I can give them away!

Just used this mug as a prize in a "Do you remember when..." contest at church. Rev. Michael Carter won by identifying a party that was held just a few years ago. I'll have to come up with some older photos for the next contest!

It's still time for wearing masks in public, though many restaurants and stores have opened. Many people refuse to wear masks however, and there's not much that can be done about it. This week we've had a fallout of dust all over the southeastern US, blown from the Sahara Desert...another reason to wear masks.

I hope you and your loved ones are well.

Things change

Since I'm not making any pottery.
Since I'm concerned about catching Covid-19 (which would probably kill me).

I'm changing my approach here.

So come over and see my comments and photos on my other blog "When I Was 69." Please.

One of my fav restaurants these days

 I was the only person picking up an order which I'd phoned in...at 11:30 am.

 I couldn't decide which shot was more interesting...the empty dining room with cook staff having a break with who? or my waiter who wore a mask under his nose, just covering his mouth. Glad I had mine on properly at least.

 One of the beautiful decorations in the restaurant.

And the beauty of spring by Flat Creek. The restaurant, Ole's Guacamoles, has tables and chairs set up on its patio for outdoor dining usually.

 There's a motel on the other side of the creek, and I've never known anyone to stay there, but it looks nice.

Did I mention there are little treasures all around the restaurant?

Today's quote:

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

VICTOR BORGE

Flame Azaeas and a different Iris

 I hope I haven't posted these photos before. It's getting hard to keep track, especially since I'm not going around taking photos much any more.

Today's quote:

The teenage years are often like spring, where rainbows follow on the heels of rainstorms.
Madisyn Taylor

More blooms in the 'hood

 I always think I wouldn't bother planting white azaleas, when there are some more vibrant colors available!

 The pink dogwood continues to bloom.

 My kitchen window is over on the left, but with the counter and stove right inside it, I can't even see the pink dogwood tree.

And right by my porch is this severely trimmed azalea, which is finally coming back.

Today's quote:

When the Beloved wants to take you Home,
extend your hand to His welcoming
even though your body may be trembling
and your mind may want to flee;
even though those around you grieve,
and you yourself have mourned, even before they,
the changing form of your body.
Tears are not the final truth
though they will come and go
like stars that need a dark sky to be seen.
Death is not a failure of a mind
that is not strong enough,
or positive enough, or pure enough.
Those who hold such views are simply
masking fear with ideas of being in control.
We are being lived...
...anguish, fear or deepest grief
cannot alter Who you really are.
The beautiful Spirit that extended ItSelf
in space and time, and called ItSelf by your name,
is simply ready to return, unencumbered by a body,
to Its vast and spacious Unborn Self,
that kisses you at birth,
and holds your hand in death,
and never for a moment
forgets you are ItSelf.

The mind imagines you are leaving,
but where could you truly go?
You are Life ItSelf...
Unceasingly flowing,
moment to moment unfolding Yourself.

A body is born; a body dies; but you do not.
Deep within your heart, you know this Truth.
Rest there.  Rest in the knowing that
opens your heart to all that IS,
that loves ItSelf in all that comes,
and returns to ItSelf in all that goes.

Dorothy Hunt
Buddhist Teacher

The walkway and Iris

Yes, there is Barb's apartment along this view!

Today's Quote:

He was surprised

to see the gray clouds,

for the sunrise was clear

with blue sky, and he

assumed, as he always had,

that the sky moved

as the sun moved, east

to west, yet here the clouds

came, traveling west to

east, and he thought of

the trajectory he imagined

his life took, of birth

to death, infancy to old age,

and he wondered if he

had missed something,

if the winds moved

differently than he supposed,

if death also traveled

toward life, if there were

more currents than he

could imagine; and if

imagining itself, setting

a distinct course, one he

planned in advance, kept

him from seeing, if he

were at this moment

actually growing younger,

at the same time he grew

older; if he was in fact

moving in ways he could

barely sense, into another

life, into other worlds.

Richard Wehrman

From: Being Here

original title: Traveling

The greening of the mountains 2020

Happy Earth Day!

 Those green topped trees hide the place where the Swannanoa River runs...behind these buildings.

Intersection of N. Blue Ridge Rd. and Hwy. 70...where it becomes S. Blue Ridge Rd on the other side of the tracks.

You can still see the tops of the mountains, as my neighbors trees start to block their own green growth.

 The mountain behind these buildings is the same one I've been looking at from my living room. Mon. April 20 afternoon I took a short drive.

Yes, there are some green trees along the slopes (same mountain except for the one to the left.) I'm at Ingles parking lot, our local grocery store taking the photo through the windshield. I just went through a drive through and got some French Fries. I dumped everything into my own dishes and then washed my hands well. Just had the urge to go for some junk food.

Today's Quote:

Do you see how an act is not, as young men think, like a rock that one picks up and throws, and it hits or misses, and that's the end of it. When that rock is lifted, the earth is lighter; the hand that bears it heavier. When it is thrown, the circuits of the stars respond, and where it strikes or falls, the universe is changed. On every act the balance of the whole depends. The winds and seas, the powers of water and earth and light, all that these do, and all that the beasts and green things do, is well done, and rightly done. All these act within the Equilibrium. From the hurricane and the great whale's sounding to the fall of a dry leaf and the gnat's flight, all they do is done within the balance of the whole.

But we, insofar as we have power over the world and over one another, we must learn to do what the leaf and the whale and the wind do of their own nature. We must learn to keep the balance. Having intelligence, we must not act in ignorance. Having choice, we must not act without responsibility.

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore