In Which I Post a Ridiculous Number of Pictures from Roan Mountain (plus a silly video)

We took a little road trip to Roan Mountain (located on the ancestral land of the Cherokee) on Sunday in search of Catawba rhododendrons. Here is what Dr. M had to say: “Let’s talk about the southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest. It is returning! Yes, the balds will be less bald next time y'all visit, but it is so great to see the young trees thriving and to walk in the coolness of their habitat. So soak that in, then inhale the stunning flowers of our high country! All images shot 6000+ feet above sea level (60 miles or so northwest and a mile up from where we live).”

As we drove back down the mountain we stopped at the Roan Mountain State Park visitor’s center so I could get a new t-shirt (I got 2!).

 

And then we headed home.

 

It was a good good day.

2021 Project 365 – Week Twenty-six

This week contained drama and whining and beauty… Actually, the drama was all Drama Queen drama, not actual drama. So, you know, the usual.
Sunday, June 20^th
Driving home from church, listening to the Jesus and John Wayne audiobook, and saw this bumper sticker. In case you can't read it, it says "BUILD THE WALL, even heaven has a gate." If that doesn’t illustrate the whole situation, I don’t know what does. And, really? This is what Jesus would want? It’s pretty amazing how the gospel has become politicized.
 

It’s still daylily central over here – we’ve got singles and doubles!
 

Monday, June 21^st    
Propped my feet up on my car door while I was waiting for my walking partner to finish a call. Then I had to struggle to UN-prop my feet. I would blame this on aging, but in actual fact I have always been this awkward.
 

Temp in the house.
 

Tuesday, June 22^nd    
Wildflowers! They have been so much fun this year. 
 

Wednesday, June 23^rd   
Had to stay late at work because I was hosting a webinar for employees who are close to retirement (by “hosting” I mean I turned the computer on & clicked on the link for the webinar – but I also took notes to email the attendees).
 

Thursday, June 24^th
Dr. M decided that he needed to contain the wildflower bed – it was getting difficult to mow around it with the stalks all willynilly on the grass. Note: the bee balm is taller than I am! (But yes, I am short – 5’4”)
 

I have three of these shower caps (because YAY I don’t wash my hair every day). This is a picture of the third one in two weeks to fall into the toilet. I throw them in the laundry & wash them, but I hadn’t even had a chance yet to wash the other two. Maybe I need to find another place to store them?
 

The Strawberry Moon!
 

Friday, June 25^th
From Dr. M’s Facebook page: There is a disconnect between things and joy. Yes, air conditioning is a thing I enjoy, and I feel bad for our landlords that ours was not really fixed during the first service call, but there is a terrific trade off: I might be inside right now, cursing the television, er, I mean watching baseball. Instead I am listening to birds sing their evensongs. My absolute favorite is that of the shy wood thrush. Comfort can be bought; joy is priceless  (The Bug’s Note: the air conditioner guy came out on Tuesday, flipped the switch, & it worked. He didn’t try to investigate why it hadn’t been working – did he just think we were idiots & didn’t know how it worked? Then on Thursday it stopped working again. So he gets to come back on Monday.)
 

Saturday, June 26^th
Lots of pictures today (and maybe a video if I can get it uploaded). First off, our wildflower bed (again, I know). Here is where the video will go. If it’s not there you will know that I failed. Just know that it shows all the bumblebees gorging on our bee balm.
 

Weekly temperature blanket update.
 

We took a road trip up to Roan Mountain in Tennessee. I’m going to do a separate post, but in the meantime, here is us at lunch. The BBQ was so-so, but the hush puppies were first rate!
 

Date night on the deck because it was much cooler outside than inside. We did have a third wheel for a little while (his mom was mowing so he ran away from home).
 

This is the second weekend in a row that I haven’t been able to do any housework. Well, you know I’m using the heat as an excuse because if I got up early enough I could do some stuff. But why would I do that when I have this perfectly good excuse not to? Instead, I am heading to my dad’s house here in a little while to work on the wolf puzzle. I know I’ll be interfering with their Sunday afternoon naps, so I told them to just go ahead & ignore the maniac at the puzzle table. What are you going to do with your Sunday afternoon?

2021 Project 365 – Week Twenty-five

I just spent ten minutes looking for a picture that I just KNEW I took last week. But, reader, apparently I did not. I probably am remembering something from three weeks ago. That’s just how it is these days. But as you can see, I didn’t need another picture for this post and you will probably be glad that I never found it.
Sunday, June 13^th
We took a ramble today! We drove up to Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway & it was just lovely! We ate sub sandwiches in the car, and saw rhododendrons, mountain laurel, and azaleas…

 Monday, June 14^th    
Dr. M’s salad. I’d kind of like to be eating it right now!
 

Tuesday, June 15^th    
Flowers at Dr. M’s dad’s house.
 

Wednesday, June 16^th  
The bee balm is blooming!
 

Meanwhile, it finally happened. My boss & I knew that we owned the same outfit, but so far we’d managed to not wear it on the same day. Note: I’ve always thought we were the same height. I am much shorter than I think I am. Ha!
 

Stopped by to work on the puzzle. It’s coming along.
 

Thursday, June 17^th
We have a couple of hanging baskets that we just leave alone every year & they always seem to come back. So pretty! They also have lots of other things in there (like sorghum – ha!) – it makes them more interesting. Also, Ms. Pinky is outrageous.
 

Friday, June 18^th
I walked in the kitchen & saw this – made me laugh! I had boiled a couple of eggs earlier in the week & then accidentally packed both of them for my lunch. Dr. M was making sure that this time I left his alone!
 

Our air conditioner stopped working on Thursday. This was the temp in the bedroom at 7:00 p.m. We’ve been leaving the windows open & running fans at night, which has helped some, but it feels like we’re back in the olden days. Ha! We’ll survive, but please know that we will whine about it. They’re coming out on Tuesday to see what’s going on.
 

Saturday, June 19^th
Temperature blanket update! I had to frog about 5 days because I figured out I was doing the “rectangle” bit incorrectly. I’m glad I figured it out when I did because we had ten straight days of red! That made it pretty easy to rip it out & do it the right way.
 

You haven’t seen a weird food update in a while. I made myself a “banana split” using Greek yogurt into which I’d mixed some butterscotch pudding mix and another batch with chocolate fudge pudding mix, with cool whip on top. This is a WW trick – it’s lower “points” but do not be fooled into thinking it tastes like ice cream. Or pudding. It takes care of my sweet tooth though, so I guess that’s something. And then later I had French toast for dinner. I did NOT eat that whole stack. I wanted to, but my body said nope. I had the rest for breakfast.
 

Yesterday was Juneteenth. Dr. M posted this on Facebook, which I thought was way more eloquent than I was! “For historians of slavery and emancipation, Juneteenth is but one of many emancipation days. I confess that it wasn’t even on my radar for years, as it had no association with emancipation in North Carolina or Kentucky. But over many decades, that day came to symbolize emancipation itself in the minds of former slaves and their descendants, and so it is altogether fitting that we celebrate it as a nation. The Emancipation Proclamation, after all, did not literally free slaves. Rather, it made emancipation the penalty imposed on slave holders who continued to rebel against the United States government. De facto freedom came about slowly, as was the case for slaves in East Texas, and even then it was freedom with many restrictions. Still, slavery’s demise in our nation, written into our Constitution via the 13th Amendment, was a major step in a more just, more equal direction. Celebrating Juneteenth is a way of honoring the enslaved and their centuries of travail and loss. It is a way of commemorating the long struggle for freedom and all who acted, with words and arms and feet, to make it a reality, individually and collectively. And it is a way of refocusing our nation on how far we have come and how much farther we have to go to guarantee liberty and justice for all.”