Update about blog

photo from the internet

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Lunch and the motorcycles

 Passing by my favorite barbecue place, Oakie Doakies in Swannanoa NC. Sorry about the car reflections.




I've often considered looking closer at the store of Harley Davidson motorcycles. So I snuck in their driveway to take this photo. They are just off the exit from I-40 in Swannanoa NC!

I stopped to say hi to a good friend who works in the Ingles Gas Station...no photo.

Then I went and got my Impossible Whopper, Onion Rings and a diet Coke next door. (Almost all plant based!)


Until a reasonable minimum wage is legislated, this sign offers $11.00 to 11.50/hour. It's better than some, but they still are short-staffed.

And cars line up to get their lunches from the under-staffed drive-through window. The inside counter is not even open...thus they avoid having to work the orders that would be there, as well as clean it, the tables, and the bathrooms!

And on another topic...the hosts of Jeopardy. I watch this show every night I'm home, which is most nights these days...and have been saddened by the death of its long time host Alex Trebek (a Canadian as most know.) His replacement is changing yet again...HERE.


Today's quote:
Remaining limber and agile is very important, and when you stretch using the correct techniques, you will feel younger and freer at any age.

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Just look at those "wives"!

 

Bess Truman organized classes for cabinet and government wives, taught by Cuban, Ramon Ramos, in 1945.
And I wonder if they were Spanish classes? The photo id didn't mention that.

Can you identify Bess Truman?

I wasn't able to, but by process of elimination I think she's standing next to the only man in the pic, and not wearing a hat.

I can recognize Mamie Eisenhower, but not Bess Truman, nor come to think of it Mrs. Nixon, but of course Lady Bird Johnson. And no idea what Mrs. Ford looked like, though I think she did start the Betty Ford Treatment Center for alcoholism and drug addictions...kudos to her. Yes I know other first ladies, but apparently selectively. 


Harry and Bess Truman

Betty Ford
Pat Nixon in her Inaugural Ball gown

There, I've got to learn about those other First Ladies!

And on another topic...the sad loss of lives to COVID-19...here's a link to the NPR story about an art installation which will be installed Oct. 1 of white flags, one for each of the 600,000 Americans who've died from this pandemic. 

Sharing with Sepia Saturday for this week!

Today's quote:

If I could summarize nonviolence in one word, it would be: patience.

KHAN ABDUL GHAFFAR KHAN


Friday, September 17, 2021

More of plant sale

 

The woman in the pink/red hat is Gail Jackson, the former Director of the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. I'll show the huge pup of a dog another time, Bruno, who is behind his owner in the blue shirt.


The sale took place on Sept. 11, 2021, which explains why the flag is at half mast.

Mellie Mack's nursery sales area...






Interesting red brick planters from Maine...they came a long way!

My mouth watered when I saw these ripe figs. But I need a fig tree in a bucket like (another) hole in my head.


Today's quote:

Whether you choose to give a gift or share your friendship, remember that it is the intention behind the thought that is most important.

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Beautification Committee plant sale

 

The Monte Vista Hotel hosted the Annual Plant Sale of the Beautification Committee of Black Mountain. It is on W. State Street.


The following photo is a description of my gardenia (the new one, which has small flowers abundantly)


Appalachian Creek Nursery is usually at the Tailgate Market on Sat...I wonder if they were in both places this weekend!



The Monte Vista Hotel




I have a few more photos, which I'll post tomorrow!


Today's Quote:

Knowing is a veneer our minds create and lay over the landscape like a painter’s drop cloth set upon a forest floor. Its uniformity protects us from the pine needles and beetles, but it also obscures them, as well as the soft moss, fragrant soil, and teeming complexity of nature’s bed.

GREGORY KRAMER

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Tailgate Market 9.11.21

 Humidity is low, and temperatures were within reason for Saturday.


People wore masks (free ones were available when coming past the gate keeper, Robin Josephs.

You can see the side of the big nursery school behind the "love" sign.

Most folks would stand 6 feet from each other in lines. I stopped to talk with a couple of vendors. The MudBuddies, and the person who's been covering for Roger, the fresh fish seller. He had had back surgery and is due to be back at work in a few weeks. It makes me wonder what kind of insurance he has...


The library was selling some books, here in the middle of the shady Tailgate Market. We are so fortunate to have this location behind the First Baptist Church.



It was great to have live music entertaining everyone. 

And on another topic (I often get last minute information the day before posting things...) I just got the news that a UUCSV member who was always very involved has died from COVID and a broken neck when he had a fall. I'm just going to say we'll all miss Norm Kowal, and the movies and pot lucks we used to have, called Friday Flings...which he hosted monthly for many years at our church.



Today's quote:

The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.

BELL HOOKS





Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Back at the lake

 

Last Friday I actually went to Lakeview Center and took part in a chair yoga class. It was a beautiful day too! This was my last photo (thanks Blogger, for once again turning the series around for me)


All my other photos have these wires, which I didn't really notice while I was taking them. Sorry about that. I don't claim to be a pro.


The North Carolina flag still has the date of our declaration of independence, which was sometime before 1776.


Yes, the end of summer growth is definitely scraggly.

And a special memory which I had forgotten...Sept. 11.2001

"On this day, 20 years ago, a tiny town in Newfoundland took in 6,700 airline passengers stranded during September 11th.
The town of Gander, Newfoundland, has six traffic lights and a population of less than thirteen thousand. They opened their homes and hearts to complete strangers, in their most painful hour.
It's what Canada does."

Thank you!

Today's quote:

Where I come from, the words most highly valued are those spoken from the heart, unpremeditated and unrehearsed.

LESLIE MARMON SILKO

Monday, September 13, 2021

Memories and dream

Dream after 9.11.21 - perhaps it was a bit triggered by all the news which focused on the 20th anniversary of the sad day when The Twin Towers and Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field became resting places of so many Americans.

On waking on 9.12.21 I was keenly aware of the dream of the leaf that I had picked up, right outside the door of my church, as I exited the building.

The leaf was beautifully white, with veins clearly showing. It was perhaps 6 inches long. And at the tip was a very small circular engraving, for it couldn't possibly be the product of a tree. It was a small mandala, maybe 1/2 inch in diameter. The edges of this white leaf continued around it, but below it I could see a cut line. And when I turned it over, there was a very thin piece of adhesive tape running along that line, holding these two pieces together.

I was overjoyed, because a certain dear woman of our church had recently asked (in the dream of course) for one of these leaves if anyone should find one. I don't remember the name of the tree. But I do remember that Evelyn Carter was the name of the woman. She was instrumental in our children's religious education classes. She was a great free thinking leader who always was able to express herself succinctly and yet in a low shy voice. Others always paid attention to her. 

I remembered (back in reality) that she had volunteered to come to my new apartment a few years ago (can it be 5 years already?) and unpack something for me. She loved libraries, so I asked her to start with the one box labeled books. Maybe there were two boxes, but I'd given away many of my books already, so she was somewhat abashed that there weren't more to put on the one shelf  I designated for books. All the rest of my shelves received pottery, and I wanted to do that unpacking myself.

She died a few years ago, and the church has since named the main religious education room for children "Evelyn's Room." I have no idea why I was visited by her desire for a beautiful precious leaf in my dream. Perhaps leaves of a book connected for me and how I'd really enjoyed looking at her books when I visited her the only time that I remember.

I like that I remembered seeing that white leaf with the patched on mandala design. I now have a feeling that I'd like to make some mandalas again. The last ones I made were in clay...just scenes that were then housed in a frame against a burlap background. I also had cut them into pieces and thus the scenes were also puzzles.

This Puzzle Mandala, with the pentagram pieces is still in my own possession, because it means the most to me.

Details of the simpler one which shows a  mountain and trees scene, and has already sold.

I also am feeling grateful for a neighbor of mine, who left a small painting she had made of a flower, propped against my own plant on a table outside my front door. I had been wondering how to thank her when I had fallen asleep that night.

Today's quote:

Wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking.

ANTONIO MACHADO

Sunday, September 12, 2021

By any other name...

 

At a drive-through. since nobody was behind me, I took a moment to get where I could stop and smell the roses. Also known as take a photo or two with the phone.


But these modern roses never have any scent, anyway. They are sweet anyway.


Today's quotes:

President Obama said, "Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11."


When we dumb ourselves down, we sell ourselves short and lose an opportunity to shed light where it is needed.

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Studies in pink/purple

 

The hanging impatients are beginning to get sort of scraggly...and so I picked up a medium size purple mum at the grocery store the other day.




The other impatient looks over the African violet that's blooming again, after being out in the summer heat and humidity. I will probably find someplace inside in the winter for these beauties, though they do tax my caregiving urges...just some of the time, though. If I start coughing as soon as they're inside, they will have to be given away or left to freeze. I don't like that they have those very wet planters, and I believe it's harboring some mold too.


Today's quote:

We’re a nation hungry for more joy: Because we’re starving from a lack of gratitude.

BRENÉ BROWN

PS...more from yesterday actually.

A challenge about patience. Dealing with medical insurance and doctor's offices.

An appointment that I had made maybe 6 months ago, and an echo test on my heart, and I was hoping to get off some of the meds I've been on for over a year. But I found out at 5:30 last evening that my insurance hadn't approved the test that was scheduled, so the Dr. office rescheduled me for Oct...and when I called the insurance people, they said they hadn't received any requests and the needed documents. So today I've been hounded by the same Dr. office that I missed my appointment...but they always say at the end, if you've rescheduled your appointment, please disregard this message. 

I'm not even sure they say please.

And I did take a photo of my Chinese take-out yesterday. But forgot to include it, so here it is.

The veggies are in a Tofu Homestyle...though they may call it bean curd. A bit too much oil for my taste, since I now do stir fry without oil. But very yummy.

Friday, September 10, 2021

The lucky cat...

 



Guess where I went for lunch yesterday! 

"No. One China."

I think No. stands for Number, but it's always written "No. One." I got the wonderful Tofu Homestyle, and today the stir-fry had a great selection of veggies. Some days it's just broccoli. Not much tofu so far, and I will have left overs for another meal sometime.

The photos above the counter are barely discernable, but my dish isn't up there anyway. It's on the menu, but I never remember the number. And the fastest way to order is by phone. So when I arrived in their parking lot on the east side of Black Mountain, known as the Trucker's Supply parking lot, I called in my order. It used to be the Food Lion parking lot, and a few old timers still say that!

 "15 minutes" she said. 

So I went inside in 10 minutes, because the hot sun was turning my car into a sauna.

They don't air condition, but now that the counter has plastic all across it, the waiting area (used to be about 6 tables there) is cooler than in the car. And of course she packed up my lunch and took my money through the passthrough door, and put the bag through the other passthrough door. No problem. I was the only one in a mask in the waiting room. I was glad of it, with the 4 burly men waiting on the other side of the small room.

But they've (the owners) even put plastic on the cat, which originally was to be rubbed for luck, I think.

Today's quote:

Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.

DR. ALBERT SCHWEITZER


Thursday, September 9, 2021

Happy day wishes to you all!

 


There were two yellow four-o'clocks which volunteered from seeds this year, in with the marigolds. The four-o'clocks are sending their big seeds out to the world right now. Wonder if they'll only be yellow ones...

I've moved my little table which has a folded shower curtain on it to hopefully keep it dry...now there's a violet on it. My little planters with various succulents haven't been doing very well.


They don't get full sun but just indirect light outside this time of year. I'll bring them in for window sills as soon as frost is forecast...maybe in 2 months if I'm lucky like last year!


Today's quote:


The answer to control is practicing surrender.