went for a solstice hike yesterday in pisgah national forest. nacho likes this kind of activity. we all like this kind of activity.
had a tough time finding a way to a good swimming hole after scrambling through rhododendrons for a couple hours, licking a centipede, and nacho almost falling over a waterfall, so we got back in the car and went to courthouse falls and jumped in the deep pool under the freezing waterfall there.
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he must have been very hungry little wise guy.
"Dear Mom,
It smells great from here. can I come down. I know I am a wise gue but please let me down.
Love,
Chris"
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i hope all the dads are having a great day. thank you for sharing all your time and your potato chips!
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link for Middle Son MP3 via http://dgold.info/green/wp-content/trevor-2004-01-12-middleson.mp3
Trevor Garrod 1-12-2004: "These next two songs come from the I Ching. I don't know if that's gonna help you guys at all. It's called the Middle Son."
THE MIDDLE SON
The middle son’s a dangerous one
By moon and sun his wagon wheels are turning
And he often sees foxes in the forest
Watching for thieves he travels in the night
He’s got a strong horse with a gently curving spine
Following the course of water down the line
And his ears are aching from a pounding in the village
He knew the danger passed when the lightning had come
Yes that middle son is racing cross the valley
His morning work is done, yes it’s gone into dust
And his wagon wheels are rolling by the moonlight
the sky is on fire deliver us, yes the sky is on fire, deliver us
The bottle’s restless beating on that wagon-table tells me
How the wheel ruts beneath us shimmy widely across the trail
And the strength of any prophecy is sure at times eternal and
There will be a thunderstorm and it will clear the air
Yes that middle son is racing across the valley, his morning work is done, it’s gone into dust
His wagon wheels are rolling by moonlight the sky is on fire, deliver us
Yes the sky is on fire deliver us
Yes the sky’s on fire deliver us
http://tealeafgreen.com
http://www.dgold.info/green/middle-son/
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now i lay me down to sleep
i pray the lord my soul to keep
and if i die before i wake
i pray the lord my soul to take
screenless windows are good for letting in fresh air, but bad for keeping out spiders.
if the urban legend is believable and the average person swallows 8 spiders a year while sleeping, i will swallow 80.
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these folks were squealing around the walmart in sylva, NC yesterday.
i thought it was illegal, but it isn't. here's a list of state laws about riding in the back of pickup trucks:
http://www.iihs.org/laws/cargoAreas.aspx
also spotted yesterday - a hissing hawk protecting its dead squirrel after pecking its eyes out
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i had the pleasure of spending this past hot weekend with a sweet, sweet bitch (and her parents!) from tallahassee named rose. she is 12 and doesn't get around like she used to, but she stil points her tail down at the ground and wags it as fast as a hummingbird. she would have been a perfect match for holden.
my thoughts go out to kid D who has to put her faithful pup yoshi to sleep today. it sucks to lose a pet, especially one that knows how to smile.
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this weekend's gonna be a scorcher. that means sitting in a kiddie pool and eating ice cream. going to movies. turning on the fans. drinking lemonade. maybe spiked. a refreshing drink is:
ice
a shot of citroen vodka
lemonade
a dribble of blueberry pomegranate juice
i spent the first half hour of today assassinating ants and eating pistachios.
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flight attendant: peanuts or pretzels?
flyer: penis.
flight attendant: peanuts?
flyer: yes, penis.
flight attendant hands over tiny pouch of peanuts.
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WARNING: the following is probably the saddest story known to man. i cried when i read it. you'll probably cry if you read it. don't read it if you don't want to cry. holy shit.
Woman killed by lightning at Max Patch minutes from engagement
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100608/NEWS/306080033
Richard Butler and Bethany Lott had made it through the rain as they wound their way up the curves of Max Patch Road.
Most would have turned around and returned home, but not Butler. Though he told Lott they were going on a summer hike, he had other plans.
So with a pause in the rain, the young couple from Knoxville got out of their car, crossed the road and began the ascent to Max Patch Bald, Lott ready to show her boyfriend a favorite trail, Butler with an engagement ring in his pocket and the sky not yet warning of the danger to come.
Thunderstorms had rumbled across the region Friday, and some were severe. But the one that struck as Lott and Butler were on their way to the top of Max Patch Bald in Madison County rolled in suddenly.
Butler, 30, said Monday that he remembers three bursts of lightning, and he thinks the third struck Lott, 25.
“She was probably five feet in front of me, so given the incline, she was a good bit higher than me, but it jumped to me.”
Butler suffered second-degree burns, but said he didn't initially realize he had been hit.
“I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back,” he said. “My legs turned to Jell-O, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire.”
About 30 seconds before the lightning struck, Butler said Lott had turned around to speak to him.
“She said, ‘God, baby, look how beautiful it is,'” Butler said.
After the strike, Butler turned around to see his girlfriend lying on the hill.
“She didn't say anything, and I turned around and she was laying a few feet away, and I crawled to her,” he said. “I did CPR for probably 15 minutes and the whole time was trying her cell phone, but I couldn't get anything out.”
Butler tried to pull Lott down the hill, but was unable to continue because the lightning had weakened his legs, so he took off in his vehicle, spinning down curvy roads as fast as he could.
He pulled into the first private driveway he saw and pounded on the door of the house for help.
A couple and their son, who was home on leave from the Navy, answered the door. The father, Dean Farmer I, and his son, Dean Farmer II, both from Knoxville, jumped in a truck with Butler and raced back to the scene.
The elder Farmer said his son is a Navy helicopter pilot who has extensive emergency training.
“When we got back, he was the first one up there, and I was a couple hundred yards behind him,” he said. “He said there was no pulse, no breathing activity at the time he arrived.”
Butler said he is very grateful for the Farmers' help.
“They were absolute heroes,” Butler said. “By that time, the storm had gotten worse. They stood on the top of the hill doing what they could for probably 20 minutes until the rescuers got there.”
As they ascended the hill together, Butler and Lott were vulnerable out in the open, and the burst of lightning caught them off guard, said Tina Tilley, a district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service.
“If you're in a situation like that, especially on a bald, you're naturally going to be the highest point,” Tilley said. “You need to get down and off of the higher elevations. Get back into your vehicle.”
Butler, who works at a grocery store and wants to counsel veterans, said Lott had wanted to take him to Max Patch since the first week they started dating last year and had even mentioned wanting to marry there someday.
Family was important for Lott, he said. She was very close to her mother, father, three brothers and three nieces.
Lott had just returned to school at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville in the hopes of becoming a park ranger, Butler said.
When the rescuers did arrive to take over for Dean Farmer and his son, an hour had already passed since the first lightning strike about 4:30 p.m.
As rescuers tried in vain to bring Lott back to life, Butler said he crouched near her body.
“I put the ring on her finger while the EMTs were working on her,” he said. “They are listing me as her fiancé in the obituaries.”
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today is nacho's 7th birthday. he got a baby pool to swim in, he is going for a walk to the pond, and later he will get peanut butter flavored doggie ice cream from the hop.
he is a clown dog, he always makes me laugh, and he is soft like a bunny with bucked teeth and an oversized gullet.
his latest nickname is fluffycups.
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some extremely smart bird used labrador fur to insulate its nest. then the nest fell on the ground. then i brought it home.
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By John NelanderSaturday, May 29, 2010
Robert McTammany was one of 12,000 American soldiers forced by the Japanese during World War II to march under brutal conditions to a prisoner of war camp in the Philippines. Miraculously, he survived 61 miles of starvation, beatings and random executions only to die of malaria after he reached his destination.
His four brothers — including Wallace McTammany of Palm Beach — didn’t learn of Robert’s death until years later in 1945. But the family, originally from Providence, R.I., never forgot, and Wallace doggedly pursued official recognition of his brother’s heroic deeds.
His efforts were rewarded earlier this year when an array of medals honoring Robert were delivered to Wallace’s home. They include a Purple Heart, a World War II Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, a bronze Prisoner of War Medal and an Honorable Service Lapel Button.
It will make this Memorial Day — almost exactly 70 years since Robert enlisted in the Army — a little more special.
Robert joined the Army in September 1940, and left for the Philippines as a sergeant on Oct. 6, 1941, two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He became embroiled in the historic Battle of the Philippines after the Japanese invaded the island chain just before Christmas.
Fighting raged in January through April 1942, with the American troops under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur defending the strategic island of Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsula.
It ended with the surrender of American and Filipino troops on April 9. Ten thousand Allied troops died and 20,000 were wounded — and 75,000 (including 12,000 Americans) were taken prisoner. They were forced to walk the 61 miles to a prisoner of war camp, a journey that became known as the Bataan Death March.
It was marked by beatings, casual shootings, starvation and even beheadings. Still, Robert somehow made it to Camp O’Donnell, a temporary holding facility for American soldiers before they were sent on to other Japanese-held camps.
Wallace keeps a copy of a newspaper clipping from 1945 that announced Robert’s death at the age of 30 — he was counted as missing for three years. He also keeps an unnamed and unmarked copy of a book describing the camp in which his brother spent his final month.
“The sanitation was so appallingly bad, the stench so overwhelming, that the few Japanese who ventured inside the camp almost invariably wore surgical masks,” the author says.
There was one place in camp to house the critically ill, which the soldiers came to call St. Peter’s Ward because they believed there was no chance of survival. Patients died of malaria, dysentery, acute dehydration and starvation.
Wallace says simply: “It was a horror show.”
Robert was buried in Manila, in a cemetery for American soldiers. The McTammany family chose not to have his remains moved back to the United States.
Fast forward to 2009. Wallace had been taking morning walks with another World War II veteran, Martin Davidson, a retired Marine major who fought in Iwo Jima. They began chatting about McTammany’s brother Robert.
“I’d been reading in a military magazine that the government had opened up new opportunities for getting Purple Hearts,” Davidson recalls. “So I told him about it. It’s a good thing, no matter when and how it was received. It puts the government in a good light, which doesn’t happen very often.”
Of the Bataan Death March, Davidson adds: “It’s hard to imagine what these guys went through.”
Four of five McTammany brothers, including Wallace, entered the military. They served in various capacities and locations — Wallace in the Bahamas, the Caribbean and West Palm Beach. “I just lucked out,” he says.
Wallace went on to a career doing architectural renderings. Robert never had the chance to pursue his career as a classical musician. Before enlisting, he had played string bass in the Providence and Boston symphony orchestras.
“All five of us boys were industrious,” Wallace says. “Bob had a lot of different jobs, but he loved music. He was different from the rest of us.
“He would sit in a corner in a rocking chair when he was home, and listen to this huge Stromberg-Carlson radio. He’d just be carried away.”
And now his memory lives on in the hearts and minds of his family, the collection of medals and honors Wallace proudly displays in his home office, and within the flag he flies each Memorial Day on the balcony of his condo on South Ocean Boulevard.
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now for a positive local food review.
every saturday morning from april to october there is a farmer's market in a shady parking lot at UNCA.
the first tent sells the most amazing savory crepes, which they make while you wait. they are usually backed up, so you order and then browse the market (read: push through a sea of strollers and puppies) for 15 minutes and by the time you're back your crepe is piping hot and ready.
she pours buckwheat crepe batter on the hot plate and adds eggs, goat cheese, pesto, spinach, onions, and potatoes. these form a gooey filling to a hot, semi-sweet, crispy buckwheat wrap.
it is more than enough food for two people and super delicious, and a highly reasonable $8.
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i feel very lucky that there are dozens of excellent, worthy restaurants in asheville that i am thrilled to patronize.
for instance, i love 9 mile, salsa's, the early girl, laughing seed, limones, marco's pizza, sunny point, and 12 bones. i would recommend any of these restaurants at any time to anybody.
i can not say the same about havana, the bright pastel cuban place downtown. we went off a recommendation from a friend, and it looked interesting from the outside, but we were sadly disappointed.
this is going against thumper's rule if you can't say something nice don't say nothing at all, but it was too bad and too expensive to let it go.
it would be one thing if the prices were low, or even reasonable, but for $14 a plate, at a place that clearly did not spend money on decor, i expect a heaping plate of good food.
we started off with weak mojitos in small glasses full of ice. ($7)
i ordered arroz con pollo ($14). first came out a 'dinner salad' which consisted of shredded iceberg lettuce with shredded carrot sticks swimming in canola oil and salt and pepper. it was...not good....
then the waitress came out and said the arroz con pollo wouldn't be ready for a few hours so could i order something else? i ordered the garlic calamari appetizer for my dinner. it was billed as 'lightly fried and tossed in a special mix.' what came out was a plate of thick rings only, wet with dark grease, seemingly from a bag in the freezer. ($9)
my friend ordered the first thing on the menu - columbia lechon - and the waitress recommended it saying "he is known for his pork." the pork was good - tender and spicy and fresh. the mango on top of it was tangy and a good complement. the rest of the plate was extremely blah. black beans from a can, clumpy white rice, dry yucca fries, and soggy plantains. ($14).
we spent $60 and left hungry and sad. maybe we misordered, or went at a bad time, but with all the great restaurants downtown i'm not sure how this place will stay afloat.
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i changed the template for this blog around this weekend, the first update since finding some crap template on the internet when i started in 2006.
dealing with html and technicalities and change is always frustrating and infuriating, but after some hyperventilating i think it looks pretty much the same with the shiny new corporate blogger template, but now there's a link at the bottom to go to older posts, and the comments should be easier to work.
baby steps...
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went down to spartanburg yesterday to see neil young solo. i'd never seen him live and was struck by how he made his instruments sound like 2 or 3 people were playing at once.
the tailgate before the show was the best tailgate i've ever been to. my dad gave us a box of frozen shrimp to carry on to the plane back in march and kevin made shrimp pierre and they were completely scrumptious and completely gone by the end of the night.
thank you shrimppeople.com!
shrimp pierre recipe:
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saw this long lost little cousin of my brother henry while walking nacho. he is super sweet. they stuck their noses through the fence and licked each other.
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if i were an umpire and needed an x-ray of any kind, i would go to asheville radiology and demand free service.
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I used to lie between cool, clean sheets at night after I'd had a bath, after I had washed my hair and scrubbed my knuckles and finger-nails and teeth. Then I could lie quite still in the dark with my face to the window with the trees in it, and talk to God.
- Frances Farmer
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smoky mountains at sunset
also the title of the new tea leaf green album - http://tealeafgreen.com/album/looking-west
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i have done a highly unscientific study involving everybody i can think of which supports the conclusion that the sex of a first child is likely to be the same as the sex of the dog those people own.
i would say 75-85% of people i can think of who own/owned a dog before having a child are blessed with a baby of that same gender. it is not 100% and there are exceptions to every rule, but it seems to be the great majority. it does not hold as true for second or third babies.
think of someone you know who had a boy baby.
did they have a boy dog?
is this true across the board or just with people that i know?
if it's true - why? do the dogs emit hormones?
is it true for cats too?
chime in!
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also from sunny point, cheese grits and a breakfast burrito involving eggs and peppers and other manner of deliciousness including chorizo which is tasty sausage crumbled up like ground beef and not in a casing or any weiner form.
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i think reading news about the gulf of mexico oil spill is frustrating and gut wrenching.
i want to do something to help, and here is one way to contribute: RiverLink is collecting supplies to clean off the animals.
(from http://theriverwhisperer.blogspot.com/)
Though Asheville's RiverLink primarily works to improve the French Broad River watershed, the events surrounding the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are of special concern to the organization as well. Like many in Asheville and Western North Carolina, RiverLink staff will be unable to travel to the region to engage in the cleanup effort, but feel called to help in some way.
RiverLink has decided to offer its office at 170 Lyman Street in Asheville's River Arts District as a dropoff and collection point for the supplies cleanup agencies in the Gulf region will need in their efforts to save the area's manatees, turtles, fish and birds and other marine wildlife.
Specifically, RiverLink is asking citizens to bring used (but clean) towels and bedsheets, toothbrushes, paper towels, soft scrub brushes, rubber gloves, extension cords, kennels for dogs or cats, dish soap (such as blue Dawn) and Pepto Bismol for collection and donation.
Though the oil spill may be capped and contained in the near future, the cleanup effort will be ongoing. RiverLink asks the public to think of this effort on shopping trips and perhaps pick up an extra bottle of Dawn or roll of paper towels.
A map to RiverLink's office at 170 Lyman Street can be found by entering (828) 252-8474 into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Business hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday thru Friday. For more information, contact RiverLink's Volunteer Coordinator Dave Russell at (828) 252-8474, ext. 118, or (828) 545-9099.
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with red potato hash browns, 1 egg over hard, bacon, cherry tomatoes, with maple dijon dressing and an angel biscuit. not pictured pint glass full of mimosa. sunny point cafe
tried to go to 12 bones but a water main broke so they were closed. this was a great plan b.
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happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.
beautiful weather today here in asheville, about to go for a hike and then later for some dinner and drinks. can't beat it!
could a puppy be cuter than nacho?
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had a great time in florida for a few days last weekend. flew into weather so bad they closed the PNS airport and turned off the lights and had to use the light of my cell phone to use the bathroom. after that it was very sunny and very windy all weekend. stayed at a very nice place called watersound in santa rosa. the sand was like powdered sugar and the whole area was deserted. lovely! this was the waking up view.
and here are two pelicans about to do it.
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barack and michelle obama are visiting asheville this weekend, staying at the grove park inn. security is heightened. cops are riding around in golf carts. i bet they'll have a fantastic time here.
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i forgot to add a few more important events in holden's life -
when he was a puppy he ate the fringe off an oriental rug that had cost thousands of dollars. the owner was not pleased.
around the same time he also jumped into a brand new fancy koi pond as the horrified owner looked on.
while visiting my parents in NY, my mom had a basket of popcorn on her lap that holden was very interested in. i looked over a few seconds later and saw the basket tumble off my mother's head, showering her with popcorn. she thought if she put it on her head holden would think it was a hat and stop begging. that backfired.
i took a year off after college before i started law school so i could get NC residency and therefore cheap tuition, and i was a nanny and i worked at the front desk of a gym in chapel hill, and i was pretty bored and sad that i wasn't in school anymore for the first time. my brother was at boston college and had run the boston marathon a couple times with friends as a 'bandit' (without a number) and suggested that i train for it all year and go up there and run it with him in april. so i printed out the training schedule from runner's world and followed it pretty religiously and was all set to go with my favorite shoes broken in perfectly and the day before i was flying up there, holden ate the back off one of my running shoes. i ran the marathon with my brother wearing a shoe with a back made of pipe cleaners and duct tape.
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i know you don't smoke weed, i know this... but i'm gonna get you high today, cause it's tuesday... you ain't got no job... and you ain't got shit to do
LEGALIZE (and tax) IT!
but
"you can overdo it" - willie nelson on larry king last week saying he had smoked up that day.
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how long it takes to get dog remains back from the vet; chances the remains i get will really be holden's.
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google analytics generates a list of the keywords people have typed to arrive at this blog.
one of them was
did christ ever shit?
(which brought them to this old post "christ did a cow shit in here?")
i think, holy shit of course he did.
what do you think?
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when you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight
-kahlil gibran
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it's a sad day over here. the vintage vantage death announcement was published this morning, announcing an everything must go liq...
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