| August 26, 2013 | Contact | Calendar | The Mix | Archives |
Butterfly (yellow swallowtails?) meet-up on the trail into Moor's Cove waterfall.
It is hard to take pictures of waterfalls. I tried on all of the dozen or so we saw. Even in shade the light just bounces off. The hikes in Dupont Forest and in Pisgah were good; we could have hiked for days actually right on the mountain where Jinx lives.
When we visited towns in North Carolina, I looked for main street design. Hendersonville (pop 14,000) was outstanding with outside cafes and benches in curved wide sidewalks that slowed down traffic and offered parking between the curve outs. Geeenville S. C. (pop 60,000) had a great Main Street with a waterfall and park between the new section and the old town. There was a lot of shiny corporate influence there and lots of international restaurants, but I sensed that the side streets offered some creative funky stuff. You could tell by the street lights that it was meant to come alive after dark. Asheville (pop 83,000) is one of the great cities, a center of creative energy, full of art and music. Brevard (pop 8,000) was more of a typical small town without too much evidence of design, but there is a music school there; we heard an excellent jazz trio there before leaving after the first set because Rachel Maddow was broadcasting from North Carolina that night. I would love to have attended one of their Moral Monday protests, but Charlotte is across the state. N. C. is where the Republicans are trying to do everything ALEC has ever thought up all at once. The voter suppression strategy against blacks and college students is horrific. When you can only hope to win by disenfranchising voters, you have no real political future.
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Dahlias of the dinner plate variety
