Blue Ridge blog

On a winter walk with Harley

Miraculously I don't have any assignments this weekend. But being a glutton for punishment I assigned myself several tasks. The first one is to figure out how to network my Macs and the other PC's in the house together ( Yes, we swing both ways in our family and are proud of it ). The other is to completely understand Mac OSX and Panther. I have my handy manual out and have been working with it all day.

Harley and I had to get out to clear my brain so we took a walk in the woods. The area behind her in the photo is one of my beloved ginseng patches. About 8 years ago I acquired about 2 lbs of stratified ginseng seed and became known in my family is "Marie Ginseng Seed". I spent 2 weeks one autumn walking all over several mountains, spreading the seed. I'm not sure why I did it except that since the plant has been hunted nearly to extinction by wildcrafters, I wanted to do my part to keep it around. The kids think I'm a kook when I reach down for a root, wash it off and put a slice in my mouth carefully between my gum and cheek. When I find a plant with seeds, I harvest the seeds and stratify them so that I can keep the process going.

Same view, different weather

A couple of weeks ago I posted this scene. Yesterday, I went past it again and found it looking like a bit more dressed up.

We had a strange, yet colorful dinner time conversation this evening. I begin to recount to the family how a colleague and I recently went on an assignment together armed with our cameras. Later after comparing our images, noticed that it looked as though we had approached our subject in such different manners that it appeared that we were not even at the same place. We obviously 'see' differently. At that point my youngest child jumped in and said that she also 'sees' differently than other people. I was rather taken aback that she actually could conceive of such a concept as I was not enlightened to the fact that people 'see' differently until I was a much older age. She begin to describe that she sees the world in unblended colors; as dots of red, green, blues, etc...She said that she sees details sharply, but the colors are not blended. I started to get excited as my husband and eldest child were only mildly amused. Throughout her childhood I have always noticed that she has a tremendous sense of colors. Her stick figures may not have been anatomically correct, but she would pick strange, yet pleasing color combos for the hairs and eyes. At this point I asked her, "ohh, please draw me a picture of how you see." To which she got out a pen and paper and drew our kitchen curtains and her sister and then decorated with colors. My husband glanced at the drawing and then looked at me and said, "Oh I get it, she sees life in pixels!" I'm not sure if I should be worried, but knowing this child...she'll be fine.

Blustery Sunrise

With winds gusting up to 60 mph and snow flying horizontally, this is not an outdoor day for man nor beast. But nevertheless, I found the sun peeking through the clouds as I rode down Brookshire Rd.

No 'Hot' sign here

Ok, this is not another post about the weather in Boone. Here, it is always cold and that is just not news. Instead, I would like to point out to the CEO's of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts that there is no 'HOT' sign in Boone. Thanks a lot guys for opening a new store in Maui yet disregarding your loving neighbors less than 90 miles away from your corporate office in Winston Salem. That behavior is just plain rude. I understand that you have distributor agreements that may prevent you from having a store up here, but I don't care. A tepid Krispy Kreme doughnut is like three day old fish. I want my doughnuts HOT or not at all.
There are many things that do not exist in my little town, most of which I do not miss. My children often lament not having an escalator around. When they find one at a mall in the Big City they embarrassingly ride it up and down for at least 1/2 hour. At least it is a cheap ride.
One other item of note not seen around Boone are visits from politicians. Good 'ol Senator John Edwards graced the presence of my buddies up in New Hampshire but has only seen the light of day in Boone one time (that I recollect) and that was when he was running for the office. Granted, US Senators are busy folk but his current constituents have questions and I would like the same face-to-face opportunity to size him up as a candidate for President of the United States of America. Note to John Edwards: Liddy Dole and her hubby come up here frequently.

The Calm Before The Storm

On my way into work this morning, I spotted a field near Kalmia Acres which was lit by the morning sun. Storm clouds in the background provided an interesting contrast to the scene as well as forewarning of an impending storm.
I remember hearing a photographer wisely advise that unless the light is just right to shoot a landscape, then don't waste time or film shooting it. Fortunately for me, I shoot mostly digital so the film concern no longer applies. I knew the light was finally right for this pasture that I have easily passed 5000 times in my life and for once both the light and time was on my side. I shot several frames. Oh happy happenings.

Alternatives

I woke up this morning to find several inches of snow having painted the world white. I also have caught a head cold so it is a good day to sit at the computer and scan in some old artwork. I created a new photo album called Polaroid Transfers. Several years ago when I had much more time, I played with alternative photo processes such as hand coloring black and white photos and pinhole photography. The high school art teacher and I were discussing such processes the other day and I told her that I would eventually get around to posting a few on my blog.

A few weeks ago I sent out a request for postcards to grace the inner sanctum of my newly acquired Valle Crucis PO BOX. I really didn't expect anybody to actually send me a postcard so I was pleasantly surprised to find that Meredith at Jairus' Daughter send me a beautiful Matisse art card and David at North Coast Cafe wished that I could experience the -8 degree weather that he was having to endure. For your kind snail mail thoughts I will search around for a special souvenir.

Candy Coated fun in Sugar Grove

I spent about one hour of my morning in Sugar Grove and found a wealth of photos that I promise to display over the next couple of days. It has been a very busy 48 hours for me and the day job and I look forward to a wee bit of rest tomorrow. This view is a simple one that looks towards the community of Cove Creek via Hwy 321. The sun played dodgeball with the clouds all day and at this moment there was a delightful exchange between the foreground and background lighting. I've been fooling around with the settings of my camera and have accidently tripped upon a combo of settings that reminds me of old oil paintings. More to come...

On top of the world

Yep, I wish that I could say that I took this photo today, but no, I share with you a photo that I took a couple of years ago while visiting Grandfather Mountain. Life is way too frenetic today and the weather (50 mph gusts with temps in the teens) has not inspired me to shoot outdoors today. I guess some days are like that.

Dreamland

My oldest woke me up this morning compelled to recount the details of a horrifying dream. Apparently a 'bad' man wielding a knife chased our family around our mountain. Ever the quick thinker, my daughter herded us into the Jeep and tried to run over him, but of course, that trick didn't work. He kept following us as she drove down the mountain. At some point this man just 'disappeared'. However, the dream certainly impacted the first few waking moments of her day. I assured her that if a man branished a knife inside my house, then I would not hesitate to pull the 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' trick and pull out my shotgun and shoot the sucker. Her boo boo was kissed and I proceeded to wake up my youngest by telling her my disturbing dream. I dreamed that I was taking her to the airport to send she and 40 other of her kindergarten classmates (she is in 8th grade) on a trip to France. But enroute I remembered that I had forgotten to get her passport and I was desperate to figure out how I could still have her continue on her journey. Youngest daughter grinned at me and said, " I dreamed that I was inside an egg and was being driven down the road by Older Sister...we crashed and my shell broke open." I dunno, I think we're all CRACKED.

The photo is of Elbert Miller's farm in Meat Camp. I took this photo yesterday and love the way that it has a painterly effect from the cloud's soft lighting.

Look what I found on Snake Mountain

I got to hang out with buddy Jeff for a short while today. I was covering a fire and passed him as in his role of fireman, he was staged near the summit of Snake Mountain. I also work with Jeff who is a pressman at the paper . He has one of the best eyes for color that I have ever seen. In any case, he is a firefighter with the Meat Camp Volunteer Fire Department so I was happy to see him parked on the side of the road so I could chat with him a few minutes. Jeff's family has deep roots in the Meat Camp community and he is full of information about who owns what property and how I might get easily get to a top of a mountain. He promised hike with me up to the top of Elk Knob shortly. He said that the trees are dwarfed because of the altitude and there is a 360 degree view. I can't wait.