Having the Greatest Gift

What could that possibly be? For you, I don't know. But for me it would be ".. a sense of wonder so indestructable that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength...". This quote is from Rachel Carson who wrote, Silent Spring, in 1962. And before she wrote the book that opened our eyes to seeing the interconnectedness of our natural world, she wrote, The Sense of Wonder. Perhaps it was this contemplation of the beauty of the earth around her, that led to her concern with synthetic pesticides being used so carelessly. This sense may have fueled her passion for preserving the environment and for the strength she needed to overcome the discrimination she experienced as a woman scientist. I am wondering what it will fuel in me. Certainly it is gone beyond a spark and has set me on fire many times. The spark is often a quiet one.

Lighting My Way

Thanks to all for lighting my way this year. My journey was glowing so much that I never saw the darkness that surrounds all things. But without it there is no way to experience the moving spark scripting our lives in love each and every moment. I took these photos last night in beautiful downtown Clyde, NC. The pear trees are a blooming mass in spring and a seasonal sensation illuminating my way into a new year. May your new year be flashing with love and light!

Real December on Hap Mountain

The scenes of December can be wild with saturated color or silent and bluish in tone. And this transformation often happens from one day to the next. The wonderful thing is I don't have to go anywhere to see this slide show. It projects itself all around my little cabin on Hap mountain. And the winds howling nonstop provide the sound effects that would scare the pants off an Eskimo!

Lanterns, Pots and Planters

For the holidays you can have fun forcing a few paper whites, amaryllis bulbs, or buy red bromiliads instead of poinsettias. Put them in one of my new pots or planters, to make a one of a kind gift.

Or light up someones life with a LED candle lantern. I have two that are made from rice bags saved for me by Masami. So if you want one, show up at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, NC this Friday, Nov. 18 through Sunday, Nov. 20 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 pm. I will be demonstating how I make these.

Soaking In It/Soaking it in

I am immersed in a vat of copper, gold foil, and persimmon and raking papery leaves gingerly over emerald patches, trying to get back home. It takes more than the moving of leaves from one place to another to settle into my nest. Two weeks is not enough to let my travel motions and memories simmer. This is going to be a long process and just like The Turtle, slow. So I wait while planting poets daffodils and wood hyacinths. I wait while cleaning out my pond where my purple elephant ear has taken a dive. I visit fellow artists at the Southern Highlands Guild Fall Fair,drive to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned and to the hairdresser to cut the locks I let grow on my trip. I shared some of my journey in person instead of on this blog. But somehow it isn't the same. I perhaps can't go home again unless I am blogging! For that is the home I created while away from home. But, I am fortunate to have many homes. The mountains draped in dappled dreams in front of me are very compelling and comforting. They have dyed me my favorite shade, Carolina Blue. "Twenty thousand roads I've been on and they all lead me right home to you"..Gram Parsons

Tractor Pull

Wouldn't you know it, it had to happen within a mile of home, but what a great place to have it happen! My neighbor Charles Sams, down by the row of mailboxes (which were moved while I was gone), had to get the tractor from his barn (that was recently rebuilt after a 2010 snowstorm sent a tree tumbling on top) and pull The Turtle away from the bank that her driver slid her up against because of a very wet, gravelly road with a big hump. It took him about 5 min. to get the tractor, hook it up to the front towing bar and pull us out. With great neighbors with tractors, one doesn't need a cell phone (mine does not get reception this far out) or AAA. That is one reason Spring Creek, NC is such a super place to come home to. Everyone, please thank Charles.

PS---I think the Turtle was spooked because the mailboxes weren't on the other side of the road where they had always been.

And there was no snow as the photo shows, but the forecast is for possible light snow tonight and the winds are already whirling in from over the mountain. It is true that the road up here is about that scary looking...good for a Halloween fright.

The Only One

I never saw another Turtle or anything like her. And I never saw another woman traveling in a motor home by herself. Neither had anyone I met along the way. But I know there are some. I was expecting there to be more single women (married or not) or at least single men (not that I was looking for one). I did meet several women who wanted to do what I was doing. One of them did not want her husband to know this, so she pulled me aside and whispered, "This is something I have always wanted to do!" I hope I have paved (a road term) the way for those who perhaps don't have partners to get out on the road, but mostly I would be tickled pink to inspire others to follow their dream, no matter how impossible it may seem. Or how low their bank accounts might sink! I am sure a lot of you wondered what I thought I was doing traveling eight thousand miles in a 30 year old motor home by myself. But you were either kind enough not to say so, or you had faith that I could do it. I mean even John Steinbeck had his dog, Charley! I had you.

Who could ask for more? John was in search of America. I was in search of me. That search is endless. Is it the little me, or the bigger me that is part of it all.

End of the Road

Are these photos of the sunrise or the sunset? Is coming home the beginning or the end? And does it really matter anyway? It is all beautiful. But I must confess to the lure of being on the road. I have forgotten how to be a homebody, but it will return. Being out on the road in all that spaciousness and excitement of new scenery and destinations, then bedding down for the night in my tortoise shell. Then up and out again. Somewhere along the way I lost the fear of the Turtle breaking down or of not finding a place to stay for the night. Or of getting lost. Or the greatest fear of being lonely, for I was never alone. I enjoyed making photos and sharing my thoughts and feelings on this blog that automatically goes to Facebook, visiting friends and family, getting more intimate with America's varied landscapes, meeting new people, waking up every day in a different place, hearing trains in the night, the state parks, national parks, even Corps of Engineer parks, recreation areas, pay showers, historical roads, scenic roads, interstates, rest areas, KOA's yellow shirted Komforts, monuments, icons, the internet, my cell phone, my Canon Powershot SD1100, my coffeepot, and most of all The Turtle. I have been blessed. So many times, something led me to the right spot at just the right time. Can't say what it was. Might have been all your good wishes and prayers! Thanks for the memories. I will be home Wednesday, October 19th to witness that blaze of color that I haven't seen anywhere along my route. There is no place like home!

Horse Sense of Humor

Good Gob! Let's git outta here fast...

Something to hold on two

The new hybrid...

The fast ones don't need a sign..

Moby Dick meets Killer Whale. They name their first child, Killer Dick.

Picasso's Dawg...

Git along little doggie...what cowboys are doing these days

Not all Black and White

My shadow might suggest that I gained about 100 pounds on this trip. What made the dog-look alike shadow? Are those sand dunes near a body of water? Is that a cotton plant in Texas? A photo of the old Rt. 66 up close? The most recent lava flow in the US? The largest gypsum field in the world? Did I visit both the White Sands rocket lands and the Valley of Fires in the same day and get inspired to do a blog on opposites, on the elusiveness of truth?