Coming back down the mountain

 

The Blue Ridge Parkway was a most enjoyable ride.

And these are the rest of my photos from that day trip!

Somewhat out of order (yay, blogger!) this was coming down from Mt. Mitchell.

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And from last year...

Black Mountain citizens gathered Oct. 29, 2024 for a candle light vigil to remember all that has been lost from the storm damage, (Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, 2024).

Going on up the Parkway and a ways in Mt. Mitchell State Park

 

We stopped for a while and ate our lunches while looking at this view from the parking lot for the closed Mt. Mitchell restaurant. We had brought our lawn chairs also, so it was very comfortable sitting in front of the car. A few other people parked and ate their lunches in their cars while we were there!

Mt. Mitchell is in a North Carolina State Park, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The contrast of the yellow leaved trees with the dark green firs or spruces were just wonderful to see.

We were fortunate to have nobody behind us while driving by this view, so Helen backed up so I could get this shot of Burnett Reservoir and Swannanoa

Today's quote:

​Do you think that you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear.
Integral awareness is fluid and adaptable, present in all places and at all times.
That is true meditation… The Tao is clear and simple, and it doesn’t avoid the world.
—Laozi

From the window

 At the Rehab gym at Mission Cardiac Center...third floor. I've been working out there for 3 months now, doing first cardio rehab for 9 weeks, and now my 8 weeks of pulmonary rehab is almost over.

This view is noteworthy, that the mountains in the distance actually include Mt. Mitchell. That's the highest mountain in the eastern US...though of course my little phone camera doesn't indicate which one it is. Probably a bit of zoom might help...

The mountain with a big radio tower on it is right next to Mt. Mitchell, and some with very good eyes can see that. I just only "kinda" saw it.

The last time I had my photo taken 2018...at Mt. Mitchell. And you can see some of the weight I've happily lost! Down 25 pounds from there!

I'm going to be joining a YMCA here in Black Mountain in order to keep exercising during the winter months. I do feel better, and have lost some of the extra weight my bad eating habits helped put on. Now I eat low-fat plant based foods. And meditate daily again. And make efforts to stay in touch with friends so we can support one another with fun and shoulders to cry on as needed.

Hope you have a good day.  Yesterday the rain from Hurricane Zeta arrived before dawn...though we won't feel as much of the storm as those on the Gulf coast will. 

Today's Quote:

The irony of hiding the dark side of our humanness is that our
secret is not really a secret at all.  How can it be when we're all
safeguarding the very same story?  That's why Rumi calls it an
Open Secret.  It's almost a joke - a laughable admission that each
one of us has a shadow self - a bumbling, bad-tempered twin.

Big surprise!  Just like you, I can be a jerk sometimes.  I do unkind,
cowardly things, harbor unmerciful thoughts, and mope around
when I should be doing something constructive.  Just like you,
I wonder if life has meaning;  I worry and fret over things that I
can't control; and I often feel overcome with a longing for
something that I cannot even name.  For all of my strengths and

gifts, I am also a vulnerable and insecure person, in need of
connection and reassurance.  This is the secret I try to keep from
you, and you from me, and in doing so, we do each other a grave
disservice.

Rumi tells us that the moment we accept what troubles we've been
given, the door will open.  Sounds easy, sounds attractive, but it is
difficult, and most of us pound on the door to freedom and happiness
with every manipulative ploy save the one that actually works.  If

you're interested in the door to the heavens opening, start with the
door to your own secret self.  See what happens when you offer to
another a glimpse of who you really are.  Start slowly.  Without
getting dramatic, share the simple dignity of yourself in each moment -
your triumphs and your failures, your satisfaction and your sorrow.

Face your embarrassment at being human, and you'll uncover a deep
well of passion and compassion.  It's a great power, your Open Secret.

When you heart is undefended you make it safe for whomever you
meet to put down his/her burden of hiding, and then you both can
walk through the open door.

Elizabeth Lesser
from: Broken Open

Going down stream

There goes Flat Creek, toward Black Mountain NC...where it will join the Swanannoa River, then the French Broad in Asheville, then somewhere in Tennessee the Holston, then the Tennessee River, then the Ohio River, then the Mississippi.

I just had one of those moments where my brain hasn't found an answer to satisfy it, regarding water flow. I've visited Balsam Spring, which is near the summit of the highest mountain east of the Mississippi, Mt. Mitchell at 6684 feet above sea level. My question about this highest spring in the eastern US is...how does that water flow continually at such a high level?

There isn't that much ground above it for rain or snow to feed it. It's maybe a few hundred feet below the peak and all above it is forest and rocks, no pools up there. So where is the water coming from? Is it being pushed up by pressure from an aquifer further down the mountain, like the constant flow of most mountain streams? But how does that work going up so high?

I couldn't find a good answer when I just went "Duck Duck" looking (my search engine choice is not google.)

If you know anything about mountain springs...especially when there's no aquifer up as high as they are...please help me understand this.

Today's quote:

“Don’t look for peace. Don’t look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.”

Eckhart Tolle


Our World Tuesday

The only wildlife

I went up to Mt. Mitchell the other day...to take a new friend who'd not yet been to the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi (in the US of course) See my other blog HERE.

And all along the Blue Ridge Parkway we saw lots of trees, and people on motorcycles.  Not too much traffic, but about half of it was on 2 wheels.  And maybe 3 or 4 people on bicycles too.

Wildlife was in short supply however!

This is as close as I got.  I don't even remember seeing any birds.

I wouldn't have seen him if he hadn't hopped away as I walked over to the edge of the woods.  I started in a grassy area, and suddenly there was something ahead of me, which then became very still, when I became very still also.  So I took another step.  (at the bottom portion of the picture, where a lot of twigs all intersect, is a tiny frog.)

He won the "I'll stay still till she goes away" contest, and I went home.

Day trip to Mt. Mitchell

I'm resting after an adventure.

At my age, each adventure has a price, usually to at least take a nap when I return home.  Today I turned the heat on.  Whew, a high today of just 63 degrees...and I'd left the windows open when I took off this morning.

I also had fun spending time with a new friend, Shelly Frome.  He and I had a good time driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the State Park where the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi is sheltered.

But it was also sheltered by clouds.

I'll be sharing more of my trip over at "Living in Black Mountain" the blog that has a link over on the right hand column.  In a few days...I'm finishing up the photos from my last day trip.  If nothing else my retirement has allowed me several of these driving trips (in my car or others) to nearby sites.