Walking to the Grove Park Inn

          

 

Counting the one-mile warm-up we did before we started the ascent, the walk was a little over three miles. 

But don't think it was easy!

Small World

On the trail to Rattlesnake Lodge. 

The lady in the blue jacket is from Birmingham (AL), and through her years of work with the ACLU she became good friends with Henry Schwarzschild, the person who was most instrumental in getting Watt Espy his clerking position at The University of Alabama. He recognized Espy's talent and passion, and realized the potential boon his death penalty work could give researchers and scholars.

A trailer for a film about Schwarzschild's life

To Do Justly: The Life and Times of Henry Schwarzschild Trailer from Jacob Condon on Vimeo.



To learn more about the Schwarzschild/Espy connection, click here.

Eccentricity

Friedrich Schiller

 

We know that to compose, Wagner had to wear a silk dressing gown, that Sacchini wanted cats in the room, and Schiller a drawer full of overripe apples.  Mark Twain very sensibly preferred to write in bed, and I am happy to know that William James, writing in a public hotel room 120 feet long, calls it “just about the right size for one man.”   - from a book I read

 

I wonder what eccentric behaviors and habits enabled Watt Espy to get into his groove?  the chain-smoking, the late hours, the portraits of the condemned staring at him, the drinking, the pajamas, the junk piles of papers and boxes, the rejection of organized religion, the late rising, the cockroaches.

Return to Max Patch Mountain

“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.” ― John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

 

 

the group I led on this hike

 

To see how this hike up on Max Patch contrasts with the one I made last Fall, click here.

The Day I Encountered Sister Bad Habit

 

I got an e-mail the other day from someone telling me that the online journal Grist picked up my video of Sister Bad Habit.  Click here to see.

 

About Grist:

 

You know how some people make lemonade out of lemons? At Grist, we’re making lemonade out of looming climate apocalypse.

It’s more fun than it sounds, trust us!

Grist is a source of intelligent, irreverent environmental news and commentary that’s been around since 1999, when the internet was made of rubber bands. We cover climate, energy, food, cities, politics, business, green living, and the occasional adorable baby animal. Each day, we use our Clarity-o-Meter to point our readers to the news that matters most, and to translate wonky issues into stories that make sense.

Our goal is to get people talking, thinking, and taking action. And it’s working: We now reach a community of more than 2 million people a month. Sixty-five percent of them do something based on our content. Mainstream media quote us. Policymakers sit up and take notice. Even our parents take our calls now.

At Grist, we think the fate of the world and the people who live here is a pretty important topic. So we take our work seriously — but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Because of the many things this planet is running out of, sanctimonious tree-huggers ain’t one of them.

Now go on and check out our latest stories, or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Grist is based in the Emerald City of Seattle, in the Evergreen State of Washington (both green!), with contributors scattered the world ’round. We are a nonprofit organization funded by foundations, user contributions, and advertising.

Self-Help Messiah

source

 

source

 

This Carnegie title (above), Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking and Anthony Robbins' Awaken the Giant Within were three books I read during those early months in Thailand (2000) when I was looking for some non-Bible inspirational reading that both complemented my evangelical underpinnings and encouraged my growing understanding of the world as I was seeing it.  Carnegie and Peale, in particular, I found to be very refreshing.  I could identify with their backgrounds and their pursuit of an assertive yet more moderate Christian path.  They paid a price for their independence, but remained unwavering in their journeys.  Really helped me through some hard times.  I call it the crossing from certainty (fundyism) to uncertainty (where I am now).   Only now, I know uncertainty is not as threatening, and even is more fulfilling. 

 

Update:  At the Grove Park Inn (Asheville) today, I saw where Norman Vincent Peale was once a guest.

It's Raining Bears!

Kade's got a good eye!  She spotted the first bear as we were driving along outside a town that's about 10 minutes north of where we live.  It was a big surprise seeing the first bear of the evening, but then, a mere five minutes later, on a nearby street, something else happened.  We used our smartphones to film.

Now that's a collar!

Definitely a school picture.  Probably first grade.

Our First Bear Sighting of 2014

 

We had gotten wind of information that a huge mother bear and some cubs were up on Town Mountain Road - 10 -15 minutes from where we live.  We drove up there about two hours after we first heard this report.  Then Kade spots the mama bear!  It appears to me that another bear (an adolescent cub?) emerges from the right side not too long after the mama had disappeared into the woods.  Not 100% sure.  I see the backside and maybe the head of the mother almost camouflaged amid the trees as the bear on the right moves back towards the house.  What do you think?

Kade @ The University of Alabama

This is when Kade studied at the University of Alabama (UA) in their Intensive English program.  We had gotten married a year earlier, and then I thought, "Well, maybe if we could return to the US together, and Kade could study and just live in my country, it might help us both."  I knew what traveling had done for me, and how being away from your own culture can do wonders for your sense of independence, intellectual growth....and can just enhance your life overall.  So we got a student visa lined up, and we were off to America.  Kade made so many international friendships from her sessions at the English Language Institute - too many to count.  And, lucky for me, as a by-product, I made some great friends too.  I will be adding more pictures here in coming days.  Sadly, had I been more involved in knowing the particulars about Uncle Watty's time at the UA, I would have gone over to the law library to see where he did some of his early death penalty research. 

Instead of giving names here, I will give their countries of origin.

Turkey, Thailand, Japan

Thailand, Colombia, Japan

South Korea, South Korea, Thailand 

 Thailand, Japan, Ukraine, Korea and Belgium.

Belgium, Thailand, South Korea

France, Colombia, Thailand

 Thailand, Turkey

Turkey, USA, Turkey, Turkey, Thailand

Second from the left was one of Kade's teachers.  She and her husband

Mark have traveled extensively and worked abroad.  Here's an update on them.

Colombia, Thailand, Colombia

South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Belgium, South Korea

Turkey, Colombia, Thailand, Colombia

 

South Korea, Belgium, Thailand, South Korea 

Thailand, Taiwan

 

From all over! 

Florida Panhandle

One of my favorite photos of Kade: our first trip to the beaches of the Florida Panhandle.  I am pretty sure this is at Seaside.  By far, though, growing up, my greatest memories of the Panhandle are of Panama City Beach. Sunnyside, where my great-uncle has a cottage, also is quite special.

Friends from Oregon and Washington State buried me in the Seaside sand - Circa 1997.

And Mom on the beach...likely Panama City....mid-sixties.

 

Introducing The Panhandle

The beaches up here are some of the state’s best, with translucent aquamarine seas lapping against white sugar-sand formed by quartz crystal from the Appalachians. Known as the Emerald Coast, the area from Pensacola to Panama City Beach has also earned the nickname ‘Redneck Riviera’ for its proximity to the southern states whose residents flock here. There is indeed a Southern feel to the area that doesn’t quite trickle down to the rest of Florida. Hwy 10 – the clothesline from which the whole state is hung – is lined with wooded forest for a scenic welcome to the Sunshine State.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/florida/florida-panhandle#ixzz2we2MKyr3

 

That is Kate and Donnie Aman's daughter. I caught the fish in the mid 80's off of Doc's Hobie Cat. That was the largest that we ever caught. 30 pounds!! We caught many in the 10 to 22 pound range, however.  It's a King Mackerel.  Caught him less than a mile off the beach behind Pinnacle Port.  - cousin Sid Brannon

The Porch House Cafe

I will add a photo here when I get one.

 

 

Henry County News, 1925

 

 

This is a Larry Smith column that appeared in The Abbeville Herald recently.  Below I cropped the portion that mentions a few of my relatives.  The news about Mrs. J.J. Espy (Emma Carroll) was very surprising.  I had not heard of it, and relatives I've since asked about it also were very surprised.  Be sure not to miss the story of the Vanns and their record-setting hogs.
 

Mrs. J.J. Espy (Emma Carroll)

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

 siblings

and their father

 

 

Kade @ Ben's

Kade joined her colleagues for a company party at Ben's Tune-Up,

a restaurant and urban beer garden.  The best part:  I got to accompany her!

 

 

 

 

 

  

The photos of Ben's Tune-Up were sourced from here.

Click here for the menu at Ben's Tune-Up.   They serve American (new) and Asian Fusion.  Also, coming this year they will be distilling their own sake.  In fact, counting Ben's, Asheville will be home to two of only a handful of micro-sake breweries in the entire United States.