One and a half seconds almost every day 2020

 

Ingenious-ish

This package receptacle on Hall's Chapel Road is weatherproof and equipped with a cable and pulley system that allows the mail carrier to open it from the car.

At this point, one assumes, the mail carrier hurls the package from the car window into the package drop, so maybe there are still some bugs in the system. Or perhaps my understanding of it is incomplete. 

 

A Good Day to Be Alive

Collecting the rainwater at Clingman's Peak in the bright sun with six-inches of snow. I can report that the bears are still active, and a brisk walk on a cold, windless day can be a fine thing if you have enough layers.

Dreams to Go Bagel Take-Out Event

 

As most people seeing this know, a group of us have, for many years, put on a big New Year's short-order breakfast at Arthur Morgan School under the name of Dreams Die Hard Diner. We couldn't do it this year (because pandemic) but a few of us felt like we had to do something--to mark the turn of the year, to keep the tradition going, and to fight back, sort of. Here's a short report with music.

Nancy Keeps Watch

Nancy keeping watch on the corner.

Rockers by the Road

 

Free rockers needing a bit of repair out in front of the food co-op.

Golf Ball Diver

 Last week, Opal was offering golf balls by the dozen on the Celo List with a mention that she’d been retrieving them from the river. I was intrigued and asked Gretchen where Opal was finding so many golf balls. She sent the picture with this note:

“Our regular swimming hole is at the low water bridge on Rock Creek Rd. You can literally hear people tee off from there if the wind is right. But they get stuck in certain areas downstream from the bridge, and she can spot them from the hanging bridge and then go dive for them. When we have flood waters, there's some parts on the island down river where they get caught in holes. She calls it "golf ball island." She will spend HOURS doing this -- never tires of it. One day she found over 100 -- dove for each one, in strong current, probably 6-foot deep water.  

“But it's actually even a bigger family obsession; my parents live back in the golf course neighborhood 6 months of the year -- right on the river -- so when my nieces and nephews come visit, they all spend hours looking for golf balls in the river. Pre-Covid, Opal and her cousin have set up a blanket on the golf course and sell the balls right back to the golfers. It's pretty funny. “