you'll have to wait to see how they glaze.) I am miffed that phone photos all seem to focus on the background rather than the subject today.  Sorry about that.

I post this an hour before I lie back in a dentist chair.  Glory glory, my teeth cost me dearly, when my parents decided an education was worth more than a mouth with straight teeth...oh they gave me some troubles to look forward to.  Like knowing that last sentence makes grammarians cringe.

Then I have to take another dead tropical fish back to the store, to be replaced (if it's within the 2 week guarantee period).  I may get some new ones, since yesterday was their delivery day.

Politics.  Enough said.  Nothing to make me feel better or worse.  If something feels like progress, then something comes along and feels like disaster.

My intention today?

Laughter.  I need to laugh more.  Don't we all.

Today's Quote:

Authentic spirituality is revolutionary. It does not legitimate the world, it breaks the world; it does not console the world, it shatters it. And it does not render the self content, it renders it undone.

KEN WILBER

Election day, 2018

There will be news tonight.
Until then, a regular day. Bleh. (That's what spell check wanted me to say, I had a more interesting spelling.

I'm filling up my day, and keeping the Blue Wave in my heart, in my mind, making all the conscious and magical efforts I have at my fingers.

I think I'll not turn on the news till around 8.  Most of the local poles will have closed and may have results.

Nov 5, 1872, "Failure is impossible." She was fined $100 for trying to vote for president.

Today is the anniversary of my sister, Mary's death last year.  I wasn't informed until March of this year.  I will light a candle for her sweet spirit, which was mainly hidden from me. A double sadness.

Inanna's Daughters

The season of Samhain continued yesterday...a gathering of women to celebrate the change of the year.  Our altar included reminders of what this is all about...the earth's change to autumn that will soon bring the darkness of wintertime...and the thinness of the veil between the worlds of material life and spirits. My little Kali goddess is the sculpted head, with her tongue hanging out.

I'm sorry about the reflection (and camera cropping) which makes the last word illegible.  I thought it had been "work" but it isn't. (I've received the answer from Linda, who shared the photo... being "led to wholeness.")

We played musical instruments to our own rhythms, moving as we were led to express our inner voices.  We shared our thoughts and feelings in a simple, supportive and very personal environment.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and that was everyone!

Sepia Saturday meets Appalachian Coal Fields

For Sepia Saturday this week. Do I have any old photos that meet this prompt? I'm pretty sure not.
I'd love to find some polka dot blouses...or teddy bears.  And I played piano for a long time...but alas, no photos. (Thank heavens.)

I'll share a Facebook link which has some great old photos.  I enjoyed them, and perhaps you will too.

Appalachian Coal Fields
There is a great collection of old family photos there.

You too can make the world a better place to live in

There are some things I'm good at.
There are some, I'm not so good at.

Today I want to speak from my heart.

I am so sad about so many things that I see wrong with the present government.
I am also mad that these politicians don't have any sense of conscience.

So I have voted to change things.

I hope you will also.

I'm keeping track of 30 things I'm doing in the 30 days in November to help the planet, to change anything to have a better world, and to make a socially conscious difference.

This is my effort for today.  I hope just one person will read this and be encouraged that his/her vote matters, and that the amount of time invested in going to vote is going to make a big difference in our lives.

Thank you.

Halloween fun

Right outside the Center for the Arts (and next door to the Swannanoa Valley History Museum)  there was a lovely owl hanging around.  I couldn't resist feeling amused (inspired?) by her!

Happy Samhain (Sow-ain)

Happy new year, from the old ways (Celtic, Irish, Scot, British, Mexican, Guatemalan, Native American). The end of a farming year on Oct. 31, and the next day is the beginning of a new one.

"Visioning" Susan Seddon Boulet, 1987

The veil between the living and the dead is thinnest at this time of year.  Which ancestors would you honor? Which ones would you like to ask a question of?  Perhaps there's even a famous one who would be wonderful to go for a walk with in the woods, or talk with for an hour besides a fire?

Ruins of Native Americans' buildings, (see PBS show Native America at 9 pm EDT Tues.)

Many people honor an ancestor or more for the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is on Nov. 1.  There are candles lit and altars prepared with the favorite foods of those dearly departed, and their pictures, and perhaps things they gave you.

So it is celebrated by many who say they are Pagan.  The spirits are not to be feared, but welcomed.  They are warned to keep pranks to a minimum.  They are celebrated for having given us life.  And if any malevolent ones should appear, they are perhaps listened to, then banished.  No one is welcome that would do the living any harm.

Liberty prevails

On the tablet in the hand of Lady Liberty, the statue of liberty.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Posters, descriptions, and prescriptions!

As a docent at the Swannanoa Valley History Museum (it's really called an even longer name, S.V. Museum and History Center,) last Wednesday afternoon, I looked far and wide for posters.  After all, a history museum has lots of antiques.  I found some signs...close I thought.  And displays.  So I'm checking them for the theme prompt of Sepia Saturday this week.

Our theme image for this week asks you to seek out any adverts in your collection - either up front or in the background - and feature them in your post on or around Saturday 27th October 2018.

When I moved to Black Mountain NC in 2007, there was still a small airport/airfield, with a radio station on the same property.  I don't remember any planes coming or going (the small ones of course). Sanavo was the aviation gasoline and oil before Exxon or Standard oil companies.  Most old metal signs in the area have the pock marks of someone's target practice with their rifles.

Then that area was bulldozed and became the Ingles Grocery Chain main warehouse...a huge building.  And some other industries took over the radio station buildings and the antenna was gone also.

The next two displays talk about area buildings.

Our nearby town of Swannanoa used to have a big mill, Beacon Blankets.  There's a good display of how that industry was very successful until it's close in 2002.  The empty building then burned just before I moved here.

One of the Beacon products of the 40s and 50s.

 There were beautiful designs woven into the blankets, many with a Native American chevron design, and bright colors.

These might be considered posters (the last 2 photos)

Asheville's newspaper covered the building of the railroad into Black Mountain.  There are also books about the area, including the railroad engineering.  The museum also has a little diorama with an electric train that you can play with.  

And what about the prescriptions? There's a display which shows some of the earliest prescriptions filled by a local pharmacy.

That "drug store" is no longer in business.

An old calendar shows what many ads looked like (1967?) I remember many calendars hanging on the wall advertising a lot of different things.

And some advertising used to hang on a screen door to a "general store."

 Starting Friday evening, Ghost Tours of Black Mountain will be conducted by the Swannanoa museum, and here's their own poster on the door.  There is rain forecast, so the tours will be conducted with umbrellas.

 A poster for an event here in Black Mountain, an art show this Saturday. I think the rain will have passed on through by then.

A Black Mountain College poster from Asheville Art Museum in 1978.  The college closed in 1956, but there's a lot of abiding interest in it and it's innovative methods in the 40s and 50s.  There's an excellent exhibit at the Swannanoa History Museum here in Black Mountain about the College -up until Dec. 8, 2018.



Have a happy weekend!