On top of the world

Noted uphill walkers Nancy Raskin and Miika Rollet during their recent hiking trip in Nepal. If you want to see more pictures and hear a few stories, they are doing a little presentation at the community center on January 16 at 7:30 PM.

Ginger the wrecking ball

Polly Lorien made this animated GIF of her daughter, Ginger, knocking stuff down.

Paige and Water Trough Ice Disks

This reminds me of the lines from Robert Frost's After Apple Picking:

...Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take...

Deer Apples

Compound signage on Highway 19E.

Rag Ice

If you are impressed with my chunk of rag ice and want to make your own, here's how it's done. First you put a bunch of rags in a bucket of water and add some bleach (for the bright-white aesthetic). Then leave the bucket outside on a very cold night (or maybe two). Then, when you realize you need the bucket for some other purpose, bring it in the house and run warm water on the outside of it for a few minutes. Then take it outside, turn it over, and, voilá: rag ice.

Paris Is... (a brief report)

I finally got around to making this slide show about our trip to Paris. Yes, it's my vacation pictures. But how often does someone offer to tell you about their big trip  and then do it in less than five minutes?

Tammy's banana

Tammy's ornamental banana tree really liked the weather this summer (although it didn't much care for the frost that came 18 hours after this picture was taken).

It's fall. I'm done.

 
This tree decided to drop all of its leaves today. It's done. 

How to get Nettle's attention

 Ben Wyrick, most recent addition to the AMS staff running team, made this gif of Nettle reacting to runners during the Foliage 5K at AMS last week.

It actually looked like this

Driving home from Penland on Friday evening.

Cider Pressing at Camp Celo

Scenes from the day.

Twig note, CCI bridge repositioning workday

Stupid kickball GIFs

The Meds for Kids fundraising kickball tournament was so much fun there was dancing in the outfield. Many thanks to Schell McCall for organizing the event and for providing a kickass soundtrack. The event benefits the Center for Rural Health Innovation.

Here's Christine making a mighty run for home.

And here's a sample of Gib's slick pitching. You'd better come join us next year.

Fire breather

Nancy Raskin making everyone happy with her renowned ability to breath life into moribund campfires.

This gave Tim, a few hours later, the chance to impart marshmallow knowledge to the next generation.

Crazy sunrise double-rainbowish sky phenomenon

Buzz Coren sent this picture that Sophia took with her iPhone while waiting for the bus one morning last week. I don't know what this should be called, but it's kind of spectacular.

A few friends gathered on a hilltop

At Dan Bailey's on Arbuckle Road.

Why did the turkeys cross the road?

I would guess they were tired of hanging out down by the river and wanted to spend some quality time in the woods.

The Longhorns of Grindstaff Road

Seriously, these cattle live on Grindstaff Rd.

I recommend

A summer dinner al fresco at Knife and Fork.

Barry

I saw Barry walking on the road yesterday, and we chatted for a few minutes.  I drove off, but he ran to catch up to me when I stopped at our mailbox, as he had something else to tell me.  So our conversation continued and turned to life choices.  "You seem pleased with how life has turned out," I said as he stood under the apple tree at the bottom of Firefly Drive. "Hey! What more could I ask for?" he said, gesturing about.  Then I took this picture.

Oh, my

Down by the river

Thanks, again, to Gaelen, Nicole, and friends for hosting another super-fun (despite rain and mud) farm party at Green Toe Ground, including music, dancing, fun in the river, the Farm Olympics (which I got there too late for), and fireworks (which I didn't stay late enough for).

Why Penland called off the parade

So, Penland was supposed to have the annual parade, ice cream, and fireworks extravaganza on Wednesday night (a day early because we have a scholarship auction on July 4). We had to call it off, because it was like this all day, and it didn't stop.

Festatoa late night

A wider shot from late at night -- Horses of Butter plus Pete and Kim McWhirter.

Dreamland

More photos to come from yesterday's wonderful Festatoa (thanks, Jody and Jennifer!), but for now here's one that Drew Perrin took during night-time rock and roll and dancing. The word is a title from a Charlie Chaplin movie that was being projected above the stage. There is something decidedly dreamlike about this event.

I guess it's summer

Steve in a suit

Making a rare appearance in a suit, a justifiably proud Steve Hill walks his daughter Alison to her wedding last Saturday. If you haven't been following Alison's career closely, she's the campaign manager for this project.

Did you see the sky tonight?

Mike 'n' Maddy

Mike Holland and his pal Maddy share a moment at Jack Hayes's Lower Brown's Creek Memorial Day Weekend festival of sausage and American traditions.

J'aime Paris

Tammy and I had a great trip to Paris. I'll post an album of pictures somewhere in a little while. This cat (M. Chat) is a well-known graffiti character who has appeared all over Paris and other parts of France.

James Mag

James Magnus Allen, possible future heir to the Knife and Fork empire. At very least, we know this kid is going to eat well.

So yellow

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the yellowness of the yellow ladyslippers this year.

Goofing at Cork and Crown

Jeff Polgar sent over this picture of Lily and Naomi goofing at the Cork and Crown Pub in Mars Hill.

K&F: It's happening

Emma Nash, Nate Allen, Charlie Nash, and Steve North working on the new outdoor seating area at Knife and Fork. For those who just tuned in, Nate and Wendy have bought the building next to K&F (the one with the white porch railing). They have various plans for the building (starting with a walk-in cooler for the restaurant), but the first step is to convert this part of the lot into a seating area with some kind of outdoor kitchen. If you want to help out, Emma is organizing another community workday on Saturday, May 18, from 10 - 2.

And while we're on the subject, a big mazel tov to Nate and Wendy on the arrival of little guy James Magnus Allen.

Bocce winner!

Ron Frazier (bocce tournament organizer) sent this local sports report:
 Kimberley MacDonald of Boone won this year’s Bocce Tournament in a grueling, come-from-behind match with David Wilson. Samarie Forde-Wilson shown presenting the winner the trophy on behalf of the tournament organizers.

I don't know exactly how this was done

Jewish graffiti (maybe)

CSX, Spruce Pine (had ramps and nettles for brunch at K&F!)

High-class graffiti

Men's bathroom, Asheville Art Museum

Ginger emerging

Miles and Polly's baby Ginger Mae Lorien. Born March 22.
7 lbs., 10 oz. Everyone is doing well.

Gravity-powered xylophone

 

Jeff Goodman got a bunch of friends and neighbors together to build a gravity-powered xylophone. You roll a steel ball down the trough, and as it rolls it strikes a series of tuned steel tubes and plays a little tune. It was an excellent and fun day. The instrument still needs a little fussing, but it mostly works. Thanks, Jeff! Nobody else was going to do this.  And thanks to everyone who helped. In this picture folks are attaching the xylophone tubes to wooden supports. They sit on rings of inner tube so they can vibrate.

 Here are Matt and Jeff using a water level to calculate the slope of the hill.

Looking up the trough.

Adding pipes. The clipboard has the tune on it.

Adding a section of ramp.

Looking down the trough.

Here's the whole thing. Eventually, we'll move it to Jeff and Margot's holding.