Reading and resting

                                               Reading and resting more than walking

                                        My favorite reading spot - under the magnolia

This week the weather has been beautiful, but I haven’t had as much energy for walking. I have worked in the garden, but also, I have enjoyed sitting in the shade of my giant magnolia tree reading, and I wanted to share some thoughts from my book. I’m reading a book called Joseph Anton, which is the cover name for the writer Salman Rushdie. Rushdie wrote the book Satanic Verses years ago, and the book so angered the Iranian leaders that they issued a fatwa against him, a death sentence for blaspheming their religion.  I tried to read Satanic Verses, but it wasn’t my style of writing. I also couldn’t see what was so offensive, but then I didn’t finish, and I’m not Muslim. The book I am reading describes the life Rushdie had to live, in hiding and with British protection around the clock. He tried to have a normal life, but for many years he was forced to live as if he was in house arrest. He believes deeply in the freedom of expression, the freedom to write what you want to write. No one is required to read a book, we all have different interests. Not wanting to read a book or not wanting to give money to a book we disagree with, that is all within our rights. What we don’t have the right to do is to control others. We don’t have the right to tell others what they can read, or to tell stores what they can sell, or to tell libraries what they can carry. We certainly don’t have the right to tell people what to think, nor to wish death on someone for saying words or ideas we don’t agree with. At one point Rushdie wrote the following in a letter to the newspaper:

“We have the freedoms we fight for, and we lose the freedoms we don’t defend.” This goes for any freedom, but in this letter, and in his book, he was talking about free speech. It would be easy to give in, to say I’m sorry my book/article/story offended you, I’ll withdraw it. Or to say, I don’t want to make someone angry, I won’t write how I really feel about the government or the church, but when we make that choice, we are giving in on defending our rights of free speech. Every time we give in, a tiny death nail is struck in the coffin of the free speech, and every death nail becomes harder to pull out. (Can you tell I’ve been reading a lot?)

          Letters that tell a story, the illustration of the magazine used in the story

I’m also reading and really enjoying a series of letters that tell a story. My sister in law Heather gave me a Christmas gift of a year of letters that arrive in the mail, and through these letters I learn about the adventures of a lady traveling in the Amazon Jungle in Brazil. In the story the letters tell the main character is writing articles to a Ladies Magazine, and she is also researching the mystery of her parents disappearance. It’s such fun, I look forward to receiving the mail again. I wish I was as good and thoughtful in giving gifts. Anyway, in the last package I read something I wanted to share. In the letters, one of the pages was a copy of the article our main character had written for the Ladies Journal. On the same page was an article about eugenics. This story takes place in 1910, and eugenics was a popular concept at that time. In a type of Dear Abby style article, a person had written a question about eugenics; was it moral and how should she approach the idea? The author answered her question by giving a bit of the history of the concept, and the supposed reasons people liked it, then she ended with this quote, which I think could guide us today, in our lives in the 2020”s.

“I will close now by leaving you with a piece of advice. Heed the lessons of history and you will rarely go wrong. Strive to build a future founded on principles of equality, justice and respect for all. Simply put, follow the Golden Rule. is this not the tried and true answer to every ailment that now or ever will plague society?”

                   Just because it's pretty, fiddlehead from the greenhouse

This week I walked 11 miles, one mile at a time. The total for the year is 169.31.  Even though it’s not that far, I am walking more than I did last year, and that is good. Today I was just going to sit down and read, or scroll (doom scroll) as they call it, but then I remembered I needed some miles to make this article look better. I went out and walked through two neighborhoods, looked at azaleas and roses, and wildflowers and had a great afternoon. Walking always makes me feel better, but sometimes I need a push to get out. 

At 169 miles I have reached the Fontana Dam, and the Fontana Visitor Center. The first time my parents went backpacking they started at the Fontana Visitor Center. My grandparents dropped  them off, and with my brother and I we vacationed there. I remember thinking my parents would love to have a token to remember us by, so we added two toy cars secretly to their backpacks. I’m sure they appreciated the thought and didn’t mind the extra weight.  Backpackers will spend enormous energy cutting down every extra ounce.  

Walking in Circles

 Wild flowers in the yard, wild flowers out hiking!

I’m still walking, but this week the walks have been in smaller increments. One day we walked in a circle around the city park, surrounded by hundreds of other people. We carried signs and voiced our feelings, reminding ourselves that “dissent is patriotic” and free speech is a bedrock of our society.  I was glad to share and voice my opinion, but walking in a crowd isn’t fun, isn’t relaxing and isn’t nature.  I have walked circles around our neighborhood, and a neighborhood across the street, and the local park. In other words, the same places I always walk.  My dog and I have watched spring begin, flowers blooming, trees growing their leaves, and many birds singing and building nests. This is the time of year for new ideas, new growth, new babies or eggs, and new buds on plants. My little tomato seedlings are growing, but not as fast as the ones I help tend in a greenhouse. I’m training to be a master gardener, and this is the season for plant sales. Yesterday I spent the entire day indoors, surrounded by houseplants, seedlings, native plants, and so much more. My work station was near a rolled up door, and I could see outside and feel the fresh air.  My favorite times of the day were when heavy rain poured and fresh chilly air entered the building.  I found it interesting that the first section of plants to be almost sold out was the native plants.  I think, despite what might be expected, people do care about the environment, and they do care about the insects and butterflies. I grabbed one of the last pots of milkweed.  Monarch butterflies should find lots of happy host plants in the section of Alabama, according to the sales yesterday.  I am thankful.

                                                          Plant sale

                            Trees down and cleared on a section of the AT

I am following a mother and daughter hiking the AT on YouTube. This week they have been in Erwin TN, and showing the extreme destruction from the hurricane Helene. So many trees were down along the trail, nothing looked familiar. Luckily for the hikers, groups of trail maintainers had been along cutting and working through the fallen trees, and the trail is able to be hiked. This backpacker mom and daughter are making a point to stop at hostels and to eat at the restaurants in the towns along the way, trying to be part of the economic growth. She is showing the videos of the area, the loss of land, the sand buildups, the work on destroyed buildings and washed out bridges. In Erwin they used a rubber dingy to cross the river where a bridge used to stand. It is going to take years for the area to recover.  

                        A bridge wiped out in Erwin TN, due to hurricane Helene

On my pretend hike I am one mile out from the Cable Gap shelter, a log structure built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1939. The CCC allowed men to have jobs, to get paid a bit and to have dignity during the great depression, and many of their projects are still benefiting people today. I find the CCC to be a project we can be proud of, a bright section of history during a dark time. Like the native plants and the care for nature that is out there, like the people protesting against job cuts, ending of government programs and lack of due process for our must vulnerable people, the CCC of the past is a sign that people will always care. Someone wants to see more butterflies, someone wants to protect our pollinators, someone wants to stop government overreach and someone wants to protect our basic rights of due process and free speech. Whether we agree on everything, or anything, we should be able and willing to listen, to speak up and to care. 

These two weeks were short in miles, and this blog is shorter of words. Next week I hope to get out and walk on trails, in woods and maybe on our smaller mountains. I can’t wait to fake hike in places I have already been, so I can share some bear stories and adventures from my days of actual backpacking.  Enjoy, protect and love each other! Get outside and explore!

april 12 - 158.41 miles total

Walking in Ireland

                                  The Rugged Coast of Ireland

I am back on facebook, as this is the only way I know to share this blog, and keep up with some of my family. 

Today I measured my steps since the last blog post, and my total since that date is 54.5 miles, one of my busiest and best walking sections yet. What made the difference? Vacation. My daughter and I traveled to Ireland, and we walked all over that beautiful green country. We walked around Dublin on Saint Patrick’s day, surrounded by tourists and music and lights. We walked along the bay in Galway, enjoying swans, colorful houses along the water and light breezes. We walked along the stunning Cliffs of Moher, battling stronger winds and watching a sunset. We walked along a peninsula near the Ring of Kerry, alone completely on the trail except for a few shy sheep, battling the strongest winds yet. We struggled to stay upright on the bare rock and grass turf, water roaring against the cliffs on every side. We walked on a beach, walked down to see tetrapod footprint fossils, and we walked back and forth, over and over, in airports. This was the ultimate walking vacation, we could explore on our own time, wherever we wanted, but we could sleep indoors each night. Back in our BnB’s we would share notes on our favorite places while untangling our wind swept hair. The weather was cold, but not unpleasant, and we enjoyed wearing sweaters and scarves. 

                            Stunning hike with only sheep for company

In the Burrens, an area where topsoil has washed off and bare rock covers the land

From my diary while in Ireland I wrote:

” Today was my favorite. We drove out of Galway, and stopped at beautiful scenic spots. One was a stone cairn gravesite from 4000 BC. It was in a stunning beautiful barren location in The Burrens. Ireland was once covered in trees. Then Vikings began to farm. They cut down trees, burned and such to clear. Top soil eroded and now this area is all limestone and bare rock. …..We drove along the coastline and stopped at a rocky beach, and walked around stepping in the water and hopping on rocks. We stopped at an old cemetery, modern and Celtic/Christian. We stopped at a cliff over the water and then…We drove up to the Cliff’s of Moher, stunning. They are 1000 feet down to the ocean. The water was blue and the cliffs rugged. The water and sky were silky.We walked around and watched the sunset, and froze. Birds flew around, ospreys and various sea gulls. ……Friday we drove to Valencia Island, another beautiful place. The drive was interesting as we saw lots of homes and regular life small towns. We saw some old castle ruins, pretty waterways, narrow roads and views of bays and mountains. We followed a long winding road to the sea, to rocks along the shore with ancient tetrapod footsteps fossilized in the stone. It was rugged and isolated, and honestly I’ve run out of superlatives. Walking around it feels like Shining Rock,( NC), or Grandfather Mountain, on the sea with wild crashing waves. What a lonely place rural Ireland must’ve been. Old cemeteries with Celtic crosses, moss on the stones, walls covered with so much grass it’s hard to find the rock wall underneath……Today was the best, the Ring of Kerry. We hiked up a steep bald mountain in such extreme wind we could barely stand. The mountain was a peninsula out to sea with cliffs and birds and crashing waves and cheery blue-green water.”

4000   BC Dolen, gravesite.

More bare rocks

We took a walking tour in Dublin based on Saint Patrick. I knew very little about him, just that I must wear green on his day to avoid being pinched, and that he chased snakes out of Ireland. Our guide started the tour speaking in Irish. He said Americans like to call the language Gaelic.  We walked around the city, enjoyed old buildings and cathedrals and saw where Saint Patrick was to have first baptized the people of Ireland. His cathedral was stunning.  It turns out the idea of chasing snakes out of Ireland is probably a myth, due to the importance of snakes to Druidic worship. Patrick started life in England as a son of a bishop, and at the age of 15 he was captured by Irish raiders, where he began his life in slavery.  Dublin was a huge slave port, and shackles are a part of the artwork found in the city. Patrick spent several years hungry and suffering as a sheep herder. He finally walked across the entire country, found a ship home and returned to his family.  In a vision he discovered God wanted him to return and bring Christianity back. He studied, became a bishop and he did return. One of the focuses of his work was to end slavery, both in Ireland and England. He was the original abolitionist. I was proud to walk along his footsteps. Reading a book later, I found in him the perfect mix of strength, compassion and empathy, everything a leader trying to convert wild peoples should be.

Saint Patrick, from the parade

                 Spot where St. Patrick is said to have baptized first converts

In our pretend walk along the AT I have reached North Carolina, and am between Sassafras Gap Shelter and Brown fork shelter. These spots are blind areas for me, I have never been there. Fontana and the Smokeys are ahead of me. The family I am watching has made it into the Smokeys, but eventually ran into bad enough weather to choose to hop forward, and return later. I can understand that. I think the best time in the Smokeys is later, more near late April or June, when the wildflowers are blooming and the weather is warmer.  In the video I watched today, the family got a ride along some of the roadway affected by Hurricane Helene, and it was something to see. The interstate is still down to two lanes, one each way, in the area that had been destroyed. The mom in the group was deeply affected by the storm damage, and she cried some before filming, sharing with us her feelings. She had been involved in relief efforts after the storm passed over, and now she was back, seeing how much had been done, and yet how much remains to be done. It is hard to see a beloved place suffering, the people and the landscape.  Even so, the joy of being on the trail, hiking in natural beauty, and the adventure come through in the videos this family is producing. I hope they make it to the end of the trail and I get to follow them the entire way. 

March 31 - 146.12