A report from the trail

I went on a nice hike up in the Blacks last week. The galax is blooming (I love that plant).

 Up on top of the ridge there was a profusion of Yellow Clintonia (clintonia borealis).

Most dramatically, the purple rhododendron were in peak bloom, which made for a lot of visuals like this,

 

and walking on sections of trail like this. I could almost imagine a spate of woodland weddings.

Maple Camp Bald. Still one of my favorite places anywhere.

Genes

Can you tell they're related? (Margot and Julia on the banks of the New River)

Miles at work

Miles Dreyer collecting a rainwater sample up on Clingman's Peak, just below Mt. Mitchell. Every Tuesday, he drives up there, gets a bucket with whatever rain was caught, replaces it with a fresh bucket, and then sends the water to the University of Illinois. The Mt. Mitchell collection site is part of a national network monitoring the composition of rainwater. Sometimes the weather is not as pleasant up there as it was this Tuesday.

Isak at work

Our homeboy Isak Pertee is doing excellent tree work these days. He took down six trees for us the other day, including a large hemlock that was right next to a shed (he can also remove threatening limbs). He's got insurance, he's careful and methodical, has reasonable rates, and all the trees went in the right direction.

Knife and Fork Wins the Quarter Finals of the 2012 WNC Chef's Challenge at Pack Tavern Asheville

(Note: Once you click above, you'll be able to drag up and down and around in the panorama.)

My favorite dish: Chef Nate Allen, Gaelan Corzine, and Elizabeth Scultenover made an incredible sweet potato doughnut with candied hog jowl (which Nate, during the post-dinner Q and A, called "face bacon").

Nate and company had stiff competition from Jesse Roque of Never Blue Tapas Bar and Grille and her Thai potion-soaked ribs, served on a bed of sweet potato au gratin and topped with a cilantro creme fraiche gremolata.

(Yes, I did go home and look up the origin of "gratin" and "gremolata" -- the first from grate and the second from the Italian word for a stick used to beat the fibers from hemp or flax -- the gremola.)

The semi-finals of the 2012 Chef's Challenge will be sometime in August.

Mountain Heritage High School Graduation 2012

In her exceptional Valedictory Address, Sarah Dewitt-Feldman reminds the audience how much we all have been given, and challenges us to make a difference, big or small.

Paul and Emma Feldman and Forrest McCall glow in the crowd.

Abigail Dewitt and Larry Elworth are another spot of pride and light.

Katherine Rothe-Skinner presents the Salutatory Address, gracing the Mountain Heritage High School gym with, among other things, the profound words of the Dalai Lama.

Also graduating, after 30 years of inspiring the youth of Yancey County to pay attention to the world around them, was Mountain Heritage Science teacher -- and newly elected school board member -- Norb McKinney.

Singecat Ridge

Nancy Raskin on Singecat Ridge. The plant in the lower right corner of the picture is hudsonia montana (a.k.a. Mountain Heather), the rare flowering plant that Nancy's mother, Carol Henry, discovered in this spot years ago. The plant was officially listed as growing only in Linville Gorge, so Carol's discovery was met with skepticism when presented to experts on North Carolina botany. She finally made the great Don McLeod hike out there with her, and he conceded that she had made a surprising and unlikely botanical find.