Texan in a different view

Revised version of the available one posted below.

Sam Houston (1792-1863) in 1826, when he was 33 years old. (This elegant photo is new to me. See below.)

He led the Texan Army to victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle in Texas's war for independence against Mexico. After the war, Houston won election in the 1836 Texas presidential election. He left office due to term limits in 1838 but won election to another term in the 1841 Texas presidential election. Houston played a key role in the annexation of Texasby the United States in 1845, and in 1846, he was elected to represent Texas in the United States Senate. (Wikipedia)

He is buried in Huntsville TX, in the same cemetery as many of my Rogers ancestors.

A more familiar view of Sam Houston, about 1850.

Here's a bit more of Texas lore, though it's a modern production of a movie, which included someone playing Sam Houston, of course.

John Wayne and the rest of the cast and crew on the set of "The Alamo"  on Happy Shahan's ranch near Brackettville, Texas, 1960.  The film cost 12 million dollars to make and required 1.25 million adobe bricks. The set took close to two years to build.  John Wayne was to have portrayed Sam Houston, a bit part that would have let him focus on his first major directing effort, but investors insisted he play a leading character. So he took on the role of Davy Crockett, handing the part of Houston to Richard Boone.

Thanks again to Facebook's Traces of Texas. Isn't it neat that he counted the adobe bricks in the same sentence as the dollars?

Sepia Saturday's meme has a violinist, posing in an ornate setting.

Today's quote:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” RUMI

Simple pleasures

 

A beautiful new cutting board as a Christmas present...this isn't the side you cut upon.

I don't have a great place for it in the kitchen, but it looks good under my big tree of life, (sitting on the heater)

And it's from my daughter-in-law in St. Petersburg Beach FL...she's always got pretty beach things around her!

With cooking more and more in a non-stick skillet, I was really needing one of these spatulas...so I wouldn't ruin the finish in my new skillet. A present for myself!

And I hope to keep this performance by a young poet, so I can see it from this site whenever I wish. If you missed it, I think she was channeling Maya Angelou, but she expressed her own ideas for her own time.

Today's quote:

Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (14 Sep 1917-1986) 

Patterns in snow and woods

 

I think this shot worked better than the next, to see that limb coming up off the log.

There just too much happening between the snow and the creek...which was the focal point, but the snow sort of takes away from the white water. Can't have both in one shot, I'm beginning to think.

What creek? It's just the long shadow going horizontally.

While I didn't think the sapling would detract from this shot, it ended up with me wishing I'd not included it here.

Sorry to keep on critiquing everything, but this just has too much happening.!

A failed pano shot...apparently that shadow of the tree really gummed up the focusing of the phone!

I'm going to blame these failures on the cold...couldn't believe how cold this little vale was compared to civilized parking lot.

Today's quote:

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.  Rumi

Back to the cold creek

 

I waited till the roads were clear, and indeed we'd had a night and a new day before I made it to Flat Creek.

I only walked on the areas with stone paths, or the driveway with some stones, since there was a lot of mud (what happens when snow melts!)

There were also many places where snow remained. And it was a good 10 degrees colder next to the creek.

Melted snow doesn't make for many artistic photos, but I liked this little fern that somehow is still green.

The little bridge crossing the creek has new railings from this last year. It was more picturesque when it had Rhododendron branches for railings.

Down the road to the left is a maintenance yard where various trucks are parked.

The calm water from where I was standing across the creek to the flat part of the bank represents a ford which trucks go across regularly. Many of them help keep the roads clear in Montreat NC.

The Nitroglycerin that I carry with me at all times...to remind me of my heart attack and that I might have another one that hurts worse than the first one.  I may very well have another heart attack...so I know some things I can change...like going for more walks, and eating a plant-based diet, and losing some weight! Some are harder to do than others! 

Today's quote:

In both mysticism and physics, there is general agreement that ‘things’ are constructed by our nervous systems and that ‘realities’ (plural) are better described as systems or bundles of energy functions.
—Robert Anton Wilson

You deserve something pretty

Last week I could still look at these flowers - glad I took a photo since they've all gone away by today!

The lilies my friend gave me for Christmas are mixed with the last of the Christmas flowers. We didn't exactly see each other, as we're both trying to stay Covid-free. And I took this photo a week ago, so the flowers need replacing this week!

I love sunny days to look out this window from here at my computer.

Another friend gave me this lovely little Poinsettia.

Now I'm keeping this orchid away from the sun, in hopes it will last a bit longer.

Today's Quote:

"How it is that animals understand things I do not know, but it is certain that they do understand. Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words and everything in the world understands it. Perhaps there is a soul hidden in everything and it can always speak, without even making a sound, to another soul."

Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)

reprinted from blog: Myth & Moor

 

The colors of sunset

 

I'm sorry there's no wonderful view in the foreground, just buildings and a little light by the sidewalk.

When the light at sunset turns peach coming in my windows, I step onto the balcony, and stretch around to get as much sky and little buildings as possible!

Some of my Christmas flower bouquet, which seems to be surviving still. Love having pretty flowers around!

Today's quote:

The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief ... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart. -Walter Lippmann, journalist (23 Sep 1889-1974) 

Walking around another body of water

 

I finally found the park, which I'd visited maybe 10 years ago, in the summertime, with the Black Mountain Senior Recreation program.

This walk on Saturday, Jan 9  had very cold air, and a steady wind off the water, which I tired to avoid as much as possible!

I chose one of these big square ponds to walk around. I remembered that you could go off on another path along the Swannanoa River toward the Warren Wilson College. I saw that turnoff, but it looked pretty wet and full of brambles.

So I walked all the way around that pond, which is at a higher water level than the river. Since all of these ponds are behind a big manufacturing complex, I imagine the ponds were for settling of some runoff which had toxic chemicals in them...and weren't ok'd to let that water go into the river.

There were a couple of short paths going down to the river itself.

I liked seeing these rocks making a semi-circle across the Swannanoa River. The water was flowing from the left to the right.

Today's quote:

‘Women have another option. 
They can aspire to be wise, not merely nice; 
to be competent, not merely helpful; 
to be strong, not merely graceful; 
to be ambitious for themselves, 
not merely for themselves in relation to men and children. 
They can let themselves age naturally and without embarrassment, 
actively protesting and disobeying the conventions 
that stem from this society’s double standard about aging. 
Instead of being girls, 
girls as long as possible, 
who then age humiliatingly into middle-aged women, 
they can become women much earlier – 
and remain active adults, 
enjoying the long, erotic career of which women are capable, far longer. 
Women should allow their faces to show the lives they have lived. 
Women should tell the truth.’

Susan Sontag, 'The Double Standard of Aging' (1972)
www.susansontag.com

Gas pumps and odd buildings

 

A Sepia Saturday choice for this week. Consider looking at some other blogs there, or joining with your own photos of yesteryear...on topic or not.

I've certainly never seen an umbrella repair man before, so don't have a photo of a similar activity. 

Fancy a bit of tea?  This gas station probably could fill up a car's tank back in the day...and I'm sorry I didn't get the photographer's name when I saved the photo!

The Donut Hole looks like a restaurant, or perhaps a diner. 

This tea pot, or perhaps coffee pot, doesn't say exactly what it was. But with a door and windows, someone might be able to live in it.

Finally, I found a gas pump in a sepia photograph...though everyone has wet feet. But apparently the riders think they can get to higher ground if they just had some "petrol."

Today's quote:

Reasoning with a conspiracy theorist

"We can perhaps best approach those who embrace harmful conspiracy theories by not immediately telling them that we know more than they do. It’s a conversation that requires some intellectual humility and acknowledgement that change is hard and it feels really scary not to know what’s going on. Below, see an abridged version of MIT Technology Review’s ten tips for reasoning with a conspiracy theorist, and read Basu’s full article here.

1. Always, always speak respectfully: “Without respect, compassion, and empathy, no one will open their mind or heart to you. No one will listen.”
2. Go private: Using direct messages when online “prevents discussion from getting embarrassing for the poster, and it implies a genuine compassion and interest in conversation rather than a desire for public shaming.”
3. Test the waters first: “You can ask what it would take to change their mind, and if they say they will never change their mind, then you should take them at their word and not bother engaging.”
4. Agree: “Conspiracy theories often feature elements that everyone can agree on.”
5. Try the “truth sandwich”: “Use the fact-fallacy-fact approach, a method first proposed by linguist George Lakoff.”
6. Or use the Socratic method: This “challenges people to come up with sources and defend their position themselves.”
7. Be very careful with loved ones: “Biting your tongue and picking your battles can help your mental health.”
8. Realize that some people don’t want to change, no matter the facts.
9. If it gets bad, stop: “One r/ChangeMyView moderator suggested ‘IRL calming down’: shutting off your phone or computer and going for a walk.”
10. Every little bit helps. “One conversation will probably not change a person’s mind, and that’s okay.”

Tanya Basu in MIT Technology Review

January grocery shopping

Patterns in the frost on my car window before driving to shop early on Wed. Jan. 6. I thought that way I would avoid crowds of people, some of whom still ignore "mask required" signs. 

 

I enjoy finding many things at bargain prices at Hopey's Grocery store in Black Mountain. They frequently have bulk displays, like this one in the crackers aisle. But I look carefully to find what I need, and don't usually buy many of the discounted "past their date" items. 

This was before the latest snow, but there was rime ice, or hoarfrost on many of the mountain peaks. Here I was driving into Black Mountain, passing the Hampton Inn on the far left, with the exit from I-40 coming onto my route...which was NC-9.

When my light turned green I still tried to catch a shot of these whitetops...but got more cars instead.

After going under I-40, I could see the mountains a bit better as I drove into Black Mountain center itself. 

A lovey Christmas present, a bit delayed from a friend. Some cheerful flowers. I added them to the same vase that had held my Christmas bouquet (and removed the faded ones!)

Today's quote:

I pray this day for the courage to be . . . *
The courage to be humble 
in the midst of inequity and pain, 
to know that the power has been given me 
to make a difference, 
although not to end all suffering or 
to save all the whales that populate our days.

I pray for the courage of endurance, 
to keep acting in the wake of challenge, 
to keep trying in the aftermath of failure, 
to keep hoping in the lull that 
comes after encounter loss or change.

May courage give me patience 
and patience give me healing, 
and may I ever know Love’s healing presence 
at the center of my days.

* Acknowledging debt to Paul Tillich for his well known phrase, “the courage to be.” Which article, it should be known, is still worth reading.

by Maureen Killoran, UU Minister, retired