Out &. About

 Rarely do I think of it anymore but I was once known as Out & About Photography, a name that described what I did although as it turns out, there are plenty more who thought of that name long before I did. I always tell my friends, remember Ecclesiastes, "there is nothing new under the sun", and during my brief time on earth I have seen that played out over and over again. Haven't you? Lots of technology is just a faster version of something that already existed in a slightly different form. Enough already!! 

Actually, with that in mind, people have been singing and praying forever, worshipping in slightly different ways. Ann has introduced a prayer/meditation type of worship in our church called Taize after the town where it was practiced at the end of WWII and continues to this day. Should it interest you more, here is the history in a nutshell. 

Held once a month at the newly restored Harshaw Chapel, last month it was sweltering because the air conditioning had failed, however, with diligence from Mr. Trustee, this month it was nice and cool inside,

in spite of it still being hot as the dickens outside. Coming back from my walk around noon, (my first mistake), I arrived home drenched in sweat. Seemingly,  it is never going to cool off! Just checked my weather app and it is 7 degrees warmer than normal and it is not going away anytime soon. Boo hiss1

Boo brings to mind that we bought candy yesterday for Trunk or Treat and if you didn't know the price of candy had skyrocketed before, now you do. 

I wrote about that light fixture that broke but had no image to explain it better. I wrote about it here, a post that had few readers.  One would think that I would have some sort of idea about when to post blog posts on Facebook, so that the most people who want to could read it, but one would think wrong. After nearly 20 years for crying out loud!  That said, I have never been very good at self promotion so perhaps that accounts for my lack of social media savvy?

Let's go outdoors to see a few things of interest, shall we? Oh wait, the kitchen is calling!

I mashed the last of my potatoes on Sunday evening and Bruce declared them the best he'd ever eaten, which while that might be a stretch, they were definitely good. I cannot wait to do it again!! And with the garden in mind, the strawberries are forming. This tiny one was consumed by me, rather than the birds!

It too was very tasty. Now to be faster than the birds!

I have told you this before, but it bears repeating, be skeptical of your phone's identification when you don't already know what something is. 

The "id" claims it is a birthwort when I know better. It is a flowering green bean! I picked another pocketful the other day and we ate them and finally I have enough okra pods to prepare them. So looking forward to that! 

The new radishes are growing but the outcome remains to be see.  If there are fruit, it will be a miracle. 

Extra! Extra!! A sneak peek at the sunflower as it opens. Unlike the others I've shown you of late, this one is all mine, planted as a seed a while ago. (a flimsy way of saying I cannot remember)

Oh how we are going to miss the hummingbirds when they migrate.

Last Friday was September 11 and we did two meaningful things. The first more so than the second, however the second thing was important for a different reason. The town was holding a 25th anniversary memorial and the folks came out. Mayor Radford spoke first, welcoming the crowd and explaining that there would be a bell ringing at 8:46, the moment the first tower was hit.  Yeah to Laura for making that stage happen because it is a huge addition to our little town. 

Also the bench where we were seated. 

It is such a wonderful gathering place for all manner of events. We arrived early and because of our second event we left before it was over,  but not before listening to this gentleman who described his experience as a firefighter at ground zero on that fateful day.

It was very moving, as was the ABC special we watched a few days ago. He thanked everyone for coming out and remembering that day as it is fading from many folks memory. Imagine how many children have been born since that day? 

I am sure it is the same with you dear readers, lots of activity in bunches. We had agreed to forgo pickleball to go on a hike with our friends from church who enjoy that sort of thing. The payoff for me was waterfalls. As is often the case, it was sold as not too difficult aside from the beginning when it was quite steep. We fell for it.

Not so fast!!! While there are some flat areas, more often than not it required either going up or going down! Nancy and I discussed which direction did we think was harder and this fake hiker thought both ways are hard, whereas Nancy went with the going down. What do you think? As to the waterfalls, I was underwhelmed, in part because the light was so harsh it made getting a good photograph next to impossible. Larry, on the other hand did great with selfies of the group.

Look at all those smiles! Larry was also kind enough to take the photo below showing us going over a log bridge, definitely not mentioned when we were deciding whether to go or not!

Here's another image of the bridge with Nancy and Vera, and Dr. Dan in the foreground.

He is the doctor that was SO helpful to me this summer. I don't know what we would have done without him. He personally called the gastroenterologist and the cardiologist to get me in quick. He's most definitely a gem.

We were hiking the waterfall trail in Deep Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Bryson City, a little more than an hour drive for us.    The photographs provided in the link are much better than mine because the lighting is ideal and they were taken when a great deal of water was running. We have had a drought this year so the water flow was considerably less.

The good thing about it was that I could do it. While I like being with friends in nature, I am still not a hiker by any stretch of the imagination.  There did seem to be plenty of water in the river that runs through it. 

Lots of tiny wildflowers were blooming in shades of purple, white, pink, yellow and a bluish color. Mostly they were tiny and perfect like this one.

As always, driving through the Valley outside Andrews fills me with joy.

If you are considering doing something wild and crazy like we have done, I say go for it!! 

your friend,

Gail