Blue Ridge blog:

I haven't a clue what type of fungus is growing on this dead tree, but I discovered it while Annie and I were out for a hike on our mountain yesterday. I brought my super wide angle lens and really wished I had a macro with me to help me explore what I consider to be the extraordinary patterns of the parasitic growth. Annie doesn't care if I stop to take photos. She's comfortable enough to trot off into the woods and go say, 110 yards, following her nose on to the next great interesting smell. I did have a scary moment though when Annie and I discovered a huge outcrop covered in ice. Annie found the top by accident wondering through a nearby rhodo thicket. I wasn't sure where she was and called for her. Next thing I know, Annie was 20 feet above me, standing on a sheet of ice, very close to tumbling over the edge. I ran parallel to the rock face and called her to follow. And she did. Good dog.

Why must the transition from work to holiday and back to work be so difficult? It feels like I hit a wall at 70 m.p.h. then reversed and hit another wall going just as fast. I have whiplash. That, and my youngest daughter decided she needed to carry on in the quest of finding her fortune at her college home and bolted back with our check for her college tuition in hand. Yesterday and today my husband and I have been moping about feeling poor and lonely, hunting the house for purpose. We found it in a leaky bathtub and other general house maintenance duties.

All better now:)

"For the love of god, where do I find a ham hock on such short notice?" my sis-in-law asked me on New Year's Eve. I'm not sure why she called me because I wasn't the one raised on a hog farm like she was. But she was in a hurry to score a shank, a last minute request by her elderly in-laws, and was in no mood to for my outburst of laughter at the question. I handed the phone to her mother, who has been visiting us for the New Year holiday and is far more knowledgeable than I on all things swine related. Many times I've heard my mother-in-law, a lifelong vegetarian say: "Why in my day we couldn't afford to lose nothing on the pig except the squeal." This is often followed by her describing how she and her siblings would blow up and play with a pig's bladder like a balloon. She was brought up during the Depression then worked on farm doing hard, nasty work so her children would have food to eat. She has known hard times and though doesn't relish a return, sees this particular economic blip in the road as one that younger generations might learn from.
"Times may be hard, but this ain't nothing like the Depression. Folks just have to learn to get along better with less."
My mother-in-law wastes nothing and neither do my parents. I think I'm going to strive to live more simply this year and waste not, want not.

Happy New Year, y'all